Goodman Girlz

Boosterthon

2012-02-02T17:25:00.000-08:00

Today the girls' school held an annual fun run fundraiser called Boosterthon. The kids run small laps in exchange for pledges along with their friends. They both completed over 35 laps (the maximum they count) and probably ran/walked/skipped close to 2 miles. I was super proud of them both.

Sorry for the posting lull - after all of the Holiday excitement, it's nice to just take a break and lay low. We had a weekend where both the girls had mystery fevers, so we didn't even really leave the house.

Stay tuned for Valentines Day activities...

Boosterthon - PTA Fundraiser

2012-01-24T16:41:00.001-08:00

The girls are participating in a fun run at school on Thursday, February 2nd. They will run 25-35 laps. On the off chance anyone is interested in sponsoring us - shoot me an email. Per lap or flat donations are accepted. Then I'll need to receive checks by Feb. 8. I thought they had online entry, but it's me that has to enter everything online.

Madeleine won the Y after-school care running competition in the fall, so that girl can run when motivated!

Teaching

2012-01-04T16:41:00.000-08:00

Madeleine loves Wednesdays when she can play "teacher" to Grandma and Grandpa Bench.

First Night 2011

2012-01-01T16:53:00.000-08:00

Since we had such a good time last year and the weather was cooperative, I thought we'd try First Night Raleigh again this year. We headed to downtown Raleigh about 2 and parked about halfway down Fayetteville Street across from City Market. It was pretty empty then.

This year's main attraction was the ferris wheel at Fayetteville and Hargett Streets. It opened at two, so we got in line right away figuring it wouldn't be getting any shorter throughout the day. It took almost an hour to get on.

As you can see, Lily was not a fan at first. But she warms up by the second trip around.

Madeleine has no such aversion.

Then we headed up to the Bicentennial Mall for crafts. Here Lily's leaving her grafitti for visitors.

The girls display their Eiffel Tower markers.

And here are our impressionist paintings. They also made sponge boats.

We participated in the People's Procession and made our way to Fayetteville St. with the rest of the crowd. We got there around 6:30 pm and grabbed a spot for the 7pm countdown to "New Years" and the acorn drop.

My favorite part of the evening was following a taxi out of downtown. Madeleine was very concerned about it and thought we needed to remember the number just in case. This morning she when she got up she was able to recall it from memory and hand it to me on a post it just in case I needed a taxi sometime.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

Let's Get Ready

2011-12-21T18:46:00.000-08:00

Madeleine got to introduce her kindergarten winter performance today.

Gingerbread

2011-12-18T16:51:00.000-08:00

The girls love to do gingerbread houses and have been asking for weeks when they could make them. For the past three years at day care they've made graham cracker ones, so we've just done a kit together at home. This year they wanted their own kits though.

Back in my single days, my mom bought me a kit once "for fun." Following the instructions drove me nuts. The icing was runny and I pretty much had no luck gluing the thing together with the icing. As soon as I'd get a side up, the next side would fall over. It was pretty pathetic.

So the attitude I've taken with the kits is that they're fun to make, pretty to look at, but probably taste pretty awful and stale after sitting out for weeks on end. I'd much rather make fresh gingerbread with the girls than have them eat the kit mess. We usually just throw it of the deck 25 feet in the air and watch it smash into the back yard. That said, I glue the gingerbread pieces together with hot glue before we even get started. That way all the frosting can be used on the decoration and not trying to hold the thing together.

Lily was set on eating hers from the beginning. Of course she reminded me, "Mom, you know you're not supposed to use hot glue on these."

Madeleine wanted to "snow" her roof, and was more into creating a pattern with the candy.

Lily was determined to eat something and licked a lot of the super-sticky frosting.

This year we learned we probably need some supplemental candy as well.

Holiday crazy

2011-12-11T16:36:00.001-08:00

It seems like 2 weeks before Christmas is always the busiest holiday activity weekend around. We kicked it off Thursday with Disney on Ice followed by City Ballet's The Nutcracker on Saturday morning. I'm not ready to commit us to the full price Carolina Ballet production just yet. The girls' favorite part is always Mother Ginger and the kids that run out from underneath her skirt.

We got a live tree this year and decorated it Sunday morning. It's the biggest one ever, so we pretty much used almost everything in the box - even both Wonder Womans (but only one of the two Chewbaccas).

We finished up the holiday festivites Sunday by attending TMOTT's Cookies with Santa event. The girls both asked only for American Girl dolls and were very excited to have one of Santa's helpers make them a balloon animal.

WFRG News

2011-12-10T19:05:00.001-08:00

Since the girls started kindergarten this year, we've wanted them to be excited and proud of their school. One of the things they talk about a lot is the morning news program, WFRG. Older students read the morning news each day. I'm assuming it's on television sets in the classrooms.

Here's Madeleine's take on the daily news.

All of it was written out beforehand on her clipboard phonetically.

Then and Now - Christmas edition

2011-12-04T19:06:00.001-08:00

We went to the Town of Cary's Santa's Workshop at the community center on Saturday. The girls love the crafts and the dancing. Getting to see Santa outside of the mall is a bonus.

Here's Madeleine last year:

And this year:

A few inches taller - but not too much.

Girls' Christmas Carol

2011-11-29T19:02:00.000-08:00

A good reason to be late for work

2011-11-23T10:39:00.001-08:00

Today is a school holiday, but Eric and I are working. So the girls were headed off to day camp this morning. Madeleine was a little upset that there was no school today because she's been very excited by whatever it is they've been working on in school this week. They had some sort of a Thanksgiving play yesterday, and she had been busy making a poetry book before bed last night.

Then this morning she wanted to read a story before going out the door. What's unusual about it is that she asked to read to Lily rather than be read to. And she wanted to read one of her books - not the readers she brings home from school. So how can you rush them out the door when your child asks to read to you?

So she read "The Tournament" from this book. We've had it for a couple years. She was stumped on only a few words, and Lily was very happy to help her out. Then we had breakfast, got in the car, and headed on our way. I still was the first one in this morning, but those five minutes were the best of the day so far.

Lights, Camera, Action!

2011-11-19T19:21:00.001-08:00

We hit up the Raleigh Christmas Parade this morning, and I schlepped along the big camera for the first time in a while. Of course, I was disappointed to learn I'd forgotten the battery.

So once we were home, the girls were eager to show me their rope skipping skills like the Cary YMCA Super Skippers, so I thought I'd experiment shooting in manual with jump ropes. I think I'll need to up the shutter speed to 1/1000, and the high ISO made it a little grainy. But for not having tried in a while, not too bad.

Of course my favorites were the more sitting still/tree shots.

Boo to you!

2011-10-31T03:00:00.000-07:00

Madeleine and Lily vampire pumpkins wish you an awesome day.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we hit up the Town of Cary's Howlin Good Halloween celebration at the community center. The girls had a blast playing games and trick-or-treating at some of the downtown shops. We skipped the hayride because of the looooooooooooooong wait and walked it despite the cold. We finished up with a walk through the haunted house at the new Cary Arts Center.

We were thrilled to win some vampire fangs after searching for them at stores all day. You'll see why tomorrow.

The girls kept pulling their strings back with nothing on them. Finally the teens behind the screens just threw the lollipops over the top.

Lily patiently waits for a tattoo.

Rocktoberfest

2011-10-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

Since we use the YMCA for afterschool care, it made sense for us to join as well as our regular gym. At afterschool camp, the girls have been talking about Rocktoberfest at the Y for weeks. Lily has been diligently making posters and working on the banners. Of course we were all super-excited to attend on Saturday evening.

It featured all kinds of outdoor games.

Face painting.

Costumes

And the all-important pumpkin-smashing catapults.

We had dinner, enjoyed the "Spooky Hallway," and rocket out at the dance party. I got to meet some of the counselors and "friends" I hadn't met yet. I love seeing the girls this excited about new things.

Pumpkin Country

2011-10-20T04:00:00.000-07:00

This year we headed out to Ganyard Farm near Durham to pick our pumpkins. The last two years we went to Hill Ridge Farms out near Wake Forest because we were going with field trip groups. But Ganyard is so much closer and just as fun. We first visited in 2007 when the girls were only two, and you can see how much Madeleine has changed in the last four years.

Madeleine drew a picture of what kind of pumpkin she wanted to get.

"Milking" a cow.

Playing in the corn crib

Corn maze with Daddy.

2011 State Fair Wrap Up

2011-10-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

We visited the North Carolina State Fair over the weekend. The weather was perfect, if even a tad warm. So we trekked out with the rest of the world Saturday to the fairgrounds. Now that we're big schoolkids, no goofing off and going during the week.

Usually we take the first park-and-ride bus at 8:30 and get there plenty early. Unfortunately, the people who sell the bus tickets must have not set their alarm, because there was a long line of us there waiting to buy tickets when the first bus showed up. They let us buy tickets on the bus, but everyone feeding in dollars individually into the meters took a while, so it was almost 9 am before we got there.

The girls demonstrate their hula hoop skills at the PBS Kids/Marbles tent. I didn't know they could do two hoops at once.

They weren't really interested in the animals this year. We checked out the crafts and hobbies building where the girls plotted what crafts they want to submit. They didn't want pony rides or the petting barn, but we did check out the rabbits.

As soon as the rides opened at 10, we got in line for the ferris wheel since that was the longest line we stood in last year. Lily was very nervous the first time around, but Madeleine immediately looked for our house.

We graduated to some of the more big-kid rides this year, including the giant slide and the swings that make mommy nervous.

While eating lunch, Lily overheard some people talking about the pig races. So, we headed up to the "Hogway Speedway." I knew from previous experience that people get there up to one hour before showtime to claim seats. The girls patiently waited 45 minutes for the show and really enjoyed it.

They brought their birthday money and could buy themselves any souvenir they wanted. Madeleine got a light up sword, and Lily picked yet another cowgirl hat.

We were back in line for the bus by 2pm and headed home for a much-needed nap.

Important 6-year stats

2011-10-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

I don't know at what point we stop talking about this, but this year's height and weight:

Lily 45.8 inches tall and 41.5 lbs.
Madeleine 45.5 inches tall and 44.5 lbs.

So pretty much exactly the same height and weight gain since last year. Madeleine is on the 50th percentile exactly for everything - Lily is 50th for height and 25th for weight. We've pretty much had a consistent growth pattern since they were 2.

Party Time

2011-10-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

The girls had their 6th birthday party at Kenney's Gymnastics on Saturday. They took gymnastics there last year and had been asking about having their party there ever since. You get a trophy when you're the birthday kid, and that's what is most important apparently.

It was Madeleine's year to hear "Happy Birthday" first. She was most excited to note I put the candles in an A/B pattern.

A very touching moment when Madeleine decided to hug Lily prior to her blowing out her candles. I had to ask her to stop so that we could get this over with before everything was melted.

Lily's turn.

We had some new friends from elementary school attend as well as some old preschool friends. It was kind of hard this year since I didn't know how to go about inviting anyone from school, and I couldn't invite both classes entirely.

For the record, I did invite almost everyone we knew from the neighborhood, EPLC, and Country Sunshine. Unfortunately, I didn't discover until Thursday that maybe only 50% of the people I sent invitiations to received the emails unfortunately. I didn't want to look like a jerk at the last minute inviting everyone, so I kind of just let it go. Hopefully we'll all get to catch up sometime soon!

Happy Birthday Girlz!

2011-10-06T03:02:00.000-07:00

Look how far you've come!You are such big kids now, and I am amazed at how much you learn each day. You love homework and doing what all the other kids are doing in afterschool camp.

You both love meeting new people and make friends easily. We still have to say goodbye to all the counselors and our friends before we leave each day.

I love your projects, dance parties, and how much you still love to snuggle at the end of a long day. Thank you so much for letting me be your mom.

Walking the Walk

2011-09-26T06:59:00.000-07:00

About three weeks ago the gentleman doing rides out at the Y after school program told me that they'd started a "walking club" after school. They were keeping track of laps around the track, and some kids were working toward the goal of participating in the Triangle Heart Walk at the end of the month (also sponsored by the YMCA).

Mostly motivated by "prizes," both Madeleine and Lily have been very dedicated walking club participants, doing as many as 13 to 18 laps PER DAY.

Since they worked on it so hard and told me of their plans, I signed us up for the heart walk. My work had a corporate team, so I just joined there. Ignoring threats of rain, we headed out to the RBC Center on Saturday.

Madeleine and Lily follow Mommy's stretch out routine.

We checked out the Y tent and didn't see any counselors from our school. The girls were a little disappointed, but another coworker brought her son who was only 3 days older, so chasing Gavin kept them entertained most of the walk.

We did the 1 mile and called it an afternoon because of the humidity.

Go Goodman Family!

Nature Girls

2011-09-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago while cleaning up in the driveway, the girls asked me if I knew how to do any projects with "nature" items like basket weaving or with sticks. Of course I said I did not. So when I saw that Yates Mill was having a Harvest Festival featuring corn husk doll making, I knew we had to go.

It was raining on and off all morning, but we trekked out anyway and made our way to the doll-making classroom as soon as possible. Luckily there weren't many people in there, and we were able to get right in a session at the beginning. They had some nice teenage girls helping out, so we were able to keep up and follow along.

Madeleine insisted on tying all her own knots.

Madeleine's angel had "feathered" wings.

Lily chose the butterfly wings.

Here Madeleine is braiting together strands of wheat to make a heart-shaped wreath.

Madeleine, Lily, and pal Leif make goodie bags to hold all their swag.

In addition to the crafts above, they also enjoyed learning about soap making, corn shelling, bread bowl carving, cane pole fishing, and listening to the Sandbox Band. The only thing we didn't do was the gourd-painting, and I think we can do that on our own soon.

Fair Weather

2011-09-12T19:03:00.000-07:00

This weekend we hit up the Fair at St. Rapheal's church. I remember going when I was in high school, and we went last year as well. I think the girls have finally aged out of the kiddie rides and were ready to try something more adventureous.

I don't think I was ready enough for them to try the swings. They'd only been on a kiddie version before and were pretty scared then. I could barely look as they were going around, but they did great. I think they were more excited to prove me wrong.

The roller coaster was a breeze this year.

They got matching unicorn tattoos to "surprise" me. Someone told them I collected unicorns as a kid.

Displaying their game prizes (the crown and bunny).

Old-Fashioned Farm Days

2011-09-05T18:12:00.000-07:00

Saturday we headed out to Siler City for the Silk Hope Old Fashioned Farmers Day event. I had seen it in the paper and thought it might be cool. Above - the girls are enjoying their "steam cream" while watching various clogging teams.

Lily's highlight was the pony ride. On her back is "Jeremy," her class mascot. She was the first kid at school this year to get to bring him home for the weekend. We were supposed to take him on a family outing so she could write in the journal about it.

Feeding one of three animals they had for kids to pet.

Madeleine on the climbing wall. They also had jump houses, but it was $7 each for an "all you can jump" pass, and it wasn't worth it for two kids who would maybe spend 15 minutes on the three jump houses.

Lily and one of the steam engines.

Overall, they were not into the tractors or the blacksmithing (a bunch of dudes getting metal hot and hitting it with a hammer). They had some live music and were interested in a family performing with little girls on the banjo and violin.

Confidence Goggles

2011-09-04T18:09:00.001-07:00

When the girls started swimming lessons again in June, my goal for them was to be able to swim well enough to use the water slides at the pool by the end of the summer. This was their third series of 8 week lessons, and they did well. Madeleine was much more confident than Lily and was easily able to give the slide a go at her last lesson. Lily did as well, but on her second trip down she was scared and needed help. She didn't want to try it again.

We've tried goggles in the past, but they've never stayed on correctly and have been more headache than help. I bought really expensive ones last year thinking that they'd be different, but no luck. One pair actually rotted apart in the bag, so I had to throw them away. So I picked up a 3 pack at Rite Aid that was on sale for a couple dollars just in case.

Last week Lily saw them in the bag and asked if she could try them. Sure, why not. Well, since then Lily has been swimming like a fish (with and without goggles). She'll swim up to 12 feet entirely underwater and used the slides 5 times today. She calls them her "laser eyes."

Crazy.

Little Monkeys

2011-09-01T17:31:00.000-07:00

We went to the park the other day - and here's some clips of the girls on the monkey bars. I'm always amazed to watch them. I guess the gymnastics and rock climbing has paid off.

They're apparently not allowed on the monkey bars at their new school, and they really don't understand why.

On pins and needles

2011-08-31T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here in our school district, kindergarten had what's called "staggered entry." You go for one day during the first week of school with a smaller group and meet all the teachers. Then at the end of the period you are assigned to your class and start on your real "first day" a week later. For working parents, this can create quite a situation. Both our old daycare center and the YMCA (our new childcare option) had additional options for childcare during this week, but I thought it would be nice to use this time for some family activities that we'd wanted to do during a time that would be less crowded.

So we took the Amtrak train from Cary to Charlotte to visit the Discovery Center in downtown. This is not the fastest or cheapest way to travel from Cary to Charlotte, but I thought it would be the most entertaining and give us a change of pace. Driving down and back in one day is a lot of driving, and this way we could spend time with the girls or get up and walk around if we needed to. Plus, I didn't have to worry about parking or anything.

It was a three hour ride, and we took a taxi from the train station to Discovery Center. We stayed from 10:30 am until around 4:30 pm. We ate at their cafe for lunch and got sandwiches to go to eat on the train on the way home. On the train they ate, knitted, colored, and watched videos on my iPod.

The girls loved the kids room on the first floor, especially the building toys.

They have the CitiBlocks at the Museum of Life and Science as well, but the girls were very excited to spend a lot of time working on their creations.

An experiment on wind.

Our bright and shiny morning at the Cary Amtrak.

First Day of the Big K

2011-08-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

The girls had their first day of kindergarten today. Our district has staggered entry where the kindergarteners only attend one of the first four days of school. They aren't assigned a teacher yet and are evaluated. Then we'll go back to school for "Meet the Teacher" day on Wednesday for a few hours and find out our permanent assignments before starting on next Thursday.

We drove them to school and checked them in a little before nine. Since I'd read (and followed) the directions mailed to us by the school, it only took a few minutes before they were on their way down the hall. All day I wondered what they were doing.

I picked them up right at 5 (they're doing the after school program through the YMCA), and they were very excited. I grilled them about everything, but didn't get much in the way of details. Yes, they were separated for most of the day except for lunch and recess. The teachers asked them lots of questions and there was lots of talking. Madeleine was upset they said she was too young for the monkey bars. They were excited that some of the Y counselors were the same ones from the camp they did earlier this week.

Contrary to the popular rumor, they did not just crash tonight. They were pretty keyed up and stayed up almost an hour later.

Camp Success!

2011-08-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

The girls had a great day at Y Camp today. I walked them in since it was the first day, and they went right in to hang out with the other kids. They liked the activities and games. Madeleine's favorite was archery, but she was disappointed that she didn't get to use the water slide (because they didn't want little kids out of sight). Lily was happy she got to swim with a foam bubble on, and she's hoping to get a turn at archery later this week.

Where I messed up was lunch. They were both happy with the items, however Lily was so hungry at lunch she ate her snacks too and didn't have anything left for the afternoon. But Madeleine was nice and shared apparently, so all is well.

I will try and do better tomorrow.

Swim Test

2011-08-20T17:58:00.001-07:00

Because we were doing after school care at our school through the YMCA, we joined the Y this summer. But since we also still belong to Lifetime, as it's more convenient, we hadn't been to the Y yet this summer. Since the girls start the program this week, I wanted them to at least see the building and try out the pool.

It was very different from what they're used to. There's a baby pool, a sprayground, and the main pool is 4 feet deep. The pool at Lifetime is a zero depth entry pool, so they've never really been anywhere where they were instantly over their heads.

Both Lifetime and the Y have a slide as well. At the completion of her swim lessons this summer, Madeleine and Lily are able to ride the slides at Lifetime. They're the required height and can swim the distance from the slide to the exit. So they've been riding the slides there whenever they get a chance.

So Madeleine was dead set on riding the slide at the Y too, but I knew that the requirements were more strict. She had to pass a swim test and get a band (pictured above). For the swim test she had to jump in where it was over her head, go under, come up, and swim 12 meters. Then she had to tread water for 30 seconds. Pretty much the whole time we were there she practiced and after an hour took, and passed, the swim test.

She had time for one trip down the slide before we left for the day.

Lily cheered her sister on but isn't ready for the test yet. She's not particularly buoyant and gets scared easily. She was a little sad that she doesn't have a band too, but I think she's okay with it. But she does LOVE that sprayground.

Toothless

2011-08-19T05:11:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure why, but one of the things I always wondered about the girls is the timing of their teeth. I don't really know who had the first tooth because Lily was never one to let people look into her mouth, so I just assume it was Madeleine. However for some reason I thought they would fall out on the same schedule. I even asked the dentist about it repeatedly.

But I was wrong. Madeleine had her first loose tooth last December, shortly after turning 5. It took about a month to come out, so she lost it in January. Lily's were all in there pretty solid, and she was disappointed. It was about 2 months before Lily lost the same tooth.

In the meantime, Madeleine lost four front bottom teeth, and Lily's lost just two. So then both their top teeth started to be loose. Madeleine's wanted to pull hers out for weeks, but it was just loose enough last week to give it a shot. Lily wouldn't let us touch hers until it was almost falling out by itself. The gap was so bad it looked like it was already gone.

Snow White

2011-08-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

Bowling for $$$$$$$

2011-08-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

We went bowling today for the second time - the first time was almost two years ago. This time we went to Buffaloe Lanes in Cary. In addition to electronic scoring, they had a system that enabled us to turn on the bumper guards for just the girls and not us. So it was really cool for us to have a "real" game going on.

Madeleine was the most competitive and concerned with winning. They also were super loud and hyper. I attributed it to the fact that it was loud in there and one of the few places they could be as loud as they wanted and no one would notice.

There was also a lot of dancing as this was their first time in bowling shoes and they were trying to replicate the dancing from the Justin Bieber video "Baby."

Planet-arium

2011-07-31T19:23:00.000-07:00

I went with the girls on Friday on their last Country Sunshine big field trip to the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill. We'd been up there last September to see the Magic Tree House movie, so this was the girls' second time seeing the show. While they were excited about going with their friends, Lily was more than a little nervous. She remembered being scared last year, so when the lights went out in the theater, she sat on my lap almost in tears the entire movie. When it was over, she told me that it wasn't as scary as she remembered and wasn't that bad after all.

After the movie, we had a class picnic in McCorkle Place on the hottest day of the year. Everyone survived. This picture is of Lily and her "boyfriend" Ollie. He recently turned six, but I was surprised to see him willingly holding her hand.

Happy Birthday!

2011-07-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

The girls helped Cooper celebrate his first birthday on Saturday. In addition to being all up in his face during cake time, they also "helped" open his presents. Luckily, he's an easy-going fella.

They also had a blast playing at the playground at Scott's Mill before heading over to the pool in the afternoon. I hope no one stops by and wonders who was trying to start a campfire...

Fourth Wash Out

2011-07-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

We went down to Regency Park again this year for the fireworks. When you can sit in air conditioned comfort while having a picnic, how can you not? Above the girls are playing "Memory" while waiting in the atrium of 11000 Regency. We also made necklaces and watched half of Tangled before the huge thunderstorm hit.

So they postponed the fireworks, and we watched the movie while people cleared out and the rain stopped. We got home around 9 pm and watched the fireworks on PBS. We also did some sparklers out in the driveway, and the girls were just as impressed.

But there was one advantage of the Regency trip - the girls got to catch a little bit of their favorite magic man - Happy Dan.

They held the fireworks the next night, but we didn't go back. There was a chance of rain again, and they'd been up late the last two nights. No need to push our luck.

Hot hot hot!

2011-07-06T16:45:00.000-07:00

July 3rd we attended our second family Festival for the Eno in Durham. The girls aren't in to browsing the crafts or the music, but they really love the river. We did a lot of wading and swatting at fish, but weren't able to catch any. My camera went for a swim this time, so there's not any pictures post-river. Good news was that the old rice trick was able to save it.

In addition to the river, the girls did fish painting prints, got their faces painted, and checked out live turtles and snakes. Lily really liked an albino snake named Lila. They also liked watching the old mill where they had a checkers break. It was a stalemate.

By center stage the girls wrote on the art projects.

It was a lot warmer this year, so the girls were pretty much worn out by 1 pm. They had a hot dog for lunch and had their first Locopop (Madeleine had Mexican Chocolate and Lily had Apple Pie). Hopefully next year will be cooler or we'll be a little bit bigger and can try the canoe or kayak rentals.

Today's Madeleine-ism

2011-06-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

They have a new girl, Mila, in their class from Poland. On the first day, we asked the girls if they taught her any English. Lily said, "Flower."

"Did she teach you any Polish?"

Madeleine responded, "No, Mommy. She does not speak English, and we did not know how to say 'Can you teach us Polish?' in Polish."

Then and Now - Race for the Cure edition

2011-06-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

June 2006 - Not sure what I was thinking here, but it was as important to me to go then as it is now. I dressed the girls in pink and slathered them in sunblock hoping they'd nap along the way.

This was our first year stroller-free, and the girls walked most of it on their own. Thank you to Ms. Sharon for helping out with some of the carrying!

I hope when they're older they'll come to appreciate the reason why we do this every year and how important it is. I've been very thankful to have them on this journey with me.

Dancing Queens

2011-06-12T09:42:00.001-07:00

The girls have taken dance lessons before. When we were three we did a Town of Cary "ribbon dance" class, and then they took ballet at our gym for 6 weeks or so. This year their daycare participated in a Tap and Tumble program, so they worked with a teacher for a whole year and then put on a recital.

The theme of the program was "Toy Story," and the girls' class performed two numbers: one ballet and one tap.

They were very happy, excited, and proud to show us what they learned this year.

Today's Madeleine-ism

2011-06-09T05:46:00.000-07:00

If you know Madeleine, you know one of her favorite songs is Copacabana. She's very proud of the fact that she can sing the WHOLE song.

But she sometimes gets the words wrong. I finally corrected her this week, but instead of Lola and Tony working from 8 til 4, they've been working for "Asian Thor" this whole time. :)

Going to the Lodge

2011-06-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, we paid a visit to the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, NC. We went down on Saturday and came back on Monday to possibly avoid some of the Friday/Saturday weekend crowds.

We got a "Wolf Den" suite, and the girls were excited to sleep in their very own cave. Lily had the top bunk, and Madeleine the bottom. They counted 16 painted wolves on the walls and only woke me up once each night when they forgot where they were and were scared.

Saturday afternoon we got there around 2:30 and were able to check in right away. Down at the waterpark by 3, we spent a few hours there before dinner. Lily was more tentative and preferred the baby area, whereas Madeleine and Eric took off for some of the bigger slides.

We had dinner at their on-site restaurant, and the girls were excited to get their very own set of wolf ears. We caught a magic show before the 8 o'clock storytime as well.

Sunday morning we participated in the Jr. Lifeguard class at the Cub Club, and I highly recommend it. Only 3 other kids came, and they got in to the water park early to learn about the whistles and how they save people. It definitely made them a lot more comfortable around the lifeguards in the park as they felt like they knew them.

They got to lead the lifeguards in their wake up howl and be first in line when the waterpark opened at 9am on Sunday. We spent all morning there, taking a break to eat lunch back at the room before heading out again in the afternoon. We also visited the Cub Club where Madeleine painted a jewelry box and Lily colored her own t-shirt.

We went to On the Border for dinner Sunday night, and the girls barely made it through dinner they were so tired. Somehow they managed to stay up for the 8 o'clock storytime again. This time, the crowd was much younger.

Monday morning we hung around the room and went to the Wolf Walk activity at 9:15. They played I Spy with the animals and made an origami wolf. Then we hit the waterpark and stayed until noon since we had a late checkout. We had a snack, visited the Cub Club once again, and headed out by 2pm.

The girls liked almost everything and are really unable to name anything that was particularly their favorite. The wave pool, playing basketball in the water, and walking on the floating lilypads were all favorites.

Gone Fishin

2011-06-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

We spend Memorial Day weekend in Oak Ridge with Grandma and Poppy Goodman. They have a pond out behind their house full of carp and other assorted aquatic life. Poppy also has fishing poles and the knowledge of how to put a worm on a hook, so the girls love to go fishing with him when they get a chance.

Here the girls take their turns holding the poles.

Carefully watching Daddy's bobber.

The second fish of the morning. We caught some fairly quickly, but mostly the fish were able to get the worms off the hook without being snagged.

Madeleine touched it eventually.

Birthday overload

2011-05-22T18:36:00.001-07:00

I don't know what it is about the end of August, but we sure know a lot of people born at the end of May. We got to go to a number of parties this weekend in addition to celebrating Daddy's birthday with him. In fact, the girls turned down cake after a while because it was just too much.

Above: Madeleine finds herself some shade at White Oak Park during Abby's party.

Madeleine and Lily do the cupcakes at Jocelyn's fifth birthday at Walnut St. park on Sunday.

Madeleine and Lily also enjoy pizza at Abby's party on Saturday.

We also went to Caleigh's birthday at Kenney's Gymnastics Saturday afternoon and had a birthday lunch with Daddy outside at the Bavarian Brathaus. We got him a new reading lamp and a quilt made out of his old brewery t-shirts.

How we made strawberry pops

2011-05-16T16:46:00.000-07:00

Note: This is not your typical mommy blogger, how-to post. The pictures are done with my point-and-shoot, and my countertops are not going to pass a health inspection any time soon.
Step One: Gather fresh strawberries.

Step Two: Wash strawberries.
Aren't they pretty?Step Three: Place in food processor. Add 1 cup sugar.

Step Four: Clean popsicle makers and ready for strawberries.

Step Five: Puree strawberries and let girls spoon into molds.

Step Six: FreezeLastly, enjoy.

Magic Time

2011-05-16T04:53:00.000-07:00

The girls love magic. Last year we went to Peakfest in Apex, and they were mesmerized by Raleigh magician Happy Dan the Magic Man. They followed him around all day and attended all three shows. So this year, I was happy to bring them back again.

This year he had a new trick that involved a GIANT wand.

Madeleine and Lily were lucky enough to help him out with one of his tricks.

We also stuck around to see Hubba Bubba the clown, and Lily got to help there as well.

Mother's Day Art

2011-05-15T16:40:00.000-07:00

If you're like me, sometimes you may struggle at gift giving time to find something who really doesn't need anything. Lily and Madeleine are very into creating their own art projects, so I thought for this Mother's Day we'd try something new for the grandmas. We went to Paint Your Pot and they got to select and paint their own ceramic pieces.

Madeleine chose keepsake boxes.

Lily picked a plate.

And a bowl-type thing.

Here are the pieces ready for the kiln.

Madeleine remembered all week when they would be done and couldn't wait to go pick them up.

March for Babies

2011-05-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

We participated in our fifth March of Dimes walk this past weekend. In a huge milestone, the girls walked with us the entire 3.2 miles. We didn't even bring a stroller or wagon because we wanted them to give it a shot.

Lily started dragging around 1 mile, but we kept talking to her, singing songs, and pointing out how we were almost halfway, only one more hill to go, etc. Madeleine never really complained.

Of course the girls were being super-cute the entire time - from the pre-race dance warm-up to talking the ENTIRE walk.

At the finish line we ran hand-in-hand to the end, and then I gave everyone a big hug.

Post race we enjoyed hot dogs, popcorn, and Rita's ice treats. The girls played on the bounce house, colored, and got princess tattoos (I need to remember to remove mine before work tomorrow).

I love seeing all the family teams and reading their stories on their shirts. So many moms I don't even know, but I just wanted to walk up to them and give them a big hug. Miracles do happen.

Then and Now - Egg Hunt Eddition

2011-04-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

Our first egg hunt was in March 2007 and was sponsored by our local multiples group. It was the first time we'd done anything with the club as a family, and it was so nice to see other families just like ours. Most of our friends had singletons at the time, and to see other families playing man-to-man defense was refreshing. The girls only picked up a few eggs and were content to sit down and open them immediately in the field.

This year we did four egg hunts. It seems like they're the "in" thing now. First they had one at school. Then we did the Town of Cary one at Bond Park (above). Saturday I took them to the one inside at our gym, and then we ran around Grandma Sherry's backyard Sunday afternoon. It's not so much about the candy, but they enjoy the hunt itself.

In the past we've also done the Morrisville Egg Hunt and the one at Crossroads Plaza.

Then and Now

2011-04-24T16:57:00.000-07:00

In May 2005, I told my mother I was expecting on Mother's Day. Her next door neighbor's daughter also told her mother she was expecting - but twins. I laughed. Kristin was two years younger than me, and she had an older son, Tyler. Then a month later she was the first person we called when I found out it was twins as well.

I had the girls in October, and 6 weeks later Kristin had her girls.

Mother's Day 2006 - we managed to all catch each other visiting with the Grandmas at the same time. The babies above are Madeleine, Hannah, Lily, and Sarah.

We don't see each other much except every Easter we seem to be at the Grandmas again at the same time. Today they were out taking family pictures by the same trees where Kristin and I had our prom pictures taken together.

In reverse order from last time - Sarah, Lily, Hannah, and Madeleine.

Royal Wedding

2011-04-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

I'll be excited when it's over. Maybe then we don't have to reenact it so much.

Princess Lily

Prince Maddie

Nice ring selections.

Lest you think Lily is a delicate flower

2011-04-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

Here are the girls at rock climbing on Monday. Lily is on the right.

Reaching the top!

Toothless Lily

2011-04-12T18:31:00.001-07:00

It took her three months, but Lily's teeth finally caught up with Madeleine. She lost her first tooth Monday night. Of course it was so loose, Daddy barely had to pull. For the last week she hasn't been eating well because it was so uncomfortable, but she would barely let us touch it to wiggle. So I told her it was coming out Monday. We'd spent the day at the ballpark and then had rock climbing at the gym. She got nervous and was crying pretty much the whole ride home. Madeleine tried to play the supportive sister the best she knew how. She made funny faces, and she went and got Lily a bear to hold. So, Lily sat on my lap and buried her face in my chest. I opened wide with her while Daddy reached in. And then it was over just like that. She smiled. Ice cream sandwiches for everyone!

Take me out to the ballgame

2011-04-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

The girls' class took a field trip today out to Five County Stadium to see the Carolina Mudcats play. It was their first professional baseball game, and surprisingly they loved it. They'd been studying baseball for the last few weeks in school and were very excited to put that knowledge to good use. After the circus trip, I brought Grandpa Dave along for reinforcements in case I needed them this go round.

But I totally didn't. In addition to asking questions, they were into their hot dogs and chips. They did not even try the Cracker Jacks but did sing the song. They also had their first canned soft drink (Sierra Mist) and sipped at it slightly.

We had great weather. Chilly and overcast when we arrived (lucky me had a blanket in the car), but it was sunny and we were just inside the shady area for the rest of the game.

The park was pretty much filled with schoolkids since it was an 11am game, but they made it all the way through with minimal complaining. I'm happy to report the Mudcats won 10-4.

Models

2011-04-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

We had a busy weekend - working on some Mother's Day gifts for grandmas, swimming at the pool, dinner out, and a birthday party. But something got them in the mood on Saturday to model some new clothes. Of course I didn't want to spoil the mood by running to get the "good" camera, so these are all I have.

What's funny is Madeleine is always looking over her glasses, and we have to remind her to push them up. But she complains if she doesn't have them on at all that she can't see very well.

The Royal Ball

2011-04-03T18:56:00.001-07:00

The girls have been studying the UK in school during March, and in preparation for the royal wedding in April, they had a royal ball on Friday. The girls were so excited they barely slept Thursday night and were up bright and early Friday morning. I think we were the first ones to arrive at day care at 7:02 am.

In addition to the festive attire, they'd spent weeks making decorations for their ball. We also bought cucumber sandwiches, and since then that's what Lily will ask for at every meal.

Here Madeleine is with a poor, unsuspecting boy who I'm sure didn't know what he was in for.

Next up is Morocco. I'm a little scared since that's the country where they did belly dancing at EPCOT.

Rockin Girls

2011-03-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

Busy weekend - no pictures.

2011-03-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

Lots going on this weekend. The girls vetoed my plans of yoga storytime and St. Pats parade in favor of plaing in the backyard. Saturday we had a visit from Grandma and Poppy along with a neighborhood party in the evening. Madeleine enjoyed the live music while Lily ran around with the other kids. After helping Mr. Eli open his gifts, they ended up not going to bed until after 9pm.

I made sure they were up by 8 this morning so that we wouldn't get too off with the time change. They both were yawning and tired all morning. Lily ventured out to Target with me and had her first changing room experience. After I tried on my dresses, she insisted she get to try on some too. Luckily the lady working the room who had been short with me earlier decided to be super-nice when we went back with stuff for Lily.

Sunday afternoon we used the new bike rack for the car and took the girls' bikes out to the Walnut St. park. They did some climbing and rode 4 laps around. They've gotten much better at stopping the bikes. However if they get distracted they do run into things.

We left after an hour because Lily was so overheated. So when we got home they put on bathing suits and "washed" the cars in the driveway. Once everyone was a normal color again, we ventured to the grocery store. I tried to keep them busy because I didn't want them falling asleep.

It's almost 8 pm now, and they're totally bouncing off the walls in there (usually asleep by 8). Can't wait for tomorrow morning.

Party Girls

2011-03-06T19:16:00.000-08:00

For nothing going on, we sure had a busy weekend.

Friday night we hung out with the neighbors, roasted marshmallows, and made smores. We also washed Madeleine's hair again post-bath to get out the marshmallow.

After playing outside in the backyard in the morning, Saturday afternoon we went to see Gnomeo and Juliet. I thought it tried too much to be like Shrek. What saved it for me was the flamingo. But the girls seemed to like it.

Sunday we hit up Playnation for Open Play. I'd been wanting to try it for a while, but they never had open play while we were home. The girls loved all the playsets even though at 5 we were the oldest kids there this morning.

Sunday afternoon we did our baking for the school bake sale. The girls made gingerbread squares while I attempted Martha Stewart's Apple Spice Cake.

Then in the afternoon we hit a friend's birthday party. The girls took a while to warm up, but got into it after a while. I had to drag them out when it was time to leave as they couldn't wait to try out the new toys.

Science!!!!!!!!

2011-02-27T16:50:00.000-08:00

With the weather being so nice this weekend, I thought it would be fun to go somewhere and do something since we've been cooped up sick most of the winter. I asked the girls if they'd like to go to the zoo. The answer was no. They'd rather hit up the science museum.

Of course we hadn't been since last June and I'd let our membership lapse, so we got there at the public opening time at 10. This was the first time the girls played with the Keva blocks, and I think they could have stayed there the whole time.

Here we are playing with the screen.

After taking lessons, climbing the wall in the preschool play area didn't seem that challenging.

Madeleine and Lily always try to get a butterfly to land on them in the butterfly house. This time one not only landed on Madeleine, but she got to hold one. It looks like a leaf folded up but was beautiful on the inside when it opened its wings. While trying to hand it back to the volunteer, she screamed as it flew off.

The other big hit was the origami display. Madeleine was easily able to make the paper cup and waited her turn in front of the computer for instructions to make the cicada and butterfly as well.

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-13T17:05:00.000-08:00

I'm kind of a dork. Since the girls were old enough to distribute valentines, we've always made them ourselves. The first year, when they were 2, I think we did just one valentine from the both of them. I made hearts and put their picture inside of them "coloring" their valentines. Then the next few years we did something similar.

This year their teacher at their new school asked that they create "blank" valentines with only their names on them to distribute on Monday so that things go quicker. It took a while for the girls to get this into their heads. Both Lily and Madeleine wanted to know who each one was for. Plus, with the number of kids in their class this year, we had to make 40.

So I bought some cardstock and used the Creative Memories tools to create some hearts. They raided my stickers and the glitter glue, and voila, two hours later we had some snazzy creations.

(Note the lack of glitter that will fall off - I still have at least a pound in the car from the last project)

Practice makes perfect

2011-02-08T19:36:00.000-08:00

The girls were sitting like this in the bathtub tonight when I thought I just had to capture it. I didn't want to lose the moment, so I left the zoom lens in. I had to bump up the ISO higher than I would have liked, so I've learned my lesson. But look at those piggies!

The color's not off. The water is green.

And when everyone was done I broke out the speedlite for some practice. The pictures Lily wanted me to take for her "boyfriend" came out all over-exposed. Hopefully she'll get over it.

And another one bites the dust

2011-02-08T06:08:00.000-08:00

Madeleine lost her second tooth on Monday, this time at daycare. She was apparently eating Beanie Weenies when it came out and was pretty distressed. Not so much because it hurt, but because she was worried about swallowing it. Her teachers gave her a certificate for "first tooth lost at school," and she felt much better about it.

I'd had plenty of warning. I've been watching how the new teeth coming in have been shifting her bottom teeth all around. This tooth had been loose a few weeks, but got considerably more loose after jumping around at Monkey Joes on Sunday.

Neighborhood parents will be happy to note that this time the tooth fairy left $1, and Lily was not too disappointed to find that the tooth fairy didn't bring her money this time as well. She's anxiously pulling at her bottom teeth and telling me they'll come out soon, but they're still in there pretty tight.

All-Stars

2011-01-31T09:44:00.000-08:00

Unless you've been living under a rock in Raleigh this past week, you're aware that this weekend was the NHL All-Star game here in Raleigh. Promised by the NHL many moons ago, it finally happened, and we were lucky enough to participate in some of the activities. Eric and I wore our 2000 All-Star jerseys to both the skills competition Saturday and the game on Sunday, and got lots of comments. We even posed for pictures with a bunch of drunk Canadians.

Madeleine had been feeling under the weather, but I wanted them to get a chance to participate somewhat in the weekend since odds are it won't happen again in their lifetime. Sunday morning we went down to the convention center for the NHL Fan Fair. We didn't stay too long and only checked out a few things as it was getting warm in there, and they were getting bored.

As you can see below, the girls LOVE sticking their heads through picture-taking things.

And we stood in line for well over an hour to try some of the hockey drills. Lily actually gets one here.

But, the girls' most favorite part is always the mascots and characters. Here they are stalking Ronald McDonald on the way out.

Shoe Fetish

2011-01-25T19:15:00.000-08:00

I took the girls shoe shopping on Saturday at Stride Rite. I usually wait for their Buy One, Get One half off sale. But this year they came up with a 25% off coupon. Since that's essentially the same thing, we headed out. I am not a shoe person, so it amuses me that the girls actually get excited about going shoe shopping and suggested it.

Madeleine's always had feet a half size bigger than Lily. When they were little, it was easy to just buy shoes in the larget size and pass them down. But now they're actually wearing them out and smooth on the bottom. So when we go shopping, everyone picks them. I'm lucky they only go up maybe a size per year.

We always go to Stride Rite and get measured. The guy who works at our local one is super-nice and good with the girls. He's been fitting them since they could walk and has been really good with suggesting styles and sizes. The second toe on both girls' feet sticks up a bit, so I want to make sure the shoes aren't pinching them.

Madeleine picked the pink pair above.
Madeleine was IN LOVE with this purple pair. She was so disappointed when they didn't have her size. I did manage to find it online and order it when we got home though.

And I got them both these blue ones. Lily also got a non-glitter pink pair, but they've both enjoyed the compliments they've gotten on their new glitter shoes.

Winterfest

2011-01-23T16:33:00.000-08:00

Outdoor ice skating is something I'd been wanting to try for years and hadn't gotten around to it. For some reason, I always assumed it would be crazy-crowded. This year the rink in downtown Raleigh is open past New Year's for the NHL All Star game next weekend, so I thought this would be a good opportunity since it has been so cold lately.

Now I know why it's never really crowded. Outdoor ice in Raleigh really sucks. Granted the outdoor ice I skated on growing up was only frozen puddles in the backyard, this was still pretty tough to skate on. Lots of ruts, and they couldn't even flood it because of a frozen hose. No worries though. Only about 5% of the actually rink attendees could actually skate.

But the girls had a great time, and we managed to stay about an hour. Madeleine was most interested in skating by herself.

Lily wanted me to hold her and see how fast she could go. She fell a lot more this time than last year, so she complained of a sore bottom because she "doesn't have enough tushie."

Madeleine passing a boy on the boards.

Lily and Daddy.

What a way to end the trip downtown - first trip to the Krispy Kreme at Peace and Person. Too many choices, but the best-tasting doughnuts in town.

(And Laura C - I did not intentionally copy your outing this week - it just worked out that way :))

The Deed is Done

2011-01-09T16:26:00.000-08:00

After noticing Madeleine's tooth was loose on December 16, it's finally come out. She really started messing with it herself this week, so I think that's helped out a lot.

Daddy attempted to pull it out early in the afternoon with no luck. He tried again after dinner and it worked better that time.

Lily is very proud of her sister and can't wait to be next.

Happy New Year

2011-01-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

We attended the First Night celebration downtown for the first time. The weather was dry and warm, so why not give it a shot? We made funny glassess...

Got a henna tattoo
Made fireflies
Hobnobbed with the acrobat circus

Made decorations for the mall

Left our marks on the Wall of Fame.

And watched the acorn drop and welcomed in the new year at 7 pm :)

Christmas Goodies

2011-01-02T17:26:00.000-08:00

Chrismas was a joyous day around the Goodman household. Christmas Eve had us attending the Children's Pageant and Mass at Green Hope and eating snacks and opening presents at Grandma Sherry's and Grandpa Dave's. They had no problem going to sleep that evening. Everyone even slept until 7:15 am or so before waking us up.

The most anticipated gift of the morning was the Rapunzel tower that immediately needed to be assembled and played with.
After opening Santa's gifts, we packed up and headed out to Oak Ridge for a few days (see earlier snow post).

But what have we played with the most this holiday? Craft sticks and scotch tape. Here Madeleine is attempting to make a scepter (after playing the MobiGo Tinkerbell game).

Christmas was good - where are the pictures?

2010-12-29T18:24:00.001-08:00

The girls had an awesome Christmas. We made it through all the parties, activites, and performances. The weekend before we stayed in all weekend after having gone to the Nutcracker and Disney on Ice previously.

Christmas Eve we went to the Children's Mass at Green Hope High School. Grandpa Dave joined us this time. We had snacks at Grandma Sherry's and opened up gifts there on Christmas Eve. The girls' favorite gifts there were a microphone stand and a dance mat.

Santa visited us and must have thought the girls were super nice this year. Lily got her prized Rapunzel Tower (noting that the dolls were sold separately) along with Bendaroos. Madeleine was excited to get a real drum, the Rapunzel doll, and her favorite - popscicle sticks and Scotch tape. They got a few movies and a Mobigo game player.

And why no pictures up yet? Mommy got a Adobe Lightroom along with a new Speedlite for her camera. But I want to read the book before importing pictures. Who knows when I'll get around to it.

Around noon Christmas day we headed to Oak Ridge to visit Grandma and Poppy. The dolls that were sold separately appeared under their tree along with some Mobigo games, a sit and spin, and a hippity hop.

We spent a couple of snow-rific days there and were able to come home on Monday.

Santa Claus is coming to town

2010-12-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

The girls were in their first school "play" on Friday night. Their daycare center does an annual Christmas play where all the kids sing songs along with reading the Night Before Christmas. They were excited about the songs, but they were also looking forward to new Christmas pajamas.

Christmas Don't Be Late

2010-12-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

This weekend kicked of the usual round of pre-Christmas activities. For the first time we went to the Town of Cary's "Santa's Workshop" at the community center. The kids got to do all kinds of crafts that they were very excited about and visit with Santa.

On Sunday we decorated our tree, then the girls decided it was time for cookies. We did gingerbread men first. Last year they didn't eat gingerbread, but this year, they do.

They really got into the cutting out and decorating and made it through the hour and a half.

Of course there was some tasting involved.

Au revoir

2010-11-23T04:26:00.000-08:00

With nothing left we really HAD to do Friday, we went to the Magic Kingdom. It was a lot more crowded than Monday and Thursday. We got autographs from Tiana and Prince Naveen and managed to catch Aladdin and Jasmine as well in the morning. Lily was scared of the boys and wouldn’t be in the pictures unless I was with her for some reason.

We walked back over by the castle and stood in the middle of the roundabout for the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade. The cool part about this parade is that they invite you to come out and dance with them block party-style. The girls were all about getting their groove on, provided I was participating as well. It was much hotter Friday, and the girls were worn out from all the dancing. Two Disney employees approached us after the parade and gave the girls certificates and a stuffed Mickey and Minnie for being such good dancers in the parade. While they were excited to get stuffed animals, Madeleine was upset that Lily got Minnie.

From there the girls and I went to stand in line to see the Fairies while Eric picked up a Fast Pass for Buzz Lightyear again. This was the only time on our trip we used the Fast Pass service for a ride. The wait for the Fairies was close to 80 minutes, and I’m not sure why it takes that long. There are only 3 of them (just like there are 3 princesses), but for some reason it takes longer. We didn’t really visit any longer with them than we did with the princesses. Maybe some other families do.

We hopped on Buzz for another turn. This time the ride stopped often, so it was easy for Mommy to rack up 999,999 points.

We went to Casey’s for lunch on Main Street, and the girls wolfed down their hot dogs. After using up our last snack points on some ice cream, we headed back to the hotel for more swimming.

We went to Downtown Disney for dinner to use our last table service credits for dinner. We ate at Capt’n Jacks. The food was okay – same things as everywhere else, but the service was super slow. We had wanted to do some shopping at the World of Disney store thinking that many of the items we saw in the parks would be available there. Of course, they weren’t, so we ended up buying nothing there. The girls wanted to go back to the souvenir place at our hotel instead, so we ended up back there for t-shirts and such.

Magical Thursday

2010-11-22T04:33:00.000-08:00

Warning - princess overload.

Thursday brought AM Magic Hours to the Magic Kingdom, so that was our destination for the day. I didn’t know that when planning our trip, but I’d also booked their makeover in the Bibbidi Bobiddi Boutique and lunch at Cinderella’s Castle for Thursday as well.

We started off in Tomorrowland and waited in line for the speedway. I rode with Madeleine. She was excited to drive, but got tired of hitting the rail in the middle and asked me to take over after about 5 minutes.

The girls loved the Mad Hatter teacups to my surprise. We rode the People Mover and checked out all the attractions, and we were inspired to try the Buzz Lightyear ride. Lily LOVED getting to shoot all the targets, and the girls were very excited by getting a score at the end. We skipped the Stitch 3D movie based on our previous 3D movie experiences. I wanted to catch the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, but it didn’t open until 10am, and our boutique appointment was at 10:30

Lily picked out Cinderella, and Madeleine surprised me with picking Jasmine. I’d been asking them for a while which princess they’d like to be. Lily had been consistent with Cinderella, and Madeleine was leaning toward Sleeping Beauty. They sat very still while their hair was styled, and were excellent in their photoshoot afterward.

We had a 1:15 reservation for lunch at Cinderella’s Table in the castle. It was pretty busy and fairly crowded. While you’re waiting to be announced, your party can have their picture taken with Cinderella. They bring this picture to your table during your lunch. The girls ordered the pizza while I had the vegetable cassoulet, and Eric the roast chicken. Ariel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Belle all made appearances during the lunch and stopped by the table to visit. The girls were given magic wands and a wishing star.

We rode a few rides in all our gear – the Carousel, It’s a Small World, the Jungle Cruise. We tried to get Jasmine’s autograph in the afternoon but just kept missing her as they closed the line when it got too long for the time allotted.

We had dinner back at the hotel food court. Lily and Madeleine joined the staff for line dancing – the Macarena and Cha-Cha Slide specifically. They used their new light-up princess wands to guide us across the island during our walk back.

Neither girl wanted to sleep with her hair styled, so they had their first showers that night. I washed their hair 3 times each and figured that was enough to get out all the magic “potions.”

Hooray for Hollywood

2010-11-21T16:23:00.001-08:00

Wednesday morning there were no AM Magic Hours, so we took our time in the morning and headed over to Hollywood Studios. Eric and I spent the least amount of time in this park in ’97, and it would be the same this year.

We got some character autographs right away and then headed to the back of the park to the Muppet 3D movie. Of course, we thought Lily would like this one since it had Muppets, but no luck. The girl just doesn’t like anything coming at her.

The Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground was awesome, and we could have spent all day there. Madeleine made friends with another girl, and they ran around together holding hands. Lily got mad because she didn’t have anyone to play with, and Madeleine didn’t want to do the same things as her.

We stood in line for Buzz and Woody for quite a while and looked out the window at the line for the Toy Story ride. It was 3D, so we opted to skip it this trip based on Lily’s current preferences. We tried to go see the Little Mermaid show, but they were experiencing technical difficulties and kept telling us to check back later. So we hoofed it over to watch the live Beauty and the Beast stage show, and the girls really liked that.

We grabbed some lunch and headed back to Ariel. No luck. So Mike and Sully from Monsters, Inc. were way in the back, so we stood in line to see them before exiting the park. All that was left we hadn’t done was the Indiana Jones show, and it was going to be another hour before the next one, so we just left to go swimming at the hotel again.

After swimming, we took the bus over to the Magic Kingdom and hopped the Monorail to the Polynesian for the Spirit of Aloha dinner show. I highly recommend it. It had a subtle “Lilo” theme, but not overpowering. Dinner was rolls, salad, pineapple, chicken, pork ribs, broccoli, and Hawaiian rice. The food was good, and they kept bringing beer/wine as long as you kept drinking it. The girls liked the roast chicken and broccoli, and while they didn’t like the taste of the chocolate mousse volcanos, they were amused by the concept. The venue was nice, and the show was entertaining. The only thing I was disappointed by was that they took our family picture beforehand and told us they’d be bringing a picture to our table, but I never got it. I saw them pass out pictures to other tables and would have liked one of all of us together in our leis.

We took the boat across the lagoon back to the Magic Kingdom and watched the Wishes fireworks while waiting for the bus back.

EPCOT

2010-11-20T04:05:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was Magic Hours day at Epcot, so we headed there a little after the opening at 8. One thing I learned about the Magic Hours is that not everything is open that early, so you may just wander around for a while figuring out what is open.

We went into Spaceship Earth first. It took some time to convince Lily that it wasn’t going to be fast or scary. They enjoyed the trip through time and were able to place some of the historical scenes with what they’ve read about in the Magic Treehouse books.

After that we went over to the Energy exhibit with the dinosaurs. Again, Lily was scared. But the girls somehow survived the 45-minute presentation with minimal complaining. Then, what to do next? We schlepped the girls over to see the Living Seas – or where they have Nemo now. The girls enjoyed that ride and the “Talk with Crush” presentation afterwards. Then we hoofed it to the Imagination pavilion for the Figment ride and activities. Eric and I were very disappointed to see that there weren’t as many activities after the ride as there used to be when we were kids. It looks like part of the building had been replaced by the CaptainEO movie or something.

So, we dragged the kids to the World Showcase just long enough to have Fish and Chips for lunch in the “UK” and have a picture taken with Alice. So, we’d been there almost 5 hours and only had managed to do 5 different things. We knew we’d be back later, so we just headed back to the hotel.

It had warmed up from earlier in the week, so we took the girls over to the resort theme pool. They LOVED it. They must have played on the kiddie pirate ship by themselves for an hour. I was worried they’d not like getting splashed, but they actually ran into the water every time the large barrel emptied on them.

I brought their floatie suits, so in the big pool they could go down the real water slides, and Madeleine quickly wanted to do nothing else.

After a short nap, we headed back to Epcot for dinner in “Mexico” at the San Angel Inn. One of my favorite places to eat in the world, they girls enjoyed it as well. Madeleine had her fill of tortilla chips, and Lily scarfed down the chicken tacos despite being worried the fake volcano on the wall might erupt at any moment.

Then we headed out to walk the World Showcase. Between the Food & Wine Festival crowd and those wanting to see Hanson, it was pretty crowded. The girls found it pretty boring overall, but enjoyed the belly dancing in Morocco and coloring their Duffy bear in France. We parked for the Illuminations fireworks over in Canada, grabbed some popcorn and a beer, and watched the show.

The Lowdown on the Bathroom Situation

2010-11-19T11:44:00.001-08:00

Needless to say, I was pretty much the one in charge of taking the girls into all the restrooms while on vacation. I made sure I asked frequently and scheduled breaks when it was convenient for everyone. Kudos to Disney to having large, fairly clean restrooms that can be easily found.

However, I'm sure part of the reason the restrooms are so clean is the automatic flushers. Because of a few incidents two years ago at the RBC Center, my girls are terrified of auto-flush toilets. They are scared to death of what will happen if it flushes while they're on it. I know the trick of bringing post-its to cover the sensors, but of course, I failed to bring any on our trip.

What this led to is the three of us squished into a single bathroom stall. One girl on the toilet, the other in the far corner, and me leaning over the girl on the toilet with my finger on the sensor. Quite the sight. Then we'd all rotate positions when the next had to go.

I was tired of it after 4 days or so, so I created a new game. If the toilet flushed while you were on it, I'd buy the injured girl a toy from the closest available gift shop. I never ended up having to fulfill on this promise luckily.

By the end of the week, the girls quit asking, so hopefully this has cured them of the auto-flush fear. Until we take them to a Hurricanes game that is.

Monday morning it sure looks fine

2010-11-18T16:25:00.001-08:00

On Monday we hit the Magic Kingdom – getting there right at the 9am opening. The girls wanted to see the castle first and foremost, so we headed up Main Street. Madeleine immediately wanted to go in the castle, so it was hard to explain to her that you don’t really go IN it. Luckily we’d made reservations for Cinderella’s Table later in the week so we would get to be inside it for a bit.

So, we hit the rides first: the carousel, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Peter Pan, and It’s a Small World. All had really short lines, and we got right on. Then we had a snack and headed over to Mickey’s Toontown Fair. Lily’s favorite was Minnie’s house, and we stood in line quite a while to see Mickey and Minnie. The line for the princesses wasn’t very long, so we checked them out too. The only thing that wasn’t a big hit was the Barnstormer roller coaster. Madeleine liked it, but Lily yelled about getting off pretty much the whole time.

We had lunch at Tomorrowland, and Lily entertained the crowd with her hula hoop skills before heading over to Tom Sawyer Island. A huge favorite of mine, the girls really liked it too, especially the fort with the guns and cannons.

After checking out the Country Bear Jamboree, the girls had their Mickey ice cream-on-a-stick and caught the afternoon parade. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean before heading out for the day.

Back at the hotel, I made last-minute reservations at the hotel restaurant – Shutters. This was our first experience with meal plan “table service” dining, so we quickly learned not to eat at the resort restaurant. The girls didn’t eat at all, and our “dessert” was merely the prepackaged fast food cake put on a plate.

Sunday - Animal Kingdom

2010-11-17T17:08:00.000-08:00

Not only was this the girls' first trip to Animal Kingdom, it was ours. It hadn't opened yet when we visited in 1997. The first thing the girls wanted to do was buy stuffed animals. As we passed every gift shop and/or stand, we had to promise them we would visit them again before we left the park.

Our first "ride" was the bug presentation in the Tree of Life. This is where we learned that Lily HATES 3D Interactive movies. She does not like anything that jumps out at her or sprays her with water. She spent the entire show screaming "I want to go home."

Africa was better. On our way to the safari, we stopped to listen to a band of musicians. Madeleine learned the magic of the birthday button when they stopped to sing just to her and told her she was from "heaven."The petting zoo over at Rafiki's was another big hit. The girls could have spent all day brushing the goats.We skipped the walk through "Asia" to head to Dinoland USA. The girls did not want to ride the Dinosaur ride, but loved the play area and the excavation of the mammoth bones. Again, they would have spent all day there if we'd let them. We left the park around 3 and went back to the hotel for a late nap.

Dinner Sunday evening was at Bongos Cuban Cafe in Downtown Disney. Eric and I had eaten there in 1997 and had fond memories. The dinner was just as good this time around, but neither girl was particularly interested in their hamburger or nuggets. We learned that to go to Bongos we should have gotten off at the SECOND Downtown Disney Bus Stop rather than walking all the way in the cold. We also learned that there is no direct bus from Downtown Disney to the parks.

We tried to get from Downtown Disney to watch the Epcot fireworks at 9pm. Their best advice was to take a bus to a resort close to Epcot and then try and catch an Epcot bus there. They suggested Old Key West or Port Orleans. We picked Port Orleans and sat there in the dark FOREVER before a bus picked us up and drove through the whole resort.

We made it to Epcot around 8:45 but couldn't find the one way in that was still open. We found it about 5 minutes til 9 and ran with the girls on our shoulders in the park. We caught the show but couldn't see any of the fountains or lights on the lake. Lesson learned later in the week - we could have seen just as much from the parking lot at the Carribean Beach.

A Disney adventure years in the making

2010-11-17T07:21:00.000-08:00

I'll sum up our trip in a number of posts - but we recently came back from a 7 day trip to Disney. We had a great time, and it was the *perfect* time to bring the girls. One of the reasons it was so perfect was that they had no real expectations of what "Disney" meant. They'd heard some of their friends talk about it and a few pictures on Facebook, but that was pretty much it.

So we decided to keep it a surprise as much as possible. We told them they were going to Florida, but being five years-old, they didn't know that Disney was in Florida. Of course, some people asked them about Disney, so they kind of had a suspicion.

We put these name tags on them for the trip. I couldn't write out "Disney" because that's one of the 4 words they can read.

We got a lot of smiles in the airport because of them. The girls did ask about them, and I told them it was Mommy's information in case they got lost.

Finally, in the Orlando airport, Madeleine told us that she'd heard Disney World was in Florida at school. So, if it wasn't a problem, could we stop by while we were there? So, we told them in the shuttle train that we'd be spending the whole time at Disney and doing nothing else. They were excited, but not shrieking up and down excited.

5 Year Stats

2010-11-16T16:55:00.000-08:00

Lily - 43 1/4" tall, 36.5 lbs
Madeleine - 43" tall, 41 lbs.

Both girls are in the 50-60th percentiles for height. Madeleine matches on weight, and Lily's in the 25th. Crazy girl. I attribute the extra 1/4" to eating vegetables without a fight.

Last assignment - kids at play

2010-11-03T17:12:00.001-07:00

Lily.

Madeleine and neighbor Abby decorate the sidewalk. I was lying on the ground getting all nice and dirty.

This week's assignment - composition

2010-10-24T08:03:00.000-07:00

Closer...

Closest...

Little models

2010-10-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my friend Laura asked for help with her photography. Her twin boys are four years-old and are not particularly interested in cooperating with their mama's photography skills at this point. Since the girls are pretty good through all my silliness, I volunteered us and got some awesome shots. I was worried the girls would be all photo'd out with everything going on this month, but I shouldn't have worried.

I can't wait to get some of these on the wall.

A "fairly" good time

2010-10-21T18:47:00.001-07:00

I forgot to charge my camera batteries (again), so all I have are cell phone pics. We took the girls to the NC State Fair this past Sunday for a whirlwind tour. We hadn't been on a weekend in the last 3 years, so the crowds were pretty solid by noon.

The girls went for their first ferris wheel ride. We had to convince Lily she would be fine. There was a good 20 minute wait, and I had to promise her that she could sit on my lap if she got scared and get her a balloon afterwards. We were in the first group to get on, so our first trip around was nice and slow. She got into it pretty quickly and decided she liked ferris wheels. They loved how far they could see (the water tower by our house).

We didn't see a lot of animals this time around and limited them to 5 rides. They also got to play 2 games: fishing and balloon darts. Madeleine was very upset that her darts didn't make it all the way to the board. They ended up in the tub of stuffed animals.

Photography class

2010-10-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

I'm currently taking a "Photographing Children" course taught by Heath Clayton for the Town of Cary. It's just four weeks, and currently meeting on Tuesday nights. Our assignment this week was to replicate a picture. I chose a Norman Rockwell picture to recreate:

And my take...

Early Halloween Fun

2010-10-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Last week Marbles held a special family fun night for families of special needs and abilities. Since the March of Dimes was a sponsor, we were invited as a March of Dimes family. The girls were very excited to debut their Halloween costumes at this special event.

Classic Lily - I caught her in mid-fall off the bouncy ball.

Madeleine channelling Ariel as she sings "Flippin your fins, you don't get too far..."

The event was very well-attended and it seemed pretty crowded compared to our weekend visits in the past. They also showed an IMAX movie for free for anyone who wanted to go, but the girls were happy to play downstairs all night.

Playing catch up - birthdays

2010-10-18T16:50:00.000-07:00

For the girls' fifth birthday, we had a party at a local gymnastics school. We recently switched day cares, so we had a good mix of old and new friends in attendance. Since starting at their new school they've been attending gymnastics weekly and have really loved going.

The kids spent about 50 minutes going through floor routines, the bars, the big foam pit thing, and the trampoline. But the highlight for the girls was getting to wear the harness and flip in the air like a fairy.

Hard to believe my little girls are already five!

A post five years in the making

2010-10-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today my little girls are five. No longer babies anymore, they are truly young ladies. They have been for some time, but this age thing makes it seem more official.

October 6, 2005 was my third day at UNC Hospitals. I knew the girls were coming that day, but had no idea when. Finally around 9am they came to get me and take me to L&D. That may seem early, but days in the hospital started at 6.

They put me in a laboring room to wait for prep for the OR. I was there for three hours. The only person who checked in on us was a med student who asked if we would participate in her nausea study. Apparently we'd been delayed due to an emergency.

Around noon, our nurse arrived and seemed annoyed we hadn't started the paperwork yet. But then things got started. I got into the OR and got my anesthesia. Dr. Strauss walked in and said, "so why am I cutting you?" He read the file and got down to business.

12:44 pm. Lily arrives. All I see is a tiny hand above the curtain before they whisk her away to the other room.

12:46 pm. After a lot of tugging, Madeleine arrives. They take her to the exam area to my left where I can see her surrounded by nurses. They wrap her, bring her over so I can see her, and take her out the door.

That would be the last I would see of them on their birthday. I headed to recovery while they headed to the NICU. They spent a few hours on CPAP, but were off it by the evening.

I was totally out of it pretty much into the next morning.

Happy Birthday Lily and Madeleine! You have been such a joy to me. Thank you for letting me be your mommy. I can't wait to see what the next five years bring!

5 Years Ago...

2010-10-03T06:43:00.000-07:00

I was admitted to the hospital to have my girls.

That Monday started out like any other. Work with a noon appointment at Rex for my twice-weekly BPP ultrasound. They did measurements, blood flow, etc. Then we waited for the girls to show "breathing." Madeleine was fine, but Lily wasn't moving her diaphragm. We tried for close to 20 minutes to stimulate her with loud noises, movement, etc. No go.

The ultrasound tech called Dr. Ivester in. He tried for a bit but was unsuccessful as well. Then he looked at me and said, "It's time."

Inside I screamed, "Noooooooooo! We need two more weeks!" He said he was on duty on Tuesday, so he wanted me to get to the hospital for a pitocin drip. He was going to induce labor. Again , "Nooooooo!" I'd figured on a c-section the whole time and totally didn't pay attention in birthing class.

Then the tech leaned in and pointed out that I was only 33w3d. He'd thought I was almost 35 weeks, not 34. That changed things. So, instead he wanted us to go to UNC to do another NST.

We went home, packed a bag just in case, and headed up to L&D at UNC. They hooked me up to to the monitors, and everything was just fine. Eric and I started discussing where in Chapel Hill we were going to go to dinner. I think we'd decided on Tyler's Tap Room in Carrboro.

As the resident was checking me out, I asked her about the possibility for leaking fluid. For the last month or so, I'd felt wet after using the bathroom. I'd talked to the other women in my birthing class about it as well as Dr. Ivester, but since it was only occasional, they didn't think it was anything.

She said it was an easy test, so we checked it. When she came in with the results, I knew we weren't going anywhere. I'd failed two of the three tests. They admitted me to L&D and started the first of two steriod shots. The plan was that I would have the girls after the shots.

Dr. Ruma was on duty that night, and he came in with his contingent of residents to evaluate the situation. With Madeleine (Baby B) being transverse, he'd prefer a c-section if I needed to deliver while he was on duty. So with that, I felt we were good for delivery on Thursday.

Model perfect

2010-09-20T05:56:00.000-07:00

If you've already seen these, please feel free to move along. We took the girls to Portrait Innovations for their five year-old pictures this weekend. I swore I wasn't going to buy as much as in the past since they also have school pictures this week, but I did.

Their photographer was Ryan, and of course the girls thought he was super funny. I LOVE Lily in the picture below because that is such a natural smile for her.

There was a family there with 18-month old triplet boys. Two of the three boys totally melted down, and I really felt for the parents. I remember how hard that two year shoot was when they were mobile and not really into listening. I had my parents there for reinforcements and was still exhausted after the hour-long shoot.

But now it takes us about 20 minutes, even with two outfit changes.

Bragging on my girl

2010-09-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

When I dropped the girls off at daycare this morning, their teacher wanted to show me something. Apparently they've been discussing morse code and the symbols for each of the letters. During free time, Lily spelled out her name correctly in morse code from memory.

Now, she's probably since forgotten it, but I'm glad she was interested enough to work on it in free time too.

Madeleine also talked to me about it, but just SOS specifically. I guess I need to brush up.

Roller Coaster....of love

2010-09-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

Lily was singing this song all weekend. They apparently played it at her gymnastics class last week, but it totally describes our crazy weekend.

Saturday morning we went shopping at Old Navy because I realized we didn't have any light jackets and it was chilly. They have nice coordinating things, so the girls look similar but not matchy-matchy.

In the afternoon we went to the fair at Saint Rapheal Church in North Raleigh. I remember going when we first moved here and thought the girls would like the rides.

I think we're almost to a point where they're outgrowing the kiddie rides. They got bored on some fairly quickly, but the Scrambler and the roller coaster were more exciting. They also had more fun on rides where they sat together rather than alone.

Sunday afternoon was Nixon's birthday party at Davis Drive park. Nixon's mom had an animal educator bring out 8 animals for the kids to touch and learn about. She had a rabbit, a python, a turtle, a blue-tongued skink, two frogs, a tarantula, an opossum, a hedgehog, and hissing Madagascar cockroaches. It was an all-girls party, and I was surprised that almost everyone wanted to touch even the slimiest animals.

Lily checks out the tarantula.

I don't have a lot of pictures of Madeleine with the animals since she was on the other side. But she was super thrilled to hang out with her friends from her old class at EPLC.

New Camera

2010-09-06T17:17:00.000-07:00

It was finally time for a new point and shoot camera. The last one was about 3 1/2 years old. I'd sworn by Olympus cameras for the last 15 years, but I was over this one. I got rid of my first one when the flash quit working. They wanted more to fix it than a new one would cost.

So, then I got a new Stylus. I couldn't get a battery to last more than 15 pictures (and yes, I bought new ones). Nothing ever seemed in focus. I'm tired of the expensive, proprietary memory cards. I'm tired of the flash indoors being too harsh and overexposed. I'm tired of having to crop and edit and not having anything I like SOC (straight out of camera).

Since I've had good luck with my Canon DSLR, I went with the PowerShot SD1400IS. The biggest advantage over the next model down is that it shoots HD video. I'm not huge on video, but it's nice to have when you want it.

So all these pictures are from this weekend. Saturday Grandma and Poppy Goodman came down for a picnic in Bond Park. Sunday we did grocery shopping and hit the pool in the afternoon. Monday we played in the backyard all morning, took a nap, and then asked if we could go use Grandma Sherry's sprinkler for water play. They only stayed in the sprinkler maybe 5 minutes.

The video below's from Bond Park. It made me think of the opening to Little House on the Prairie. Of course that was before I saw the "Keep of the slope" sign.

Patch Update

2010-09-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

I finally took the girls back to the optometrist today. I'd finally had enough of Lily looking over the top of her glasses, so I wanted to see if they could adjust them. She still looks over the top, so we'll see.

I also talked to Dr. Tucker about Madeleine. After our last appointment, he's decided that maybe we should wait and see how she does with the glasses and if she uses her right eye more now that she can see out of it.

We go back in November.

Beach Bums

2010-08-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

This was our third family trip to the beach and the best one yet. Why? There was minimal whining and crying. Everyone slept. Everyone ate what was on their plates (mostly). Everyone had fun. Every day.

We stayed at the same Pine Knoll Shores condo we rented last year with three bedrooms. The girls stayed in the bunk bed room in the back. No one fell off the top bunk this year. Yay! Grandma and Grandpa Bench were in the other back bedroom, and Eric and I were in the master.

We had pretty much the same routine the first three days - wake up by 7:30 am, breakfast, beach, and then the pool. Lunch, nap, and afternoon activity followed.

The girls got to swim in the ocean for the first time this trip since there was no hurricane offshore. Lily went first and held on to a kickboard we had with us. She loved bobbing over the waves and told me that "this is the most fun ever." Madeleine also had a turn out on the waves, and she loved body surfing the waves in when we came ashore.

We braved Wings again and Madeleine can be seen here lounging in our $2 purchase.

We also tried water wings in the pool this year. They worked pretty well along with the noodles.

Here Lily is burying Madeleine and turning her into Ariel.

I also purchased these floatation suits on sale at Toys R Us, and these worked great since the two pools we visited were over our heads.

In the afternoons we visited Lost Treasure Golf, where we did the bumper boats, go karts, and played miniature golf. The girls had more patience for golf this year and pretty much played the hole ahead of us the entire time. We hit Dairy Queen in the afternoon as well as visiting our friend John who had a 6 bedroom rental down in Emerald Isle with its own pool.

Tuesday morning we packed up to come home in the rain. We visited the aquarium again this year, and the girls really enjoyed the Live Dive in the shark tank.

I can see clearly now...

2010-08-19T16:21:00.001-07:00

The girls got their glasses today from Dr. Tucker. Don't they look studious? Dr. Tucker was out so discussion of the drops/patch will wait until post-vacation.

Long time, no post.

2010-08-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

Crazy stuff going on at home, only some of it girl-related. We spent three nights putting together an IKEA desk, I did two years worth of Trailblazer taxes, and I prepared for the Fall/Winter TMOTT consignment sale.

Just when everything's under control...

Thursday Madeleine complained of a stomach ache in the morning. I told her I'd make a doctor appt and took her to day care. They called me around 9 saying she was hysterical. When I got there she was smiling and eating a bagel. So I took her home. We went to the doctor at 2:45. Madeleine said she was fine, and the doctor couldn't find anything. So we picked up Lily and went to visit Mommy's work. While there, Madeleine said her stomach was hurting again.

She fell asleep in the car on the way home. We stopped off at Time Warner's grand opening so the girls could meet Wags (from the Wiggles). Madeleine just wanted to go home.

During dinner she was still complaining and promptly threw up all over the place. This continued until about midnight, and she passed out on the living room floor around 2 am. No fever at all through any of this.

So Friday I stayed home (as I had a half day off anyway). Lily complained of a sore throat in the morning, but we shipped her off as we were more concerned with Madeleine. While she napped in the afternoon, I took all my stuff over for the sale. When I got home, day care had called about Lily. I snagged another pediatrician appt and headed to pick her up.

She wouldn't let them do a strep test. But they said since she was hoarse, it wasn't strep. By the time I got her home, she was feeling awful and 101. She's been this way most of the weekend.

But, I am a horrible mom and schlepped them to the Wiggles show today. Madeleine was super-excited and danced the whole show. Lily was entertained and happy (fever kept under control), but wasn't her usual self. No dancing, only moderate clapping.

I had remembered to buy roses for Dorothy the Dinosaur, and both girls were happy to present them to Sam. Big kudos to him for making the effort to accomodate the little girls in the very middle of the row and coming back to us by the time we made it to the aisle. While I know the Wiggles can be very annoying to adults, seeing them live is something entirely different. They put so much energy and humor into every show. I can't imagine what it's like to do that two times a day, every day, but those guys are amazing.

Party Girls

2010-07-11T17:39:00.000-07:00

The girls attended their first party at Frankie's Fun Park in Raleigh over the weekend. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the girls had fun in the game room. In addition to being fans of air hockey, they also enjoyed pop-a-shot, whack-a-mole, and the roller coaster simulator game.

Eric came along with us but spent most of the party in the game room.

Afterward, we headed outside and checked out the bumper boats the the go karts. The girls thought the boats were fun (mostly because Mommy got wet), but they REALLY loved the karts.

I drove like a little old lady with Lily and got lapped by everyone, even Eric and Madeleine. I apologized to Lily for driving like an old lady, and she assured me I was a "very good driver."