Long weekend update

We started off the weekend with an overnight at Grandma and Grandpa Bench's house so that Mom and Dad could enjoy dinner at the 42nd Street Oyster Bar for CBC's 13th anniversary.

Friday afternoon we headed out to Pittsboro for a cookout with Jerald and Hunter. This is now our third year spending the holiday with them, so it's officially a tradition. Hunter shared with us her happy news that they're officially pregnant. Since this pregnancy is a result of an IVF treatment, tomorrow they'll be finding out how many babies they are expecting. So we may find ourselves not the only parents of multiples in our circle of friends. The girls had a great time at the visit, and got quite loud playing "bed time" while we were finishing up dinner.

We left around 7 or so, and the thunderstorms hit pretty big around 9pm or so.

Saturday morning we just hung out around the house. In the afternoon we set up our new kiddie pool in the driveway. It was kind of cloudy, so it wasn't super warm. We spent about half an hour out there before Lily got too cold.

My favorite part was the swimsuits. Eric said something to the girls about how it looked like the fish were kissing. So they smashed bellies so that the fish on Maddie's belly kissed the fish on Lily's belly.

Sunday morning it was cloudy and cool, but we headed out to the pool at the gym anyway with Aunt Laura. The girls survived well and even managed to try a few new things. They're always disappointed that the little slide isn't outside. We had pizza lunch at the cafe and took Aunt Laura home.

Weekend Plans

The girls spent the weekend in Oak Ridge with Grandma and Grandpa Goodman while Mommy was a few miles away at her hockey tournament. They came to watch me in my 4pm game on Saturday, and of course they were super cute.

On Sunday I tried to get them to tell me how their weekend was. I don't get a whole lot of details. What's funny to me is how much Lily wants to be the one to tell me what went on.

Ice Cream Party

People at my work had been complaining that they hadn't seen the girls in a long time. And they were right. We hadn't been in the office since Halloween. So when a staff member's birthday came up, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to organize an ice cream party and pick the girls up from day care early to spend the afternoon with me.

I started talking to them about it last week, so that it wouldn't come as a surprise to them when I showed up. They get very upset if I get there when they're playing outside or in the middle of watching a movie, etc.

So, I picked them up at 3:15, and they were very excited to come with me. We had to tell EVERYBODY that we were going to an ice cream party before we left the center.

They were super well-behaved once we got to the office. They each had chocolate and vanilla ice cream with a little whipped cream. They didn't want sprinkles or Oreo bits. We went and washed hands once they got all sticky, but both girls immediately wanted more ice cream again.

Afterwards, we went to Aunt Laura's desk where they colored for about half an hour. Laura's coworkers lent them all kinds of pretty markers, so they enjoyed making pictures for her cubicle.

Lily's highlight was her trip to go potty. When I took her into one of the stalls she saw the double toilet paper holders and exclaimed excitedly, "There's TWO toilet papers in here!"

Weekend Update

We spent a lot of time this weekend playing dress up. The afternoons/evenings were stormy, so we spent most of our time indoors. The girls and I were doing our ballet routine to The Little Mermaid Soundtrack.

Overheard:

The girls were running low-grade fevers on Saturday, so I went to give them Tylenol before bed.

Mommy: "Come get your medicine!"

Madeleine: "Mommy? Am I not feeling well?"

Overheard...

Walking out of day care today, Lily stopped one of the incoming daddies and asked, "What's your name?"

"Mark."

They stood there with a confused look and said, "Marcie?"

I said, "No, Mark. Like Uncle Mark."

Madeleine replies, "Oh, regular Mark."

Father's Day

We didn't do anything particularly exciting for Father's Day. Eric slept late, and the girls helped me make blueberry muffins in the kitchen. They've done it a few times before, and I just bring all the ingredients down to the floor.

Lily pours the milk in, and Madeleine pours in the oil. They always want to crack the eggs, but I'm not that courageous yet. They each have their own spatula to stir, but Lily is the first to want to lick the batter. They've filled the muffin tins with the paper cups and do their best to fill them up. If I'm lucky they allow Mommy to help, so that at least some cups get enough batter.

They LOVE to eat the muffins though. We make a mix of regular size muffins along with some mini muffins. Lily ate 3 big and 3 little. Madeleine stopped after one and a half.

They made decorated can cozies at day care: Out of this World Dad. There's foam stickers of astronauts and satellites on them. The girls thought they were candles, flipped them over, stuck their fingers up through the hole, and sang Happy Birthday.

Race Day 2008

Yesterday was the 12th annual Race for the Cure in our city. I've been participating for 8 years now, and this was the third year the girls have participated with me (4 if you count in-utero).

We stared our day off really early at 6am. Aunt Laura came by to help get everyone ready and go to the race with us. This year we parked at the RBC Center and rode the shuttle buses rather than parking on the campus. It went rather smoothly, and we were at Meredith by 6:50. We went and got some bananas and bagels, and then headed to meet up with the rest of the Trailblazers folks.

They moved the starting point out onto Hillsborough St. this year and moved up the start time by 15 minutes. The street was super crowded, so it was a while before we could get up to a good walking pace. The girls were antsy for a bit, but got into the groove once Mommy provided them with goldfish crackers.

Mommy's friend Sharon helped us on the next leg, pushing up a lot of the big hills. Madeleine was smitten with Marcie though, and kept yelling her name. We couldn't get too far ahead of the group because the girls were looking around for Mommy's friends all the time.

We finished just before 9, so it was about an hour. Not too bad. If there had been more room and we hadn't been waiting for my friends, we probably could have finished in under 45 minutes.

The line for the next race (the co-ed 5K) was enormous.

We went immediately to the Kid Zone where they had a jumping castle and a Tumblebus. The girls patiently waited their turn for the castle, and Madeleine was excited to discover the Tumblebus. Then we played with purple rice for quite a bit. We left around 10 am.

The shuttle bus back to the RBC Center was a little tougher than the ride there. Not only were people not willing to help, but most wouldn't even get out of my way. The jogging stroller just fits up the aisle, and I had one gentleman who refused to move his leg out of the way so that we could get through. He wouldn't even make eye contact. Luckily Laura got the girls settled in the seats, and she came up to help me lift the stroller over everyone's heads.

The girls had a great time, and I look forward to next year when they can run in their own little runners race.