A tribute to Ms. Briana

I remember the first time I heard this song. I asked their teacher about it, and she told me it was something she just made up. It's two years later, and I finally heard it all the way through.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ms. Briana left teaching for an office job this week. We will miss her greatly.

Pirate Day

The girls daycare teacher Miss Briana just wrapped up a two week unit on pirates. The culmination of the project was "Pirate Day" where they took the class to a church playground down the street to play on their pirate ship.

When she first talked about it, I asked if I could tag along for the trip. So on Friday I spent 10:30 to around 1 with the class. I tried to dress appropriately - with earrings and nail polish.

The kids had made a variety of paraphenalia - hats, bandanas, eye patches, hooks, swords, bracelets, earrings, etc. Briana had asked people to bring white shirts to class that she could make into pirate shirts.

The kids played on the equipment about 45 min before breaking for lunch. The boat was awesome. It had a climbing wall, a plank, two trapeezes, a slide, and a pole down the middle. The kids also liked the swingset next to it as well. I spent a lot of time pushing kids on swings.

She'd packed lunches for the kids, so we took a break. Then a little bit more playing before we headed back to school around noon. Madeleine was getting clingy and didn't want me to leave. I stuck around the classroom a bit while everyone did some pirate dancing with their parrots.

Miss Briana is leaving this week for a new job. We will miss her creativity and enthusiasm in our lives.

Ahoy mateys!

The girls are in full pirate mode these days. They're learning about pirates in day care, with the culmination being "Pirate Day" next Friday. They've been making swords, flags, eye patches, parrots, earrings, etc. in preparation. The plan is to take a picnic lunch down to the playground at a nearby church where they have a boat to play on.

Their teacher put a flyer about the family day they were having at the NC Museum of History on Saturday in conjunction with their Knights of the Black Flag exhibit. The newspaper article said the activities were geared toward school age kids, but kids of all ages could participate.

We got there around 11. Parking was a mess. The one public lot near the museum was full, and people were coming in from both sides. The parking areas dead-ended, so it was impossible to turn around and get back out. There were a number of totally empty state lots, but they were all designated "No Public Parking." We ended up parking on the street a few blocks on the far side of the museum. After last weekend at the fairgrounds and this week at the museum, it's clear there are a lot of people looking for cheap or free things to do with their kids around here.

The girls were young for most of the activities and the exhibit. Having only been to childrens' museums, Madeleine and Lily did not understand why they couldn't play with the items or jump into all the displays. The pirate ship they had in the play area wasn't as cool as the one at Marbles (that they were expecting).

Both girls tried writing with the feather pen, with limited success. Lily went to make "Sea Biscuits" while Madeleine worked on a coat of arms. Neither particularly liked the singer. They liked making the sea monster mask, but it was very crowded by then, and it was taking forever. So we did our best to convince them to take it home to finish.

We had lunch at the Mellow Mushroom, and made it home around 2. We all crashed with the late nap.

Sunday morning we worked on projects. The girls have been excited about Pirate Day and ask about it every day. So, we made a countdown calendar for Pirate Day. Each day they open a door, and it tells them how many days are left. They decorated it with stickers they picked out at Michaels on Saturday.

Then we made brownies to bring to the new neighbors and necklaces with the beads from Michaels.

Then we did "water play" in the driveway with Mr. Wiggly. The girls always say they want the sprinkler and then get all upset when it's turned on and throwing water in their face. Madeleine is more afraid of it than Lily. So, I came up up with the brilliant idea of putting a cup over the top.

As Lily says, "It's actually not that bad!"

Busy Busy Bees

This weekend was jam-packed with activities. Saturday morning we headed to the NC State Fairgrounds for the Got to Be NC Festival. The big attraction for the girls was the carnival rides. They wanted to ride them first thing when we got there and not even walk around to see what was there.

First, they tackled the merry-go-round, then the motorcycles. From there we did the train, the flying dogs, then the swings. The swings were a huge issue because Madeleine wanted to go on the ones for big kids. I was concerned that even the little kid one would be too scary. I was totally right.

Lily was the most nervous as the ride started, but when it was going really fast she got better. Madeleine, on the other hand, wanted off. She never cried, but every time around, she politely yelled to me, "Mommy! Please stop the ride!" She cried when she got off because I wasn't listening to her.

From there we decided it was time for a drink and a snack. We walked all the way over to the concession where Ms. Valerie and Ms. Jill (day care teachers) were working. The girls had lemonade and ice cream.

Then they went for their first pony ride. Madeleine rode Chico, and Lily was on Charlie. It was short and sweet, but the girls thought it was super-neat.

Then we picked out one ride to do again...the motorcycles.

Saturday afternoon we hit the pool. This was our first time going to the outdoor pool at Lifetime in the afternoon. Usually we'd go first thing in the morning when it opened. It was packed, but the girls did really good. I'd really like to figure out a way to get them in swimming lessons this year though.

Sunday morning we went to see a movie - Up. Molly Scrivner came with us, and it was her first time in the movie theater. The girls did awesome. The movie started at 11:30, so it was pushing up against naptime anyway, so Madeleine spent most of the movie in my lap. Both girls ate a lot of popcorn.

I'm THAT Mom

We went to an awesome birthday party on Saturday. Since this was the first time we'd been invited to a party of another set of twins, I wanted to make sure that the girls knew what to expect. The other MoM had also let us know that the theme was to be a messy party.

So I told the girls about it so that they wouldn't fight me when it came to the wardrobe choices that morning. Otherwise Madeleine would have been dressed for the prom. I told them that there would be paint and markers, and they didn't need to worry if they got paint on themselves. The girls LOVE it when they get their faces painted at fairs and such, so they asked if there would be face painting there. I said no, but if they wanted to paint their own face, they were welcome to.

Well, we got to the party, and Laura had all kinds of stations set up for the kids. Painting had paints, brushes, and refrigerator box houses. There was playdough, sand, arts and crafts, and snacks. Where did my kids head? Straight for the paint. Did it go on the box? Nope. They were painting their hands and faces. I saw a few other parents look at me in horror since we'd now set a precedent. But I didn't see anyone else quite get into it like Lily and Madeleine.

I can't wait to read the party recap on Laura's Mommy Journal.

Who needs sunscreen when you can just make your arms purple?

Off to see the Wizard

We took the girls to see their first play on Saturday - the travelling production of the Wizard of Oz at the Progress Energy Center downtown. They talk about the movie all the time, so I thought it would be good for them to see something like that.

Because of how sick we'd been, I waited until the week before to buy tickets. Then I didn't tell them what we were going to see until we got there. Their most exciting part was dressing up to go. Madeleine got a new dress at Target that morning, and they're both wearing my jewelry. As for makeup, they've got on a little powder and neutral eyeshadow along with their Little Mermaid lip balm.

We got there just in time, so there wasn't a whole lot of waiting around in our seats. I could tell they got excited when there was something they recognized from the movie. But we were pretty far back, so you couldn't really see facial expressions like we did with the Wiggles last year. We had skipped nap, so both girls were kind of worn out. They spent the whole second half on my lap, and Madeleine started asking to leave with about 20 min. left.

But they did have fun. Madeleine wanted to dress like Dorothy today, and Lily's been talking about the witch as well.

March for Babies

Yesterday was the annual fundraiser for the March of Dimes, and this is the second year the girls have participated. The forcast called for rain, but it managed to hold off all day with only a few sprinkles during the race. It was nice and windy though.

Eric went with us this year, so I didn't have to do most of the pushing. The girls sang and made random noises most of the way. We kept up a good pace and finished in just under an hour. They loved their Kiwanis popcorn, but didn't care for the snow cones.