Father's Day

For Father's Day Daddy took it upon himself to get some golf clubs and the girls had their presents ready for him when he woke up this morning. At Leslie's house they painted life-size versions of themselves which you will notice below. Pay special attention to Sam's headband and Sofie's running position! All Daddy wanted was a relaxing day and I hope it was! Nana and Papa stopped for a visit and brought lunch. Thanks for that! Everyone (except Sam) took a nap, we had a quick trip to the park before it started to rain and lots of playtime.


We are incredibly blessed to have Daddy and are all fortunate to have each other.

Sofia at 19 months and 1 day old

Another interesting tidbit from today was Sofie... what a wild child. She has been singing the ABC's lately and has even picked up a bit of the Greek alphabet thanks to her wonderful big sis. All day today, it was, "A B C D E F G, H I J K L M N O P, Q R S, T U V, W X, Y Z, now I know my A B C D E F G...".

This morning she told me she had to potty. The lesson I learned after a lengthy training period with Sam taught me that I should wait to train Sofie. At this age, it seems impossible to be consistent so I'm not starting yet. Sofie doesn't accept that (as demonstrated by her playing in a toilet, ewww... scrub those hands!), so I finally took out the potty seat to appease her. She enjoyed it, sitting on it and even lifting her dress and taking toilet paper to wipe herself (diaper still on). Her strong insistence on sitting on it led to the seat being moved from Mom and Dad's bedroom to Mom and Dad's bathroom to the living room.

I don't know if it's the age or just the kind of person Sofia is, but I'm getting glimpses of what people mean when they refer to her as: spirited, strong-willed and holy terror (meant affectionately by a relative). A friend of mine recently had a second child and described it as "intense". Oh yeah buddy, you ain't kidding! It is definitely an adventure!

The photos below depict her angelic side. Don't be fooled... she's not always sweet, but she is always loved!

The joys of toddlerhood are illustrated below:

She went upstairs to my drawer in the bathroom to get my lipstick and proceeds to show us how she applies it. I wonder if that's the face I make when I put it on in the morning?

Lovely pre-summer day

Daddy went with Papa to play in a golf tournament so the girls and I were on our own. This morning Nana watched Sofie while I took Sam to her swimming lesson and took care of an errand. We all went to pick up lunch and headed to "green park" for fun with the water sprays and playground for a bit. Then it was time for Sofie's nap, which she blatantly refused. Once I gave up on her napping, I called Grammy to join us for a return visit to the park. This time I was prepared with a camera (and towels). We stayed for over a hour and due to Sofie's resistance to going near the fountains and water sprays, the grown-ups decided to head home. Literally on our way out, Sofie embraced the sprays and all things wet. Sam found friends and it was bliss for both of them. Fonzie and Grammy found a little shade after their stroll and enjoyed the kids who were interested in him. (Grammy loves to show off Fonz.) I had a blast watching them and it was another few moments of serenity for me.

Finally it was time to head home and feed my brood. The kids enjoyed another ice cream treat for dessert, followed by some playtime and bath. "Thomas the Tank Engine" is a favorite as of late so I enjoyed a segment with the girls before letting them pass out. We missed Daddy, but it was a fun (and exhausting) day!

Here are some shots of the girls... Yes, I let her wear the bikini.

Mom, you can go now!

Last week Samantha was invited to a birthday party. I asked her if she wanted me to stay (the answer has always been yes in the past) and she said no. She's growing up, asserting her independence more and both Daddy and I are very proud of her. At the birthday party, I was talking to some of the other parents who were waiting when Sam ran up to me and said with an annoyed tone, "Mom, you can go now!" I was shocked at this, but gathered what remained of my dignity and left. It was a realization to me that life keeps moving even though I may be perfectly content with our lives now.

This was reinforced the other night when I chauffeured her to a friend's house for a play date. I was again encouraged to leave and received another good report from her friend's mom, "She was a total angel and very polite." Yeah Sammy! You are growing into a wonderful young lady! Still it was strange to think, "Sam's at a friend's house now and she doesn't need/want us there".

I have listened to many people when they talk about how precious this phase of family life is and they are all correct. We are incredibly blessed to all have each other. There are so many things for us to be grateful for and I never dreamed I could be this lucky. Thank you to my family (both blood and not) because you are my inspiration!

Sam has her first swimming lesson

Sam is no stranger to water and like most kids, loves to play in it (or with it, wherever an opportunity presents itself). She goes to "Grampy's pool", (Leslie's dad) and both Daddy and I have worked to make every pool experience a positive one.

Today Sam had her first swimming lesson. She was nervous about going and I showed her one of my tricks when I'm nervous about a new place (good posture with your head held high), which seemed to make her feel better. Daddy and I both joined her while Grammy stayed with Sofie. We went in, got situated and watched our eldest daughter shine. Sam listened and did very well - so much so that the instructor mentioned her surprise at it being her first lesson. Sam is turning out to be very athletic, which is definitely not a bad thing. She is passionate and as focused as a 4 year old can be. (Lord help us if she's as persistent as her parents!)

Daddy and I are very proud of our girl and love her so much! Sammy... you amaze us every day!

Aw...

This was taken a recent weekend day where we picked up food and headed to a park for a picnic and playtime... it was a fun day! We try to make the most of our family time. We don't need to do special things all the time, but I am the most relaxed when we are all together!

Last day of preschool!

Wow, already a school year has gone by! Samantha's preschool program was today and it was time to say good-bye to her teachers and friends. We put a note into her classmates folders with our family's contact information so if they want to call us over the summer, they can. There is also the chance that Sam may go to preschool occasionally too.

In her program today, Sam's part was the jumbuck (a.k.a. what they call sheep in Australia). We put her costume on at the last minute to shorten the time. She shed cotton balls wherever she went, the ears (cotton balls glued to a headband) was top-heavy and kept falling down, but it was funny and everyone remembered the context of preschool program and isn't it great that the kids are mostly following along? Following the performance, we headed out to the playground for the Moomba festival. The kids played and enjoyed themselves while the parents were able to mingle and talk. Sam's favorite teachers, Ms. K and Mrs. N will not be back next year, so I expressed our appreciation to them.

Say what?

Yesterday I took Sam to Target for supplies to make her jumbuck (a.k.a. sheep) costume. (The preschool program is Friday.) We crossed paths with a man who had noticeably longer hair than she is used to seeing. Sam pointed and said, "Look Mommy, it's a Daddy-Mommy!" I acknowledged what she said, stifled giggles and averted my eyes.

This morning Daddy asked Sam about it, specifically why she thought the man was a "Daddy-Mommy". She replied, "Because he wasn't bald like you". Daddy took it well and started naming uncles who have less hair than he does before leaving the room.

Also at Target... I was selecting a shirt for her when she came up to me holding a girl's bra on the hanger. She asked me when she would get to wear one. I casually replied that she would get one when she fits into one. Then I noticed a clerk standing nearby grinning. I asked her if that was the strangest thing she has ever heard. She just smirked and giggled, so I let it go. All in all, it was very cute!

You gotta love her!

Joyful day

Today was a good day...

It started off with a few shenanigans... I went in early to finish work on a presentation that I gave today... Sam didn't wake up when I said goodbye to Sam and then Daddy forgot to call on his way with the girls so I had to wait all afternoon to talk to her! Daddy said she expressed her displeasure with the situation, but they got through it and out of the house eventually!

I left work early to pick up Sofie and headed to Sam's final gymnastics show. I had a ball watching her! Sofie was able to run around in the gym a bit and run on the air track with Samantha, so that was hilarious! Here's a picture of her class:

It was a girl's night for us, so we grabbed dinner (Chicken nuggets, fries, chocolate milk please!) and headed to a favorite park for a picnic. Sam almost made it across the monkey bars by herself! (Sofie is way too daring... she is no longer satisfied with going up the ladders and has decided she wants to climb down too. I am actively discouraging that at this point because can't she wait until she's at least 2 to start that?) Sam did the same stuff though and we survived. This particular park has a beach so of course I took the girls there! We had a ball wading in the water and playing in the sand. Once we got home, the girls got a bath and were exhausted after a full day.

Sam's class was invitational, meaning that she was chosen to attend because she was so well-behaved and exhibited an aptitude for gymnastics. Samantha is confident in her abilities and looks forward to every class. (Sam loves gymnastics, but we're going to take a break this summer and start swimming lessons instead. She has politely informed me that this fall she would like ballet classes.) You can view the evidence below...

So hard to say goodbye

Oh, how I miss my kids during the workday. I love playing with my girls, teaching them and watching them navigate the world. It is wonderful to experience the world through a child's eyes, maybe even more so when it's your child.

I knew how lucky I was to have the schedule I did in my previous job and I am still grieving that loss after 5+ weeks of working this job. Believe me, I'm not complaining about having a job right now! There are so many honest and hard-working people struggling in this time. I am grateful for my job and the career opportunities it represents. Right now it's not so much the job or even the commute that is overly stressful - it's really the 10 hours I am away every weekday. I'm staying with my commitment to give it 6 months because that will give us time to transition and adjust. I know there are proposals to implement flex-time here so for now I will just get through the day and appreciate the time I have with my family.

However, when I heard that Sam recently told a teacher that she was sad I didn't take her to preschool anymore I cried because I am incredibly sad too! I spoke with her teacher (Ms. Nielsen is a wonderful teacher) and she did her best to comfort Sam.

I'm grateful that I have a husband, 2 smart and sweet kids, a supportive extended family, a dog, friends, a home, career and especially grateful that we are all relatively healthy!