The Crafts

It's no secret. Iowa is soaking up another gorgeous winter day with highs in the upper 40s. It's days like this that we pull on the rain boots and leisurely make our way to school. After dropping off Kate I gave CJ non-verbal permission to move at her own pace as we made our way home. I stood back and let her stroll. And I discovered her pace is s-l-o-w. Like molasses slow. At one point I moved to the side so an ant carrying an earthworm carrying a granny with a walker could pass by. I watched a good half inch snow melt before I even caught a glimpse of our house. The first 55 minutes I was patient and actually enjoyed watching CJ explore that same chunk of ice again and again or crawl on her knees through a puddle of muddy water but eventually I was patient no more. And while I didn't gripe at her I created ideas to move her forward. "OH, can you jump over this ice mountain?" "CJ look at that stick up there. I'll race you to it?" Thank goodness my

I am tired today, yo. I've also been listening to too much hip-hop. I don't even like hip-hop all that much. (Okay, that's a total lie. I'm a closet fan. But my heart still pitter-patters for good ol' rock n' roll.)  Today has been fun and obviously tiring as I type this with coffee in hand and my eyelids drooping. Today I skipped the guilt behind plopping CJ in front of an episode of Scooby Doo because she watched it with the Bible in her hands. Perhaps she was praying for mom's forgiveness?  This was all her. Not staged at all. Promise! Today the snow is melting thanks to above freezing temperatures. We celebrated by building the biggest snowman I could hoist into the air. I may have also left CJ in the house to play for 10 minutes by herself while Kate and I finished building. I guess I was having too much fun.  Our snowman looks more like a totem pole but no one around here is complaining.  I did complain however about Frosty

This week has been a series of thrills and disasters. It's strange. We had an excitedly, glorious moment where my heart raced like an Olympic swimmer on steroids, only to follow it up with a heart breaker. One after the other, this week is roller coastering itself to the finish line. I hope the good will continue and the bad will die out in a pile of ashes. I made sure to photo document most of the good stuff, but I skipped the bad. Bad days are real but who wants pictures of them? These two have melted my heart so many times this week. They've been seen hugging, dancing and occasionally fighting. Fortunate is what I am. And although this photo is blurring I had to share. We sometimes have dance parties after dinner. This is Dina sporting her 'dancing face' while attempting to get Supergirl CJ to wiggle with her. And I really mean wiggle. We were dancing to my favorite Zumba song, "Wiggle, Wiggle" by Fulatino. It puts a smile on my face. Ka

The warm start to winter fooled me good. I actually started to believe that our almost 100 year old house with it's original windows and open NW corner was somehow not too bad in the winter. Just when I started to truly  believe it, the real winter arrived. And I've been wearing 8 layers of socks ever since.   Each year I learn one or two more things about our house. How to keep out the cold air, what that weird, mysterious light switch leads to, why does the electrical for the bedroom sconce run to the garage? The more I learn about the house, the more I love it here. My little girls reveal new things to me all the time too. And it gets me excited. I feel like I get to know their spicy personalities a little better every day. They still throw me for a loop. Like this kissy-kissy, we-share-all-of-our-toys phase that recently ended and a shoving match phase ensued. But this phase too will pass.    This is a favorite game: lay on the floor while Mom throws a blanke

Five years ago yesterday Matt and I spent our last night out as a couple without kids. A short while later I would awake to labor pains, sneak out of bed to the computer and frantically research boy names. 21 painful hours later we were greeted with our sweet faced, baby girl who had herself a solid set of lungs and feet too large for the imprint paper.  Five years later we have an incredibly tall girl who loves math, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and can never get enough play time at the park.  She loves Scooby Doo, fairy chapter books, 'running' with Mom and watching goofy YouTube videos with Dad. Kate is super competitive and wants to play every sport. At three years old she commanded I let go of her while swimming in the deep end of the pool. She proceeded to swim to the side on her own and later that day threw herself in a cannon ball position off the diving board 26 times.  Kate is bursting at the seams to begin Kindergarten and while we

I'm going to keep this brief because all three girls are fast asleep and my alone time is precious. (And quite frankly, I could use a shower, but you didn't need to know that.)  The first snow fell this past week and we've been taking advantage of it. In order to really appreciate living in a colder winter climate a person has got to find ways to enjoy it, otherwise visions of palm trees will dance in your head. While Caribbean life would be grand in the winter, I'm think the long, sweltering summers would kind of suck. (Actually, I know first hand. I lived in Florida for a summer. But that's another story for another time.) This is my new favorite picture. The stealthy, snowball clutching, older sister creeping up on the innocent, unsuspecting, younger sister. You can guess how this turned out. I'm sure glad I snapped the before photo. Our weekend played out beautifully. I have lots of pictures to share but again...that shower is calling my name.

Like the rest of Iowa, we were shocked into winter this past Wednesday. Around noon that day the girls and I walked to school with coats unzipped and a springy spring in our step. CJ later took a nap and when she awoke we pulled on boots, mittens and scarves. This isn't news. Winter has finally arrived and we are all well aware. I was really enjoying the unseasonably warm temps but winter's arrival was timely. We are about to begin Kate's birthday celebrations and a January birthday should really involve snow and sledding. While she won't reach the ripe old age of five until next week, her excitement began several months ago. Today I hung the rainbow birthday banner I made for her and this has only ramped up the anticipation. Yes, that's a book in our fireplace. It's a long, cold story. Countless seasoned moms have warned that days with children are long but the years are short. I never bought into that baloney until I woke up and realized Kate is alm

Alone time is a rare gem for me these days. Who I am kidding. Alone time is uncommon for a lot of people. But when the stars align, like they have this very lovely afternoon, I take full advantage. I just awoke from a brief nap and am now making googly eyes at a big bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Shall I read a book, catch up on blogs, clean house ? I think I'll enjoy the peace. I hope the stars have aligned for you too today! What do you do with time to yourself? Is it bad that my first reaction is to eat desserts?

Surprisingly CJ has declared herself a New Year's resolution. At 2 years of age she has resolved to eat pickles this year. I'm not sure where that came from but I love it. Kate resolved to eat healthier food. She bats a pretty good average when choosing healthy over sugar but we all have our moments of weakness. Through the month of December I managed to blog 25 + or - days in a row. Since then I have been an awfully lazy blogger. Actually lazy is the wrong word because I made a conscious decision to avoid blogging and Facebook. Between vacation in Florida, New York and our various Christmas travels, I barely touched a computer. I don't think I've logged on since Thursday of last week. While I really enjoy catching up with friends via Facebook, reading blogs and writing my own, I've found that life goes on without it. This realization kind of led me towards a resolution for myself this year. Instead of ignoring the kids so I can focus on blogs and Facebook, I&#

Attention readers: we are in recovery mode. We tested the waters and learned that the rumors are true. The City of New York never sleeps and neither did we. It was fabulous. All insomniacs should take up residence in New York and party their butts off 24/7. I like New York City...a lot, like a whole heaping lot. The character, the characters, the nonstop sights with literally thousands of things to do. Ah, I was overcome. You could live a lifetime in that city and still never see it all. I will be back. WE will be back. Our list of New York things-to-do is still a mile long and a foot wide. We have Iowa State University to thank for our trip. The university didn't pay but they did pave the way. A return trip to New York has been on our radar for years and thanks to the Pinstripe Bowl we found our excuse to go.  Either Dina shrunk in New York or she is slouching. We are tall but not THAT tall!   We rung in 2012 in the heart of the world's New Year's celebra