scottish books

Rob brought some books home from Scotland for the girls to enjoy. He had been telling them that he bought them some presents while gone but didn't tell them what they were (the surprise was supposed to motivate them to be good for their mommy while he was away). 

After we picked him up and got back to the car, he unveiled the presents. Little Bird was super excited and like with most gifts given to her and her sister, she quickly claimed which two (always mindful of equal fairness) would be hers. Little Pie, always the one to accept whatever is left, claimed the other two with excitement. 

They read the books on the way home from the airport. Little Bird was so excited to learn more about Nessie and to see the castle that Daddy had visited. Little Pie on the other hand, declared books an unacceptable gift. After she finished reading them, she said she didn't want books for a present and that she wanted Rob to go back to Scotland and get her some coins because she didn't have enough coins and needed some from Scotland.

We have some work to do with her...

welcome home daddy

His plane landed at 3:40pm.

We had already been there since 3.

We brought our signs to hold up and welcome him home.

We could hardly contain our excitement.

 

We enjoyed a snack while we waited.

We wolfed it down because we were so anxious.

We checked the monitor and saw that his plane had landed.

At first we acted a little silly.

We watched for the first signs of people from his flight.

A couple of girls thought their daddy would be the first through the doors.

We saw the first pair of legs coming down the escalator.

We had our signs ready.

Turns out we would have to wait a bit longer.

Is that him?

He's going to be next, right Mom?

 And finally ... the girls spotted him first.

Smiles and laughter erupted throughout the waiting area as the girls yelled for their Daddy.

We weren't going to let him go.

We cheered and chanted Daddy Daddy Daddy as we walked hand in hand.

We are happy!

a glimpse into Little Pie's mind

When we go to Nana's house in the summer, the girls become obsessed with her flowers. They must always participate in the watering (sometimes they need to be held back because they tend to over water) and they definitely have to wander around the yard looking at all the full pots.

This year is no different, and when we visited last weekend, the girls had to check all the flowers out. They are very into determining which flowers have opened wide (i.e. bloomed). 

Nana has a hibiscus that surprisingly does well and blooms some beautiful yellow flowers. When we arrived there wasn't yet a huge beautiful flower to look at but by the next morning Little Pie noticed that the flower had opened wide.

But, in Little Pie's mind, that was not all that she noticed. She declared the flower has a trumpet!

In her mind, the flower was sprouting it's very own trumpet. And because kids never forget anything, she announced she needed to find her trumpet. So off to the basement she dragged me, and we dug through all the baby toys that don't get played with anymore and found her trumpet.

She's talked about the trumpet flower every day since.

daddy takes the castle

Rob remains in Scotland, finishing up his second week of working there. It continues to be a really tough time at home without him. At first I didn't think it would be hard at all considering we have been home two weeks without him before, but I'm finding myself almost counting the minutes until he returns Friday afternoon. 

We have been FaceTiming with him every day around 4pm (10pm Scotland time). At least we are able to "see" him everyday, but it is still really hard not having him here with us. The girls are curious about Scotland so we have taken a trip there via Google Earth and have watched a few You Tube videos to get a better idea of what Scotland is like (i.e. it's not just the lobby of the hotel Daddy FaceTimes us from). 

I had been telling the girls about the Edinburgh Castle and that Daddy would be visiting it over the weekend. They were quite intrigued and every time Little Pie talked with Daddy she asked him about it. Finally he went and sent us some pictures.

He titled his email "Daddy takes the castle...and rescues the princesses". Here are his pictures (the captions are me talking to the girls while looking at the pictures):

Here is the castle that Daddy went to. He is going to rescue the princesses that are trapped there.

First he has to get passed the guards.

Hopefully nobody will attack him while he's trying to rescue the princesses.

Daddy better behave himself!

He doesn't want to break the rules or he might have to go to jail.

One more guard to get past!

Looks like he made it!

And the princesses have been rescued!

After we went through the pictures we talked with Rob and he asked the girls who the princesses were. Their response was Belle and Cinderella. We continued to ask them and they never identified the rescued princesses as themselves. We aren't sure if they get this "joke" because they keep asking questions about the "princesses in the castle". It's hilarious how they aren't putting it together!

I am really anxious for Rob to return and for us to get back to a somewhat normal routine. Having him be gone for two weeks really makes me wonder how single parents or parents with a spouse in the military do it. It is so tough. Especially when kids are this age, although I'm sure it is just as difficult at any age. I have so much respect for those parents who do it alone every day.

mother's day weekend

Mother Nature didn't disappoint and provided all Minnesota mothers with the most gorgeous weekend. I honestly don't think it could have gotten any better.

Unfortunately on late Friday she provided Little Bird with some serious germs. After being up several times with a very sick Little Bird, I got up early with a perky Little Pie. Since our plans of going out for a Mother's Day brunch on Saturday morning were scrapped because Little Bird was so sick, we let her and Rob sleep in (so he could get over his illness before he left for Scotland that night).

Little Pie and I kept busy, entertaining Little Bird as she coughed and watching Rob mow the lawn (one more chore before he left for two weeks). That afternoon Little Pie and I played her new favorite kicking game outside while Rob packed and Little Bird napped. Before too long it was time to drive Rob to the airport. Even though I am very used to being home with the girls on my own for an entire week, I shed some tears before leaving as I thought of how much of a disappointment of our fun last day before daddy leaves turned out to be. We won't get to see him (except via FaceTime) for TWO weeks. Now that it's finally here, two weeks seems like such a long time!

We did, however, have quite a humorous ride to the airport as Little Pie had a sudden potty emergency and we had to pull into a parking lot and have her use the potty in the back of the van. She was mesmerized by the speakers that were blasting out her beloved Fresh Beat Band. She even asked if she could just ride back there! Both girls entertained us with their map reading and even debated which one of them had the best route to the airport. Both girls were quite curious about where Scotland actually was and why daddy had to go there. Little Bird concluded that since it was so far far away Daddy must have to take a rocket ship there. As we approached the airport, two little girls in the backseat and one big girl in the front, whined a bit about not wanting Rob to leave.

Saturday night was another tough night as Little Bird still needed several neb treatments and a lot of reassurance that she was actually going to get better soon. When morning came we were all so groggy so we skipped church and I chugged coffee while we watched zoned out Tangled.

Because it was Mother's Day (and I was so exhausted) I decided that instead of making and cleaning up lunch, we would go to Panera. We had a fun time sitting outside in the gorgeous weather (Little Pie had to talk to everyone that walked by us and wave at almost all the cars that drove by us).

One problem with eating outside is that if you forget napkins, you are sort of screwed. Thankfully the lady next to us had extras!

After our lunch, we ran to the library quick and then headed to Brenda and Eric's for a Mother's Day celebration with Nana, Papa, Uncle Drew, Magramma, Boompa, Brenda, Eric, Erin, Cody and Katie.

We sat outside, the girls played (i.e. Little Pie told, not asked, who would play the kicking game with her). We took a tour of Brenda's beautiful garden.

 We played some more. We ate. We played.

And then it was time to go home. And just like that, the weekend was over.
 

oh the fun

We got to spend several days with Gramma last week as she finally returned from Arizona. I think these pictures show just how much fun the girls have with Gramma (and this is just one day)!

Driving to the park.

Stopping to chat up a beagle.

Quickly approaching our destination.

I finally remembered to bring the sand toys.

Swinging high, enjoying life.

Push me higher!

Twins in sync.

Showing off some mad skills.

Strong core!

Hanging around.

Should we tell everyone Gramma fell off the end of the slide?

How high can we fly?

water table, huh?

We were fortunate that Mother Nature provided us with a warm week (even amongst all the rain and thunderstorms). In fact, the other day it was even warm enough to prompt me to climb a ladder and retrieve the water table from it's winter home in the garage. 

And because it was approaching 4 o'clock, I set the table up on the driveway instead of it's summer home in the backyard.

The girls played with it for TWO hours without so much as a bathroom break (OK, Little Bird made one quick trip). There were no fights, no arguments, no accidental knock downs, no disruptions whatsoever. For TWO hours. 

The penguin, walrus and polar bear sure had quite the adventure!

They were completely soaked!

So, the next day, what do you suppose they asked to do the minute I said let's go outside and play?

More water table fun!

Not sure why she wanted to pose like this.

Then Little Bird had to get in on the posing.

She couldn't quite get it the way she wanted.

And for good measure, let's just take a look at one of their first experiences with the water table. I CANNOT believe how much they have grown.

May 2010 with BFF.

May 2010