Marching for Babies

The girls and I made our annual walk for March of Dimes on Sunday. It was a beautiful day and we were joined by some wonderful friends.

Between scattered potty breaks (for both moms and kids), fights in the wagon, stopping to get faces painted, picking up items that have dropped out of the wagon, a run-away 2-year old, run-away helium balloons and whatever shiny thing that we saw along the path . . . it took us over 2 hours to walk 3 miles. That must be some record or something. But the day was gorgeous and we didn't really care.

Audrey actually understood that we were walking to help babies and that makes me happy.

Curt stayed home and did some work around the house and that also makes me happy.

Oh, to be two again!

Here's a video of Vivian with her best friend, Owen. It seems like they could be content to run and chase each other for hours. Watching them eat grapes (which Vivian calls blueberries) near the end of the film is particularly special.

I just want to squeeze them both!

Can I get an Amen?!

Vivian blew me away last night. Without warning, she recited the "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayer all by herself . . . three times.

It all began with our typical bed-time ritual of tooth-brushing and then a family story in Audrey's room. Audrey is now reading (last night's topic was "Gardens Grow") so she was in charge of the story. However, Vivian and I were a little distracting for poor Audrey . . . who can lose her concentration with a spec of dust . . . so Viv passed out her goodnight kisses and Daddy and Audrey had to learn more about seeds and soil without us.

After one reading of "It's Pajama Time" Vivian was ready to hit the pillow. I tucked her in with her obligatory sippy cup full of water and kissed her goodnight. I started to head toward the door when I realized we didn't say our prayers. I tiptoed back and started in with "Now I lay me . . ." to which Vivian promptly said "I do it. I do it."

Okay. This ought to be interesting.

To my utter surprise . . . she recited the entire thing effortlessly! I couldn't believe it. It's not like I've been drilling this or anything. She said "again!" and did it again . . . and again. I'm sure she could have kept on going due to the fact that I was squeezing and kissing her after each oration.

It was so cute. I couldn't stand myself!!

My girly girls

I took the girls shoe shopping the other day. The finally-you've-decided-to-show-up spring weather compelled me to do it. The fact that Audrey has literally worn holes in the toes of her pink sparkle shoes probably had something to do with it as well.

Is it just me or are kids shoes getting trendier all of the time? I don't remember having this much to choose from when I was a little kid. Although I wasn't exactly fashion-conscious when I was 5. My best friends were a boy and a girl who always pretended to be a boy (seriously). My shoe collection consisted of Ked's tennis shoes (or should I say "sneakers"?) and a pair of dress shoes that I wore to church.

We usually do our kids shoe-shopping at Target (Oh how I wish DSW sold kids shoes -- then again, perhaps it's better this way.) I'm not big on spending $30-50 for a pair of shoes that my kids will outgrow within a year. Sorry, girls. Although, Audrey did find a pair of pink light-up Princess flip flops at the mall the other day. Man, they'll light up anything. I couldn't resist . . . we bought two. Vivian has to be stylin' as well, doesn't she?

So, back to Target . . . Audrey selected an absolutely adorable pair of Peep-toe shoes, pink mary-janes and standard tennis shoes. Vivian tried on every crock she could find and was dying to keep the Dora crocks. This time I refrained. She's got enough crocks. She was satisfied with tennis shoes, some adorable pink wedge sandals with polka dots, and her own pair of pink sparkle shoes.

Let's see how the toes hold up on her pair.

In the Presence of Fools

Spring has finally decided to show up around here. And because of that, we couldn't keep ourselves from being outside all weekend. After a full two days of ballet class, lots of house projects, errands and a very fun birthday party . . . our mini-break from the workday grind culminated in a trip to downtown Ann Arbor for an event called the FestiFools parade. The festival featured giant puppets dancing in the streets to the beats of the University of Michigan percussion group.

I admit that I was only mildly interested in the event at first . . . but a few minutes in the presence of a ton of "fools" was enough to convince me that we made the right choice. That, and the fact that the entire population of Ann Arbor seemed to converge on those few blocks of Main street. I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera. [The photo above comes from a bunch of photos of the event posted on flickr. We were standing near that corner -- right by Martin.] But I was comforted by the fact that this event doesn't seem to be going anywhere. My family WILL be checking it out again next year. Here's a little clip from the 2007 festival.

My favorite "puppet" from this year's parade was a giant 12-foot walking tabby cat -- operated by two humans inside. It was accompanied by large brown and gray mice. I do believe I saw it "poop" a 3-foot brown tubular object. Apparently, it hurled a hairball as well but I missed that. The throng went nuts with these antics. I heard someone near me say "nothing like a little potty humor to get the crowd going." True.

[As luck would have it, I found a YouTube video of this very same cat -- film taken in Chicago's Millennium Park. I guess this cat gets around.]

It was very silly way to enjoy the gorgeous weather and life in general. Audrey loved it -- spending a lot of time on her daddy's shoulders trying to get the best view. And Vivian? She slept through the whole thing. Amazing.

Update: I was tipped off by another local blogger that there are lots of photos of the festival on Flickr. The tabby cat is in there, as well as the cheese grater that Audrey loved so much. ;-)

Terrible but still so charming

It was my baby's birthday a few weeks ago ---- she'll always be my baby, but she's definitely not a baby anymore. She's hit full toddlerdom. She turned two on Easter weekend.

And boy have the two's hit. She's quite the independent little bugger. I'm told she rules the roost at her pre-school. She's not even afraid of the "big kids" (as we like to call them.) For older sister Audrey, the "twos" actually weren't terrible at all . . . she waited until she was three for that. Vivian has the terribles in full force right now. I guess we're in for a treat with this girl.

For some reason events like birthdays, anniversaries, major holidays are a BIG deal to me. And they must be celebrated! Whew . . . the stress I put myself under sometimes. Call me crazy.

However, in the brief years we've had celebrating our children's birthdays together, my husband and I have landed on a very easy-breezy way to commemorate their special day. Whether we throw a party or not (and in this case, Vivian had to settle for sharing her birthday with the Easter Bunny and her cousins), we always take the kids to Red Robin for dinner and a sundae. It's one of the few family friendly places that serves alcohol so everybody wins. And it's a very lively place filled with bright colors and balloons. Although, sadly, we realized that this particular tradition isn't exactly the healthiest option for us. You can read more about that on my husband's blog.

And since I'm interested in documenting the lives of my girls as they're unfolding, here is a list of things that currently define Vivian for me:

• Her favorite foods are chicken nuggets, chocolate, peanuts, french fries, noodles, cheese, Cheezits, blueberries, strawberries, toast, eggs, waffles. And she absolutely loves bananas -- will eat 2 or 3 in one sitting.


• Says "I do it" almost constantly . . . and boy does she mean it. Don't EVEN try to do it for her when you hear her utter these words. You're in for a world of hurt.


• Is finally able to sleep in her big girl bed without pulling all of the books off of the shelf every night. Whew.


• Loves puzzles! Especially the purple skeleton puzzle that we always take to church. She's good for at least half the Mass on that one.


• Knows all of the basic shapes and colors.


• Can count to 15 . . . it gets muddy after that. She knows there are more teens but can't quite figure it out.


• Recognizes most of the alphabet. Her favorite letters are "V," "W," "M" and "H." We can thank Elmo Keyboard-o-Rama for that.


• Has recently developed a love for TV that nearly matches her older sister. She specifically requests "Spunj-Bob" and "Telly-tubbies" but also has an affinity for Dora, Diego, and Classical Baby.
• Her favorite songs to sing are Bah Bah Black Ship; Twinkle, Twinkle; ABCs (go figure), Mary Had a Little Lamb (although to that one she usually says "Do it!")

I could add to this list ad nauseam but I think that paints a pretty good picture.

Happy Birthday sweet Vivian! I love you!