Wonderful Wednesday--3 Houses Edition

Wonderful Wednesday was delayed a week this month because of Spring Break (just in case any of you caught the delay).


I'm always relieved that Eva is excited to go with me, because I could just as easily imagine her refusing. This time she actually looked at the camera and smiled for a self-portrait in the car.


We ended up driving out to Freakin Eagle Mountain to pick up Ashley rather than wait 4 hours for Robyn to bring her to my house when she went to run errands. We ended up staying at the house for over an hour because the girls were excited to play with Ashley's toys. (I had left my camera in the car so I don't have any pictures from our stay there, except this one of Eva checking out the goats way in the back yard.)


Our next stop was at Amie's house (aka Wonderland of Fun). Amie brought out these scooters for the girls to play with, but rather than thinking them the coolest things ever Eva's inability to make it move led her to denounce all scooters!


We moved to the back yard so the girls could jump on the trampoline. Eva needed some convincing since she said, "I have a trampoline." Ah ha, but she doesn't have one built into the ground like this one. There was some trauma over who jumped higher than the other, but they had several minutes (off and on) of peaceful fun. (Apparently it's very hard to a kid.)


Amie brought out ice water for us and cute, little water bottles for the girls. Hospitality is such a gift and really makes all the difference.


Amie also brought out a big bucket of sidewalk chalk. There was some fighting over the sticks of pink chalk, but since there were about 5 of them (more than the number of hands that could hold them) it worked out.


Amie and I hung out and chatted in patio-covered comfort, complete with ottomans. It was such a gorgeous day and had a delicious breeze, plus hanging out with Amie is always good; I loved it.


The girls needed constant activity suggestions, and luckily Amie's yard had many. There was so much to do, they just couldn't agree on much.


Amie gave the girls carrots so they could feed Joe, and I was surprised they were willing to get this close to him. They ended up dropping the carrots on the ground in front of him rather than having him eat from their hands, but they got really close.


At one point Eva tossed her shoe over to the side of my chair and ended up knocking over the remaining third of my cup of Sonic ice. Amie and I burst into laughter (if it had been full it might have been tears for me), then the girls used the puddle of icy water to splash in and wash their feet.

I love this picture.

Our last activity was to visit the chickens that live next door to Amie. We could hear them clucking the whole time we were outside, but couldn't see them until we got closer. Our visit to Amie's was like going to a great park or petting zoo, but different.

Of course I made us take a self-portrait together.

I had to pull over to take some photos before leaving the neighborhood, because I know Amanda H. enjoys this view, and I do too. (Though she never blogs anymore so I don't know if she'll see this...she's a casualty of Facebook.)


We didn't arrive at my house until 2:20! That meant there was still all kinds of fun to be had but the day was more than half over. The girls were pretty tired so I suggested they watch a show. It only took about 10 minutes of negotiations (I'm becoming an expert) to agree on watching the Care Bears dvd.

They also watched the Barbie Mermaidia dvd, but spent a good part of the time fighting over who got to be pink. Apparently they like to pretend they're one of the characters in the movie, but they both wanted to be the pink one. I must have told them at least 20 times that they could both be pink, but there was still quite a bit of discord over it.


Robyn picked up Ashley just moments after Whitney arrived home from school, so Eva got to play with her alone (Nirvana!). They played with the dinosaur toys Eva brought (hooray for common ground with dinosaurs!)


They also played in the newly cleaned (as of Monday) garage. They have common ground with Littlest Pet Shop animals and pretending as well, so they had fun with that. The funny thing is that Eva never stops talking, so she was constantly asking Whitney questions. I had to remind Whitney that she needs to answer Eva (I think she zones out). Whitney told me later that she has learned to just agree with Eva so as to avoid any controversy. Clever girl!


This is our self-portrait on the way back to Eva's house, notice the bungee cord strung across the front seats, that was part of their game. I have never played with a bungee cord ever in all my years, apparently I'm missing something.

Overall it was a good day. The girls enjoy playing with each other, even if they spend a good part of the time disagreeing. It cracks me up that I have to say things like, "I never hit my friends" or "I always share with my friends" or "You both jump very high" or "You both love pink the same amount."

You can check out Michelle's version of Wonderful Wednesday here.

**Would you have driven out to
get Ashley or would you have waited?
Do any of your friends have a horse, 2 dogs, a trampoline,
scooters, sidewalk chalk and chickens in their backyard?
What kind of hospitality makes you happy?
Have you ever been upset that
someone jumped higher than you?**

Wonderful Wednesday--3rd Time's A Charm Edition

Is it just me or does Wonderful Wednesday seem to come around a lot? It's only once a month, so how is it possible that yesterday was the third time of the year so far? I always have issues with the passage of time and fear I am destined to be perplexed by it forever.


I was relieved that Eva was excited about the day, because I dread her thinking she sees too much of me (and knows that I'm not fun) and will one day tell Michelle that she'd rather stay home. I'm sure Michelle would veto that, but still, it's nice that we're all willing participants at this point.


We took our self-portrait in the car (as is our tradition) and then traveled to my house. We talked about teeth during the car ride, and Eva informed me that her front teeth are neither baby teeth nor big teeth, they're "middle teeth." I found this amusing.


Ashley arrived about 20 minutes after we did, and the girls began playing immediately. I love how they just get busy playing right away. They have that unspoken understanding all kids have that they both know there's playing to be done and that they should get busy with it. There's no awkward moments of reacquainting or questions like, "How have you been?" or "Why haven't you called?" It doesn't matter that they haven't seen or thought of each other for a whole month, there's pretending be done and the clock is ticking!


Yesterday was a glorious, spring day so the girls were able to play outside for awhile. Eva requested the picnic, but then didn't eat anything! Maybe she just liked the idea of it (sort of like I like the idea of exercising regularly). She also had some issues with being outside because that's where bugs live. She had a moment of fear and crying when some ne'r do well bug flew by her. She recovered, but there was a whole lot of going in and out during the 30 minutes of outside time. Ah well.


Play-doh was the real life saver of the day because they were united in their enthusiasm for it and were able to play without too many "sharing" issues. They did have a passionate exchange about who has bigger muscles though. I kid you not, they were getting so mad at each other as they compared their tiny biceps. I told them they were both huge (which is hilarious to think about) but they still debated it. Good grief!



I took some video of them playing just so I could capture the essence of their dynamic, and thought it was funny that the big muscle debate resurfaced during the video.


Eva brought a "Land Before Time" video with her so I made them a little popcorn picnic, complete with M&Ms in the bowl. I had to make sure they had the exact same bowls, with the exact same stuff in them. I don't know why there was such a fear of injustice, but they both got after me with loud vigilance.


I was quite relieved to have them happily set up watching their show and eating their popcorn. When their show was over I noticed there was a bonus feature sing-along so I played it for them. It was a HUGE hit, so the 3 of us sat on the floor singing "The Lone Dinosaur" song over and over and over again (seriously about 15 times). There was a biting incident after all the happiness, but we recovered and moved on. It's impressive that kids forgive each other so easily.


My mom stopped by around 3:30 to bring me a shake (woohoo) and to bring the girls ring pops. It was nice of her to do this, and good to stop and talk for awhile. She ended up taking Ashley with her when she left (since they live together), so then Eva and I were on our own. (Whitney normally comes home and plays with Eva, but she went to a friend's house after school.)


It was only 5:00 so I wanted to stall for time before taking Eva home, so we ended up playing dinosaurs on my bed. It definitely helped that we were playing on my bed because I was able to recline for much of the game, and really if you've got to play you might as well be comfy doing it right?


Our game actually ended up being kind of funny since my dinosaur was named Brenda and Eva's big scary dinosaur was named Linda. Those just aren't dinosaur names are they? I kept cracking myself up as I'd say things like, "Oh no, Dino Linda come out of the hot lava!"

Overall it was a good day. I wasn't exhausted at the end of it, wasn't wishing them good riddance, and didn't have any feelings of annoyance, hooray!

**Do you have problems with time flying?
Did you suffer from feelings of injustice as a kid?
What flavor shake would you have gotten?
Do you forgive easily?**

Wonderful Wednesday--2nd Time Edition

Yesterday was the 2nd installment of Wonderful Wednesday and it proved to be better than the first.


I picked up Eva right at 9:30 and we posed for this self-portrait. She entertained me during the car ride by counting to 100 (she's got her own version of this though it's strangely accurate) and by singing the ABCs and Twinkle, Twinkle with her eyes closed (ala Celine Dion perhaps?).


Robyn dropped Ashley off just minutes after we arrived at the house (I called in reinforcements since I'm so bad at 8 hours of imaginative play) and the two girls quickly got down to business. I love how Eva pronounces Ashley's name "Ash-eh-lee".


Whitney had been playing with the barn and a bunch of dinosaur and lion figures in the morning, but the girls thought she had set it up just for them...I let them believe this.


One of the games the girls played was the "hide behind the futon and scream" game. Why haven't I ever thought of that? It provided minutes of fun.


Though I did spend much of the day talking about the importance of sharing, I was able to work on the good mail prizes for last week's contest winners, while watching The Duchess of Duke Street on the computer. I'm choosing to see the constant interruptions as opportunities to exercise (up, down, 2, 3, 4, bend, lift, wipe, sigh, 2, 3, 4).


There was a reprise of last month's game of "Scare Jill" involving the girls running to the computer room to find me holding my camera, then screaming and running away. The girls need to work on their stealth tactics a bit, because standing outside the doorway shushing each other proved to be their demise.


They did add blankets this time to add a ghost-like quality to the game, but these hindered their retreat as they couldn't see or walk well. Ahhh to be 3 again.


Whitney's arrival home from school was a welcome boon for all of us and was met with delighted squeals of joy (oh to have such status with anyone). She played with them the rest of the time so I actually got to sit on my bed and read 10 whole pages uninterrupted!


Jared picked Ashley up at 5:00, then I cleaned up the messes and coaxed Eva into going home by telling her that she and Whitney could continue their game in the car.


Michelle ended up giving me this loaf of bread fresh from the oven (as in I watched her take it out of the oven) along with one of my all-time favorite cookies (Shortbread Sugar Cookie from Barnes and Noble). I felt a little bit guilty leaving her house with such goodness, but oh well. It's not every day my car smells like freshly baked bread.

Overall, I would say the day was a great success. I wasn't exhausted when it was over and both girls were still happy, so I consider that a victory.

**Was your Wednesday wonderful?
Have you ever had a Shortbread Sugar
cookie from Barnes & Noble?
Did you read Michelle's version of the day?**

Wonderful Wednesday--First Ever Edition

Yesterday was the first installment of Wonderful Wednesday, and it started by me arriving to pick up Eva right at 9:30am. I was delighted to find Eva and Michelle both excited for this day.


After Michelle loaded Eva's car seat into my car (I asked her if that was a deal breaker because it was such a pain to do) Eva and I posed for this self-portrait.


Upon arriving at my house she immediately unloaded her backpack and showed me her toys. We put in a Hello Kitty video (which was truly heinous) and watched that for a bit while waiting for my niece Ashley to arrive.


Ashley was super excited to come play with Eva, and really made my day easier since I'm so impaired when it comes to imaginative play.


These two did great playing together and only had minor skirmishes concerning the possession of certain toys. It helps that none of the toys are actually their own, that way there are no ownership issues to contend with.


My kids have turned their bedroom into one big fort this week, so the girls loved playing in there. I was surprised to find them on the top bunk though since that isn't actually in the fort. Ashley is a little monkey and went up and down all day, but Eva kept calling me to get her down from there only to climb back up a few minutes later.


The girls kept asking for snacks, but I don't think very many of them made it into their mouths. They formed a cracker crust on the carpet, and later made a lovely popcorn rug in the family room. Their enthusiasm was admirable though, I've never cheered for grapes before.


While I found some time to be on the computer the girls started a great game of running to see me, then screaming "Take a picture" and running away. It was funny for the first 3 minutes, but became an ear plug contender soon after that.


I didn't need to pull out the big guns (i.e., Play-doh) until around 3:30. They played happily with that and were still playing that when Landon and Whitney came home from school. Whitney was a rock star in their eyes and received loud greeting and hugs. Jared ended up coming to get Ashley around 4:30, so Eva got to have Whitney all to herself. They played with Eva's dinosaur stuffed animals while watching one of Eva's Land Before Time videos. They were so engrossed we didn't leave to take Eva home until about 5:45pm!

I would say it was a very successful Wonderful Wednesday, though I was beyond tired when it was over and needed to spend some quality time with my vacuum cleaner in order to recover. Oh, and after taking Eva home Whitney and I met Lori for dinner then went to Lori's apartment to help her rearrange to accommodate her new couch. I was so wasted when we got home that I went to bed right after getting the kids to bed, (there's no shame in going to bed at 9:30 right)?

**Do you watch your friends' kids?
Have you ever cheered for grapes?
Would you have been wasted too?**