Simple Pleasures!

Ginger's favorite thing?

Air-popped popcorn.

She thinks it's magic!





Oh, Age Three...How I love you! :-)

A Cute Little Weekend!

So, after the whole Library U-Turn on Friday, Ginger came home and went to bed. She slept and slept and slept. She didn't have a fever, she was just so tired.

On Saturday, she was back to her old self - so a trip to the Library was in the cards. The girls were so excited!




The computers were the big hit - they always are! The girls also made it into the stacks and checked out about two dozen books. Paprika even checked out The Hobbit! Haha.





Now I just have to keep track of ALL those books so we can return them.  ;-)




The weather was gorgeous on Sunday - perfect for a little beach trip...







Baby Violet likes to wave to EVERYONE now.  She waves hello and goodbye to everyone, and to no one in particular.

Hi!  Howya Doin'? 





She is a friendly baby! Haha.



Me and my little social butterfly:





Paprika had to run straight into the waves, first thing.  She is a little mermaid in the water and daily asks me for a boogie board or a surfboard.  I told her she can start surfing when she's 10.  She told me that she'll be counting the days.  I think she may end up being a little surfer girl.




Mr. M trying to take a snooze in the sun.  Easier said than done with Miss Violet around:




The only way we could get the girls to leave the beach was to promise them a trip to In 'N Out burger. ;-) Ginger's favorite thing at In 'N Out? A glass of ice water. Haha. But Paprika loves their chocolate shakes, and I don't think we could get her to leave the beach for anything less. :-)


Now Paprika is back to school (it's Wednesday already!) - and I am dreaming once again of homeschooling her. How many days until Spring Break???

The End.

Ski Week In Review!

We had a great "Ski Week" break from school last week - I can hardly believe that Paprika has to go back to school tomorrow. Boo!

Here are a few photos from our fun times last week - I have some of this weekend, too - but they are still waiting on the camera.

Let's see...we juiced every day.  Paprika helped (but did not drink, of course!):




Serious artwork while waiting for breakfast:



Lazy mornings in bed (often all three girls ended up in my bed before breakfast).  It was so nice not having to rush out the door in the morning to get Paprika to school!



Awesome fashion ensembles by Ginger:



Exciting afternoons at the park - no rush to get to school pick-up, so we stayed as long as we liked!








Even I got to go down the slide a time or two:



Bird-watching and checking out nature.  Right after we saw this little birdie, we saw a hummingbird.  :-)



Baby Violet found some toys left at the park - she wouldn't let anyone else play with them...haha!



Playing in the backyard A LOT - this was the day the girls found "Elizabeth" the worm:



There's Elizabeth, The Worm!



Everyone was so excited to meet her!  :-)



At the beginning of Ski Week, I was nervous about having the girls home all day, every day...but by the end of it, I just wanted it to last forever. I am going to miss Paprika so much when she goes back to school tomorrow - but thankfully, Spring Break is right around the corner! ;-)

A Little Sprinkle of Fairy Dust...

Do you ever have those days when you really try so hard to be a good mom and yet the cards just seemed stacked against you? Haha. Well, yes, today has been one of those days. And if I didn't know to laugh about it I just might cry.

I had decided today to take the girls to the Library for the day - they have been begging to go, and nothing makes you feel like a better mom than taking your kids to the library. Even though I knew Violet would try to climb the shelves and we might get kicked out for it (like we did with Ginger just two years ago!) - but anway, it would be fun while it lasted.

I made the Herculean effort to get all three girls ready: breakfast, potty, diaper changed, dressed, hair combed, teeth brushed, shoes located, snack!

Then it was my turn to get myself dressed. Getting myself ready now takes between three and five minutes. Five minutes tops. It's a quick change into my current "uniform" (sweater dress and leggings), a fast ponytail, and a face washing (no makeup). It is what it is - a season of life, and someday I'll spend an hour again getting dressed, but today was not that day.

Anyhoo- I closed the door to my bedroom to keep everyone OUT so I could get ready fast, and when I emerged four (maybe five) minutes later - I saw this:




Well, huh...that was FULL five minutes ago.   ;-)

So, it turns out that little Miss Violet got very mad when I closed the door and Paprika desperately wanted to keep her from crying. So, to keep Violet entertained, the girls had a very happy time sprinkling the rest of the house with "fairy dust" (salt) - all over EVERYTHING.

The floors, the beds, the couches...you name it.

Which wouldn't be so bad except my vacuum cleaner is a little cantankerous (it works sorta kinda, if you turn it just right).

Undaunted, I left the salt for later and forged ahead -  determined to get to the freaking library before Violet needed her nap. We got in the car and I noticed Ginger was acting a little puny. She is always SO energetic and yet she could barely keep her eyes open. I asked her if she wanted water, but she said in the most pathetic voice: No, just a chocolate shake from McDonald's, please.

Well, she's only had a shake once before from McDonald's - and she loved it. Ever since then I've told her that they ran out of ingredients and don't make them anymore. But today she looked so pathetic, I thought...Okay. Let's perk her up a bit.

We make it through the drive-thru and now I have bought three shakes because we're at that stage now where we have to buy everything in triplicate. I pull over and give Ginger her shake - but she won't touch it. She says, "Can we just go home so I can go back to bed?"




So, we made a big U-Turn in the van...and we never got to the Library at all.  I put Ginger to bed, and put Paprika and Violet in the backyard to play while I "de-salted" the house. 

I am sure we will be stepping in salt for the next five years...but I guess there are worse things than a little sprinkling of fairy dust.  ;-)


Happy Weekend!

Into The Wilderness!

We spent the afternoon today at the Wildnerness Park.  I thought every park would be crowded this week because of school being on break - but quite the contrary, we've had every place practically all to ourselves.  Yay!  :-)

I thought I would go crazy this week with all three girls being home all day, but it's been great.  Really great.  Busy?  Yes!  But so very fun, too. 

I think it has a little something to do with these two girls being Besties.  How cool is it to get to hang out with your very best friend all day, every day?:



Paprika is pretty easy-going about her clothes and will wear whatever as long as it's comfortable.  But Ginger and Violet?  Oh my goodness.  Two little fashionistas.

Ginger has 100% her own style, and she insists on dressing herself.  I changed up her dresser so she has complete autonomy over her wardrobe (she can get to it all herself) - which is a good thing, because if I pick out something for her to wear, there is absolutely no chance she will wear it.  Haha. 

Her "thing" is that she has to wear pants, a dress, and then a sweater or shirt on top of her dress. I remember when I was 4, I wanted to wear pants under my dress and my mom wouldn't let me leave the house looking like that because she said I'd look like a ragamuffin.

Well, maybe it's having three kids ages 6 and under - but I have to pick my battles.  So, if Ginger wants to wear pants on her head, that is fine by me.  Haha.  I love her little style and that she knows what she likes.  :-)




So, we had a great day at the Wilderness Park.  I made sure to bring quarters so we could feed the ducks, turtles, and whatnot.

Paprika knew all about the different ducks - I think Nana Nancy and Grandpa Dave must have told her all about them when they were here because she was telling me which ones were male vs. female and how you could tell in each breed.  We also saw ducks nesting, so Paprika really wants to come back to see the baby ducklings when they hatch.

Ginger had a great time looking at the turtles.  She wanted to jump right in with them!



We saw a lot of turtles sunning themselves - the girls got really close to them when they were feeding them - I think they were hoping one would follow us home.  ;-)




But thankfully they stayed right on their little logs.  ;-)




And little Miss Violet had a great time riding around in the Ergo.  She was really interested in all the animals we saw, and desperately wanted to jump in the pond!




See...she's just waiting for her chance to escape.  Haha!  :-)




The End.

Backyard Friends!

The girls have had a lot of fun during this "Ski Week" playing outside.  Today we had a great day at the park (pictures still on the camera).  But when we're not at the park, we've still managed to spend a lot of time outside - in the backyard, of course!

The girls have had a great time digging for worms - or "friends" (as Paprika likes to call them).  Her first worm she found she named Wormy. 



They were soooo excited when they found him hanging out in this little hole they dug:



Wormy quickly became a new pet, and Paprika had to take him inside right away and make him comfortable.



Here is the little habitat she made for him:



Later that day, she gave him a little too much water, and well...that was the end of Wormy.  But not to fear, we've found MORE "friends" since then.  Paprika found a huge worm this morning and named her:  Elizabeth.  Why?  I do not know.  Haha.




Needless to say, I quite enjoy these pets that take zero care on my part - and no trips to the pet store for supplies.  ;-)  I never thought I'd say this, but Paprika and Ginger can have as many worms as pets as they want.  Just so long as they stay in their little habitats!  Yikes!  :-)

The End.