Heat Wave!

It has been SO hot here this past week - and especially this weekend!  I know a lot of places get a lot hotter than here - but, we are also not set up for heat.  Our house has no heat, no air conditioning, single pane windows, and traps heat inside.  We have been roasting!

We have been playing in the backyard with blocks of ice - basically, I freeze a bunch of ice in ziplock bags, and then fill up various containers (pots, pans, and cups) with water, and we play with that.  I like that better than a kiddie pool because that gets so dirty plus the bowls of water seem to keep everyone occupied longer. 

We've played "Barbie Swimming Pool" with our pots and pans, made lots of "Ice Soups" and I even convinced Violet to water the lawn one cup at a time.  Ha!

So, yesterday we took a break from that backyard fun and took a trip to the air conditioned mall to escape the heat.  The girls thought it was wonderful!





Here we are out in the wild.  Can you tell we don't go to the mall very often?  Haha!





We went to the Pottery Barn Kids store - and the girls had so much fun in there for a bit.  Paprika loved looking at the dolls especially:




Violet liked the kitchen and tea party stuff.  This reminded me of Toy Story:  How do you take your Tea, Mrs. Nesbit?





Earlier this week, Paprika did a few more online art lessons through Thrive.  She learns so much from these lessons and it spills over into her other drawings - she is drawing ALL the time this summer (as is Ginger)!  They mostly draw princesses and fairies - but Paprika loved this Dragon lesson:





She loved it so much that she drew it a second time!  Different colors, though:



Ginger saying:  I LOVE YOU with sign language...




Violet puts everything in her mouth - and so I had to laugh when she walked up to me with this pacifier because she can't STAND pacifiers and only wants her human pacifier (me).  I would LOVE for her to take up the paci, but alas, this was just her way of messing with me:






Making green juice - I've been making it in batches and Mr. M and I each have one for breakfast most days.  This was Baby Kale, Cucumber, Carrot, Strawberry:




Ginger, Violet, and I have been going to the park every day during Paprika's swim team time. It's a good way to spend an hour because it doesn't quite make sense to drop Paprika off and then go home, and then come right back. Ginger has been wearing her swimsuits everywhere - which is funny since she told me that she does NOT like swimming! (At least not without her floatie):









Violet (19 months) is VERY particular about what she wears - she will throw a FIT if you put her in anything but exactly what she chooses. Here is an example of her style that she put together last week. I was cracking up, but she was SO insistent about it (even down to the mismatched shoes):






What can I say, the girl knows what she likes!  :-)

The End!

Delicious!

Our roses are back in bloom.  I caught these sweet moments between Violet and Ginger, who were playing in the backyard.  Note Violet's mismatched shoes- she insisted that she wear two different shoes (that's her "new thing" recently).  LOVE!
























The End!

Summer Snapshots!

I feel like I've lived a lifetime since my last blog post.  Let's see...

This past weekend, Grandma Pat came down to visit so Mr. M and I went on two dates!  The first date we went to the beach and then out for Thai food.  The second date we went to the beach and then we went to a little fish restaurant that I LOVE...

Well, I loved it until it gave me food poisoning (for the second time!)

The last time we went there was two years ago and I got food poisoning then - so it took me a few years to go back.  I got so incredibly sick, it was unreal!  Pat stayed an extra day (thank goodness!) to help me with the kids.  Yay for small miracles like having Grandma in town when illness strikes!  Ha!

Here we are on our date down at the beach:





Little Instagram view of our small beach town:





Daisy surviving the DOG days of summer!  ;-)  It was pretty hot there for a few days!




Paprika went to a birthday party at a fashion design studio on Saturday!  Two of her classmates turned 6 years old.  It was cute - they decorated T-shirts and at the end did a little fashion show...




Violet sleeping at naptime!  She's 19 months old, and you know, for the first 19 months I held her for every single nap because the second I would put her down, she would wake up! 

Now I can lay her down (after she falls asleep) and she will nap for 10 or 15 minutes before she wakes up and I have to hold her again.  Not complaining...I'll hold her as long as she wants me to...she's growing up so fast as it is!




Paprika having a snack.  Daisy hoping for a handout!  Ha!





We've been getting out the paints a lot.  Violet is like her sisters and LOVES to paint!








Since she's 19 months, it's always a little messy!  Haha!





Painting by Ginger - she did this watercolor with Grandma Pat while I was sick in bed!





Ginger painting today. I had to just take a picture of the painting and not her because she didn't want to wear clothes when she painted. Ha!




Paprika had her piano recital on Sunday.  She did a great job!  She played Largo from The New World Symphony by Dvorak, and she played Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

I have been trying to upload the video of her performing - but for some reason, I can't get YouTube to upload it...so, I'll keep working on that!

In the meantime, here she is with her teacher, Miss Rachel, warming up before the recital:




Then, last night they had their final lesson together.  Miss Rachel is moving on to work on music therapy instead of teaching lessons.  Oh my - we are so sad!  I had to take Paprika to the lesson last night since it was the last one - and I was so sick from food poisoning I almost threw up in the parking lot.

I sat in the corner during their lesson and stayed very still.  Anyway - here they are doing some music theory in the last few minutes of the lesson:



Yesterday was also the start of the summer swim season here. Paprika had swim team practice, and I had signed Ginger up for an entire summer of daily lessons! You have to sign up for the lessons way in advance because the spots fill up quickly - so anyway, we were hoping that it would all work out so Ginger could have her lesson and then right after Paprika would go to swim team. You know, nice and convenient!

Even though I had food poisoning, I still wanted to take them to the pool because since it was the first day, it's when they determine what spots you'll be in for the group lessons and the lanes for the swim team.



So, Ginger was super excited about the lessons (just like last year - haha) - and I even offered her incentives (my keyword for bribes) for staying in the water the whole lesson. It was all sunny and perfect...



But, everything broke down the second Ginger realized she'd have to get into the pool. She was screaming at the teachers, "Get me out of here! You're not my mommy! Don't touch me! Get your hands off me!"

Ginger was having a panic attack and then Paprika sat in something that caused her whole body to break out in hives and she was yelling, "My legs are on fire!  What's happening!" 

And sure enough, Paprika had hives all over her legs.  Now - please remember that I had food poisoning and was so sick I could barely stand up...so I was trying to deal with all this when I actually felt like I wanted to DIE. 

So, I got Paprika in the shower which helped her, and then the manager (who is awesome) offered to let Paprika help out with Ginger's lesson.  So, Paprika got in the pool to help out, but it didn't help even though Paprika was doing everything she could to cheer up Ginger.



After half an hour, we just kind of gave up and decided to try again next year!  I can get a partial refund for the lessons - and well, I just don't know what to do.  If you had seen Ginger crying and shaking in the water, it was like she was having a panic attack and everyone (including her most of all) was relieved when she got out.

Last night, I talked to her about why she didn't want to swim and she said:  I only want my mommy or my daddy touching me!  And I only want to swim in Paula's pool with my floatie!

Which, if I were listening, she'd told me that beforehand but I thought she'd get over it.  But...I guess not!  She did six months of private lessons 4 times/week - so Ginger CAN swim (like if she were thrown into a pool, she could make it over to the side of the pool).  She just really has a super fear of the water, which right now I feel like I need to respect.  But it's hard to know when to push your child to do something that is good and safe for them, and when to ease back.  There are no easy answers in this parenting gig!

So - long story short - Paprika (who is the original mermaid) is doing swim team and Ginger is going to stay on dry land! 




The End!

Sea Lions and Open House!

I think I might be losing my mind because I could have sworn I posted these pictures - but then I went back and I am pretty sure I didn't!

This is end of the year school stuff - and I have to document it ALL for posterity, you know!  ;-)  Ha!

The top picture is Paprika on the morning of her Sea Life Report she had to give to her kindergarten class.  As you can tell the visual aide was done entirely by her (Hahahahahaha) - Okay, she had a little help!  ;-)  But I kid you not, this is what was expected, and our board wasn't even the biggest or the most elaborate.

She chose sea lions because we had a lot of pictures of her interacting with sea lions - so it was an easy sea life topic to research and an easy board for us to make!

This is Paprika on the night of the Open House at school.  Miss Christina babysat the little ones, and I took Paprika by herself.  Mr. M met us at school - he fought traffic and made it just in time!  Our hero!



Proud of her class:





Showing us the calendar:



The mermaid she made:





Art sculptures on display:



Showing Mr. M her writing projects:





And some cool hanging artwork she made:



 Paprika and Me:






It was a great Open House!  Even though Mr. M and I volunteer a lot in the classroom, it was fun to be there with Paprika at night.  She had so much fun showing the product of her hard work to us!

I can't believe Kindergarten is OVER!  It was a great year - and I am happy and a little sad at this rite of passage.  I could not be prouder of Paprika - she amazes me every single day...