We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo

Last week was Spirit Week at Elisabeth's school. Every day was some sort of wacky day: Wacky Clothes Monday, Wacky Hair Tuesday, Wacky Hat Wednesday, no school Thursday and Dress Like a Famous Person Friday. This was her Monday outfit. She picked it out herself. :)



Julia has been super into baby dolls lately. She loves to push around Elisabeth's stroller and usually grabs a baby doll as we head out the door to leave for the day. She likes to "shush" them, pat them and, if they have pacifiers, demand you put the pacifiers in so she can brutally rip them out and giggle.

Both girls were playing dolls for a while. It was so cute.


Today I dressed them both in purple without realizing it. They looked super cute, so I took a few pictures. :)






Last weekend we went to the zoo. It was Military Weekend, so we only had to pay $4.25 each! It was super exciting. Evan had never been before, so we showed him all our favorites. It was a beautiful day and Evan and Elisabeth got to ride the skyline to the top of the zoo's mountain it's basically carved into. We had fun!

Feeding the giraffes again.
Elisabeth loved talking the old lady about this centipede.


This is my favorite picture.



These bears were very active when we came by. It totally made my day!

Riding the skyline.
See me and Julia waiting for them to come back down?


The weather here has been CRAZY! It snowed for three days this past week, and then was in the 80s over the weekend. We miss the changing of the trees, though. But, watching Pike's Peak start to collect snow is beautiful to watch.

No Kids Allowed.

I just don't understand people sometimes. I mean, I know that sometimes I can be pretty ignorant, but lately I just feel like I'm being picked on because I have kids.

Okay, for example, the other day I was out walking Julia and she needed a diaper change. So, I stopped in someone's yard and took off her poopy diaper and gave her a clean one. I'll admit, I normally bring a baggie to put her poopy diaper in, but I forgot this time, so I just left the diaper in the yard. I wouldn't say I do this all the time, but it happens every now and then. What parent doesn't occassionally leave the poopy diaper where ever there kid needed changed? So, as we start walking again, the lady who lives in the house comes out and says, "I hope you're planning on picking up after your kid." She even had a plastic sack for me to use. Then she says, as I hurry up and pick up the diaper, "I just don't like it when people let their kids poop in my yard." Whatever.

Then, probably a couple of nights ago, I let Elisabeth out to run around before bed. She was singing and jump-roping and whatnot. I know it was probably about 8:00, but she's a kid, that's what kids do. Well, our neighbor comes over and asks if I can bring Elisabeth in because her husband's trying to sleep and Elisabeth is keeping him up. I said that I didn't think she was being that loud. Then the neighbor says, "Well, you're really supposed to let them back in if they start making that much noise after so many minutes." How rude. I mean, she's my kid. If her husband doesn't like it, he should buy ear plugs.

Oh, and here's a good one!!! So, we're at Castle Rock Outlet and we bring the girls along. They really love riding in the car with us and walking around the stores is good exercise for them. The mall is pretty kid friendly and we brought the girls in to most of the stores. Well, Julia's still a baby, and she gets excited when she sees people, so there were a couple of times when she went up to people and starting pulling on their pant legs and licking them. I mean, it's not really a big deal, it's just how she says she likes you. Well, this one guy completely freaked out and told me to get her off of him and that he shouldn't have to come to a store and worry about whether a kid is going to bother him. Well, I told him the sign outside the door specifically says "Kids Welcome". He said that he was going to talk to the store manager about it because she should at least be in a stroller if she's allowed in the store.

I guess I just don't understand why some people don't understand that Elisabeth and Julia are our KIDS! They mean everything to us! We even give them their own rooms in our house! It's not like we don't try to teach them skills--they're pretty smart and quick to learn the commands we give them. I just wish I could feel like I could take them everywhere and not feel people staring at me waiting for my kids to bite their hands off or pee on them or something ridiculous. If I thought they were a danger, I wouldn't take them places.

It really hurts though. I think of Julia and Elisabeth as if they were our own dogs, not just kids.

The Mommy Butt Jeans Rebellion

I am watching Julia as she disgustingly is eating her lunch (the child does not understand that concept of SMALL bites) and I couldn't help but thinking about how overwhelming it is to be a parent. Not so much because she herself is overwhelming (although, I feel I have documented enough for you all to know that, with out a doubt, she totally is), but just being a parent in general is overwhelming. I mean, Evan and I are responsible for these two girls--for feeding them, clothing them, loving them, teaching them innumerable things they'll need to be productive adults--and sometimes it's just too much to think about. That's a lot, especially when I sometimes feel like I can't even keep myself together half the time, and yet I'm supposed to be mothering two girls.

I think that's what leads to mom's who end up letting themselves go when they have kids (you know, the moms who haven't had their hair done in decades and wear mommy butt jeans while their kids are dressed in the latest fashions). It's so easy to get lost in the world of parenting that you forget to take care of yourself. Between meals, baths, naps, school, extra curricular activities, questions, reading, tantrums, playing, cooking, laundry, cleaning and bedtime--it's so easy to forget who you are. It's easy to forget to shower, to make that hair appointment, to eat healthy, to exercise, to replace those pants that are 8 years old and have rips, stains and unfortunate pocket placements, to go out for an evening with only grown ups.

I love my girls to the moon and back. I love it when they laugh, when they've discovered they can do something new, when they smile when they see their Dad walk through the door, when they want hugs and kisses. But there is no doubt in my mind that I am a better parent when I get some time where I'm not the mom. When I can go out for a while and be Virginia--the girl who loves to read and crochet, who can laugh too loud at inopportune times, who likes to go out to new restaurants and get lost in a bookstore, who has surprisingly learned to love exercising--then I can come back and be Mom without as much built up frustration or with that feeling of drowning as a parent.

I am a big advocate that your children should see you being a person. When they see you go out with friends or have friends over, they're learning how grown up friendships work and that friends are something that you have all your life. When we leave them with a babysitter to go out for the night or see us cuddling on the couch or listen to us talk about things like news, books or something random we've deemed worthy of a conversation, our girls are realizing that the relationship Evan and I have is important to us and will see a positive partnership and be able to use us as an example of what a healthy relationship is. Both Evan and I strive to meet our girls emotional and physical needs but not at the sake of ignoring our own.

So, tonight when I leave for my book club (discussing Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, which is dark and disturbing, but an excellent read), I'm not going to feel guilty that I won't be there for the girls' bedtime. Will I miss kissing them goodnight? Absolutely. Will I be glad that Friday night I'll be there for bedtime, yes...because I'll have a couple of hours where I got to have grown up conversation under my belt that will replenish me as a person. Making me a better Mommy. Willing to read that stinking Baby Faces book for the zillionth time to Julia and prepared to answer all of Elisabeth's endless questions.

This one is for all you Colorado drivers...

You suck. Seriously. What is it with you people? First off, you have speed limits that people in Illinois dream of! 75 mph on the interstate! 55 mph down the main streets in town! 65 mph on highways! We Illinois folk do drive that way, but it's illegal!!! So, why is that you all insist on going at least 10 miles UNDER the speed limit? Don't you understand that's what is causing so many accidents on Powers? That when you go so slowly next to people actually going the speed limit, you become a hazard? And what are you all doing that these accidents are so lethal? Are you driving with your eyes closed? Are you turning around to stare at the people in the backseat while you carry on conversations? Are you staring at the beautiful mountains to the west? I do not understand.

Actually, I have a theory. I think you all don't know what those pretty lights that hang from the sky and change colors are for. Let me help you.

Green means GO--not wait a few minutes while you finish texting, not gingerly pressing the accelerator and going 5 mph till the next stop light, not breaking because in the future the light might turn red and you want to be ready, it means GO GO GO.

The yellow light means YIELD. Not gun it through the ginormous intersection and pray no one notices that it turned red before your tires even made it to the cross walk, not sit in the middle of the intersection trying to turn left and stalling traffic all four ways, it means SLOW DOWN, JERK, CAUSE THESE INTERSECTIONS ARE HUGE AND I DON'T WANT TO BE T-BONED WITH MY KIDS IN THE CAR.

And, finally, the red light means STOP. Not hurry through it before the slow Colorado drivers push the accelerator to 10mph, not keep driving causing others to break and curse at you for being reckless, it means STOP YOUR DING-DANG CAR YOU COMPLETE AND UTTER IDIOT.

I enjoy your speed limits, the ability to do U-turns at will, and the fact that you have roundabouts in lots of areas, but if you Colorado people don't start following basic rules of the road, I am going to turn on my inner Chicago style driving and not look back.

Sincerely,

Virginia

P.S. --And to all the Colorado police that I have seen lately on your neat-o motorcycles and squad cars using your nifty radar guns on us drivers--I do see you. Yes, you are super sneaky hiding around the hills and curves around town. But, I must ask, what are you doing? Do you ever really catch people speeding? Or are you ticketing people for going too slow? Ooh ooh, I know! You must be waiting for the numerous accidents that happen multiple times throughout the day. I see now. Carry on, fine sirs and madams.

Perhaps our cats are more than just friends...

We're just saying...



Hooray for me, because I finally uploaded pictures to the computer! Well, just so you know, it's only because Julia's still napping after 2.5 hours today (!!!), so I have some free time. She is teething and growing, which makes her cranky and tired. Yesterday I about pitched her in the trash can, but thankfully Evan came home before I was forced to take such action. Julia is VERY demanding when she doesn't feel well, and while I completely understand that she needs extra cuddling and love (which I totally do, I'm not heartless), she makes these horrific dinosaur-esque noises at me if I am not giving her my undivided attention. So, if I need to use the bathroom or eat or pick my nose, she screams and screams and screams and screams until I want to hide. I literally want to hide.

Hmm...that last paragraph makes it seem like I don't like her...so let's talk some positives before I move on. Julia is a book-a-holic right now. She loves to have us read to her and has certain favorites. She has also been weaned for a month now. When she had her lovely HandFootMouth disease, it hurt her too much to nurse, so I would just rock her to sleep. Well, she never asked to nurse again after that. Sometimes it makes me sad, because that makes her bigger than I like to admit she really is. Also, Julia is sleeping longer in the mornings--7-7:30!--so that totally makes me like her bunches. See, she's not all monsterish!



Okay, here's Elisabeth's soccer pictures from last week. She had another game today and her team (which are apparently called the Mustangs, which I did not know, which makes me a super attentive mother) won again! She was most excited.

Warm-ups before the game.
Here's Julia living up to her shirt.


She yapped her coach's ear off while being the goalie. I know, shocking!
This is when she saved the ball from going in!!!!!!!
Can you find her? She's the short girl in the white shirt.




So, for those of you who didn't hear my story of how excellent a parent I am...Last week I was getting ready in my room and Julia was putzing around the bathroom "helping" me. I went to the closet to get my shirt and turned around and Julia's holding my razor that I'd left on the side of the bathtub. I thanked her without completely freaking out (what I was secretly doing on the inside) and checked her fingers to make sure she hadn't touched the blade. Well, she had and when I squeezed her finger a bit, it started bleeding a little. No biggie, I was just going to wipe the blood and put a small band-aid on. When Julia saw the blood (mind you, she's been all smiley and low-key up to this point) she FREAKED out big time. She starts screaming and crying and trying to put her finger in her mouth, up her nose, anywhere so she didn't have to see the blood. So, I'm trying to get her to calm down, wipe the blood off and get the stinking band-aid on. I kind of wrap my arms and legs around her like a pretzel, talk very calm and softly in her ear, and get the band-aid on. Julia takes one look at that band-aid and screams even LOUDER than before. By now, I am frazzled and starting to rush a bit because we have to go get Elisabeth from school. So, I improvize, stick a sock on her hand so she can't see the band-aid and try to take it off. Julia looks at the sock, looks at me, smiles and starts for the door to get in her stroller. She then proceeds to wear the sock for the rest of the day and screaming uncontrollably if we at all attempt to take the sock off for things like eating or bed time. The girl is so weird. She did let me take it off in the morning with just a few whimpers at the sight of the band-aid, but I took that off too. She is fully recovered now.



And lastly, here's pictures from one of the playdates with our Mommy group last week at a place called Little Monkey Bizness. Julia loved it and I did too because it had a coffee shop inside the place! Sweet!





This little girl is only about 1.5 months younger than Julia, but Julia could totally eat her for a snack.


Guess what--Evan and I are going out tonight with some of his friends and we are NOT taking the girls!!!!!!! Their favorite babysitter, Hannah, is coming over and Elisabeth is soooo excited. I am too. It's been a while since Evan and I have gone out with other grown ups without Chip and Dale accompanying us. Yeah for grown-ups!!!!

This, that and the other.

Well, I have still not uploaded the pictures from Ebeth's soccer game because I am lazy and haven't taken the time to actually sit at the upstairs computer and wait for the pictures to load. Maybe I will be inspired to do it tomorrow...or after her second soccer game. :) Anyway, her team won this past Saturday, and I have to tell you, I was very impressed with Elisabeth. She paid attention, used the skills she'd learned in practice, and actually contributed when the ball was within her reach. She even got to play goalie for a quarter of the game and loved it because, and I quote, "It was like a break! I got to just stand there and watch."

Snow is back on the top of Pike's Peak. The lows are in the 40s here at night and in the low 70s during the day. I am going to miss seeing all the leaves change in Illinois this year. We're still walking to school and Elisabeth wants to walk everyday unless the weather is dangerous for Julia. Isn't that sweet? The other day at dinner, Elisabeth out of nowhere told us how some kids get jealous when they have baby brothers and sisters because the baby needs so much attention. But she's not jealous because she knows that Julia needs lots of attention because she still can't say all her words and needs lots of help and that we give her (Ebeth) attention too by reading to her and playing and stuff. We talked about it for a while--about how she was very right (and so insightful, I mean, seriously, what 6.5 year old vocalizes that kind of concept) and that when she was Julia's age she got all the same attention. Lucky. That's what I am to have an Elisabeth like the one I have.

Halloween is fast approaching and this year is going to be fantastic! Now, most of you know that Halloween is my favoritest holiday. I was so wishing that Ebeth would be born on Halloween so we could have a costume party every year, but she waited until two days afterwards to be born. Hmph. Anyway, in the past Elisabeth has been a Pumpkin, Penguin, Tinkerbell, a School Bus, Squirrel and last year was Queen Amidala from Star Wars. Julia was Princess Leia because she was a baby and we were all dressing in Star Wars costumes and until she finds those words, she is at the mercy of Elisabeth and my costume choosing. :) This year, Elisabeth decided she wants to be Cruella Deville and that Julia is to be a fat dalmation puppy. I was only too happy to oblige. I have been scouring places online trying to find a Cruella costume and have found them either waaaaay too expensive or waaaaay to trampy for my almost 7 year old. So, it looks like I will be construcing her costume for her again. I bought dalmation material to make her a cape and found sunglasses and a long cigarette holder online. I found a wig at WalMart, so now I'm just searching for long red gloves, a long black dress and some bright red shoes. Julia's costume is an Old Navy purchase and she is going to be the fattest little dalmation puppy ever!!!! Elisabeth has also recruited Jana into making dalmation puppy costumes for her twin American girl dolls. Don't worry, I will definitely be taking a million pictures.

Okay, here's a couple pictures from my phone that I haven't shared with you yet....

This is Julia staring at me. I love her face.

Julia scanning the books at the library searching for one to eat...I mean, take home and read.

Playing legos at the library. She squeals with delight as soon as she sees the lego table.
Julia talking to Ebeth.

Me, Myself and I

Yesterday Evan took these two lovely girls to Elisabeth's swim lessons while I stayed home to clean the house. Julia and I had gone to Parker, CO to visit a place called Little Monkey Bizness with our Mom's group and I hadn't had a chance to do the basic picking up and laundry I do on a daily basis. As he drove off with the girls (full of anxiety about getting both of them to their respective spots in time for the lessons), I realized something--I had never been in our house alone, by myself. NEVER. If I want some alone time, I usually leave the house. I'll go grocery shopping by myself or go on my evening walk or go to the Y and leave them in the child watch area. But, I have never been in my own house with just me. It was so nice. I got all the cleaning done in one hour. One hour, people!! This is stuff that usually takes me lots of time during the day because I have a small toddler that hinders my efficiency. I even got my evening walk started before they got back. I'm not going to lie, it was really nice. If cleaning hadn't been a priority, I could have had a glass of wine and read my book for an undisturbed amount of time. Or taken a nap. Or cooked something without feeling rushed. I'm going to have to try that experience again.

Okay...I have something to tell you all. I am enjoying being a stay at home mom. I know, I know, I have been complaining for months about not finding a job, but you have to realize that I haven't been without a job since I was 16. I was the one making the "big" money (HA!) when we were in DeKalb. But, I do have to say that I like being the one home with the girls. And it does help that we have a set routine now. We walk Ebeth to school every day; Julia and I head out to the Y until it's her nap time; she naps for about 2-2.5 hours and then we lunch; we play/clean/run errands until it's time to walk down to get Ebeth; Ebeth does homework while I get dinner ready; we take Ebeth to whatever sport or activity she has going on; we eat and then Evan takes over for nighttime routines while I go on my evening walk; Evan puts Julia down for the night while I'm reading with Elisabeth before bed. And now that Julia's walking and saying a few more words, she's so much happier. I don't know, I guess the whole transition from working mom to staying at home mom was just kind of hard on me, but now that it's happened, I'm good with it. I'm not saying that if the perfect job didn't land in my lap I wouldn't take it, but I'd really have to think about it. I mean, Julia's never been in day care, and I'm thinking she won't take to it the way that Elisabeth did.

I will say this, though. For all those moms staying home with more than one little kid--BRAVO!!! I don't think I could do it or at least not well. Here I am complaining about the one child I have at home, when I know plenty of moms (mine included) who stay home with multiple children in their houses. I will stick with my sweet but crabby 14 month old, thank you. (But, if anyone wants her, I'll ship her FedEx, with all shipping costs covered!!)

Our Labor Day Weekend Part 2

Yesterday's post was kind of crappy, and for that I apologize. I was tired when I wrote it and was trying to quickly get it done. I will try to be more witty and storytelling-ish in this one.

Something I left out yesterday was that we had our picture taken at one of those Old Time photography places. Elisabeth and I had ours taken with Terra three years ago, and of course, she remembered and wanted it done again. So, we went to the same place as last time. We put Julia in a bonnet and a white gown and, oh my goodness, she was the CUTEST baby to walk the planet. I will have to try to scan the picture and put it up on here sometime, because it is just darling of her. We tried taking the picture with serious faces, since that would have been more old time appropriate, but Elisabeth was making such sad, sour faces, we chose the one of her smiling. She's such a goof.

Okay, back to this post's pictures...

We spent Sunday hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park. I had a couple of specific trails I wanted to take, so we got to the park around 10:00 AM. But, first we stopped at the grocery store to buy food for our picnic lunch, where Julia and Ebeth drove around the store.

And then we played at the ghetto park that was next to our hotel for a few minutes while we packed up the car and checked out.





The forecast was calling for storms after noon (of course), so we tried to get to the park as quickly as possible. Our first spot was the trail to Alberta Falls.



I chose to use the bridge, but these three jumped stones to cross the river. Elisabeth was super proud of herself once she got across.



It took us about an hour to get to the top of the falls. Elisabeth was insistent on putting her feet in the water (something she just knew her Nina would have done if she'd been with us), and since Evan was carrying Julia on his back, I climbed down with her. Now, I don't know if any of you know this, but I am not that sure footed. However, I am quite proud to say that I did an excellent job of rock climbing on this trip and did not fall on my face once!



We decided to eat lunch at the top of the falls. About 4 very invasive chipmunks were quite pleased with our decision, until they realized we weren't handing out any food.



After lunch, and a rather primitive use of nature as a bathroom for a certain 6.5 year old who had to go super bad (oh, and let me tell you, this would be the second time this little girl has used nature as a bathroom...the other time was when she was 2.5 in DeKalb and we got lost trying to find a park and there are NO BATHROOMS at any of DeKalb's parks, so she was forced to use a tree since she was potty training and we didn't have a change of pants...but I digress), we let Julia walk some of the path for a few minutes. She LOVED it and greeted every single person that passed us.


We started down Alberta Falls trail and veered towards the Bear Lake trail which was superdy duperdy steep. Bear Lake is a glacial lake and breathtaking. It's so blue and clean. The trail just went around the lake, so it wasn't as long of a hike as the other trail.

Julia is a big fan of her hiking backpack. She likes to try to put the straps in Evan's ears, play with his hair, and punch him in the back of the head if he isn't going fast enough. She's so gentle.


And as can be expected, Elisabeth wanted to put her feet in the lake as well.




We took the bus back to our parking lot and Julia enjoyed her hiking backpack/seat and gabbered at the people behind her.


On our way out of the park, we stopped at one of the Elk Viewing sites. We were not disappointed.

Julia chose this time to squeal and scream in delight and yell "Dog!" whenever she saw one.


Elisabeth, with her mad memory skills, wanted to revisit a store we'd stopped at on the way down from the park when we were with Terra. It's called The Dam Store, and there is a bridge under the store that crosses the Big Thompson River. When we went in 2006, it was storming pretty bad and the river was flooding to the bottom of the bridge. We took a super fast picture and then booked it to the car. We drove the rest of the way down the road with flash floods and a bit of intense fear when Terra's car drifted on the flooded street for a few seconds (NO! Terra wasn't driving! Do I look like an idiot? I was driving and was able to control the hydroplaning and get us back on solid ground). That did not happen this time around.
We also went to the top of the observation tower at the store too.
Holy crap, she totally needs a haircut!

We really had a lot of fun. The girls were great, and except for poor Juju being scared in the middle of the night in the hotel, they were real troopers the whole weekend.