Gymnastics Class

Cici's last night at gymnastics class. The blurry one is a shot of her tumbling. On the left you can see her on the balance beam with Ruby watching with much interest. On the right, Cici on the bar.

Memory Lane, Halloween Style

In honor of Dadam's favorite holiday, a fun look at Halloweens past...


Ruby age 5 months, and Cici and Ruby last year.
BOO!!

Cici the Waiter

A nice photo of Cici working as a waiter in her restaurant. She looks very French, I think. Note that she's wearing a single black glove on her right hand - an elegant touch.

(Fun fact: If you look closely at the mirror in the background, you may be able to make out the reflection of Dadam as he takes the picture.)

Wet Expectations

And Ruby peed in the toilet tonight. Not for the first time - but for the first time in a very long while. All four of us had a very proud rest of the evening together, needless to say.

Blanket or Leave It

Wednesday night Ruby insisted that I wrap her up like a sausage in her fuzzy red plaid blanket before carrying her up to bed. When I set her down in her bedroom, she put the blanket on her bed and toddled off to "brush her teeth" (read: carry her toothbrush around the upstairs while making spitting noises without actually brushing). When she was done doing that, she came back to her room and said she wanted to be tucked in with "the blanket I brought upstairs."

"Okay, honey," I said, and picked up the fuzzy red plaid blanket.

"No, not that blanket," she said. "The blanket I brought upstairs."

"But this is the blanket you brought upstairs. It's the same one."

"No, not that blanket - the blanket I brought upstairs."

We argued for a little while, as we do every night, and I wavered between indulgence and exasperation, as I do every night. Finally I said, "Ruby, here. You have four blankets to choose from." I laid out the fuzzy red plaid blanket on the floor, and then snatched up the three blankets that had already been on her bed (a fuzzy gray plaid one, a blue quilt, and an afghan) and tossed them down as well. "Now, you tell me which was the one you brought up."

"No, not those blankets," she said reasonably but firmly. "The blanket I brought upstairs."

"Ruby!" I said, picking up the fuzzy red plaid blanket again in desperation. "This is the one you brought upstairs!"

"No it's not." This with a little head shake.

I grunted and tossed the blanket back on the bed. I felt as if I were trying to plot my next word choice in a Scrabble game, and was working with an O, five I's and a Q. Irritably, I said, "Well, then, where is the one you brought upstairs?"

"I put it on my bed," Ruby said matter-of-factly.

"You put it on your bed?"

"Yeah."

"Where?"

Very indulgently, as if she were dealing with a small child, Ruby pointed at the fuzzy red plaid blanket I had only that moment thrown onto her bed. "Right there," she said.

"Right there?"

"Yeah."

"So . . . is that it?"

"Yeah!" (Read: Well, duh, Dad.)

After the miraculous rediscovery of the lost fuzzy red plaid blanket I was permitted to tuck her in and go back downstairs.

Sheesh!

Here's our Wednesday night, if you can believe it:

1) Pick girls up after work;
2) Frantically try and feed them something that's not total garbage;
3) All four of us leave the house by 6:10 so Mommy can get to a meeting by 6:30;
4) Cici has gymnastics from 7:00 - 7:55, her last one of the session;
5) Mommy gets picked up around 8:15;
6) Baths, stories, bedtime;
7) A cake has to be baked so it can be brought to school by 10:00 tomorrow morning;
8) Collapse into bed;
9) Thursday morning: Lather, rinse, repeat.

Gymnastics pictures to follow!
Momlissa

Tuesday Night Fun!

Daddy had to work late tonight, so Mommy and the girls were left to fend for themselves. First on our agenda: A haircut for Cici! It was getting too long, too snarly, and too hard to care for considering we usually only have about two minutes to brush it in the morning. This will be so much easier!

The next item on our agenda: A fabulous dinner at Perkins! So it's not fine-dining, but it's cheap, near our house, and has free face-painting on Tuesday nights. The girls chose balloons and an ice cream cone, respectively. Here's the proof:

Hey, loved ones who live in far away places! Cecilia and Ruby wish they could spend more time in places like Door County, Japan(!), Chicago, Cottonwood, New York City, and Columbus, Ohio, but it's just not possible. However, they still want the people who love them (and their parents) to know what's going on in their world. Soooo ... we created a blog!

We're so excited to use this technology to stay in touch with the people we love and miss. We hope you have as much fun checking in as we do sharing!

Yay!
M & A