Monday Madness

Yesterday, in order to get dinner made, I pulled out an old trick that I used when Norrin was a baby- water play. A couple of trays, some water, some small bowls and some spoons and all the kiddos need to add is their imagination. The reason I like this is because its an easy cleanup. Yes, water gets on the floor, but a couple of beach towels later, the floor is cleaner than its been in weeks. Now, here's the small problem I didn't anticipate. Please keep in mind that I'm new at this mama of two business. Ani would crawl over to Norrin's side and touch his bowl of water. Oh, no! Such a rookie mistake. Of course, he didn't see my logic when I asked him why it was okay for him to touch her water, but not vice versa :). Luckily, dinner was spaghetti and faux meatballs, so it kept them busy for the 20 minutes I needed. A three or more course meal would not have worked this time. For the most part, they were happy to splash and spill and eat the bubbles (yes, they both ate some bubbles).

And they still saved room for spaghetti :).

This Weekend We...

Spent some quality time with Da.
Enjoyed the great outdoors.

Paused the action to give Mommy flowers for her hair.

Watched from the sidelines.

As our big boy Norrin Radd played some soccer.

Stole Norrin's water bottle for teething purposes.

Got it back just in time and he was none the wiser :).

Played on the playground.

Slid down the slide with a little help from Mommy.

Laughed with the joy and excitement of a new experience.

Fully embraced our crazy silliness.

And pet a polar bear.

I love the weekends when Todd doesn't have to work. There's a genuinely happier vibe to our days off together. The weather has been so beautiful and all of us have been taking full advantage of it. Norrin loved playing soccer outside, Ani may or may not have ingested a little bit of nature and I have a deep love for knitting outside (and inside...and standing in line while waiting to be seated at a restaurant...okay, nevermind). Todd, of course, was the main photographer of our weekend and its the best surprise to see what shots he was able to get of our beautiful babies. Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend, too.

Oh, Ani Rose!

So, for weeks I've been explaining to friends and family members about the terror that Ani Rose has become. I believe I've used the term "one woman wrecking crew" on more than one occasion. To prove my point, I have documented her craziness. The following pictures all happened in less than one hour (she's very efficient in her destruction).

Norrin insisted in rearranging the dining room chairs and step stool to be next to each other. He meant for it to be this way so he could climb. Well, his sister believed this was for her benefit.

Up the step stool...
Short pit stop to play with a plate...

Across the two chairs to destroy whatever project her brother was just working on.

There was also a point when she climbed onto the middle of the table and started throwing markers all over the place. I swear I had turned my back for a second to put the camera down when that happened. She is very quick.


And below is how the bookshelf looks. I honestly have not bothered to clean this up yet. Todd and I are in discussions about finding a new location for this bookshelf and truthfully, I have cleaned up this corner more times than I care to say. We'll just say its in the double digits. This is one example of the havoc Ani Rose has caused in every single corner of our home. Nothing is safe. And no one is invited to our house until she moves on from this phase :).

See how blurry she is in this photo...that's because she's moving on to emptying a cabinet of all its dishware...but only after she's thrown paper from Norrin's art cart all over half of the dining room.

Yup, that's our messy, crazy life. I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. I am blessed with this mess and the lovely little girl who's made it :).

Dinosaurs at the Franklin Institute

Last Friday we went to the Franklin Institute of Science to see the dinosaur exhibit. Its a small exhibit, but really well done. Norrin was terrified and excited and entertained by everything. Since we were technically playing hooky from school, I felt the need to make it as educational a day as I could. Ani Rose came along and mostly just stared at everything. Her favorite part was the cafeteria :). She munched on fruit salad and french fries and I can safely say that was the highlight of the visit for her.

Norrin digging for dinosaur bones.
Norrin was too scared to turn around and smile for me.

Can you blame him?

After the dinosaur exhibit, we went around to the rest of the exhibits and Norrin got to make paper again (he made some on our first visit and loved it so much he was practically stalking this table, waiting for it to open up).
Ani Rose, looking sleepy, but there was just too much going on for this little girl to take a snooze.

If there's face painting, its safe to say that Norrin will be a willing victim. He chose a pirate this time.

This was not the most inexpensive adventure we've ever had, but it was a good way to spend our day. Norrin also got a few more dinosaur figurines to add to his insanely huge collection and Ani Rose finally took a long nap on the car ride home.