Signs That I am Losing My Mind

1. In a moment of weakness several weeks ago, I succumbed to Kate's fierce and persistent declarations that she wanted needed purple fairy curtains with a pink butterfly segment at the bottom. They are the ugliest curtains I have ever made. Note that they are not pictured here. Not only are they unsightly, but I have only completed one panel. And the curtain rod is still on Kate's floor. I am the queen of unfinished projects.

I also somehow ended up with fabric to make dresses for both girls.

2. Despite currently owning only a 2 person tent, I booked us (Tim, me, Kate, Claire, and Luke. At last check, this is 5 people) a campground at Lake Tahoe for Sunday night. We have never camped with children. Tim and I have not camped for approximately 10 years. The adults own proper camping gear, but the girls' sleeping bags have fairy and princess decorations and light up when the bags move. I am certain that they will be useless and ineffective in the much-cooler-than-we-are-used-to mountain air of the Sierra Nevadas. The boy one has no sleeping bag, and would be unlikely to nest in one if he did. I also fear that the boy one will be unlikely to sleep at all given the lack of containment device he knows as his crib.

3. We leave in 1.5 days. I have not packed more than shirts and shorts for myself, and have only managed to gather Kate's pajamas for the kids. We will be gone for 3 weeks, in weather that I presume will be vastly different than our current 110* highs/90* lows. We are all bound to be stunned by the cold that 55* mornings will bring.

4. I am blogging instead of packing.

The Pinky Stinger...

Big sister Claire is having fun teaching her little brother. She informed me a few minutes ago that "Luke likes to touch tongues." What? She then proceeded to demonstrate in the pictures above.

Oh, the pinky stinger... The girls were treated to new Barbie doll clothes this morning. They had to wait until after nap to open them. As the dad I got to cut loose the 200 little plastic connectors holding the three outfits to the cardboard container. Once released, the girls took to dressing their barbies in the new outfits. Any woman or parent probably remembers the most painful part of dressing a barbie is getting the hands through the sleeves. Designing a kids doll with a thumb and pinkie finger to snag in loose threads has caused millions of lost man hours over the decades of Barbies existence.

3-year old Claire was struggling getting Barbies hand through the new outfit.

4-year old Kate says to Claire: "Her pinky finger is stuck!"

3-year old Claire brings Barbie to Dad exclaiming "Her pinky stinger is f***ed!"

What?

"Her pinky finger is stuck!"

Love ya Claire.

Celebrating Freedom

My sister, Jessica, and her family joined us for the 4th of July weekend. It has been more than a year since she was here, and we were glad they were the ones making the long and mentally agonizing drive to be spending time all together, cultivating such relationships that only blood relatives can enjoy.

The weekend was fraught with shenanigans.

Despite Tim's continual, and insistent, marshmallow-roasting instructions, a semi-intoxicated Jessica managed to light her marshmallow on fire at least 8 times. My stove. It might never recover.

One evening, after watching the Star Trek movie (surprisingly good! Yes, I am aware that I am freakishly enamored with sci-fi!) Jess and I spent an excessive amount of time "evening out" the all-American chocolate cake we had purchased at Costco for the weekend. In our defense, it looked much more uniform when we were done.

The children (read: Kate and McLaren) agreed to watch a movie other than Chicken Run (see previous post), which turned out to be Enchanted. During the ballroom dancing scene, Kate and Tempie re-enacted the frolicking as seen through their eyes.

We were all relieved to see that the girls were getting along, especially after it was determined that Lucy was keen to establish her superiority over Luke. The first time it happened, we thought it was clumsiness. Lucy and Luke were casually walking along the edge of the pool, and all parents were focused on the children in the water. Suddenly Luke splashed in, unexpectedly, by the look on his face and the wailing that ensued. Mike and I joked that Lucy pushed him in. Not hours later, however, Jessica caught her red-handed. Lucy was indeed pushing Luke down, attempting (hopefully minor) bodily injury. All weekend, every adult kept the blue-eyed beauty under close observation for more blatant physical violations against her younger cousin.

After movie night, it was time for fireworks. There were a few tears (Tempie), some shrieking (Lucy, who LOVED the whole production), and lots of hands over ears (Kate and Claire). As for Luke, he was mostly wide-eyed throughout the whole event, unclear what it was we were trying to accomplish.

I am so ready for this. Bring it.

Luke's first exposure to fireworks. He is clearly stunned by our lack of grandeur, and yet also concerned by his father's apparent role in purposely lighting things on fire.

The whole family, minus Tim, the pyrotechnician, as they sit in awe of the minuscule sparks and illuminations cast by our paltry firework show. The children still managed to spend most of the time covering their ears and appearing alarmed.

Casual Conversations

Claire: "I think we'll have to get a new car."

Tim: "Why's that, Claire?"

Claire: "Because this car's all dirty."

~~~

Kate: "Mom, I can't wait till we move."

Me: "Why? I like our house. Don't you like it?"

Kate: "Yeah. But I want a house with a fireplace."

~~~

Claire: "I'm playing with Tempie 'cause I love Tempie super super much."

~~~

Claire: [breakfast time, looking at me expectantly] "I wanna have chocolate cake."

~~~

On the subject of movie night...

Claire: "Kate, are you ever gonna like Chicken Run?"

Kate: "No. I don't like the mean lady who makes chicken pie."

Claire: "Tim, hear this! Chicken pie! Chicken pie! Chicken pie!"

Kate, somewhat hysterical: "No, Claire! Don't say that!"

Incidentally, they didn't watch Chicken Run for movie night.