Friday night.

Friday night, we took the girls to get ice cream and then headed over to the Falling Water's Trail to look around and burn off some energy. And, if you have ever seen Ruby eat an ice cream cone, you would not want her eating one in your vehicle, either. It was an absolute gorgeous night. The girls went down by the area where you can fish and found some snails.

 (Poor Reyna was in Express Care this same night for an absess tooth. Her poor mouth. She is better now.)

I decided to take Bobo for a short walk, while Jade spotted fish for the girls on the bridge and that is when I heard Reyna start to cry. Like really cry. I looked over and started running over there. I thought she was hurt the way she was crying. Turns out, her flip flop fell off her foot and into the water -hence the crying. Reyna takes pretty good care of her belongings so it didn't surprise me the amount of tears shed over her shoe. She kept asking Jade to get it, but there was no way he was going to be able to reach it...w/out a boat or something. He loaded us into the car and gave Reyna a speech about how we need to keep our feet away from the edge of the water. But, at the same time, I knew he had something in mind. I just wasn't sure what. We pulled in our driveway, Jade told us to stay in the car and the next thing I knew he had his waders in hand. Back to the water we went. I tell ya, what he will not do for his girls. It was so funny to see him in waders, the girls cheering him on, retreiving a flip flop out of the water.

The next night we took the girls down to the same spot to go fishing (w/out flip flop fiascos) and I asked Jade if he ever wondered what it was like to have boys or ever wished he had a son. I mean, he is surrounded by girls. Constantly. Poor guy, our dog is even a girl. The only other males in our house are the cats. :) He said it never even crosses his mind. The moment I asked him and he answered, he handed the fishing pole over to Ruby and she reeled in a blue gill. :)

Meet Figaro

About a week ago, this kitty came to our doorstep. He was  craving attention and kept trying to sneak into our house whenever someone would walk in or out. The next morning he was gone, so we figured he went home. Fast forward to the evening and he was back. This time, we fed him. I know, definitely not the greatest thing to if you are trying to get rid of a cat. Anyway, Jade & I came to the conclusion this little guy was just dropped off around our house. He was too sweet to be a stray kitty. After housing him our garage ((it snowed and got really col here)), we decided to keep him. We took him to the vet to get checked out, declawed and neutered. Reyna named him after the cat on, "Pinocchio". He gets along with the rest of the animals in our house. Kramer doesn't seem to care and Bobo loves him. It does make Jade & I feel good to know we rescued him. I guess the little guy was meant to be a part of our family. :)

Garden, butterflies and morning time play

The girls wanted to play outside this morning, which was fine by me. We are home all day, so we threw on play clothes and out we went.

I think the girls could be out all day if I let them. Reyna is most days, but Ruby will flag down traffic if she is not watched 100% of the time. I think Reyna had a better understanding of her boundaries at this age, but I could be wrong. Not that I ever left Reyna in the yard by herself at this age or do I with Roobs, but you know what I mean. When Ruby is outside with us, plan on one parent watching her and the other getting stuff accomplished.

The butterflies around our house are easy to catch and do not being held in the hands of a 4 year old. It's bizarre.

Have I told how excited Reyna is about the garden? She checks on it all the time. She can tell you what everything is and where it is growing. She makes me so proud. I love that she loves the simple things in life. Right now, anyway...

The girls were content, I had a chance to mess with my camera. :)

I love that they come running when I tell them to race each other into the house. :)

Sunday

We went to Cadillac for a wedding on Saturday and Sunday was spent outside most of the day. Jade  rotatilled the garden so it's all ready to plant, while I played with the girls and messed around with my plants. Of course, the inside of the house was completely ignored and it is still being ignored this morning. I have come to the conclusion that the messier it gets, the more it gets ignored. 

We had a gorgeous day here, yesterday. The girls played outside most of the day. I set up the sprinkler for them and they splashed in that for a while. Reyna loves pushing Ruby in her swing and everytime she does, she insists Ruby needs one of  her blankeys. Or, her "bebes" as what Roobs would call it.

Happy funday Monday, ya'll. :) 

Our santa claus visit

Reyna sat on Santa's lap this year w/out tears or hesitation. She informed him that she wanted three things for Christmas. 1.)a scooter 2.)Princess & the Frog 3.)Beauty & the Beast. Where was Ruby? Well, she took one look at Santa and cut my circulation off grasping on to my neck while the entire mall listened to her crying. Obviously we were not going to make her sit on Santa's lap.  

I decided not to send our Christmas cards this year, but if we would have, picture number two would have definitely been on there! lol.

tree blankets & good convo

Reyna had tumbling tonight and while we were on our way there, Reyna started asking questions about Christmas. Last Christmas was a lot of fun having two little ones, but this year is so different. It seems so much more magical. The feelings I am having about the holidays this year are similar to the ones I remember having as a little girl.

Everyday we talk about how many more days until Christmas. At the end of the day, she chooses a few Christmas stories to read. The past couple of days, she has requested to watch The Polar Express and she talks about our tree quite often.

Anyway, on our way to tumbling, she questioned where Santa was going to leave her gifts. I explained they would be placed under the tree while she was sleeping. I could see in my rear view mirror, she was really taking time to process her thoughts. I also reminded her that Christmas is celebrated because of Jesus. She asked me a few more questions mostly about what others were asking for. She was also kind enough to remind me that we needed to spread that "blanket" under the tree so her gifts could be placed on it. I have not placed our tree skirt down yet. I need to buy a few more lights and have not put our tree in the corner yet. She still corrects me when I call it a skirt. It is a blanket, duh!

After our convo, Kenny Chesney's Don't Blink came on. Have you heard it? Reallly listened to the words?

My babies are growing up. They are not babies, they are little girls. I have deep conversations with Reyna & Ruby can answer simple questions with a no or a mmhmm. Reyna asked Jade today if we could go to Africa and Ruby amazes me by making her animal sounds.

Some days I wish time didn't have to pass us by so quickly.

I confess.

Are you going to laugh when I tell you that I have become an avid bird watcher?

Are you laughing yet?

I currently have four feeders up right now and I am looking into another one before winter.



An honest attempt.

I took the girls out this afternoon in attempt to try and rake up some of our millions of pine needles. I would rake, Ruby would crawl towards the front, look back at me while I told her, "no" and keep on going. I would stop raking, get Ruby and repeat the process about a bazillion times before I decided to call it a wash and go pick up dinner.

Oh, Monday

It rained most of the day here. I could have ran errands, but we decided to camp out all day.

For the most part, we were lazy.

I did manage to start the last two projects on my summer to do list. Paint our shutters and make piles for St. Vincent, resale and save for Ruby next year. As you can see, the girls had fun reading, doing crafts and making lots of messes. :)

Stay tuned, my end tables and coffee tables are almost done! I cannot wait to show you.

Daily life.

One of the things that I love about being home with the girls is not feeling overwelmed with house stuff, playdates, laundry, errands. Let me explain. When I was working four days a week, on my day off, the last thing I wanted to do was pack up the girls and leave to go somewhere. I wanted to stay home, clean, play and do everything I could in my one day off. Now that I am only working 10 hours per week, I don't feel like I am spreading myself thin to get everything done. You know me, I love a clean house, so that is one thing that I could never let go...even if it meant scrubbing the bathroom @ 11 on a Sunday night. I will say, since I am home more, I don't get myself ready like I used to when I was working. Most mornings, we don't get dressed until after Ruby's morning nap and I definitely don't hop in the shower first thing anymore. Last Monday, we had to drop Bobo off @ the vet, so we needed to be out of the house before 8:30. I forgot what a pain that was and how much I didn't miss it.

We decided to stop by and see Jade at one of his job sites because it was close to the pet store and I promised Reyna new fish for the pond. They are building a pretty large building for a company called Melling Tool here in Jackson. Reyna was lucky enough to score a ride on a big crane with the guy who owns the steel company. She is still talking about it. After we left Jade, we headed to Pet Supplies to pick out our four fish. Of course, we had to look at everything before we left. By the time all was said and done, I needed a coffee! It was fun taking pic's of our morning. It wasn't anything special, just a typical day for us, but at least I I have pic's to remember the simple details.