Living Our Best Life

I couldn't think of any big events to blog about tonight. For the last two weeks, we've been outside soaking up the sunshine, riding all the bikes and scooters, cleaning out the garage (Mike even found the actual surface of the workbench!), catching up with neighbors, and basically throwing hygiene to the wind. Thank goodness for wind - or the kids may be the stinky ones at school!

Reading has clicked for Fiona and she is turning into a voracious reader. We find her curled up with a book all the time. She's read five chapter books since Easter and is asking for more. She told me she needed The Bad Guys #6. I told her it wasn't out yet. She told me it was. Turns out, she was right and it will be in the Target cart on our next visit. She told me that she only had one Junie B. Jones book. I told her she had two. We searched her room. Turns out, I was right. She's currently halfway through it.

After extensive one-on-one sessions, many lists, and cross-referencing a couple calendars, the kids have determined their summer activities. The girls will be home with a nanny and were thrilled day-time activities were now not only an option, but an encouraged one. A few well-placed classes will help break up the monotony and give them some new experiences. Fiona will be doing a week long STEM camp where they do experiments around "the great outdoors" as well as an art camp on how to draw horses. 

Quinn debated soccer for the summer, but ultimately decided that a 90 minute/week commitment was just too much. Instead she settled on a week long cheerleading camp and a dance class. The thought of a 12-hour commitment in a single week didn't elicit an ounce of hesitation ... so we figure she made the right choice. We also think she made the right choice because Mike has said at least half a dozen times in the last week, "we need more stuff for Quinn to climb."

Last Saturday, I was looking out the window into the backyard and was super impressed with Fiona's new-found flipping ability on the trapeze bar. After a minute or so, I realized that Quinn was wearing Fiona's jacket and it was Q flipping about. Quinn has mostly closed the height gap and from a distance and several angles, they are virtually impossible to tell apart. Even for their mama. 

Declan has learned to write his name and is extremely interested in letters. He'll stand in front of the magnet board where Quinn has lined up letters in perfectly straight rows and name each one. Capital "I"s are his downfall ... but we are working on them. We've now started working on letter sounds and he's thrilled that Declan, Dad, Doughnut, and Dinosaur all start with "D." When you think about it, it's a pretty impressive list. 

He loves that Mike set up the trampoline and asks to ride his bike or scooter within the first two seconds of us getting home from school. On the rare occasion that we are inside, he spends his time with his Paw Patrol toys, his superheroes, and his Hot Wheels. That is, if his superheroes have not been commandeered because Barbie needed a boyfriend.

What's an Informance?

Months ago, we got a note home from school with the schedule for each classroom's music class "informance." We marked the date on our calendar and didn't think much of it. Occasionally I would hear Fiona singing songs in the shower that she told me were for the informance. As it got closer, I asked her what her class was doing. "An informance" was the answer. When I asked what happened during an informance, "informance stuff" was the answer. So with clear expectations (ha!) and a beautiful dress, tights, and high heels, she was ready for Monday.

A few days before, Quinn asked if she could go. I told her no because it was during the school day. With great exasperation, she informed me that siblings could go and that other kids in her class had gone to their sister or brother's program. I asked Fiona if Quinn could come. She had no idea. So I did what all good mothers would do and told Quinn to work it out with her teacher. So she did and happily told me on Friday that she was good to go. Then she reminded me what time the informance was. Because Quinn gets stuff done.

I left what I thought was a generous window to get there from work. But a bad combination of road construction, lane closures, and stoplight unluckiness ate my window and then some. I called Mike because I knew I wouldn't have time to swing through the Kindergarten wing to snag Quinn. He had just gotten there, so said he would get her. Then turned around and found her standing there, in the right place at the right time, as a Q does. Mike and Quinn snagged good spots and mouthed to Fiona that I would be there.

I got there about 2 minutes into the first song; Mike told me that he knew when I arrived because Fiona's face lit up when she spotted me. Mike traded spots with me and I sat near the front with Quinn. Other than it being one million degrees in there, it was a super sweet - and your typical school program where they were basically half a step from mass chaos at all times. She was incredibly proud and really happy that Quinn came too. And now we know what "informance stuff" is.

April Spring Days

It most certainly was a tale of two weekends. From a blizzard to sunburns in seven days. Last weekend, the temperature got close to 70 and Fiona was pretty sure that summer was here. We spent as much time as possible outside, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.

I took a chance on Sunday, washing and putting away the snowpants and winter coats. That's a surefire way to jinx things - so they are still easily accessible if needed. Mike took a chance on Sunday and took the training wheels off of two bikes! Fiona had mastered the training wheel free life last year ... and then we bought her a bigger bike and she couldn't touch the ground. And it's hard to ride a bike when you can't reach to get on or off it. She had gained the inch or so that she needed over the winter to reach the ground with her tippy-toes.

Even with the ability to touch the ground, she needed some practice to get started, to stop, and to ride (and steer) confidently. Fiona is often our child who will give up when she isn't immediately perfect. She gets very frustrated with "failure." But let me tell you, that child was determined to figure out her bike. She set her chin and practiced for hours. Hours, I tell you. I spent most of my day standing in the cul-de-sac so that short Vannestes could ride bikes. I was there for so long that one of our neighbors brought me a beer. Another one brought me a chair. My neighbors are awesome.

Quinn also mastered her bike without training wheels, although she desperately needs a new bigger bike as well. Hopefully we will get one in the next couple weeks and fingers crossed, she can reach the ground. Otherwise it will be a bit of a repeat of history around here. She was so proud and will enjoy the improved speed that a big bike will afford her.

Declan asked Mike to remove his training wheels as well - and he did fairly well. But his need for speed won out and the training wheels returned. It's just way more fun to ride circles with the big kids than to work on balance and not falling.

By late afternoon, there was quite the bike and scooter gang of children on the road - and a delightfully fun gang of adults hanging out as well. We had so much fun visiting with everyone. Apparently beautiful weather brings people out even more than blizzards ...

We killed the fun at dinner time because there were no words to describe how dirty the kids were - so showers were non-negotiable. But we ended the weekend with lungs full of fresh air and tired legs and backs. The more translucent of us (Quinn and me) even had our first sunburn of the season.

April Snow Days

It has been quite an April for snowfall. The month has included one evening where Fiona went to bed sobbing because she was convinced spring would never come. The girls were back in school for one day after Spring Break and then had Tuesday off for a snow day. So much for "spring."

I worked from home and they did a good job of entertaining themselves - except for one little bump around lunch time. I had to take a phone call and told them I would bring them to Subway after it. They chose [poorly] to get ready and stand on the landing, where they had no other option than to get in each other's space. Finally, I asked my co-worker Stephen to hang on for a second and I said in my best Mom voice, "Ladies. I. Am. On. The. Phone." Then I went back to my phone call. Stephen said, "Whoa. That was serious mom voice. I want to shape up and apologize." Fun fact: Stephen is an Olympic shot-putter and could probably bench press me with one arm. That's how good my mom voice is!

We ended up getting about 10 inches of snow, which was the most snow we'd gotten in April in over three decades ... for a couple weeks anyway. When Mike and Declan got home, we went outside and played in the yard. The kids had a great time frolicking in the fresh powder, flying down the slide, and riding the snowmobile. Even Yogs got in on the action and had a blast running around.

Mike was thrilled because the previous base of snow had melted earlier than we expected and the snowmobile was still in the backyard. When he had asked me how we were going to get it out. I told him to stop looking at me and make some burly friends ... because I was sure not going to dead-lift the sled. The snowfall gave us just the base needed to drive it out of the backyard and on to the trailer.

We had a week of not super warm weather and then I headed to Austin for a week. I was really glad that I was taking the mid-day flight home on Friday because a major snowstorm was in the forecast for the weekend. No one really thought it would be as bad as they were saying ... it was mid-April after all. And then it snowed for two straight days and we got somewhere between 16 and 18 inches of snow ... and a new April snowfall record.

We had a great time running errands on Saturday and even stopped at Dairy Queen for a blizzard in the blizzard. Because winter humor works for us. By 4:00 when we were driving home, the roads were awful and the visibility was poor and Mike said we were done traveling for the day. We bunkered down for movie night - only interrupted by a call that church was cancelled the next day because of the weather.

Sunday morning, it was still snowing - but lighter. Which meant it was time for everyone to venture outside to dig out. Winter storms are one of my favorite things because they really bring out the best in people. A few neighbor kids were over playing in our yard, Mike was cleaning up the driveway after another neighbor had plowed us out, and I headed across the street with my shovel to help some other neighbors dig out. As the three of us stared at the giant, heavy, ice-packed plow pile at the base of their driveway, yet another neighbor showed up with his snowblower to take care of it. We were all laughing about the storm and enjoying the clear, crisp air.

Later that afternoon, we took the kids and their best buddies down to the sledding hill. We packed two tracks - a jump track and a speed track. It was the perfect way to spend the last day of winter. Mike even got Ev and Jonah on the snowmobile, thanks to Fiona's hard selling skills. While a blizzard on April 15 is not a normal thing, Mike and I hope the kids will remember it as fondly as we remember the Halloween blizzard of our childhood.

Lately

Somewhat embarrassing confession ... other than a handful of songs, I can't tell the difference between Green Day and Barenaked Ladies. I know ... they sound completely different according to my better half (and everyone else we know). And yet, I consistently mix them up.

We were listening to 90s radio last weekend and a great song came on. Fiona got really excited and said "ooooh, Green Day." It was Third Eye Blind. There may be something about an apple and a tree in this story.

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During dinner one night this week, I was killing it on "what song is this?" while we were listening to music (clearly it wasn't a Green Day station ...). Our Google Home was freaking out a little and Mike jokingly said, "Google, you suck." Fiona sighed and said, "Dad, you probably should hear this song that we learned in Sunday School." Then, she and Quinn sang "Be careful little mouth, what you say." And I laughed and laughed and laughed.

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Before bedtime, we watched Friend Like Me from Aladdin for our video. Then we talked about what a genie was and I asked each of the kids what they would wish for if they had one wish. Fiona wished for a pet unicorn. Quinn wished for a cake. Dec wished for a new pup for his Paw Patrol set. Mike jokingly wished for sardines. And then I less jokingly wished to not be able to smell the sardines. It may be safe to say that other than Fiona, the rest of us need to work on our wishes.

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Quinn and I took Dec to sports camp on Wednesday. It was track and field day (his favorite). At one point, there were thirteen 3-year-olds with either a frisbee or a softball, practicing throwing. It was the epitome of "every man for himself." I told Quinn to guard her head. Dec practiced throwing. Quinn and I apparently joined a pick up game of dodgeball. I will give Dec that generally his projectile went in the direction he was aiming. Not all the kids in sports camps could say the same.

When we got home, Quinn spotted something on the table. You leave Mike and Fiona unsupervised and a drone comes to live at our house. Based on the videos they showed us of the inaugural flights, the drone would have fit in well in the craziness of sports camp. The kids' favorite was when it hit the ceiling and landed upside down on the floor. Not my favorite, when it came buzzing by my head and crashed in the kitchen the next night while I was making dinner.