Sunday, March 6, 2011

No Name Post

Sorry we've been MIA for a few weeks. The 32 page book is completed. PHEW. It was a lot of late nights, Colby on dinner duty (which was delicious & much appreciated), and me having to just not care about anything else for a little while except for the girls & work. And also, one little breakdown on Tuesday. But I'm mostly all better now (I'm not ready to quit everything at the moment. I'm trying not to think about how much time church takes. Quitting church needs to get out of my mind. I would be sad about it later. You know, after the 20 naps I would have time for once I freed up all that mental space my calling occupies...)

I'm still waiting to hear back on the 59 spot job. And when I do, I'm going to be sucked under again. So lets enjoy this little bit of sanity while we can.



Here's Gretchen at a cookie decorating party before V-day.



At another super fun Valentines day party...



..and with her face painted like a tiger on "T" day at preschool this week.

I brought my old camera to the Amazing Dance Class this week, but it was out of batteries. So alas, I don't have any awesome video of Gretchen & Ella in cowgirl outfits dancing with lassos. But it's cowgirl month ALL MARCH. So Grandparents, since I'm sure you're the only ones who really care, STAY TUNED.

Random Cuteness:
Gretchen and Ella are sitting in the car. Gretchen is staring intently at Ella.
Ella: Why are you looking at me?
Gretchen: (Yelling with Gretchen-like intensity) BECAUSE I LOVE YOU.

Gretchen gets in trouble.
Gretchen says to us: I AM NOT HAPPY TO YOU RIGHT NOW.

Ella & I are singing, "Oh my darlin', oh my darlin', oh my darlin' Clementine...."
Ella: When was this song written?
Me: A long, long time ago?
Ella: Like in 1983?
(Wikipedia says more like 1883... "The words are those of a bereaved lover singing about his darling, the daughter of a miner in the 1849 California Gold Rush. He loses her in a drowning accident, though he consoles himself towards the end of the song with Clementine's "little sister".

The verse about the little sister was often left out of folk song books intended for children, presumably because it seemed morally questionable." Hee hee! Good call.)

And lastly, my Random Parenting Discovery: Ella wants to play with me constantly. CONSTANTLY. And though I love my children, whenever I sit down to play with them, all I can think about is the millions of things I need to do. This is silly. No task is more important that spending some quality time with the girls. So to trick myself into being "present" for the barbie drama/playdough birthday party/medical doll crisis, I set the timer for 20 - 25 minutes. It totally works. When I know that the baby-doll drama will end eventually, it's so much easier to immerse myself in it. (Also, I can't lay down or I will fall asleep. So I can only play while sitting up.)

Do you have any Random Parenting Discoveries to share?

4 comments:

BAK said...

Love the timer idea. I need it, because play-time feels so overwhelming and I think it's going to last forever. But then it doesn't. But if I set a timer for myself, I would know that it would get over AND I would have actually played with my kid for once.

Yay for February projects being over! We had the same month, imagine that. Just doing different gendered things. Love it! :) Good luck with the bigger project. Mwah!

Honeycombs said...

I am excited to hear more about this 32 page book. YOu are amazing.

Britt said...

I was just singing the little sister verse the other day wondering if it was "for real." People were sick and twisted even in the 1800's, yet, somehow I expect them to have been better than that.

Britt said...

P.S. I use a timer for everything. I use it to clean my house (to force myself to spend 3 minutes per room, which sounds like nothing, but it's absolute torture for me), to monitor my computer time, etc. I carry a timer around with me all day. It's a bit much, but I don't knwo what else to do!