Chugga-chugga CHOO CHOO!

Lucy is obsessed with trains. Actually, she's obsessed with all things that "go". Trains, planes, "helo-cockers", firetrucks, police cars, ambulances, et cetera.

The other day I took her shopping with me and after we were buckled safely into the Jeep Grand Cherokee she said "Momma! We're on a train!"

I said, "Lucy, it's our Jeep." Her response was "No, Momma. We're on a train!"

Ah, she wants to play. Last time we did this I had to say "chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-CHOO CHOOOOOO" for about 8 miles. It was awesome.

Usually this game has me starting everything off by opening the garage door and yelling out "ALL ABOARD!" 

Today was different.

Lucy started if off instead. I opened the garage door and turned to her and said "what do we say now?!"

"ALL THE BOYS!!!!!"

Eh?

Maybe locking her up until she's 35 isn't long enough...

Sharpies = not for kids.

My girls love to draw, color, paint, fly their art flags! 

Far too often, their canvas has been a wall or a door or the dining room table. Like last week when Brad thought it would be a good idea to give them assorted Sharpie's for coloring ornaments at the dining room table. Seriously - how did he think this was a good idea? After they had the Sharpie's in their hot little hands (unbeknownest to me), he came over and sat on the couch with me to go through digital pictures. For 30 minutes. 

Imagine MY surprise when they were finished and I went over to find the entire dining room table colored with Sharpie. There were several portraits of our family, some hearts and a lot of "H's". Brad started to yell at them...something about "you know better than that!" to which I immediately went off on him with my own version of "YOU should know better than that!"

In related news, rubbing alcohol and a soft rag rubbed gently on a table will remove Sharpie from stained wood.

Please, pass the wine. 

Yes, the whole bottle.

But...the writing and practicing is a good thing ultimately because Hayden is getting good at writing her name.

Proud of herself

She told me that's a picture of her. That's my little one eyed, spiky haired, giant eared, freckled, no body kid.

Cat-Griz Game: EAT CHIPS!

Montana State Bobcats vs. University of Montana Grizzlies - the longest running rivalry in college football. There is no love lost at all between these two.

With Brad being an MSU alum (with both is undergrad and Masters from there), we are most definitely a Bobcat household. It's not a far cry for me to root for them as my college mascot was also the Bobcats. 

Our girls, since pretty much Day 1, have been clad in MSU Bobcat gear. 

Lucy ~ our Montana State Cutie...

It's all sweet. :)

Go Cats!

There's also a little cheer that the MSU folks do about the Griz. A little something like "Eat shit Grizzlies, GO CATS GO!" 

Of course we had to teach our girls...but we did adjust the words ever so slightly...because it's not totally appropriate to teach them to curse. It's always better when they learn that by example...haaaa

Hayden last year: 

And both of the girls this year: 

*sniff* 

Great Moments in Parenting, right? 

Haircuts & Happy Meals

Back in the spring, Hayden had gotten her hair trimmed. She'd never had one so she had about 4 inches chopped off to get it nice and healthy. Her hair is beautiful and silky and long. She's good about pulling her hair up to brush teeth, eat, dance, et cetera. 

Lucy? Not so much. Every day since her hair was long enough, I have pulled it back in a rubber band. And every day that I did that, she took it out within 30 minutes. Unlike Hayden, Lucy's hair does not fall beautifully to the side of her face in a natural part and wave. Lucy's just straggles and hangs in her eyes, her snot, her mouth, her food, stuck to her face...you get the picture. 

I made a decision to take her for a haircut and install some bangs on that forehead of hers. I spoke of sparkles, juice, and a treasure chest of goodies that the Salon offers good little girls who sit still in the chair. Hayden remembered this and told Lucy all about it.

"You have to sit still because she has scissors and you will cut your ear if you don't sit still. I got a beaUTIFUL pink butterfly ring because I was a good girl and sat still all by myself!"  Half truth. She was not well behaved at all and she sat on my lap the whole time.

As we sat on the couch waiting for Lydia the Haircutting-Cutter (Hayden's term), the girls were kind of quiet and checking things out. Finally Lydia said "who wants to be first?" 

Lucy: "I DO!!! It's MY turn and I go FIRST!!!" And off she ran, hopped up into the chair and immediately sat still and straight. 

Off goes the back scraggle.

wtf. I can never get her to sit still.

This salon is awesome - it's very shabby chic inside and it changes every time I go in. It is in an old warehouse and very "shabby chic". They do the coolest things! Plus, the staff is amazing and they pamper you. But anyhoo...

Lucy kept a constant eye on the mirror and what Lydia was doing. 

See? Shabby chic. Just like Lucy.

When the cutting was done, Miss Lucy had some rockin' bangs, a shoulder length bob, a pound of silver sparkles in her hair and a new semblance to Cleopatra. 

Queen of Denial.

I have to get use to it. Cutting her hair made me want to drink massive quantities of wine. She looks adorable but she looks so different. Older, wiser, more mischievous (oh shit).

Hayden had a quick trim and also received a pound of sparkles (which are now all over Brad and Brad's truck). 

No bangs for THIS ballerina.

I had promised Happy Meals if they behaved in the salon...secretly hoping they would not behave. They chose this night to behave and were rewarded with Happy Meals and time to play in the McD's playhouse thingy.

Bad idea. SCREAMING children everywhere. Mine refused to wear the required socks because they were slippery. At one point Lucy was stuck in the very top, looking out of the plastic window banging and crying "MOOOOMMMMMAAAAA!" Fortunately, a sweet older girl went up and got her for me. We didn't stay long after that.

That place makes me itch.

Crazy = NOT contained

New favorite past time for my fearless little monsters:

o_O

At least Brad knew Hayden was coming this time around. Usually there's no warning.

And how she doesn't just go from one cast to the next is beyond me...

Mother of the Year

Both girls like to mess with things. They aren't particular about what their messing with either. It could be a chair, a book, my face while I'm trying to read, something I've specifically said to not touch, buttons, et cetera. 

Today their daycare was closed so I stayed home most of the day and had Zoee come over for 3 hours to watch them so I could go to the office for awhile. After I left work, we dropped Zoee off and went to the store to find Lucy's Halloween costume. 

I pulled out of the driveway and went to the gas station to fill up (6 miles to empty! Ooooops). The traffic was bad at that intersection so I went back up the road, past our house and out to the main highway from there. I was going very slow through the residential area and past the two schools. I stopped at the traffic light and waited for green. 

The giggling in the backseat probably should have tipped me off, but it didn't. 

Light turned green. 

I stepped on the gas and made a quick left turn. 

I hear a noise. A scream. A giggle. A "MOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAA" 

Oh shit. 

 

At some point, unbeknownst to me, Lucy had unbuckled the seat-belt that holds her car-seat in place. Not only was it unbuckled, her car-seat was just sitting on the back seat not attached to anything. 

Just one step closer to Mother of the Year (MOTY).

♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫

I got a song stuck in my head this morning and couldn't rid myself of it.

♫ The stars at night
are big and bright
*clapclapclapclap*
Deep in the heeeeeart of Texas! ♫

I was singing it over and over. Just that part though, because I don't know the rest.

Driving the girls to daycare, they were sort of singing along...Lucy did her best.

♫ Stars at night!
Big and bright!
*clapclap.....clap*
Deep in the hard of breakfast! ♫

Mmmmm....breakfast....

bacon♥

"Are you going running?"

The scene:

It's 7:00am.
Lucy is sitting on the kitchen floor putting her shoes on.
Brad is in the refrigerator getting his lunch ready for the day.
Hayden is carrying a pumpkin cookie around the kitchen and saying she's taking it to show "the kids" at school.
I've had a frazzled, throw my hair in a ponytail, get dressed quickly, forget my lunch kind of morning.

Until Hayden speaks.

"Momma, are you going running?"  Aw, cute! She sees my ponytail and thinks I'm going running.

"No...why?" 

"Oh. Your hair looks like crap." 

Crappy Hair.

 And then my husband pipes in to stick up for me: 

"Hayden! You can't say that to your mother!" Aw, he's so sweet ♥ "Only I can say that to your mother!" 

Ouch.


I found this really funny because yesterday, one of my favorite blogs, Parenting: Illustrated With Crappy Pictures did a collaboration post with Divine Secrets of a Domestic Diva about "Insulting Compliments"
Things like "My favorite shape is a circle because that's the same shape as you!" 

I had no example to share because my children don't do the insulting compliments. They just go for the direct hit, as they did this morning. 
 

The future is bright ...

Do you ever have one of those moments with your children where you look at them and can see their future as clear as day? 

You know what I mean. Little Johnny is putting the finishing touches on the most epic Lego skyscraper that has ever been and in that moment, you see it. You see Big Johnny, 25 years down the road, sitting at a drafting table and finalizing the blueprints that will become the most popular building on the planet. Ever. It will be award-worthy and he will be wildly successful.

Have you had these moments? 

I had one this afternoon: 

"woo woo!"

Sitting in the back of a KPD squad car. They were just a little too happy to be there.

"I'm gonna color on your head..."

Lucy: "You don't speak like that and say shut up!" 

Hayden: "If I had a million dollars you could still not say shut up!

Lucy: "I can't pick it up - YOU pick it up."

Hayden: "I'm going to pick up ALL these markers because you are being a ding dong"

Lucy: "I'm. Done. I'm going to color on you"

Hayden: "No NOooooooo!! MOOOOOO-OOOOM! Lucy colored on my foot." 

Lucy: "I'm gonna color on your head."

Thank you for being washable.

I am really not completely sure what that was all about because I was checking Facebook doing housework. I am often amused by the conversations that they have with each other. I am also often horrified at how perfectly they mimic my husband and I when we are scolding them or impatient. Arms on hips, head cocked to the side and the tone, omg the tone of her voice. Do I really sound like that? Shit. 

CHEESE

No, really. It's string cheese.

cheeeeeeeeese

WOO WOO!

Hayden had dance class on Monday afternoon but since Lucy is still too young for dance, she is forced to sit idly by while Little Miss Thing shakes what her Momma gave her. Unfortunately, "sitting idly by" is most definitely not in Lucy's vocabulary.

So, Grandpa was nice enough to take her for a little side trip from APA to the Evergreen Fire Department. The nice firefighter's let her check out a firetruck which was probably the most. exciting. thing. ever. You see, lately Lucy has been completely obsessed with all things firetruck. If she hears one, she announces "IT'S A FIRETRUCK, MOMMA! DEY SAY 'WOO WOOooooo'". 

Leaving work one afternoon there was a horrible accident. Four ambulances and three firetrucks were on scene for it. I picked the girls from daycare and had to drive by the scene multiple times because Lucy was sooooo happy to see the truck. Gory, right? 

Anyhoo...she was treated to her own private tour of the firetruck and she was very, very pleased about this.

"Dey gave me a hat and say 'WOOO WOOOO'"

It even made her forget that she wasn't allowed in the dance class. When Hayden saw her shiny new red Fire Chief hat and waterbottle, she instantly wanted it. Nope. It was all about Lucy this time.

The next day, Lucy busted out the hat and her "WOO WOO" for daycare. Her Uncle Ryan (a firefighter) would be very proud.

Firefighter Lucy, reporting for duty.

Girly Girls

Both of my girls have moments where they are truly girly. They also have moments where they are truly quiet. I recently discovered that the combination of quiet & girly can yield unpleasant results.

I was minding my own business (four years with a child in the house and I still haven't figured out that is a bad idea) and realized, probably about 10 minutes too late, that it was way too quiet. If you are a parent, you know that sense of panic. The "omgitiswaytoquietIhavetogofindthem" panic.

I found my girls in the kitchen sitting quietly on the floor. Nothing looked amiss until I realized Hayden was watching what Lucy was doing. Lucy, had climbed onto the counter and managed to reach the second shelf up to get my bright red finger nail polish. At this point, she was sitting on the floor, painting her nails.

I love my Lucy and I'm certain that she has many talents and will excel at many things.

Nail art is probably not going to be one of them.

The ring finger on her right hand freaks me out.

Boots.

Boot obsessed.

At least she's wearing pants this time.

That's her sister's signature pose

And GBR!

Catching up: Lucy

One of the many things that my girls have been addicted to lately is movies. I think it's because they finally understand them and relate to them. So I bought Annie because as a child, I adored the singing! I remember sitting on the swing in my front yard belting out "The Sun Will Come out Tomorrow" at the top of my lungs, 100% secure in the knowledge that someone would walk by and think I was the girl that played Annie because I was that good.  But I digress...

Lucy loves Annie too. I never realized how much she understood until the other day when I insisted that she pick up what was on the floor before we left the house. She bent at the waist, jutted her little butt out in the air and taunted me with "I love you, Miss Hannigan".  :::deep breath, try not to laugh:::

My child is a smart ass. I don't know where she gets it from.

My child is also smart, and refuses to be outdone by her big sister. Case in point: The Pledge of Allegiance.

Oh, she is a force to be reckoned with, this one!

Someone at work told me that ever famous person she knows has "larger than average" heads. Well, Miss Lucy and her 96th percentile melon might just be Queen of the World one day if that true. I don't know a lot of two year old kids but I do know that this one has amazing comedic timing, a flare for fashion, a killer grin and the ability to make anyone I know burst out laughing. She is far from serious.

Given her way, she'd spend her life outside. Nobody loves dirt and grass more than Lucy. She always wants to walk and hike and "go fast, Daddy, go fast!"

 She's going to be great fun this summer.

I Want a Million Dollars...

I need a million dollars so I have time to keep up with blogging, which I really love to do. Writing has always been a favorite past time. It calms, it soothes and it makes me happy. Kind of like my girls although I'm not so sure I'd use their names in the same sentence as calm or soothe. o.O

The winter has been a blur with hardly any snow. Since my last post, Hayden turned 3 and Lucy turned 2. Hayden has become a little girl and Lucy is in the full throes of toddlerhood. She kind of rocks it.

The Scream

Great googily moogily!

Found: one yellow mini pompom and one googly eye.

In related news, it takes about 31 hours for pompoms and googly eyes to move through a 2 year old's digestive system. o.O

Backpack! Backpack! Backpack!

It's been a long time since we have taken a "backpacking" trip where we actually put what we needed on our backs and went somewhere overnight. Although I'm not sure you can qualify Hornet Lookout as a true "backpacking" adventure, it was the first one we have done as a family of four. It was a great way to spend a beautiful Labor Day Weekend.

Hornet Lookout is a fire lookout in the North Fork of Flathead National Forest. You can rent the cabin for $20 per night. There's a wood stove inside, propane lanterns, stoves, pots and pans, dishes, flatware, etc. You will find any number of other items depending on who was there before you. This last trip there was a Mike's Harder Cranberry Lemonade, condoms and tobacco and rolling papers for a smoke. Those Forest Service folks think of everything!

Anyway...we left Kalispell around 1pm and started our little hike about 3pm. Both girls started off walking on their own. Hayden even wore her own backpack and was carrying all of Lucy's diapers, her Pull-up for overnight and a bunch of snacks.

Trailhead Photo Op

Since the girls think the camera self-timer is one of the best toys ever, we used the opportunity to get a pre-hike photo with all of us at the trailhead. Notice Hayden in her sunglasses and backpack with my trekking poles. She put on her sunglasses and immediately told me "Momma. I'm soooo sexy." SEXY?! Where did she get that word from?!

We set off on our 1+ mile hike that had us climbing just under 1000 feet total. To the average person, this is not a bad little climb. You might get winded or a bit tired, but it is totally doable. To my little 'Nut and Goose who have short little legs, this is an epic challenge. Lucy managed to climb the first half of the trip all by herself. She held either Brad's hand or mine, but her little legs did all the work. Hayden was carrying mini Snickers bars so she had the occasional stop at switchbacks to chow one down. Is it wrong that I taught her "switchbacks are for pansies"? Yeah...I didn't think so either.

Check out my girls:

Climb on, my little hiker chick!

GO Lucy, GO!

 After the halfway point or so, we did put Lucy in the carrier and she rode most of the way up. Brad ran up ahead to unlock the lookout and drop his pack to come back and meet us. We weren't sure that Hayden would be able to walk the whole way so he wanted to be able to carry her if need be. Turns out, that wasn't necessary. We stopped just shy of the lookout and let Lucy out to walk. Hayden was getting tired but we promised her that the "house" we were going to was just ahead. I turned into a real parent on this trip because I repeatedly uttered "We're almost there" when we really weren't even close. Ha.

Hayden is a trooper. That girl climbed the mountain and kicked it's ass. She hoofed it right up to the Lookout, plopped her butt on the stairs and then raised her hands in the air and squealed! "I DID IT, MOMMA! DADDY, I DID IT!" I truly almost cried - I was so incredibly proud of her and could tell that she was so incredibly proud of herself.

I DID IT!!!

The Wet Crystal

We were running late this morning. I say "this" morning like running late is something out of the ordinary. It's not. But, I digress. Brad had taken a shower and I was in the process of getting Lucy dressed. Getting her dressed usually isn't a problem but lately, changing her diaper is a problem. She hates it. She screams, she twists, she screams, she flails and this morning, she kicked like a mule.

The mule reared back and kicked violently at whatever was within her range. Unfortunately, her soaking wet diaper from the night was in my hand and well within said range. What happened was something I've never seen before. Her tiny little foot connected with the diaper and the next thing I know, it's snowing. No...it's slush...no...it's...

*ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww*

Pee crystals!

::gag::

Did you hear what I said? PEE. CRYSTALS. No, no, wait...wet. pee. crystals. It was a blizzard of wet pee crystals!

She stopped crying instantly. This might have something to do with the screech that I let out. I made the unfortunate mistake of yelling to Brad to "get a towel because Lucy just kicked her diaper and there is shit everywhere." In hindsight, "shit" was not the appropriate word to use because you know what Brad was expecting to find. But no, it's just an inch of pee crystals on me, the hardwood, the blanket, the towel, Lucy's hair, Lucy's face, Lucy's body, Lucy's clean clothes. Sigh.

I've seen these pee gemstones before of course. When the girls were little, I would sometimes see a crystal or two in their diaper at changing time. They are nothing to worry about (says the mom who was covered in them this morning).  The crystals are actually a product of the chemical that makes diapers “super-absorbent:”  sodium polyacrylate.  These polymer beads, which absorb 200-300 times their weight in water, leak out of the paper fluff when diapers are very full or if there is a little tear in the lining.

I'm not opposed to the bling in the diaper, but why didn't anyone ever tell me that a violent shake/kick would release the gems and send them flying all over the room? That information, my dear diaper companies, would have been uber-helpful.

This is a snow cone without a cone as seen through Toddler Vision (TV)

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

Have you ever heard that saying "Live like there's no tomorrow, love like you've never been hurt and dance like nobody's watching"? It's one that I think of often...for no reason than I do try to live like that. I was going through pictures from this summer and I realized that the one that I don't do often enough is to "dance like nobody's watching". I didn't realize it until I saw a photo of Lucy doing just that.

Case in point:

Go girl!

Look at the sheer joy on her face. While the two boys (sons of a high school friend of mine) were banging on the keyboard like madmen, my little Lucy just got down and dirty on the dance floor. She was shrieking with delight, arms flailing and legs stomping. She was jumping and laughing and twirling like nothing I've ever seen. I realized when looking at this picture, I don't remember the last time I danced that hard and lived so loud. She is happiness personified and I need to be like that more. While this picture isn't professional by any stretch of the imagination, I captured something. It's a beautiful portrait of youth and life and being so happy, you want everyone to witness it.

I need to do more of this.