No matter how much you shelter (or protect) them, they still learn it

Vanessa has a Little Tikes’ Coupe Car. You know this one…












Well, anyways, the girls love to drive it around the house. Often times, they are schmoosed into the seat together or one is driving and the other is hanging off the roof on the outside, like catching a free ride. When just one of them is driving, they take turns and are pretty good about sharing driving opportunities.

Usually.

The other day, Vanessa was driving her car and Katelyn asked if she could have a turn. Vanessa told her “no” and that she was still driving somewhere. Where? I have no idea, but somewhere very important apparently. Katelyn was not satisfied with Vanessa’s response. In frustration, she walked up to the side of the car and kicked the driver’s side door. Vanessa stopped the car in mid-push and threw open the door. With a look of pure anger, she ran after Katelyn with her arms in the air, and if words would have been permitted, she would have probably been yelling something like, “How dare you kick my car! Now, I’m going to hurt you!”

True road rage.

Now, let me clarify a few things here. My children do not watch television. Yes, the occasional parent-censored DVD, but not traditional television where you would expect children to learn about such acts of violence.

And no, neither Bill nor I have ever chased after someone in anger…maybe a few choice words, but never physical violence.

A reason to eat cake

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!

We love you!

I'm still finding sand!

We went to the beach one day last week to avoid the heat. This was the first ocean-beach experience the girls have had and they were just thrilled to experience something new! The sand at the beach is soft, more like playground sand, compared to the rocky beaches the girls are familiar with at Tahoe. Katelyn ran across the sand barefoot shouting “this is cool” and ended up covered head-to-toe with sand. Two baths later, we still found sand on her! I was a little nervous as to how Vanessa would take to the sand, as she hates to even have her hands dirty and now I am making her walk in it. Well, I was so wrong. She totally surprised me and loved the sand. At one point, she was laying and rolling in it, with a big grin on her face.

I have always been a little hesitant taking the girls to the beach, because usually it’s just me and the girls on our day adventures and I only have one set of eyes to watch both girls and there is an enormous body of water at the beach that can easily take over a small child. Maybe I am a paranoid mom, but too often we hear about horrific, yet preventable, accidents involving children and water. There is a reason we have two locks and a child-safe gate before one can even get into our pool area at home. But then again, my children were the only ones on the beach wearing sun-shirts and hats, even though it was over-cast out (but that’s when you can get the worst sun-burns!).

We had a wonderful day, ending with a stop to treat ourselves to some ice cream before heading home. I am so glad we ventured out to try something new and enjoyed our time together.

A few thoughts

Even with the outside temperatures hovering around 100 degrees, my girls ask for their milk warmed. I know it’s just a habit of theirs, but I think they are nuts. Personally, a cold beer sounds good to me.

We are having a lazy afternoon, trying to hide from the heat. Vanessa is sweating, um, I mean, napping, while Katelyn and I hang out on the couch snacking and watching a movie. Peaceful!

I’m super excited right now! I just signed up for a photography class. Bill gave me a fabulous camera for Christmas to fuel a passion of mine, but even though I’ve read the camera’s manual cover to cover, I still feel like an amateur when I use it. The last photography class I took was years and years ago in college, so it will be wonderful to relearn how to use my camera. I am not betting that it will make my pictures turn out any better, but am hoping at least that it will make me feel better about taking pictures. I’ve been looking around for a class, but unless I want to spend every Saturday for 12 weeks, there’s not many options out there…that is until I found this class. It is one afternoon with a professional photographer in a very small group setting (like 4 people). It should be fun.

I wanted to cry from frustration, hide from embarrassment, and laugh from the chaos of it all

The girls and I went on several errands yesterday; nothing out of the ordinary. We were all having a good time, everyone’s ears were “on”, and a red balloon was waiting for us as soon as we got through the check-out line. That was until we visited Trader Joe’s. To be more specific, the egg section of Trader Joe’s. We then lost the privilege of the red balloon. And yes, there were eggs on the floor.

Cute Words

Katelyn has a very good grasp of the English language and always has since the day she started talking. Most of the time, she uses the proper tense and word. But once in a while, she reminds me that she is only four years old and still learning. Here are a few of her recent “words” that have made me smile…

Merry O Round = Merry Go Round
Driving Wheel = Steering Wheel
Pack Out = Unpack
Flipper-Over = Spatula
Breader = Toaster

And somehow, our family has taken the term “backpack” to mean a “piggy back ride”. Not sure who started this cute phrase, but it stuck.