The Swing Set

Between the four of us, we received a fair amount of money for Christmas and Hanukkah. We decided to put it all towards a swing set for the girls. Clark and Ann did most of the work, but Andy helped all day Sunday, and even Sophie, Zoe and I pitched in a little bit. The girls love their new playground and have already gotten hours of play out of it. We hope they continue to enjoy it for many years!

Sneaky Mommy

Zoe is a big singer, but as soon as she sees the camera she goes silent. She usually sings herself to sleep, so I decided to record her on the monitor!

Sophie's date with Mommy

Today I took advantage of having Ann and Clark here. I left Zoe at home napping while I went to pick up Sophie from school. I surprised her with a special date to one of my favorite places - the nail salon. Sophie has been asking to get her nails painted like mommy for a long time, and she was due for some much needed alone time with me too. First she asked for white polish, but I knew she would be disappointed with the result. After much consideration she chose purple sparkly polish. It was so fun watching her in the chair. She got a kids mani-pedi with a design, and it only cost $10! Next time I go I'm ordering off the kids menu!

Busted...

...lip that is. Today before dinner we were playing tag in the cul-de-sac when Zoe (with some help from a little person who I will not name) went flying face first into the pavement. After lots of tears and complaining about not being able to drink from her sippy with her very swollen lip, Zoe finally calmed down when I put dinner on the table. She polished off her chicken and pasta, then ceased all complaining until she saw herself in the mirror...

A Dream Come True

There is a great little coffee shop near Dove Mountain that few moms know about. It has all your favorite drinks and pastries, but what makes it extra special is that there is a playground right behind it. So while the moms sit at the tables enjoying the gorgeous Tucson weather, the kids get to play. Ahhhhh....

Miss Independent

Sophie is becoming a lot more independent and helpful these days. She now enjoys picking out her clothes (to my embarrassment at times) and can get completely undressed now. She used to be able to do everything but her shirt, but she figured that out the other day. She also likes to help Zoe get undressed, by taking off her shoes (as pictured above after a recent rain when I let the girls splash in a puddle), and we've even witnessed her changing Zoe's diaper. I was surprised how well Zoe listened to Sophie when she was told to "lie down, you have pee pees in your diaper", and then how she didn't squirm at all during the diaper change. I guess I should take some pointers from my big girl! Of course, we still end up with shoes on the wrong feet, and she can't quite get her shirt on by herself, but it does give me hope that someday my children will not need me for every basic survival task. Just as long as they never stop needing me at all:)