wishing star

Sometimes I just can't get over how insanely MUCH I love my daughters and yet how CRAZY they make me at the same time (often in the same minute).

 Last night Jamie said something about how he couldn't believe that in a year from now we will be putting Audrie on the bus to go to Kindergarden. I almost slapped him. I said "there is NO WAY I'm putting Audrie on a school bus here in New York City and sending her off to school by herself!!!" But he reminded me that's what people do here just like any other city (one of our friends who has children a year older than ours sends her child on the bus to school every morning here in our neighborhood).

The thought almost made me puke. Not my Audrie. She's just a baby.

But then just to prove she is not a baby and is in fact thirteen years old... here are a couple Audrie stories.

Last night she was in big trouble for disobeying us so we sent her to her room way early for bedtime. I went in to check on her and she was sitting on the edge of her bed with her arms crossed in a pout across her chest. I asked her what was wrong and she huffed... "I'm having the worst life!!"

OMG. I just about laughed in her face. Welcome to four years old, Audrie. Congratulations on having the worst life ever.

FOR REAL?!

Ok then this morning when she woke up I guess she was still upset about Jamie having to discipline her so sternly last night, because this is what she said to him... "Daddy, I wished on the wishing star last night that you would be nice to me today."

Priceless.

I can just imagine the look on Jamie's face.

Oh my goodness, what are we going to do with this girl?!

Love her. But I guess we better find a cage to lock her in now before she hits puberty.... and WE start having the "worst life". ha!!

I really can't wait to see how this amazing little girl turns out...

I think Shakespeare must have met Audrie....

"Tho she be but little, she is fierce." -Shakespeare

accidental photo shoot

 We are back from the beach (where we had a total blast!) and I actually took my camera. I'm so bad about only taking photos with my phone anymore, so it was nice to see if I could still take photos with a real camera. :)

 This is the first time we have gone on a beach vacation by ourselves (usually we go with family or friends). And no offense to our fabulous family and friends whom we adore and hope to go on a million more vacations with... but this may have been the best vacation we've ever had!

 It was so super low key. Just wake up and decide whatever we wanted to do (or not do) that day. Only had to answer to ourselves... and these two adorable dictators.

 The girls had so much fun on the beach every day. We usually did the beach in the morning until lunch, then naps for everyone, pool in the afternoon, and then venturing out in the town for dinner and fun in the evenings.

 The weather was perfect. 85-90 degrees with enough of a breeze that it never felt too hot in the sun.

 The funny thing about all of these photos is that I very specifically decided before we left for this trip that I was NOT going to plan any outfits or try to do beach family photos on this trip. I just wanted to snap a few casual photos with my camera whenever I wanted to. On this morning we had rolled out of bed to try some breakfast at a cafe that had great reviews (and we wanted to go early enough that there wouldn't be a crowd to gawk at how we let Annie eat butter straight from the packets).

So I threw on a skirt with the same tank top I slept in, didn't put any product in my frizzed out beach hair, no make-up. I asked Jamie if he wouldn't mind just grabbing anything out of the girl's suitcase for them to wear to breakfast. As we were walking out the door to go eat I looked down at us and thought wow we are really oddly matching today.

After breakfast we were walking on the beach and I was snapping a few photos of the girls playing in the water. A lady walking by asked if we wanted our photo taken together (obviously from our well planned out attire the lady must have assumed we were a walking family photo just waiting for a cheesy photo!).

So she snapped a couple pictures on my camera. And I love them. Naturally, if I had tried to plan this it would have been a hot mess.

So thank you, random lady, for capturing our unplanned photo shoot. :)

As I sort through the photos from the rest of our week, I'll post a few more.

in case I forget

So we're on vacation at the beach this week (pics to come once we get home next week!) but I wanted to document something about our sweet Bannanie. (So when she's 13 and screaming that she hates me I can remember this about her..)

Annie has done this often since about one but more recently this week since we are wearing her out at the beach... she begs to go to bed at night. For real. On nights when she is really tired she'll start saying "night night, pwease?!". She keeps saying this until we finally put her in bed. Tonight she actually went and stood next to her bed and begged for me to put her to sleep. It's pretty awesome.

To balance out that awesomeness let me try to explain another fabulous thing about Annie. You really have to experience it in person to get the full effect, but Annie yells "NO!" at me in such a precise way about a hundred times a day and every time it cracks us up. I don't know why it is so funny. I probably should be worried about it, but honestly it is hilarious to me. I barely get the sentence out of my mouth and she very matter-of-factly yells NO at me. She doesn't say it in a spoiled brat way. More like 'THAT IS ABSOLUTELY NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN SO DON'T BRING IT UP EVER AGAIN, pwease.". And it's kind of shocking coming from her sweet little face.

"Annie, come sit here so I can fix your hair."

NO!!!!!!

"Annie, please eat your lunch."

NO!!!!!

"Annie, stop licking the tv."

NO!!!!!

Reading it here makes it sound terrible, but I'm only sharing because it really does make us laugh. She goes right back to her adorable sweet self (she's never been able to really commit to her sassiness), but I suppose we better put a stop to it.

Or not. I guess if we're going to raise an adorable blond girl on the streets of NYC- screaming NO like she will cut you down- might not be a bad thing? Ha!

oh, audrie

I feel like every new stage of the girls lives is my favorite. Annie is talking nonstop and bursting forth with new personality all the time. And with her new growing vocabulary she has learned to tell us exactly how it is.

And Audrie. Oh, Audrie. I love this mess of a girl.

4 and a half is so fun with her!

I wanted to document a few of my favorite Audrie moments lately.

Today I told her she could go in the kitchen and make lunch for her and Annie. Whatever she wanted. All by herself. She was soooo excited!

We heard some rustling around and about 5 minutes later she came out with two plates of lunch for her and Annie. Each plate had: a corn tortilla, shredded cheese, tomatoes, a pickle, and one grape.

She was so proud of herself.

 We've been trying to give her more independence and show her that we trust her to do things on her own. And she just loves it.

 I took her on a day date with me the other day. We painted pottery, shared some gelato, and shopped for new shoes. Perfect date!

 We've had some really great heart-to-heart talks lately. And it's starting to feel very 'real' when I talk with her, if that makes sense. Like I don't have to sugar coat it with toddler talk and can just tell her how it is.

I had to discipline her yesterday because I discovered that she had poured out a brand new bottle of bubble bath that I had just bought for her and Annie. I was very upset and had to send her to the bathroom to wait for me (so I could cool off and also so she could have that time of waiting to find out what her punishment would be... sometimes that's enough of a scare, right?).

When I finally went in I could see she had all her sass and stubbornness ready for me. So I just knelt down in front of her and decided to keep it real. I told her softly how upset I was because I work very hard as teacher and go to work every day to make money for our family. And how daddy works very hard making lamps to make money for us. And we use that money to buy groceries and toilet paper and nice things for Audrie and Annie. And I told her firmly that she wasted our money. And we work hard for that money.

I was just starting to get in the heart of my big speech when I saw her chin start to shake and big fat tears start rolling down her cheek. She threw her arms around my neck and sobbed "I'm sorry for wasting your money, mommy." I could feel her snotty tears running down my neck. She kept saying she was so sorry. It totally broke my heart. I hugged her and told her I accepted her apology and that she would have to apologize to daddy when he got home for wasting his money, too.

It was such a sad moment, but I feel like I am getting more glimpses into her character and I like what I see. Parenting is such a tough mystery. Everyone has their own philosophies and strategies that work for them. And I feel like sometimes we're just praying that we are doing the right thing and hoping for the best.

Audrie and I have started a new tradition the past week or so when I put her to bed I crawl up on the top bunk to lay down with her and we take turns talking about whatever topic we want. Audrie really looks forward to it and we've had some interesting conversations. I love how she will say "ok, mommy, your turn- what do you want to talk about now?"

A couple nights ago she said "ok, I want to talk about why I can't stop making bad choices?". (whoa, ok). So I explained that everyone makes mistakes and how we are proud of all the good choices she makes during the day and no one is perfect. Mommy makes mistakes. Daddy makes mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. Then she asks "What do you and daddy do when you make mistakes?" (Dang, she was not letting me off easy.) So we talked about asking for forgiveness. But I love how her mind works sometimes. Of course, the next topic was about cupcakes or princesses, I'm sure.

Last night she said "I want to talk about when am I going to be a great singer?" I told her how she IS a great singer and we love all the songs she sings and how she sings great all day long. Then Audrie said very exasperated "But mommy, I don't know all the words to Somewhere Over the Rainbow." (I had to not laugh out loud at her- but I love how her measure of a great singer is simply if you know ALL the words to Somewhere Over the Rainbow.) So precious.

the park

If you read my blog then you know how in love we are with the park that is right out our front door. And if you read my blog then you're probably sick of hearing about the stupid park and thinking "my goodness, you live in NYC, can't you find something better than THE PARK to blog about??". :)

Nope. This post is about the park.


Our park. As we like to call it.

My favorite part is the lovely shade the trees provide as I start my walk to work. It's the last tranquil moment of my day.

 And I like the play equipment that is designed to look like the George Washington Bridge. So cool.

 Here is Annie running towards me with a huge grin and a "MOMMMMMMMMYYYYYY!!!".
Love her.

 She still says it wrong (and so cute) "Hold you, mommy?"

 "Pwease?" (How can you resist those puppy dog eyes?)

 Here is Jason saying "Why, yes, please take my picture."

 Annie swinging and loving it.

 Just soaking up the sun.

 More pics of the park.

Jason and Samuel supervising the shoe tying. (We have been able to see them more this summer and it's been so great!)

 Push me higher, daddy!

 Jason and Sammy-o leaving the park.

 I told Audrie and Jamie to strike a pose for me.

 Tickle!

 Cuties!

 Love these girls! (Thanks, Jamie, for the picture.)

 The park also has an area for some rock climbing. Which about gives me a stroke because Annie runs across them at full speed.

 A nice grassy area to run around in.

 Park benches to climb on. (Not sit. No. These girls don't believe in sitting.)

 Then it's just a hop, skip, and a jump back home.

I'll see if we can do something more exciting this week so you don't have to hear anymore about the park! :)

prepare yourself for cuteness

The quality is not great because I had to take a video of the video, but you get the general idea of her stardom. :) She's the one in the middle.