Sunny Day - Sweepin' the Clouds Away

Before we left on Sunday, we crossed the GWB to spend some time in the city (that would be New York) with Jay's sister Leslie and her husband Dan. After a tasty Mexican brunch, we walked from their place to Central Park to play. We went to a little playground with enough other kids to keep it interesting, but not crowded. All day on Saturday we had torrential, blinding rain and then Saturday night brought window-jiggling blow-the-house-down winds. So, when Sunday dawned clear and bright and the park was so clean and perfect, the Sesame Street theme kept playing over and over in my head - especially the line in the title of the post. I am super glad that we don't actually live on the east coast, let alone in Manhattan (I won't mention how long it took to get through the Lincoln Tunnel on the way to the airport...), but it sure can be a nice place to visit. I wish we had gotten to see Elmo.

What Time is It?

We are home and glad to be so, but with the time change, late night flight and Daylight Savings Time, our body clocks are quite confused. I will post some stories later, but overall, our trip objectives were fully achieved... Wow, yesterday was a long day.

I took this picture as the girls settled in to watch Willy Wonka on the portable DVD player about three hours into the flight. The opening credits run over scenes of chocolate candies being made, and the girls were pretending to pick little chocolates off the screen and feed them to each other and to me. Imagine my surprise when five minutes later, both were hanging upside down from the overhead compartments screaming obscenities and pouring cupsful of bloody mary mix on passengers in nearby rows. Okay, maybe it wasn't quite that bad.

Betcha' Got a Chick, and I Ain't Talking 'bout Easter

How Long (Betcha' Got a Chick on the Side)... I can't get this song out of my head. Really, I can't. It's an opener in our new Jazzercise set - Queen Latifah doing an old Pointer Sisters song. I just love it when "I know you're cheatin' on me" songs are so upbeat that I can't stop my toe from tapping and my head from moving like an old Taco Bell bobble head on a bumpy road. Back in the day when I had a man with a chick on the side, I really didn't feel like singing at all. Nope, not at all.

(available on iTunes)

A Mighty Wind

With our flight less than 24 hours away, why is Jay obsessed with watching this over and over? For God's sake.

Blick (at KinderCare), and Broccoli

I planned to send the kids to KinderCare today and (seriously) take the day off and wander around IKEA for a few hours. Crazy, I know... We have to pay for the week even though we were only going to be able to send them on Tuesday because of our trip, so I figured what was the harm in making up one of the days and indulging myself a little. So, 9:00 rolls around and as we stroll through the door, I notice that there is a sign that says, "We have a stomach virus making its rounds through the center. If your child complains of a tummy ache, please take him home." And yet, we push forward. When we enter Ellie's room, we are smacked in the face by the smell of bleach. Ms Kim said, "If you don't have to leave Ellie today... I wouldn't." So, quick change of plans to avoid leaving the little one in the epicenter of gastrointestinal distress... Needless to say, Ellie's only good for about an hour in IKEA, but having her with me almost certainly saved us money. Then she sat through lunch at the Cafe with Jazzercise Sue and now is enjoying a nice long nap. She is a barrel of laughs, and it's nice to spend the day with her without having to deal with the Center of the Universe (aka, her older sister).

Ellie is at the cusp of a language explosion - I feel it in my bones. She will repeat just about any word you say to her, and she'll point out everything pretty well in her picture books. But, most amusing is her new word of the week - BROCCOLI! (If you want the quick version of the video, skip ahead until about 1:04 and prepare to be amazed...)

blik

I saw wall decals from this company years ago, and I've wanted them ever since... But, since our house has its lovely and pervasive orange peel texture, I have been stymied in my pursuit, since these won't stick to textured walls. (Why, oh why, oh why with the textured walls??? I digress...)

I was just standing in our outbuilding as Jay painted the walls of the exercise room and dreaming of what is to be when I realized that, due to my unrelenting demands, the walls in that building are smooth like glass. The exercise room will be a combination of an almost acid green (2 consecutive walls) and a bright blue (the other two). I'm thinking these will work nicely, in the raspberry cocoa combination - with the blue splashing onto the green and vice versa, with the raspberry and cocoa in the middle...

Precocious Children, if I do say so...

Ellie relaxing in the rocking chair, enjoying one of her favorite books before bedtime. Mags always loved this one, too. I don't remember it at all from my childhood - I wonder when it was published...



Mags showing off our Sunday morning breakfast (cornmeal blueberry scones). She actually is a good helper in the kitchen! Notice she has sampled the blueberries to make sure they're good enough for the rest of us. We (meaning I) almost messed this one up when I somehow managed to turn the oven off at some point during cooking... but they turned out to be remarkably tasty.