The Lion King and Easter Eggs

A couple weeks ago Ailey and I got to go to the Lion King broadway show. Last fall Ailey watched the movie for the first time at Aunt Sarah's and since then takes only short breaks between singing her favorite songs from it. When I found out it was in town I hesitated for a while, then one day after listening to a particularly vigorous rendition of "Oh I Just Can't Wait to be King!" I decided it was worth it. Of course, there weren't any tickets available anymore. Isn't that just how it goes, as soon as something just can't be missed we can't get a seat! However, Andy found out from the box office that they release the actor's tickets when the actors give them up and, miracle of miracles, he actually found two tickets online a couple days later.

Knowing how 3-year-olds are (I've had one for almost a year now) I knew to expect just about any reaction from Ailey after telling her that we were going to "go see the Lion King". So I wasn't at all surprised or worried when her response was "But I don't want to go!" Prodding her a little I got her to admit that she didn't want to see Scar. Who would? In explaining how this was different from the movie, and that it's all of course pretend, I assured her we wouldn't be close to Scar and that she could bury her face, sit on my lap, or even hide on the floor if she wanted when he came on stage. Of course, that isn't where the timidity ended. When we got there I ended up having to carry her into the theater building (I think all the people were a little intimidating), had to convince her to enter the theater itself (it is a gorgeous, but huge theater, especially to a little kid), and during the intermission I had to actually talk her into staying for the second Act. Honestly, after it was all over I wasn't sure whether she would be scared of theaters forever or (hopefully!) take from it a positive experience. She was mesmerized by all the animals, and of course Simba was her favorite part. ("No, Mom, just Simba was my favorite.") She says she enjoyed it, every time I ask her, and she is still singing the songs at the top of her lungs. I'm glad we were able to go. If you ever have a chance, it is a fantastic show.

Here we are dressed for the Lion King. Ailey brought her puppy with to comfort her in case we didn't find a stuffed Simba to buy for her at the show. (We didn't buy one - the one they had for sale "didn't look like Simba" from the movie and he cost $20. And FYI, there is no Lion King anything at the Disney Store - we checked - it's "in the vault".) We listened to the CD all the way there.

Also going on the past couple weeks....

Marin and Silje make a mess enjoy their mac-n-cheese.

Ailey is going to take dance classes in a few weeks and tried on her dance clothes. She added the hat. I'm not sure the dress code will allow for it though.

And a pose....

Marin got herself into quite the precarious place ... under the piano bench. She had to be rescued.

I was itching to get out of the house one day, so after dinner we all got coats and shoes on and went out to the yard. I think it was the first time Silje had had free reign in the yard. She was a little lot giddy. It's fun to get to know your kids better through new experiences. I would have thought Marin would be the dare devil outside, but Silje literally ran circles around her while Marin stood rooted to the spot. Go figure.

Ailey and I went to the SNOMOMS Egg Hunt. We were planning on going all five of us, but it was wet and cold and both Marin and Silje are nursing colds (or rather, I'm nursing their colds). So Andy reluctantly (chah!) missed the Egg Hunt to stay home with Marin and Silje while Ailey and I braved the elements, getting wet, muddy, and cold hunting for toy-stuffed eggs at the park. Ailey had fun filling her Easter Bucket despite freezing her fingers and soaking her pant legs. Who knew we'd be pulling out the gloves and scarves for an Easter Egg Hunt?! Andy and the babies (of course I can still call them that, I'm the Mom) met us after for pizza.
I'm looking forward to April bringing sunshine and flowers! (Yes, I know that's tomorrow, but I can dream....)

Kissy Marin

One of Marin's favorite things to do right now is to run around kissing people. The kissing recipients are usually grateful, though that sometimes depends on the amount of drool dripping off her chin at the time. Check out this video of Marin and our neighbor friend.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Ailey is a picky eater. Duh, right? She's 3. Her palate invites such things as mac-n-cheese, quesadillas, jam sandwiches (hold the pb, please). She is at least good about her fruits and veggies. She might turn her nose up at hotdogs, but she'll eat broccoli. I swear she's also just never hungry. She sometimes eats less in a day than other moms are probably feeding their kids for a snack. So having a hungry kid to try new foods on isn't in my field of experience.

A few days ago as Ailey and I rolled through the grocery store she said, very matter-of-fact as if she says this kind of thing all the time: "Let's have spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tonight, Mom." Huh? You won't eat spaghetti, tomato sauce of any kind, or any meat other than Papa Murphy's sausage, and you're asking for a meal you've never eaten before? "OK, honey. We'll have spaghetti and meatballs tonight." It just so happened that I had some meatballs, and I always have the other ingredients on hand. As I started to make dinner Ailey still seemed to be on board with our spaghetti and meatballs. She watched as I put the spaghetti into the pot and she informed Andy what we were having for dinner.

Now, Andy and I are still in the habit of feeding the kids and then eating our own dinner after they are in bed. It's been our habit for a long time, and, well, habits are hard to break. The few times we've attempted dinner as a family either Andy or I or both of us end up eating our food cold or warming it up later after they are all in bed anyway. Mostly because Marin and Silje are still high maintenance at meals - they only get a few bits at a time on the tray, they're sometimes spoon-fed, and they're always screaming asking for something. I know other families are able to pull off dinner as a family regularly - send me your tricks! But we're still working on getting there.

For spaghetti and meatballs, however, we tried dinner together. I think Andy opted out of eating immediately. He took on Marin and Silje (who aren't yet picky eaters and devoured everything except the spaghetti noodles themselves) while I sat down to eat next to Ailey to observe what she would do with this dinner that she had asked for but that I was pretty sure would go uneaten.

There's something to be said for Mother's Intuition, but I really don't think my predictions deserve that much honor in this case. Anyone who's been around picky 3 year olds could have guessed that she still would have nothing to do with tomato sauce, still wouldn't like the feel of spaghetti, and still sticks her nose up at any meat other than Papa Murphy's sausage. She did eat up the garlic bread alright.

I have yet to nail down the source of Ailey's spaghetti and meatballs dinner request. It may have been that Emily Elizabeth had spaghetti and meatballs with Clifford recently. Or maybe it's because she's been reading On Top of Spaghetti by Paul Brett Johnson, one of our favorites. No matter, if she actually asks to eat something I will happily oblige and maybe one of these days she will actually eat it!

Dining Toddler Style

Last summer sometime we quit going out to restaurants as a family. Cold turkey, quit. I don't remember if there was a particular incident, but I remember Andy and I both having that feeling that it just wasn't worth it to spend the money on a meal that we either didn't eat, ate cold, or picked up off the floor while shushing impatient babies and cajoling a fidgety twit of a 3-year-old. We decided we could meet friends and family at our house or theirs and increase our potential for enjoyment.

A few weeks ago a twin-mom friend of mine convinced us to meet them for dinner at The Spaghetti Factory, saying it's very kid-friendly and inexpensive. We decided to try it. After all, the twins could actually sit in highchairs now and eat off the menu. Perhaps it was because we were with another family with three kids under 4-years-old, or because The Spaghetti Factory is pretty loud, but we deemed the adventure a success. The kids ate. They were entertained by crayons and/or crackers. They didn't appear to disrupt the diners around us. Seeing all the other kids making a mess of the floor made me feel confident that the people who work there are used to dealing with toddler-tossed food. We had fun, Ailey had fun, and Marin and Silje enjoyed the food and new surroundings.

Last week we went out to a restaurant for Andy O's birthday. I've always thought of Applebees as kid-friendly and they have a good kid menu. Things weren't going our way from the beginning, however. We had to wait almost an hour for a table by which time it was an hour past usual dinner time for the kids. Ailey did fine, but Marin and Silje were hungry and bored with their new surroundings by then. It took some convincing to get them to eat when the food came. I hardly remember the taste of my BBQ ribs as I spent the majority of my energy doling out pieces of food, shoving the tossed food under the highchairs, shushing the screaming, etc.

I had my back to most of the people around us and was convinced that they were all getting close to mutiny with Silje's shrieking outbursts and being pelted, undoubtedly, in the head with french fries. Andy assured me that "most of them were entertained" by Marin and Silje's antics and that they were actually smiling at us. But he might just have been trying to avert my attention from the mob that was forming with a "No Screaming Banshees in our Restaurants!" banner. Then again, maybe it was one of those things that seems worse when you're the one responsible.

As for our own party, I honestly don't know what went on at the other end of the table. Perhaps Andy O enjoyed his birthday dinner (I don't think food was tossed in his direction) and was able to carry on uninterrupted adult conversation (I think people in our lives have lately developed selective hearing necessarily). Between outbursts and/or when I intentionally ignored Marin and Silje myself, I was able to catch up on Amy's life a bit. Hope your birthday dinner was good, Wise Andy!

Now don't go rushing to the phone to invite us out to dinner, I'm not sure when we'll be brave enough again. But when you do I think we'll take a reservation at The Spaghetti Factory.

29 Pictures

It's been a while since I posted some pictures just for the sake of the pictures. The written posts take so little time to type, but putting up pictures takes a lot of time and effort. Blogger doesn't make it easy. Anyway, enjoy the pictures and captions of the growing kids and their goings-on....

Waaaaaaay, back in February Ailey and I had a couple Valentine projects going on. This one was making Valentine's for her classmates at her first ever Valentine's Day party at preschool. I love the projects we find at Michaels. It's got to be my best source for Ailey-projects....

...But I wasn't thinking so pleasantly of the store when I opened this package of 24 make-'em-yourself Valentines and realized all the little holes had to be punched out with a tooth-pick.

Needless to say, this project took a few days.

Heart cookies with frosting and sprinkles, of course, was our next Valentine project. Ailey wanted red frosting. Luckily she was satisfied with dark pink frosting when I used the last of the red food coloring.

We got good use out of Valentine outfits that came courtesy of Grandma Linda (Ailey's dress) and Aunt Sarah (Marin and Silje's shirts). They wore these outfits several times in the month of February. And the girls were definitely the most colorful bunch at library story-time the week before Valentine's Day.Fish-lips Silje. I finally got a good picture of it. This is what she'll do when she hears the word "kiss" or hears the kissing noise. Quite talented, don't you think?

Now a smiling, cute Silje.

And here I brave to document my own flakiness. After a diaper change I carried the babies downstairs and I remember thinking that the snaps on the bottom of Marin's shirt were really sticking out, but didn't realize what I had forgotten to do until a few minutes later. What's wrong with this picture?

Hey Marin, pull up your pants!

How did she not notice this? How was she still able to walk? Seriously, where are her parents?!

Marin got herself into a predicament I remember Ailey getting into. She tried to climb through the legs on the piano only to realize too late that she doesn't quite fit and she's going to require a rescue. She thought it was funny for a few seconds.

Marin and her finger-sucking. If she's got her lovey she can cozy up anywhere.

Silje was having fun playing with Grandma Sue but apparently didn't want her picture taken. Are those your tonsils I see, Silje?!

Hmm, a little ashamed of your outburst? Well, OK, I'll put the camera away.

Grandpa Tony and Ailey reading. Notice the ready-pile of magazines. Ailey was ready for a read-off!

This is the only picture I've managed to get of Marin and Silje in their Irish sweatshirts and pants that they got from Grandma Elsie for their birthday. They wear them a lot. I'll keep trying to get a good one....

This is a "yoga" outfit that Aunt Sarah gave to Ailey a few years ago. It's fun to be able to pull it out again. So cute!

Ailey and I got outside during the babies' nap one day last week. Before the cold and snow of this week, of course. This is Marin, outfitted in coat and shoes (shoes being a relatively new thing for both Marin and Silje), anxious to go outside with Ailey.

"Wait a minute. Just what is this stuff you put me on?"

Not movin'."Still haven't gone anywhere, but I'm having fun!""Maybe I'll try a step...."

Well, that was a couple inches.

"How do I get over there?"

A flower right in the middle of the "grass" (if you can call it that). We found several crocuses in the yard. Not sure where they came from as we haven't had them anywhere before and they weren't here last year!
Who does this remind you of? Little Cindy Who from Whoville? Silje's pigtail mysteriously disappeared, but there must have been enough dried peaches left in there to keep her hair just where I put it!We started last week with snow, sleet and rain ... oh, and sunshine ... all in one day. I understand that on the very same day there was a blizzard going on in Barnsville, MN. I'll take the snow, sleet and rain! Even if it does create icy roads. It warmed up a bit a few days later, but there was still snow in the shady spots for a while.

It was supposed to rain this weekend. Instead on Sunday morning there were snowflakes the size of cotton balls coming down. They stuck in some places as Ailey and I drove to church and on a couple errands. It was raining by afternoon. I had a strong wind pelting me with sleet on my way out of the grocery store then had to put on my sunglasses before I got home. Spring is sure being a tease this year!