A Bedtime Story

Last night was a pretty rough night with my girls. They each wanted what the other had such as pajamas, where to sit on my lap, being the first to pick out a book to read. They were even fighting over two identical McDonalds toys they each had received the previous day. I finally got them tucked in and we all settled down for our traditional bedtime story. Now usually I let my girls take turns choosing the theme of the story. Then I make up a simple story surrounding the chosen theme. Lately Jane has been requesting stories with Fairies and Giants. Emily likes Hello Kitty and Critter Village stories. Tonight though I told them I am picking the story. Here’s how it went…

Once upon a time there were two little girls that lived in a house together. These little girls were always arguing over little things and crying to their mother that things weren’t fair. The more they cried to their mother the sadder the mother got. Then one day as the mother heard her two girls fighting a good fairy came to the mother and sprinkled fairy dust on the mother and the mother vanished to a very happy place where she could sit on a beach and read her favorite book and it was very quiet. Meanwhile at home the little girls, who were still fighting, came running to find their mother. They soon discovered that she had disappeared. The fairy told them that because they are always fighting over things she made the mom vanish to a happier place. This made the little girls sad because they missed their mom. They promised not to fight anymore if the fairy would bring their mom home. So the fairy went to the happy place and told the mom her little girls wanted her to come home and they promised not to fight anymore. The mom said it was very nice where she was at but she did miss her little girls and she would be happier at home with them if only they could be nice to each other. So the fairy sprinkled the mom with fairy dust and she came back home and was so happy to be with her favorite little girls. And the two girls were happy and never fought again and they all lived happily ever after.

After I stopped the story I noticed that both of my girls were quietly sobbing. Jane said “Mommy don’t go to the beach”. Emily said “I hated that story! Never ever tell that story again, OK mom.

I guess the story hit a little too close to home. At least I know they like having me around.

Gymnastics

My girls have been surviving the end of winter by taking fun gymnastics classes on Thursday evenings. I attempted a few pictures but the lighting is really bad in this warehouse like gym and Emily's teacher asked me to not use the flash.

Jane was perma grin the entire time. Her favorite was jumping into the sponges. She also adored her cute teacher.




Emily loved being in the class with her good friend Ella. Her classs spent most of their time at the back of the gym but I did manage to take a couple pictures of Emily walking on the beam. (Notice in the one that is really dark that her tongue is sticking out while she concentrates to stay on the beam. It's a genetic trait that my dad has and sometimes I'll find myself doing)

Country Cousin

Bryler came to play while my sister Brooke and her family went to a Jazz game. My girls had so much fun with her. I hope she can come back again soon!

Girl's Bedroom- Redone

My girls have a new bedroom. It all started last summer as I was enjoying an early morning jog and stopped by the a yard sale just down the road at the Catholic church. As soon as I saw a brown solid wood dresser I knew it would be perfect painted white. I was even more pleased when they only wanted $15.00. Since I live only a few houses away, the scout troup volunteered a couple of their boys to help move it up the street. So Bart got to work and turned it into this..

The next step was to get Jane out of her crib. After debating over expensive home made solid wood bunk beds vs cheap fall apart ones I was really pleased when I saw an ad for a used handmade solid wood bunk bed set for only $100. The only problem was it was red. Good thing I have a husband who is great at painting, even if he does it a little begrudgingly:)
While we waited for Bart to find some time to paint the beds, I was on a pursuit for a small desk where Emily could keep all of her paper creations. They like rabbits seem to multiple overnight. I knew exactly what I wanted but I didn't want to pay a great deal for it. Once again KSL.com came through with this little girls desk for like $20 including the chair. I knew it looked a little hammered but nothing a little paint couldn't fix. As soon as Emily saw it she was in love with all the fairy, flower and butterfly stenciling and refused to have it painted over. Lucky for my painter Bart he was off the hook.

Once we had the bunk bed set up Pauline,like the angel she is, offered to make my girls matching bed spreads. She asks me to look for some pictures, I find a few I like at Pottery Barn and like Magic (sewing to me a magical pursuit) she creates these amazing Bedspreads that are far cuter than anything I could buy.
I love how the bedspreads tie the room so nicely together. They go perfect with the cute curtains Pauline made a couple of years ago and the glass butterfly mobile Allyson brought home from Costa Rica while I was pregnant with Emily. Even Nana's old pink chair seems at home in this room.

Bullies and Bucket Fillers

At Emily's school the "awesome" speech therapist comes into the kindergarten class and does class lessons about good pragmatic skills. All year long Emily has been coming home teaching or rather enforcing these skills in our house. It all started with Emily's lessons on Bullies. Whenever I would tell Emily no, she would get upset and tell me I'm a Bully because a bully makes other people feel bad. I finally got so sick of hearing that I'm a bully that I outlawed that word in my house and whoever said that word would go straight to time out. That seemed to work.

For the past couple of months it's been all about being a bucket filler. Emily is the first to point out helpfulness in our house and she'll respond with things like"Jane is helping so she is being a bucket filler" or "Mom today at school I shared my treat with my friends. That was being a bucket filler right?". On the other hand if I say something that makes Emily upset like "Not today" or "Emily it is time to stop playing and finish your homework" She angrily replies You are not being a bucket filler. Now it seems our family is on a quest to fill buckets. The best positive reinforcement is for me to tell the girls I like how they did something because it is being a bucket filler.

The other morning I told my girls to hurry and get dressed. Both of my girls rushed to the bathroom to be the first one to put on their clothes. In the scrambled Jane pushed Emily and made Emily trip. Emily then told Jane "Jane don't push that is being a bucket dumper." That erupted the fireworks in Jane, who got right up into Emily's face and shouted "EM, I AM NOT, I AM A BUCKET FILLER"

Obviously nobody wants to be called a bucket dumper.