Curly Q May 25th, 2014

Clara and I went to church today, alone. Olivia is suffering some mystery illness and we didn't want to infect anyone else, so Mike stayed home and I went. I couldn't help but take a photo of Clara's hair. Oh her hair!!! I just want to eat it up. How these perfectly wavy/curly haired children came from my super strong straight hair genes is beyond me. But I'm really glad they get their hair from their dad.

Here's Clara in the parking lot. Remember, Clara despises light? If you forgot go back and read yesterday's blog. I ended up carrying her in on my back so she could keep her eyes closed against the offending light. Hey, I get it, I have sensitive eyes too. 

Germany!! May 24th, 2014

Here's Clara in her special shirt from Germany. Peter, Auntie Rachel's fiance brought it for her when they visited, and she loves it :) Plus I love it because I'm German! Well, actually, to be completely honest, I'm American. Bbbbuuuutttt....my ancestors were German and Norwegian, so I claim Germany as mine

Here she is just chillin' She has that squinty eye look because she's afraid there's going to be a flash. No matter what, I couldn't convince her otherwise today. If she were a Muppet, she'd be Animal. CLARA HATE FLASH!!!!

Delays! May 23rd, 2014

Tonight I have no dining out stories to regale you with. Mike was scheduled to return home at noon, and we had invited some friends over for a casual cookout. Well, I got the dreaded call from Mike in the morning that his flight was canceled. Again. See, it was canceled late last night due to fog, and then there were no planes at the airport to take people on their rescheduled flights. This seems like something the airports would have figured out earlier, but Mike still had to get up at the crack of dawn, drive to the airport, and THEN be told there was no flight. I would have probably lost it but Mike keeps his cool.

To keep our mind off Mike NEVER returning home, we kept busy. We were invited to a bowling party in the morning and it was so fun! Bowling shoes just look better on little feet. Plus, they put up bumpers and a ramp so the kids actually knock things over. Otherwise it'd be pretty boring. 

Clara Bowling

Even with our day occupied this still left the problem of the cookout. I can cook anything inside, but I am no grill master. In fact, I have no idea how to even use the grill since Mike likes charcoal and we don't have a gas grill. Luckily, someone stepped into the role of grill master and the evening was able to proceed. This was very, very, very good, as my friend made brownies that were TDF. Wow. Seriously, I could wax poetic about these all day. To spare you, since you didn't get a chance to eat them and never will because I'm not sharing, I'll just say they had chocolate, caramel, and nuts. Add that to Mike showing up around 10, and I'd say it was a pretty great day :)

Just Like Mom May 22nd, 2014

I love Olivia so much, and would love her no matter what. It's especially cool that she's my little mini me. I don't know what my girls will look like when they're older, but Clara looks like me as a baby/child and Olivia looks more like me as an adult.

She has a lot of my same qualities too. Some of them she picked up because she sees me doing them every day. A lot of them, no, most of them, are good qualities. She empathetic, helpful, and energetic. She loves to read and watch cooking shows. She is always ready to share what ever she has, even if it means biting her last skittle in half.

She also got a few not so great qualities. I don't think this is the time to list my kid's shortfalls (we ALL have them), but one is her complete klutziness. She, like me, can hurt herself in the safest of situations. We could be sitting in a room full of cotton balls wearing a suit made of bubble wrap and still find a way to get injured. It's a gift. A gift I wish I could return, but a gift, nonetheless. 

Today Olivia was out riding her bike. As I mentioned she's on a big bike now with no training wheels. I watched her go around and around the cul de sac, riding great. She and Clara were thirsty so I went in the house to grab water and I swear, I wasn't in there 30 seconds before Olivia comes in, crying, both knees bleeding. It's like dejavu from the running incident. She saw something in the road and tried to avoid it, and this was the outcome. Poor child.

After we got Olivia's knees cleaned up we went to Cici's Pizza for dinner. I swear, that place smelled like hard boiled eggs and old dish water. There will be no more Cici's in our future. But as we were driving there, Clara kept saying, "I can't wait to eat at Z Z's pizza." No amount of arguing that it was CiCi's pizza would make her budge. As we drive up to the building she points and says, "SEE!!! It's Z Z's pizza. She was looking at the z's from the word pizza. Her brain remembered there were z's in the name. Sometimes, that kid amazes me!

The Feeding Trough May 21st, 2014

I remember as a child my grandparents taking us out for special occasions at King's Table. It was a buffet restaurant and it had, wait for it...an ice cream machine!!! I know, stop being jealous already. I always equated buffets with special occasions. 

Years later I married Mike. Mike abhors buffets. First of all, he doesn't eat enough to make them worth the cost. See, the real premise of the buffet is that you go and stuff yourself. Then you don't need to eat again for a few days, or something like that. Over the more than 10 years we've been married, my tastes have been somewhat, well, refined, and honestly I don't enjoy buffets all that much anymore either. Except maybe Pizza Hut's buffet. Yuuuummmm....pizza....

So when Mike travels out of town, I let the girls pick a restaurant to eat out at. I refuse to cook, and we have fun "girl's nights" out. I am living to regret this decision. Usually the girls can be counted on to chose La Esperanza at least one night. The other night is a gauntlet of McDonals, Chick Fil A, Chipotle, or CiCi's Pizza. It's like spinning the big wheel of food and praying it lands on something that takes more than 45 seconds to deliver to your tray.

The girls had been talking about their choices, and they had decided on La Esperanza and Cici's. Whatev, it was an okay grouping. Olivia and I went to pick up Clara from school and we let her decide on the venue for dinner. I was secretly hoping La Esperanza would be first because I basically love it there, and wish I could eat their food every night. 

Then, it happened. Tragedy struck! Some evil child in Clara's class told her about Golden Corral and their chocolate fountain. It was all she could talk about. It was all she could think about. We had to have it. So to Golden Corral we went. Yay *insert sarcasm here* The food there is just, well, awful. I know some people love it, but to pay $24 for the three of us to eat what amounts to cafeteria food is just outrageous. At least Cici's is cheap.

I got yelled at by a woman in a hair net because I wasn't sliding my tray correctly. I fed Clara noodles and dessert, because that's all she liked (kind of thinking she made a good choice there). I will say this for them though, they had not one, but two molten something fountains running, and the girls left smiling, which in the end I guess is the only win I need.

The fake happy sisters smile! We love being sisters! We love sitting next to each other! Clara will not actually eat anything on her plate!

Speeding Along May 20th, 2014

So I got this letter in the mail, from Chicago. Actually, it was two separate, very official looking letters. I was thinking, who in the world did I piss off in Chicago? So I open the letters and they are both to inform me that I was caught on their new, awesome, traffic cameras speeding. Which is redonkulous because a) I don't drive in Chicago and b) Mike always drives in Chicago, and if you've ever ridden in the car with him, you know he never speeds. Never. Unless there's a Top Gear he really wants to get home to. No kidding, not even then.

I called Mike and left the letters for him, and I went out with friends. While I was out I got a text from Mike that went something like this. "I looked it up. I was going 2 over the limit. You should look at pictures, new Jeep looks great in them!" 

We can laugh about this because Chicago is giving citizens a one month grace period to get used to the cameras. Otherwise it would have been over $100 in fines. For 2 miles over. Guess Mike needs to borrow those driver training videos from someone. Be careful in Chicago friends!

"All is Well" Visit Monday May 19th, 2014

Olivia had her 8 year well visit today. EIGHT...STINKIN....YEARS. Do you remember when we used to count their ages in months? Especially with the first. You wouldn't say she's one, you'd say, "oh, she's 14 months."  But where did eight years worth of months fly off too?

When Olivia was little she LOVED going to the doctor. You could never tell if she was really sick because she begged to go to the doctor all the time. She got her kindergarten shots at her 4 year well visit because she wanted to have them done. She still loves the doctor.

Her visit today went well. She is already 53 1/2 inches tall and 78 pounds. She's in the high 90th percentile for growth and my guess is she'll be a tall lady ;) I sat back at the appointment as the doctor asked her questions and she responded in her confident way. I remember the baby in my lap and the worries over feeding, sleeping, potty training...now look at her, she's an independent little person. No matter how old she gets, she'll always be my baby.

People think I dress her weird in Matilda Jane. Here's an outfit she picked out on her own. See, we're a great match!

Race #5 May 18th, 2014

After all the stress of Olivia's birthday, it was nice to wake up to a fun run! Granger Paths is one of my favorite courses, because it's flat and that makes it quick. They also have really great drawings at the end. This year I ran the 5K with my friends Maggi & Yoonhi, while Mike and the girls did the family walk.

Pre Race

I left my timing chip at home so I went from number 70 to number 353. I almost didn't get the chip on before the race started. Not usually a big deal but they don't chip time the start of this run, everyone gets the same start time no matter when you cross the line.

My family post run/walk. The girls got their faces painted. Apparently Clara is tired of the paparazzi in her life.

I won second place in my age group, and a new PR. Clara won 2 free pizzas. Not sure which of us had a better day ;)

Beauty School Birthday May 17th, 2014

Today we had Olivia's party at the beauty school. It...was...awesome!!! No other way to describe it. Yes, it was stressful and I was exhausted when it was all said and done, but it was worth every ounce of energy. Olivia loved it, and I think her friends had a pretty good time too :)

Glad we have 10 months before the next big birthday!

A few notes....there are a LOT of pictures. I took a ton, and I got tired of editing them out, so it's overkill. But it gives you a real sense of being there ;) Also, Mike doesn't usually dress all business casual for parties. It's still the clothes month of 7, so he's working with what he's got!

Some of our delicious "salon" goodies. The nail polish bottles were the big hit.

Sugar Scrub Station

Decorate your own Flip Flops

Butterfly Craft-Olivia had to have this, even though it has nothing to do with a salon. The other girls loved it too, so she was right!

Place Settings

Goofball

The Girls PreParty

Extra Goodies

The Group's All Here!

More pictures of the tables, because, well, because!! I was excited to use a mix of the glassware from my Grandma, my mom, and my china cabinets. Luckily everything made it out in one piece. 

Cake! (I didn't make this one)

Birthday Girl!