Daddy Daughter Days

On Wednesday morning Grace had a follow up appointment regarding her hurt leg.  For anyone who doesn't remember, she hurt herself when we were going down the slide.  We weren't sure if there were any broken bones because the X-ray didn't really show anything conclusive.  After a little time of her refusing to stand on it, we didn't it was time to put here in a cast.

The doctor told us we were looking at two weeks in the cast and then they would reevaluate.  If they saw any bones in the process of healing, they would put her back in the cast to continue healing for another couple of weeks.  If it still showed nothing broken, she was out of the cast.

We were obviosuly rooting for the no cast option.  We're going on vacation next week and really wanted it to be a vacation without a kid in a cast.  Bath time would become that much easier.  We wouldn't have to rub it in Grace's face that she couldn't go in the pool.  And we could just relax (as much as you can with two 2-year-olds).  It turns out we got our wish.  Apparently Grace has Wolverine-like healing ability because she did in fact break a bone in her leg, but it had completely healed since then.

So yesterday we had a first Daddy Daughter Day without an injured kid in what seemed like forever.

See no cast here.  Just four legs and tennis shoes.  On our way to the park.

I just love Ana's face in this picture.  She always seems like she's up to no good even when she is stuck in a swing.

We went on a march around the park.  Ana decided that we should speed up.  She said "Bye-bye" and ran off.

And Grace faced her fears and went right back down a slide in spite of her last slide leading to injury.  Actually she feared nothing and went right after it like it's her job.

Ana is a little more careful on the slide...

...until I told her to go the other way.  Although it may have had more to do with her sister sliding down on her butt.

And then she got even more adventurous and went right to the big slide.

We logged some building block time.  I asked Grace what she was making here, and she replied with "House."  Obviously she is going for a Frank Lloyd Wright-type design.

We were pooped after a long day of parks, blocks, helping to clean mom's closet and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Great day.

I hope everyone out there has a wonderful and safe weekend.  There won't be a Daddy Daughter Day post next week because I'll be on a little vacation, but I'll have four days worth of Daddy Daughter Vacation pictures when I get back.

Daddy Daughter Days

Let me tell you what throws a curve ball on a day off with your kids: When one of them is in a cast.

You can't really do anything involving water in fear of getting the cast wet.  Grace can't really get around as well, so you have to carry her everywhere.  You can't put them in certain outfits because they may not fit over the cast.

We didn't let this deter us from having a great day.

We left the house right after breakfast and went over to visit the girls' great grandparents.  Her Grace is on the couch with her great grandma.  I think it's so wonderful that they get to have a relationship with their great grandparents.  I still remember spending time with my great grandparents when I was growing up.

We also had a couple of special treats.  I walked in and saw the big bowl of dough sitting on the counter and knew exactly what that meant.  Great Grandma made cabbage buns a.k.a. bierock.  It is ground beef, onions and cabbage wrapped in a delicious dough then baked in the oven.  Put a little yellow mustard on it and enjoy.  Basically you can't be in our family if you don't love cabbage buns.

And Ana and Grace passed the test and can remain in the family.  They LOVED the cabbage buns and ate them how our family enjoys them with watermelon on the side.  They didn't try them with yellow mustard just yet, but that should happen next time.  They also got to taste a peach pie that their great grandma made. Don't worry.  They're going to be pie people.  Start 'em young, that's what I always say.

And we had a surprise visit from our Auntie Nina while we were there.  She always loved to see them.  Grace was in the midst of screaming in excitement at this point.

We even spent some time serenading everyone there.  This was a song they co-wrote called "Let's Pound on All the Keys" which is a waltz. 

When we first arrived the girls weren't in such a playful and gregarious mood.  It took a little music and stuffed animal time to really warm.  Here is Ana's dance routine.

So much fun that this is what the went down in the back seat within 4 minutes of pulling away from their house.  Some tired little ones.

I went in to sell a car in the afternoon, so I took the girls in with me to exchange cars with Erin.  While there Ana ran right up to the FR-S and kept saying "Car" and "Open" while pulling on the door.  So I opened the door and she climbed right in.  Then she kept saying "Closed" so I would close the door.  She was totally digging it.  The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.  She started crying when I took her out.  Maybe my best argument for getting this car.  Just saying.

That's all from this week.  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Daddy Daughter Days

I took a week off from blogging and it was somewhat glorious.  I didn't have to worry about being clever or figuring out what I wanted to write for a whole week.

Now I know why people stop entirely.  Because it is just so easy to decide not to do it anymore.

You go on a vacation and see this...

And this...

And you think "Why am I worrying about writing and blogging and not just experiencing life?"  But I came full circle on it and remembered that I started this whole deal to record our life as a family.  That way we'll always have something to look back on.

So I jumped right back into it this Thursday for Daddy Daughter Day.

We love to color.  In fact Grace sees the table and immediately starts saying "Color. Color."  It is adorable and a great way to learn the different colors.  At one point Ana ripped the orange crayon out of Grace's hand, and Grace started screaming.  Of course it was the orange crayon.  She wouldn't do the same for a Dodger blue crayon.

Here is Ana doing yet another self-portrait.  I saved you the 10 pictures of the ceiling that she took as she kept hitting the camera button at the bottom of the iPhone screen.

Grace put her baba in my mouth and her blanket (Zeebs) on me and said "Dada nigh-night" and went back to playing with her toys.  I was honored that she gave me her stuff to go to sleep, but I was a little disappointed that she didn't want to keep playing with me.

I just...this kid is so...  I'm so in love with these girls.

Sometimes when you need to use the potty, you just need to read a good book.  In this case, it was That's Not My Bear.  Grace also used the potty 3 times on Thursday.  I was so proud.

Just loungin' so hard.  No big deal.

And we love to play with our new chalkboard.  Thanks to our mom for finding that one.

That's all for this week.  Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.

Daddy Daughter Days

I won't complain about work because I could obviously have it so much worse than I do right now.  I have plenty of time to spend with my family.  I have an okay schedule that allows for down time in the middle of the week to spend a day with my daughters.  I'm not nearly as stressed as I was in my previous job.  All in all it's great.

There are times however where it can lead to a little extra stress.

This Daddy Daughter Day was interrupted about halfway through, so I could go into work because a customer needed me to come in.  I'm all for being available to help.  Instead of spending the morning playing and enjoying time with the girls, I had to get the house cleaned up, so I wouldn't be embarrassed if someone had to come over.  Instead of going to the park, I had to get ready to go into work.  And instead of relaxing during their nap time, I was in doing work.

Again I can't complain because I actually have a job that I enjoy.  I just hate when my day with my daughters doesn't go according to schedule.

With all that being said there are still some pictures of our day.

The day started the night before when we went on a walk with the girls and Molly the dog.  Grace went potty right when we were about to leave, so Ana and I had some fun outside with the dog while we were waiting.  Ana kept saying "Bye" and walking away with Molly.

Every morning the girls come to me and say "Elmo."  They have conditioned me to do a call from Elmo on my phone first thing in the morning.  By the way, the Elmo Calls app is pretty cool if you have a kid that is obsessed with Elmo.

Morning Giants Game + Morning Snuggle = Morning Giant Snuggle

Normally you can't pry this necklace away from Grace.  You can kind of see her in the background.  Most likely about to grab it away from Ana.

What's the deal with women having to go to the bathroom with all their friends?

There is a frog on the water table.  We name him Frederick.  At one point Frederick jumped onto Grace's hand, and she didn't react at all.  Then he jumped onto Ana's shoulder who totally freaked for a half-second.  Then he hopped away.

Ana has learned the importance of accessorizing.  Dada's belt probably doesn't work with that outfit, kiddo.

We went to a park with a lot of great slides.  Ana was having fun.  Grace was too until she hurt her leg going down a slide with me and Ana.  She twisted her leg on the way down and hasn't wanted to stand on it since.  We iced it and gave her infant Ibuprofen.  This morning she still didnt want to stand on it and kept saying "Hurt" in her little voice.  We took her to the doctor, and he didn't see a major break or fracture.  Thank God for that.  But I feel terrible about it.  I didn't want her to get hurt.  I just want my angel to get better.

And a video.  Yeah maybe I should be teaching my girls to say things that will be more useful in real life.  But we're Giants fans damnit.

Every one have a wonderful and safe weekend.  We'll see you next week after our mini-vacation.

Daddy Daughter Days

So yesterday it was hot.  Like Hansel hot.  Like unbearable and horrible heat that makes you thankful that we've evolved to the point of inventing central air.  Thank you guy who invented air conditioning.  You are a true visionary.

Need proof?

Yeah 110 degrees.  That shit is unacceptable.  And as much as I love me some AC, I hate the bill that it creates.  So basically I have to be okay with it being 80 in our house.  That isn't all that comfortable, and the AC still works all day long to keep it there.  Once again cementing my hatred of almost all things summer.  Stupid season.  We should just get rid of it.

Combine that heat with a large fire that has given the surrounding areas a smoky haze for the last day and a half, and it makes me a happy summer camper.  Needless to say our day was filled with indoor activities to beat the heat and smoke.

Grace was awake and ready to go as soon as the light broke.  They are just so beautiful in the early morning.  Grace almost always wakes up before Ana which inevitably leads to Grace repeating "Sissy, nigh-nigh" and my heart exploding with love.

Just sitting on the potty and reading a book.  No big deal.  Oh and there is another post all about the potty coming.  Just you wait.

Grace also likes to take her animals and put her blanket (Zeebs for the uninitiated) on top and says "Nigh-nigh" to them.

 

 

Ana likes to play with the bigger kids.

Getting ready for Mother Goose on the Loose.  Or as Ana likes to call it "GOOSE!"

We get special hand stamps after every Mother Goose.  Today we had fishies.  Which led to Grace and Ana pointing at their hands to exclaim "Fishy."

The girls have this thing where they take every shoe out of this basket, run across the room with them, put them all in a big pile and carry them back to throw back into the basket.  All the while they say "Helping."  I'm not quite sure how this helps but I appreciate that they like the idea of helping.

Ana has been saying "Bye-Bye" for quite some time.  Yesterday she was pulling this cart behind her and running around the house.  Everytime she passed by me she said "Bye-bye. See ya."  I don't really know where she picked up on it.  I think I say "See ya later" sometimes, but I didn't think it was often enough for her to catch on to it.  Needless to say this stage where they say grown up things with their little voices is so much fun.

That's all for this week.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Stay cool and hydrated out there.

Daddy Daughter Days

Daddy Daughter Day from last week got rescheduled at the last second.  I had to go into work because I changed my schedule around, so this left me with no pictures or time with my girls.

It really leaves a void in my week when this happens.  I look so forward to spending one on one time with them (or one on two time more accurately).  There are times when all I do is sit in the chair and watch them interact with each other.  That usually devolves in getting on the floor and playing with them and wrestling.

But I was back off and playing with them yesterday.  Enjoy.

Here the girls are enjoying their oatmeal. They like to look at each other when they eat.

We went to Mother Goose again.  Ana was saying "GOOSE!" when we got there.  Needless to say they were very excited.  They were also very tired when we got back home after all the dancing and singing.  So we ate lunch early and took early naps.  Nap time used to be Walking Dead time.  During the summer it is Futurama time.

Grace wanted to brush her own hair after her nap.  It's obviously awesome.

Seriously this kid makes my heart explode

I wanted a nice little picture with me and the girls, and Grace decided I needed her baba.  She's such a giver.

Erin got off a little early.  This was the text that she sent me.  We decided to do something impromptu like...

Going to Folsom Lake with the girls.  Grace loves the water.  She ran right into it.  Ana on the other hand wanted nothing to do with it.  She just kept saying "Hold You" whenever we got close to the water.  There was much sand in diapers and Grace had a mini-meltdown when we had to leave, but it was a great way to end the day.

Ana also was running a fever all evening.  She woke up in the middle of the night and Erin brought her to bed with us.  She wasn't acting sick.  Just a little lethargic.  There was a point where she was crying because of the discomfort and only wanted to be held by me.  I didn't know I missed the feeling of rocking them to sleep until I got to do it again.  As Erin said "This is why people have more babies."

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Daddy Daughter Days

I love my days with the girls.  I actually start getting excited about them the night before.  I check what the temperature will be before bed time (HOT).  I make a plan for how we'll spend the day.  I think about what I'll make for breakfast the next morning (FRENCH TOAST!).  I just love Thursdays so much.

Anyways I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

Grace pulled some books down from the shelf.  These are a little advanced for her right now.  But I'm sure she'll love the work of Madeleine L'Engle in few years.

Because of the aforementioned hot temperatures, we went to the park almost immediately.  What better time to enjoy the slides than before they've been roasting in the sun all day?  The girls walked right past the little kids jungle gym and went right to the big kids one.  "Jeez dad, we're a lot bigger than you think."

I climbed to the top of the highest slide to take this picture.  The entire time Ana yelled "UP!"  I felt bad to leave her down there.

Grace through the jungle gym floor.

Grace really is fearless.  She just goes right to the slide and lets go.  She loves it.

Ana on the other hand is not so fearless.  She did stand on the slide, but going down it is another story.

We hit up the swings before heading back to the house for a morning snack.  To answer the question you're asking in your head: Yes, her hair is always that wild.

We had a visitor yesterday too.  He's a Dodger fan that had to get rid of these Blue Moon Giants pint glasses that he got from his bar.  He figured that they really needed to get out of his house after the Matt Cain perfect game.  Two of those glasses will be on the way to Becoming Supermommy.

Grace has some meaningful conversations with the pink ducky during bathtime.

Finally I leave you with a video of Ana.  Enjoy.

"Monkey!  OOH-OOH!  EE-EE!"

That's all for this week.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.  Happy Fathers Day to all the dads and soon-to-be dads out there.