Magic

Aurora lost her second tooth ever at school yesterday. It had been wiggly for awhile and her big tooth was already growing in behind it, so it was time. She got a little plastic tooth necklace to keep it in and wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy asking for a toy instead of money.

The request had me a little baffled. I do have a little stash of birthday gifts, but nothing quite right to go under a pillow. Then I remembered something I had tucked away that would be perfect - a Harry Potter journal that I bought nearly 15 years ago! It comes with stickers and cute notes about the first book, and I've kept it in mint condition. The Tooth Fairy left it under Aurora's pillow with a note that said she doesn't usually leave toys, but she knew Aurora was reading Harry Potter and thought she may like it. Just this weekend we watched the first Harry Potter movie and both kids were way into it. In fact, they insisted on turning all of our broomsticks into Nimbus 2000's.

So yes, it was a hit! Aurora's been so happy all day, just smiling and writing notes in her journal. On our drive to school she told me all about how they use magic wands in Harry Potter's world, and the Tooth Fairy has a magic wand, too - but it's a different color and has a star or a tooth on top. "Some people don't know if the Tooth Fairy has a wand, but I know she does." Yup, it was magic!

Painting

As you know, this year we're bringing date nights back! So far we've gone to a concert, saw Wicked, and this weekend we headed to Pinot's Palette for some wine and painting. We worked together to paint a Starry Night scene on two canvases and it was really fun. It was a popular date night and they took a group photo to prove it (I grabbed these pics from their Facebook page).

The kids love having their grandma & grandpa over, and since I don't have to pay a babysitter my goal is to splurge a bit and make each date night unique. Dinner and a movie is fine but there are so many fun things to do! Chuck said he'd like to have an unstructured date night, but that just doesn't make sense to me... I told him he'd have to plan that one. Painting was great and I'm thinking next we might go to a comedy club or perhaps try making our own wine. I'm open to ideas!

The other highlight of the weekend was taking Aurora to Amelia's baby shower, where she did some painting of her own - decorating bibs! I think Aurora made three, and I'm sure Baby Braiden will look adorable in each of them.

What a fun weekend! Now, to find a place to hang our paintings...

Weeknights

Weeknights are too short, often fussy, and usually feel fairly rushed. We come home, Clark acts like he's starving, we cook, eat, watch TV, read, then head up for bath and bedtime routine. Lately the weather's been so nice that I've been trying to get the family outside to play instead of watching TV. We just dusted off the water table, restocked the bubbles, and got some new-to-us patio chairs, which is really nice. We also head across the street or over to the library whenever we can. This week we went around to the back of the library and found a whole field of bluebonnets! It's bluebonnet season here in Texas and wildflowers are everywhere, lining the highways, roads, parks and businesses. Aurora really wanted to stop on the side of the freeway for pictures with bluebonnets AND indian paintbrushes, but I thought this was a bit safer...

Here's Clarkie playing with his best bud, Will. We were lucky enough to have him over to our house the other evening, which was sweet.

Last week I spent one night out for an event and the kids hardly noticed I was gone because it HAPPENED to be the very night that our Frozen DVD arrived. Phew! And yesterday Aurora came home with her very first homework research project. We spent some quality time looking up information about fireflies online. Her report turned out great! I'm sure I won't always be this enthusiastic about homework, but for now it's kind of amazing just watching her work.

They're learning about flowers and bugs right now - perfect for spring. She came home with this project yesterday as well. I'm so impressed with her writing and drawing!

Weeknights are fine, but I must admit, I'm pretty glad it's the weekend...

No Fooling

Believe it or not, April Fools' Day was completely uneventful around here. Parenting fail? Maybe. Aurora said she fell for one joke at school when a friend called out that there was a mosquito and she looked, but it wasn't there. Crazy, I know. Clark's school pictures came in today and no fooling - he is seriously the cutest little boy EVER.

Check out those legs! At 20-months old I still have him in 12-month clothes, mainly because our supply of hand-me-downs dried up. We do have a few bigger outfits but honestly, he doesn't seem to mind. I just snipped the tip of his wubby and he actually doesn't mind that either. I was sure it would seem like a cruel joke. He can't suck his paci anymore, but he can still bite it and hold it, snuggle and sleep with it, and that seems to be good enough. Seriously, no jokes! Maybe next year...

March Showers

Today was not rainy - in fact, it was perfect weather for a garden party! Aurora and I planned and put on a baby shower this weekend for our good friends and neighbors across the street. They have a little boy just a few months older than Clark and are expecting a sweet baby girl in a couple of months. 

One of my best friends, Amelia, is having a baby shower next weekend and I can't wait - she's going to be a great mom. She threw my shower for Clark and I have to admit, I stole some of her ideas for today's party! It was so nice having friends, neighbors, and family together; talking, playing, and sharing advice. I'm looking forward to April's parties and showers, though I'm hoping it doesn't rain - for Amelia's shower or Aurora's birthday!

Catching up

As predicted, this week has been a busy one - catching up at work, catching up with friends, and catching up on chores.

We've been food shopping together every Sunday and the kids are finally starting to enjoy the routine. They're good little helpers, but they're in such different stages. Aurora puts away her own laundry and Clark cheers after throwing things in the trash. He says goodbye to his toys when he puts them away, and after saying goodbye (to anything) he usually says "See you tomorrow!" (which sounds like "seeouamowwow"). He's got several new teeth coming in just as Aurora has three wiggly teeth getting ready to come out. She just got her third report card and is exceeding expectations in nearly every category. She brings home reading practice books every week, but at bedtime we've been reading chapter books together. We've gone through several Ramona books, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and just started Harry Potter.

Now that we're all caught up, the next month or so is going to fly by. We have all sorts of plans, parties, visitors, and activities on the calendar. I can't wait... and I wish I could slow down time!

Back to Reality

It was such a nice week and weekend. We closed out Spring Break with good food, outdoor fun, and some quality family time. We went to the Zilker Botanical Gardens woodland faerie trail with my parents and attended two nice birthday parties.

We ate at Chuy's and Mangia Pizza (yum!), then finished off the weekend with food shopping and home cooking to prepare for the week ahead. Both kids have been so sweet and loving, but it helps that I've been relaxed at home. Now we're back to rushed early mornings and short evenings together, and I expect we'll all be pretty busy until June, when I'm planning our next chunk of time off. Of course, we'll continue to pack lots of fun activities into our weekends, but I'm already looking forward to our summer stay-cation...

Spring Break

I wasn't going to post again until Spring Break's over, but it's simply too much action (and too many photos) for one blog! We've been having a great time and I'm really happy that I took the week off. Right now I have a couple quiet hours while Aurora plays at her friend's house (whoo hoo!). So, here you have it. The main highlights of our Spring Break (so far):

Bumper cars! Seriously fun.

Skee Ball at Gattitown.

Flower craft at the Library.

Giving my parents a tour of LIVESTRONG HQ!

Mom & Dad @ LIVESTRONG.

She's my butter half (or maybe I'm hers...)

Les Claypool playing a kid's show at SXSW.

Concerts + Crafts + Spring Break = Awesome!

Taking Care of Business

It's Spring Break! While Aurora and I are having tons of fun, I'm saving all that for later in the week and focusing today's post on some of the more serious aspects of our break. I mean, if I'm going to take time off work, I may as well take care of business. You know, like getting my oil changed, shopping, preparing for our tax appointment, and taking Clark in for his 18-month well baby visit.

Yes, he's actually 19-months old - but he did great! Clark's gaining weight and getting taller (22.5 lbs, 32" tall), and he got one vaccination which he handled like a champ. I also got a haircut:

We cleaned the house, baked cupcakes, had my girlfriends over for the season finale of the Bachelor, and tomorrow both kids will be in daycare so I can go to a few meetings and hopefully meet up with my folks. After all the errands, chores, activities (and considering the time change), taking time off this week has been way more exhausting than working, and we're only 2-days in!!!

On Stage

After a busy week at work and school, we kicked off spring break by celebrating my dad's birthday. Aurora and I baked a bundt cake, we had a nice family dinner, then my folks stuck around to babysit so Chuck and I could go see WICKED! 

It was our first time seeing a play or musical like this and it was spectacular. I'd say it definitely lived up to all the hype! This morning we took the family downtown for a little taste of SXSW. HBO has a Game of Thrones exhibit which is free for all ages and includes a bunch of props, outfits, and cool displays from the show - including an iron throne.

This year we're bringing date nights back and taking advantage of the cool things Austin has to offer - with or without kids. We aren't quite ready for big family vacations yet, and we do try to avoid the crowds, but we have a fun spring break planned and I'd say it's already off to a pretty good start.

Leaping

I lied. It's winter again. Yesterday was gorgeous and today started out around 70 degrees - but now it's 30 with a chance of precip. It's crazy how we've been alternating between flip flops and boots this year, but either way you can find us making ice cream and leaping around on sidewalk chalk hop scotch boards in the driveway. We've also been enjoying our neighbor's swing...

The main highlight of the weekend was our sweet neighbor Will's birthday party. He's a leap year baby so we couldn't actually celebrate on his birthday, but he made it another year so I say he turned two. For those interested, that's mom & dad's new car - which is actually large enough to carry passengers and home goods! I'm not sure if it had my folks leaping for joy, but they seemed pretty happy with the purchase. I'm sure they're less happy with today's weather. Oh well!

Signs

Now that Aurora can read and write, we've entered an era of sign making. She made a reversible sign for her door that says "Come inside! You are welcome to!" and on the other side, "Please ask to come inside Aurora's room!!!!" So, she can write and she can act like a teenager. This morning she (quite appropriately) made this sign: "Clark's Not In the Mood to Hug."

In case you can't see it, that's Aurora on her knees saying "Hug" and Clark's responding "Noooo." Indeed, now that Clark can talk and express his own opinions, he says "No" quite a bit, and hasn't been in the mood to hug or kiss or be held for the last few days. He wants to run down the driveway on his own, get his own snacks, turn the TV on and off himself - basically, he wants to be his own independent little man! This is the phase where meltdowns and power struggles start becoming a regular part of life, which is a bummer, but we still manage to have our share of fun (and hugs).