Dentist Appointment

Today Rachel had a dentist appointment. This was her second visit to the dentist. She did FANTASTIC! She was 100% cooperative. And the best of all, no cavities!
A couple of other things that happened today: it is still pretty cold. Winter is leaving, but it is kicking and screaming. So to have a little fun we set up our little tent in the living room. We put all of the couch cushions on the floor of the tent and Rachel and Gabi jumped and flung themselves around the tent. Both girls' hair was standing on end because of the static, and I managed to get a picture of Gabi.
I'm not sure what Rachel loves more, her dog Scout, or playing in Scout's kennel. Today she managed the best of both when she locked herself in the kennel with Scout.
Dear warm weather, I really miss you. I don't know what I did to drive you away, but I am extremely sorry. Please forgive me and come back.

Build and Grow

About a week and a half ago we were at a friend's house. Rachel, in her wanderings, came across an apron which she put on. Rachel likes aprons. It was cute because it was just her size (compared to my apron which she likes to wear but is way too big). So my friend told me where they got the apron. As it turns out, Lowe's, the hardware store, has a free clinic for kids every other Saturday, and they give the aprons away there. We found out that the next free clinic was today, so we registered and went. They built a little fortune teller toy, kind of like the precursor to the magic 8 ball. The kits were all put together, and all they had to do was nail the box together with the die inside. They gave (loaned) each kid a little hammer and the kit.

Both Rachel and Gabi seemed to really enjoy it. It was interesting watching Rachel's hammering skills improve with each nail, although her arm was getting tired toward the end. She also hammered her finger once, but took it quite stoically. She also hammered my finger. I only cried a little.
Gabi was devastated to have to give up the little hammer. Even though she got an apron, a badge and the toy, she really wanted to keep that hammer. They give a badge for each completed project. One little kid there had his apron covered with badges.
I think we'll do that as often as we have a free Saturday morning that coincides with their clinic. It was a lot of fun.

Immediately after the Build and Grow activity, Rachel had a birthday party to go to. The theme was the movie Tangled. The little girl's mom did a great job with all kinds of fun activities and decorations. Rachel had a lot of fun. She came home with a goodie bag. As she was going through her loot she found that she had several chocolate coins. With one of them she opened it up, broke it in half and gave half to Gabi. She is a very sweet little girl, and learning how to share very well.

We belong to Netflix. We take turns getting movies for Jeff and/or I, and for the girls. We recently had, for the girls, a DVD of Mickey Mouse Club House. One of the previews was for Winnie the Pooh. Rachel decided that she really wanted Winnie the Pooh, so I put it next on our Netflix list and told her that we had to wait for it to come in the mail. She has been asking every day if "Winnie and the Pooh" is here yet. I keep telling her no, but it will be here soon. It finally arrived today. She did a good job of waiting patiently for her movie to come in the mail.

Planes, trains and automobiles (and bikes and trikes)

Today was the first sunny day we have enjoyed this week. I was really needing it too. All this rain is starting to get to me.

After Jeff came home from work we took the girls to the cul-de-sac at the end of our road and Rachel had her very first bike ride. She got a bike with training wheels from Santa Claus for Christmas, and today was the first time we have used it for real. She actually did okay. She needs a lot more practice, but she had fun.

Gabi got Rachel's hand-me-down tricycle.

Frosting Face

Last night we went to a fund raising dinner for the Boy Scouts. It was a pasta dinner with a desert auction afterward. Jeff made a cake to donate. It had the logo for the video game Halo, which included making black and blue frosting. After Jeff finished mixing the colors and decorating the cake we gave the frosting bowls to Rachel and Gabi, which they very much appreciated. It was written all over their faces.


We got a cake at the auction. It was a delicious Black Forest Cake.

Pizza with Parents and Les Miserables

Rachel's preschool class had a Mardi Gras/St. Patrick's Day party today. It was called "Pizza with Parents." Jeff couldn't go because he works downtown, and being at 11:00 it was not worth the extra driving and loss of hours on the job for him to go, but Gabi and I went. First we did an activity where we put Froot Loops cereal on a picture of a rainbow, matching the colors. Then we did a sequencing activity (okay, I pretty much did that one on my own) followed by a St. Patrick's Day art project (matching shapes).

Next the kids showed the parents some of the songs they know. They did a marching song, the did Old McDonald, they did Five Little Monkeys playing in the tree. Rachel was very cute and well-behaved. Must have gotten that attribute from me. Just ask any of my primary teachers what a wonderful child I was. Gabi joined in too. Even though she was at least a year and a half younger than the other kids she followed all of the instructions and had a great time with the other kids.


Finally it was time to eat pizza. We had pizza, apple juice, cookies and king's cake. It was a lot of fun.

Tonight I got to go see Les Miserables at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. It was AMAZING. I have seen it before several times, and I love it every time. It has been several years since I last saw it, and this time there were several staging elements that were done quite differently, as well as some other interpretations of the story that were different from what I remembered. That was kind of nice because it made it seem like it was the first time I had seen it. The singing was great, the acting was excellent, the special effects were fantastic, and the overall show was magnificent.

It's a hard-knock life

Poor Gabi. Yesterday she stumbled and fell and bumped her nose. Was she done? No, no she wasn't.

Today we met up with Amber and Rose at the Hounz Lane park. Gabi fell off the steps and landed on her head. It was an extremely scary thing to watch. She scratched up the side of her face. Was she done? No, unfortunately she was not.

This evening Gabi fell and hit her forehead on a cement block. She scraped up her head pretty good, and has an impressive goose egg to show for it.

Amazingly after each and every fall she cried for just a couple of minutes and then returned to her normal self. Even the last (and worst) fall she only cried for a little while, and then went back to playing.

She's tough. She gets that from me.