Our Juggling Sensation!

Juggling is a fairly difficult skill to learn. I can juggle, but Dale can't. How many of you can juggle?

I don't remember how I learned exactly. I think I was self-taught, though, because neither of my parents know how. In fact, I think I might be the only member of my immediate family that does (though I expect to get a phone call from one of my siblings very soon telling me I'm wrong).

In an effort to teach the skill to others, I do remember developing and launching a juggling unit during my student teaching days at Rock Bridge Elementary School in Columbia, MO. I don't remember how successful it was. So probably not very.

Anyway, because I'm well aware of the extreme hand-eye coordination necessary to perfect this skill, I was quite skeptical this morning when Ivie told me she knew how to juggle. I mean, seriously. I know I've talked about how GREAT our day care is, but this was just over the top. Skipping is one thing. But juggling? Really?!? And then when I saw her do it, I was in utter disbelief. My 4-year-old really CAN juggle!

So, since I know you won't believe it either, here you go. I'm off to figure out how this could potentially make us rich...

Birthday Party Central

Today was a day of birthday parties for the Herman girls. Many thanks to Nina and Papa for being the stay-at-home-with-the-non-partying-kiddo crew today.

For Ivie, her friend, Violet, celebrated her 4th birthday at Monkey Joe's...



... and Macie went to her very first birthday party for a school classmate. Or, in this case, two, with twin brothers, Nicholas (with the boo-boo on his forehead) and Anthony celebrating the big number 2.


Ivie loves bounce houses. Today was no different.



Her main partners-in-crime were Violet and Kenzie, as they giggled and ran from one slide to another. Her buddy Samuel was there, too, as was Caroline (not pictured). And, just because it was too cute of a picture to leave out, Caroline's mommy, Kristie, and her 4-month old baby boy, Baylen.



Can you tell Ivie had fun?!?


Meanwhile, Macie skipped the bounce house this morning so she could be well-rested for her solo birthday party debut. Meaning the first one she's been to without her sister being along!

While she missed Ivie (she asked "Where's Ibie?" about 15 times), she, too, had fun playing with toys other than her own. Oh, and eating strawberries.


I don't think I've had reason to mention it here before, but Macie is scared of dogs. Each time we visit the Devers, poor Hogan has to get locked upstairs. And today, Nicholas and Anthony's dog met the same fate during the party. But not until Macie had spotted her. Which meant that she spent the entire party pointing at the stairs, scrunching up her face, and saying, "Ruff?" in a concerned voice.

Like this:


But all-in-all, she was a pretty happy camper. SUCCESS at her first party! Many more to come, I'm sure!


Mommy, for one, will sleep good tonight...

Grandparents' Visit

Dale's in Oregon on a golf trip, so my parents have been in town helping since Wednesday evening. Work is a bit crazy for me right now, so the timing of their visit is perfect. In anticipation of their visit, I made a mental list of chores that Mom could help with while they're here (they don't leave until Tuesday). I shared the tasks with her Wednesday night, ticking off item after item, including sharing my embarrassment that I couldn't remember the last time I'd washed our bed sheets (should have saved that for a "Not Me Monday" post, I know).

Anyway, when I got home from work Thursday night, it was as if Super Woman had shown up overnight. Every chore was complete. And a couple that I hadn't even mentioned.

My mom is amazing. But most of you knew that already.

Then, yesterday, Grandma and her best friend, Nancy (whom Ivie calls "Lancy", for some reason!), made the drive from Hickory to spend the afternoon with us. We took the girls to Rudino's for lunch, and then hung out at home. Ivie, of course, couldn't pass up the opportunity to dress up for her visitors. And then she had the idea of "sharing the love" with the dress-up fun. I couldn't resist taking a picture, although I'm pretty sure 3 of the beautiful ladies in the photo would have preferred that it not appear on my blog. Don't worry, gals. You represent one-fifth of my readership, anyway, so it's really no big deal.

Thanks for making it a fun Friday!

Wordless THURSDAY (#23): Her Latest Trick

(Better late than never...)

How I Know That I'm Addicted To Blogging...

Saturday after t-ball, Ivie rode home with her good friend, Caroline, for her second weekend play date in a row.

This morning, I got an email from Caroline's mom, describing a conversation that had taken place during the girls' dress-up time (I know, seriously, does the kid do anything other than prance around in fancy dresses?!? At least she'll be able to walk in high heels as an adult.).

Here was the reenactment, as told to me by Caroline's mom:

So the girls were playing dress-up and something was said about a wedding dress or a Cinderella dress.

I said, "Ivie, your flower girl dress was beautiful on you - the one you wore in your uncle's wedding.".

And Ivie said, "How did you see me?!? Oh, no, did my mommy blog about it?".

And then Caroline's mom, in her email to me, said:

"I find it so funny that a 4 year-old knows about a blog???!!!"

And I didn't really know how to respond to her. I admit that "blogging" is a common verb used in my house, and that Ivie oftentimes will say, "Mommy, can you take a picture of me and put it on your blog?".

Just a final side note to wrap this one up. I called Dale to tell him this story, and after I read him what Caroline's mom had said about finding it "funny that a 4 year-old knows about a blog", his response was, simply:

"EXACTLY."

Macie in Action

We went to the mall last night to spend some Gymbucks at Gymboree. Macie wanted to carry the bag, but it quickly became too heavy for her. She was too stubborn (wonder where she gets that from?!?) to let Dale or me carry it, so this was how she adapted:




Backing up a bit to yesterday morning... While Dale and Ivie were at t-ball, Macie and I played with basically every toy in the living room. Among them, the stacking blocks. And I caught a bit of our "game" on the Flip.



Another reason why I love being a mommy?

2. Always having someone to tickle for a belly laugh.

Why I Love Being a Mommy

For Dale's first Father's Day, I gave him this frame:


And since the writing's pretty small, here's a shot of just the words:


So, you wonder, how does this have anything to do with why I love being a mom?!? Give me a second. I'll get to that part. You know by now that I get long-winded when I tell stories sometimes!

Today, Macie laid down for nap at 1:30p or so. Ivie followed shortly thereafter around 2:15p. And I, in my favorite Saturday afternoon ritual, played online for a bit (planning for Macie's 2nd birthday party) and made it to my bed around 2:45p (I'd say, although I didn't really look at the clock).

Except for a brief cry-out by Macie around 3:15p (after which she fell back asleep), the three of us slept peacefully until 4:15p. I'm not sure why (because there wasn't any noise), but that's when I opened my eyes and glanced toward my door. Ivie was peaking in at me. I said, simply, "Hey, Iv.". She didn't say a word. Just came to my side of the bed and crawled in under the covers alongside of me, snuggling up against my chest.

She still didn't speak. Which, for those of you that know Ivie, is really strange. About a minute later, her breathing calmed into a regular pattern, and I could tell she'd drifted back off to sleep. And I'm not joking when I tell you that this is the first time that she has snuggled and napped with me in my bed (we're afraid of starting a habit we can't break, so we've never allowed it). And, to make it crazier, it came AFTER a 2-hour nap in her own room!

And this, I experienced for the first time today, is one reason why I love being a mommy:

(taken with my cell phone as proof, since I couldn't get up and Dale wasn't responding to my texts to bring the camera upstairs)

(taken after I'd successfully crawled out of the other side of the bed and gone down to get the camera)

So, back to the reason why I started this post with the picture of the frame I gave Dale. The 10 reasons why Ivie loved her daddy 4 years ago could have easily be re-phrased into reasons why Dale loved being a daddy. As we go through daily life, there are so many experiences when I think to myself, "This is why I love being a mommy.". But, until now, I've never written them down. So they bunch all together in my brain and become fleeting thoughts, pushed aside by the "here and now".

So I'm planning to start an ongoing series on my blog. Like Wordless Wednesday, Simplify Sunday (haven't done THAT one in a while!), and Show-and-Tell. A place to record, "for the history books", all the reasons why I love being a mom. Starting now.

1. When your pre-schooler crawls in your bed after her nap, snuggles up against you, and falls back to sleep.

I'm warning you, my numbers might literally reach into the millions. Because I don't think there's any title on earth I'd rather have.

"Surprising" Daddy

Dale's been gone since early Tuesday morning. So when I told the girls when we got home after school today that he would be home in time for dinner, they were both really excited.

Ivie looked at me with her raised eyebrows and exclaimed,

"OH! I'm going to SURPRISE Daddy!!!"

Not sure what that involved, I asked her how she planned to surprise him.

Her response?

"WITH A DRESS!"

Ummm, Iv? Given your nightly dress-up routine, I'm guessing Daddy's not going to be too surprised to walk in and see you in a princess dress. But at least you went out on a limb and chose a new dress. You know, one other than the Snow White dress you put on every evening. Right?


Nope. Never mind.

Oh, well. Surprise, Daddy!!! Welcome home - we sure missed you!!!

(But, as you can see, not much changed on the home front while you were gone...)

Wordless Wednesday (#22): Because We Just Weren't Feelin' Fish Sticks and Macaroni

Our Morning Routine

The last 6 work days for me have been, well, trying. Although I slept in my own bed every night, I didn't see the girls in the morning at all last week, as I left for work before they woke up.

Which means that Dale was in charge of the morning get-ready-for-school chaos.

I've written before about it not taking long for Ivie to learn that Dale is more easily swayed from our routine of eating a fruit cup for breakfast before moving on to the more carb-heavy-and-less-healthy items, like Pop-Tarts (as a side note, while looking for the blog post to link above, I did a blog word search for "pop-tart". You don't even want to know how many of my posts include that word. It's unacceptable, really.). And while Dale and I never specifically discussed it last week, each time I talked to him and asked him how the girls had been, he regularly answered "They were great! Angels!". So I surmised that he must have been giving in to some of their demands.

Fast-forward to this morning. Dale had to leave the house early, so I had morning duty to myself.

Here is what I had on the table for them when they both came downstairs:


And these are the reactions I received from our "angels":





Accompanying these very sad faces were the following comments:

"Where is Daddy?"

"I WANT DADDY!"

"I don't waaaaaant fruit!"

"You're being MEAN, Mommy."


And, finally, as if they just couldn't keep it to themselves any more:

"DADDY LET US HAVE A POP-TART FOR BREAKFAST!"


Guess you better work on making sure the girls don't rat you out, Dale...