singing in the rain

Daddy and I are busy cleaning up, packing up, loading up, etc and this boy is busy having fun with the sprinkler.

Ah, to be four again.

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Frogs, frogs, frogs everywhere

You would not believe the self-restraint I am practicing just to take a picture of this ginormous hibby-jibbies, more commonly known as a frog. Being here at the in-laws has been nothing but pure excitement to a 4-year old. He has caught frogs, bugs, and things I do not even want to know about. I am teriffied of these things, but I am trying not to show it (though I know I am failing miserably at it). Thankfully, for my sake and the good of the creatures, we've been able to convince Curious George to let them go before bedtime.



While Curious George and I were at home in VA, Daddy found a special tree frog that has the ability to change color. He and Nana bought a terrarium, and food for it (it eats crickets! So they bought a whole village of crickets to raise and feed to the frogs - which by the way, are small enough to escape the little container/cage they came in so we've been finding them here and there much to my dismay).



And just now while I am busy keeping the kids busy outside while Daddy is having a phone interview, a big frog happen to jump where they were playing. This one left merrily on his way thankfully. The dogs are outside so I convinced (yay me!) Curious George to quietly let it go before the dogs get to it.







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Playtime

Daddy is currently having a phone interview with a company in Michigan so I took the kids outside to play. These kids currently have no volume control (do they ever?) and I know Daddy would appreciate the momentary peace.

The kids are having a tea party with bubbles in background.

(Thing 1 in purple, Thing 2 in pink)

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getting ready to roll

I met with a realtor today (finally) to get the house listed soon. He did his marketing spiel and then we toured the house. Of course he suggested we get rid of the yellow in the entry way. It's a yellow that took time to grow on me, anyway. In fact, it hasn't fully grown on me. He also suggested that we get rid of a lot of furnitures (yay, more work! NOT). I'm not looking forward to that. He also suggested a list price that isn't too flattering, but such is the housing market. The suggested listing price is the same as what we bought it for in 2005, which I guess is not too terrible. But this means we will lose money for the realtor comission and closing cost. Thinking back, I wish we'd used the money to pay off school loans instead of putting it in the house.



Curious George was excellent today. I asked him to either watch TV or play by himself, and he did. I heard a few banging noises somewhere in the house, but nothing is broken, burning or missing, so it's all good. Take note that he didn't have a nap today, so he really has been exceptionally behaved today. And as a reward, I let him get 3 things at the Dollar store. It was getting late, and so I reminded him that he could only play with his toys for a little bit and then it was bedtime. But in the car, I just had to Tweet (yes, I'm a Twitter-holic), which did not make him happy. "Mom, you are waisting your time for me to play!" he scolded.



I almost forgot, this morning out of nowhere he said he wanted dried mangos from his Grandma. He must have been hungry. So we called her. "You know, Grandma, I want dried mangoes now!" Grandma replied, "Ok, I will get some now." Several hours later he comes up to me and asked about the mangoes because Grandma said she would get them "now". I had to explain that It would take days sine she would have to mail the mangoes to us.











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"Pinopino"

Curious George and I are at home in VA this weekend for his allergy appointment on Monday. This evening in the car, after our trip to Wal-mart to use our WIC checks, we had a conversation about being a Filipino.

CG: Are there volcanoes in your island?

Me: There are but I have never seen them.

CG: But Daddy said you did.

Me: I've never seen a volcano, Matty.

CG: Are you a Pinopino?

Me: Yes, I'm a Filipino. And so are you and your sisters.

CG: And Daddy, too.

Me: No, not Daddy. Only us.

CG: I'm NOT pinopino!

Me: Yes, you are! Your Mommy is Filipino so that makes you and sisters Filipinos too.

CG: I'm not pinopino. My Dad is not, so I'm NOT!

Oh the interesting conversations we have sometimes.

there is always something to be thankful for

After putting the girls to bed, we escaped to dinner out by ourselves. We left Curious George with Nana.

Daddy still doesn't have a job and so life is still a little hard. Our savings is dwindling, we are living in his parents' basement and we still haven't put our house in the market. Sometimes there is nothing else we can control other than our perception of things. So today, it shall be Thankful Tuesday (though technically, it is now Wednesday according to my watch).

Some things I am thankful for:

-the kids are trashing Nana's place instead of my house
-only my left knee bothers me now
-great in-laws (I'm sure I am the envy of many!)
-awesome mother's day present from hubby (he let me talk his ears off for a good 2 hrs!)

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Curious George's Mother's Day Daisies

He picked these out from Nana's garden to give to me because he said he loves me.

going a hundred miles an hour (mind and body)

Curious George has been on the go, go, go. Daddy and I insist that he takes a nap because he becomes a holy terror without it, but it is getting harder and harder to get him to sleep. He doesn't fall asleep until 2:30 even if he goes down at 1pm in a dark room with nothing to do. So Daddy suggested we let him nap for only 45 minutes. Hopefully that is enough of a nap to prevent Mr. Hyde from making an appearance.

On an amusing note, he continues to make life revelation late at night just before falling asleep. The other night he talkedf to me about dying and how he doesn't want me or Daddy to die. And then he asked, "how do people die?" I told him that some people get sick, and others get too old and of course that again lead to the discussion of death. "I don't't want you to become an angel! I want you to stay normal!"

twin separation

About 2 weeks ago, I decided to take Thing 2 with me (mainly to ease Daddy's trouble taking care of 3 little ones). I had to go see the sports medicine specialist. I would be gone 3 days so Daddy and I had to think hard. In the end we decided that it would be an overall positive experience for all. It would allow me one-on-one time with Thing 2 and Curious George could get to know Thing 1 and a relative alone time with Daddy.

Thing 2 did very well on the drive. It had been a month since she had been home but she recognized the house. She inspected her old toys still left in the house and looked around. Though I couldn't leave her in the livingroom to even unload the car. She didn't want to be left alone. For the duration of the stay, she was this way. I had to set up a timer for lawn sprinkler and had to go back and forth to the house to fetch tools. Then I had to walk all over the yard to move and re-move the sprinkler head in search of the perfect spot. The entire time I had to walk from one spot to the next with Thing 2 in hand (it was slow going!).

The most amazing thing though, was the language development that happened. Thing 2 started using real words instead of twin talk. She learned new words and instantly used them correctly. We enjoyed each other a whole lot! I gave in to the fact that I wasn't going to be able to do anything in the house and enjoyed every minute of Thing 2's company. It was awesome! By the time we returned to join the rest of the family, Thing 2 was all about me.

In the meantime, Daddy reported to me that Thing 1 attached herself to Curious George like a leach. They definitely bonded. But just like Thing 2, Thing 1 hated being left alone in a room. Nana also reported Thing 1 calling out "where?" presumably looking for her sister.

The reunion was surprisingly a non-event. They looked at each other and that was it. They went back to the way things were as if they never got separated.

The whole event was positive. I can't wait to be alone now with Thing 1. It made me think of having a 1-on-1 with everyone, not just with me but with Daddy too. When Daddy finds a job and we settle in wherever we end up, I would like each child to have alone time (for a whole day or 2) with a parent 2X a year on rotation. I can't wait!