are vs. were

we are having sunshiney weather!

we are seeing naki digits...because i let the girls wear their sandals yesterday for awhile.  we were wondering if the sun and warm weather was ever going to come.  and now we are finally enjoying it for sure! (regardless of whether it is here for "good" or if there will be more cold, wintry weather...we don't much care!  we are in the "are" not "were", okay!!??!?!?!)

more naki toes...

even more naki digits...

and well, even more naki-ness...of toes...

and how about seeing them both.  in the sunshine.  in short sleeves.  and yep!  those naki digits!

linnea called me into her room. 

"and bing your camra, momma!  pleeeeeeze!"

she was so proud of how she had gotten all her bud-buds ready for their naptime.  this seems to help linnea get herself ready for naptime, too.  and yep, we are still nappers here.  or at least we have some afternoon "quiet & alone time" in their own rooms.  one always snoozes.  the other?  not so much.  but if there is no nap, there is early to bed.  because both need a good amount of shut-eye to function well the next day.  and well, i like to stick to the routine that works for us.  so, we are nappers here.

and we are enjoying some laughter in the midst of some quite serious & not-so-funny situations:

after spending a couple of hours at the e.r. a few days ago b/c the littlest of us thought putting a tiny teacup in her nose (when she was supposed to be napping...ahem...) was a good idea that went very wrong and led to a bunch of blood and some "quality time" at the hospital...when we drove by a billboard for methodist hospital she says, "MOMMA DAT IS DA HOPITAL WHERE DAT DOCTOR PICKED MY NOSE AT!".  most of that sentence is correct.  nose was picked.  by a doctor.  just not at that particular hospital.

driving to pick up our babysitter yesterday, bigger girl tells me that she needs to get out and fix her pants when we get to the sitter's house.  when i asked why, this is the response i received:

"BECAUSE MY TOOSHIE IS CRACKIN' OUT, MOMMA!"

and then, of course, because copying is the best form of flattery, littlest decided that she, too, needed to fix her pants because, yep, you got it:  her "tooshie was crackin; out, too".

so...i guess it could be said that all 3 of us cracked up in one way or another yesterday. 

'cause

that's

just

how

we larson girls

roll

apprarently.

hey, hey, it's your birthday!

someone has a birthday today...

this is one of the family members that will wish him a happy day.  of course, only if he gets his treats.

here is another family member that will wish him a happy birthday.  and try to count up all those birthday spankings.

and...these other 3 family members will be the most animated about the daddy's big birthday.  they wrapped their gifts today.  made cards with their crayolas.  and will be ready to do a daddy pile and sing "happy birthday"...of course, only if when shares his cake.

happy birthday to you, dear hubs!!

oh me, oh my....

...what an interesting past few days.

***

apparently the korean speed skater has nothing better to do than talk smack about ohno. so much for good sportsmanship.

***

and while on the topic of sportsmanship, the russian men's silver winner was basically classless in his trying to discredit evan's gold medal.

***

and...on other olympic-ness...ummm, ice dancing is basically interpretive dancing on ice. so how "authentic" can costumes be? they are called "costumes". yes, there were some tasteless choices, but the authenticity question i don't get.

***

and two words folks: bode comeback! love it!

***

oh, and the skier gal who did a hotdog move that cost her a gold in the last olympics? yeah, she got disqualified right out of the gates this time. and then some thought she was being disrespectful for not just skiing down after her disqualification. hey, if she is okay with her performances and choices within her sport, who are we to critize? i'd rather she handle it as she has than the unsportsy ones previously mentioned. i'm just saying...

***

and...on more local terms: had our first (and unfortunately probably not last since we are merely on the cusp of school years...) encounter with bullying. broke my heart to see my girl hurt. but hopefully it has been "taken care of" (and not in mob terms, just teacher terms, ahem). and if it is not, she has assured me she will tell me or the daddy.

***

here's to enjoying the rest of the olympics.

and school.

and life.

not necessarily in that order.

everyday...

you could have bowed out gracefully
but you didn't
you knew enough to leave well enough alone
but you didn't
i drive myself crazy trying to stay out of my own way
the messes i made but my secrets are so safe
the only one who gets me
you get me
it's amazing to me
how everyday
everyday
you save my life
i come around all broken down and crowded out
and you're a comfort
sometimes the place i go is so deep and dark and desperate
i don't know
and i don't know
how everyday
everyday
you save my life
sometimes i swear i don't know if i am coming or going
but you always say something without even knowing
that i am hanging on your words with all my might
and it's alright
for one more night
how everyday
everyday
you save my life...
i am alright
for one more night

random act of kindness...

today was a day such as most. left to take big sister to preschool. it was snowing. after dropping her off...little sister & i were off on errands. had to get the daddy an Rx...and had to buy some curtains...and then we had to go to panera for some deliciousness. little sister ordered her usual favorite: cinnamon scone and the orange-with-limes jones soda. i had a delightful egg souffle. and little sister shared her jones soda with me. that's just how she rolls. while we were there i do not recall what our conversation was all about. i know we talked about her taking a good nap today so she could stay up late to watch the olympics tonight (ice dancing is scheduled!). we also chatted about what to make for dinner. i suggested my famous individual meatloaves. she suggested burgers on buns and some peas. and we decided that we should probably all pile on the couch after dinner - and by all it means the daddy, big sister, her, me, ruby the dog and maybe puddy that cat - and have an all family snuggle. other than that, not sure...but we ate our deliciousness, gather up our coats, cleaned off our table and went to the restroom. then we decided to walk to another store as we still had about 45 minutes until it would be time to pick up big sister. as we walked along hand-in-hand it was still snowing and little sister was enjoying jumping in some slush-puddles when i heard a man calling, "excuse me....excuse me..." from behind us. i turned around and there was a gentleman (dressed in a full suit, tie and dress coat) coming towards us with an ariel barbie doll. the doll little sister had brought into panera, and we obviously had left behind. i thanked him, and so did little sister. he started to turn away but then turned back and said this:

"i don't want this to sound awkward or anything, but you are a really, really good mom. i heard how you were talking to your daughter and including her in some daily decisions and how she enjoyed being talked to like a person and not just a little kid. and she was so well-behaved. it was a blessing for me to be near you both while at panera."

i managed to say, "thank you, sir..."

and he interrupted with, "no...thank you for being a great mom...kids today really need that. God had blessed you richly." and he went about his day.

more fickle & larky...

...from our past few days:

***

we have this thing where we will sing songs while i am driving. one of our favorites is "i love my ______ & my ________ loves me". the blanks could be "momma', "sister", "wrenner", "daddy", "neanea", etc. the little song's last line is "i'm going to give him/her a __________". the original words are "a big hug". but here are some of the recent fill-ins: "great big tuba" (by wren", "little doggie named ruby" (by linnea). but my favorite from last week was this one by linnea: "i love my daddy and my daddy loves, my daddy loves me! i love my daddy and my daddy loves me, i'm going to give him a wren's white kitter to plunder!" (nearly every night, the daddy will take one of the girls' favorites stuffies, usually it is wren as he gets the biggest reaction from her...) and places it on his shoulder and says "plunder!")

***

when told to eat her potatoes during our valentine's day dinner on friday evening, linnea politely answered that her potatoes "did not want to go to the party in her tummy". (that's a "go gabba gabba" reference for those of you without a toddler...). do you think she had to eat those potatoes?

***

this happened a number of days ago, but still makes me laugh: president obama mispronounced "corpsman" as "corpse-man"numerous times during a prayer breakfast. (not that i myself have not mispronounced a word or two when i read scripture...)

***

opening ceremonies of the olympics: one word: amazing! we all enjoyed watching in its entirety. well, the girls did not make it much past the first few team marches, so they missed the parts they would've enjoyed the most...that were my favorite moments: sarah maclachlan's performance of "ordinary miracle". she has long been one of my all-time favorite musical artist! then there was kd lang's beautiful & haunting rendition of leonard cohen's "hallelujah"...i had forgotten what a deep, rich range kd has! and that song is a favorite of mine...whether it is an accoustic cover by jeff buckley, or by american idol contestant jason castro, or my friends jill & jeremy's basement version, or the versions played in "shrek" or on tv shows such as "the west wing", "er", "the oc". i am (obviously) a big fan!

***

the girls were playing together downstairs earlier and they came stomping upstairs "for more things"...and linnea came to tell me that they were playing "mythbuster girls". perhaps i need to put an ix-nay on some of the daddy shows they watch with him??

***

wren got invited to her first boy friend's birthday party (please note that is "boy friend" as in a friend who is a boy; not a "boyfriend"...we will not be even joking about that for at least 20 years okay?) last week. and she was concerned that her sister would feel left out at the bouncy-house place...so she took it upon herself to ask the boy's mom if her sister could bounce, too. luckily i was within earshot and explained to the mom what wren meant...and luckily for linnea, the mom said she could come and bounce too! so, i guess i should've started this paragraph by saying that "both girls got invited to...", huh? and, yes, linnea brought the birthday boy a gift, too.

***

this morning while watching a show with the girls, there was a commercial for a new barbie...it is called "barbie potty training pups". yep, you and barbie can potty train these little pups...after feeding them a bottle of water...oh my! since we have a real dog, i am certain that is one barbie that need not come to our home!

saying good-bye...

...to the ballet at the rose theater.

the current ballet, "the rainforest", will be the last ballet to perform at the rose. the girls & i will miss the ballet there. one of the best things about taking dance lessons through the rose...is that the girls got to see their teacher on stage! they loved that! and, at the end of the dance year, their showcase is held at the rose...and they get to dance on the same stage! totally awesome!

luckily, the ballet is not gone from omaha...