the best spa in town...

I find that if you want to lay around and do nothing as mom with young kids...you have to get creative...and make some sacrifices.

Last night, I let the kids get out the Barbie makeup box and go crazy on my face while I just laid around. It was delightful and they even glittered up my hair using a paintbrush.

Now, I have gussied up a time or two for a night out. The girls are very observant and will compliment me if they like what they see (I never get a compliment when I leave for morning carpool...I don't blame them. It ain't pretty). Well, last night, I took their breath away I was so stunning. "Mommy, you look beautiful." "Mommy, you are so sparkly...just like a princess." "Mama...you're as pretty as a rainbow!"

I just smiled and lay peacefully enjoying it all...until the pain started. Here's the sacrifice part. This Barbie makeup cannot be found on the runways of Milan. It's a special kind of makeup, consisting of what must be a Crisco base...blended with some sort of corrosive acid.

My face started to burn and my lips got plumpy and numb. My peace turned to grimacing and I would swipe off makeup when their backs were turned. Finally, the treatment was done and I hopped up to say it was time to wash up. Sarah: "No! Mommy, you can't wash it...It's so beautiful." When I stood, I started to drip goo from my face and I explained this to her. "Oh, mommy, don't worry...sit down. It will dry."

I sat for ten minutes just assuring myself that it would quite possibly burn my face of the ability to ever form another pimple. That got me by until it was time for them to head off to bed. Washing my face didn't immediately bring the pain to an end as I had to scrub and repeat six times and somewhere along the way got soap in my eyes. Ouch.

Don't worry...of course I wouldn't ramble on in my storytelling so long and not have pictures to show. Unfortunately, the flash on the camera reflected off most of the glowing and sparkling and the pictures are more dull than the actual colors (I assure you...I still have glitter on my face this morning). Anywho, humbly, I present...Princess Rainbow Mommy (enjoy)...

lovin' every minute of it...

It's fun to share the glossy pictures (like the one below) of well kept children with you. After all, they are pretty cute kiddos.
But I thought, today, I would share a few more pictures of the other 60% of my day with ol' blue eyes herself (uh, yeah, she's still cute then too...I know)...
This is how she rolls when I help Lauren with homework (or any other time she can get away with it)...
And finally, we do our best to hold out for daddy to get home and eat dinner together, so from about 5:00 until he gets home (or when she wins the battle), this is her sweet self:



Allow me to interpret: "Please, mother, I would like blueberries and goldfish crackers as un petite hors d' oeuvres before father arrives home...I have asked for nothing all day, but now implore you to simply feed me."

lazy days of winter...

With the promise of a candy heart, Julia let me take a few pictures of her today in the cozy warmth of the indoors (I'm really missing getting outside with the camera!!!) For the same blog post, but larger pictures, you are welcome to check out the photoblog.



Oh, the trouble she gets in with these tiny feet. But, they're still so very cute!

not giving up on winter (yet)...

I'll be honest...for the most part, we'd really like to just sucker-punch Old Man Winter and kick him to the curb. Really, it's getting carried away here with all the cold and the snow stuff. But, with no end in sight and no sign of rescue, we once again made the best of it and took the family to the ice rink. This time Sarah went for a spin, Julia played cheerleader and I was cheerleader-wrangler.

Sarah got off to a bit of a rocky start, and I don't blame her...I'd break and ankle just walking to the ice in those skates.
Soon she was off...using this bucket as a little helper. It was quite nice to push along something that also doubled as a resting spot. Regretfully, I wasn't able to get a picture of her sitting on the bucket at dead-center ice with her chin in her hands just watching people go by.
I recently learned that my grandpa was a champion speed skater back in the Netherlands. From the looks of things, Lauren's got a little bit of that in her!
Julia enjoyed watching, climbing the bleachers, running away, watching, screaming, being fed into submission and climbing and watching some more.She finally broke free of the sidelines and talked Jeff into taking her for a whirl on the ice. Contentment on the bleachers was pretty much done for her after that. Looks like we'll have to have her fitted for some skates.

'cause she rocks the first grade...

Lady Lauren brought home a report card today. Before opening it, I asked "Is it good...are we going to Krispy Kreme?" She replied, "Uh, yeah...'cause I'm good at first grade." She was right, so off we went (and grabbed a cousin on the way)...(ummm...in case you don't know, this donut metropolis gives you six donuts free of charge for waving a report card at them. and when you're Dutch, you don't let free pass you by).

File the following under "Reasons to tear up while driving" :: On the way home, I told Lauren we'd post the pictures on the blog. Here's how the conversation went after that:

Me: "You can read and look at the blog anytime, you know."
Lauren: "When are you going to be done with the blog so I can read it."
Me: "Oh, I won't really ever finish it. It's like a journal...it just keeps going and is never done."
Lauren: "It'll be done when you die."
Me: speechless
Lauren: "But I'll keep it up for you. I'll put pictures on it."
Lauren (at almost a hush): "And I'll really wish I could show it to you."
Me: sniffing, but grinning wildly

new guy in charge...

So, Lauren witnessed the inauguration of our new president this week. I told her this would be the first president she would be able to remember when she grows up. Her response was..."Yeah, so...when's he going to tell us what all the new rules are?" oh boy.

As she lay in bed that night, she got mighty patriotic and drew up this little picture to commemorate the day.

get cookin'...

So, lately I've found myself pouring through more and more recipes and cooking up some stuff in the kitchen. After all, I did order up three separate cooking magazines (not including Martha's mag) from Lauren's first of the year magazine sale (click here to see post on that deal).

Anywho, I enjoy sharing recipes and I enjoy getting tried and true recipes from others. So, with that in mind...I've started an new little bloggy-site called From the Kitchen. Not only can you click on that link, but you'll also always see a link to it at the top of this blog and at the side too.

At the kitchen site, you'll find some little collections of recipes that I've tried and enjoyed. You can easily print these out. But...I wanted to take it a step further and allow you to add recipes to the site to share. So, go there and check it out. Let me know what you think too. If you find it useful, I'll keep doing it...'cause like I tell the four year old of the house, "sharing is good".

today is tomorrow's yesterday...

...the future we cannot see. But in our minds and hearts, sisters we'll always be.
I heard that saying first back in the high school, big-hair years (which followed the elementary, mullet years). I think "best friends" was in the spot of "sisters", but I like sisters in it for the purpose of this post.

Lauren loves her baby sister and the feeling is o' so mutual. What you see in the pictures below is a kid playing in the snow and having fun. What you don't see (and hear) is Julia laughing hysterically at what Lauren is doing. Just to hear her sister's laugh through the glass door, Lauren did this over and over and over and over again (and a few more over agains after that). It never lost it's humor on Jules.

the warmth of friends and family...

This cold business we're having did not get the best of us this weekend. We found plenty to do in the shelter of our home and a little gallivanting around town...

We kicked off with a wee-belated Christmas dinner n' exchange with Jeff's sister and family. The girls are very fond of their cousin, Brandt.
The following morning, we brought the girls to the only place on earth that guarantees they finish 100% of their breakfast - Panera Bread...
Our next stop found us somewhere we don't normally hang out, but are glad we did! We met some friends at the RV show downtown. The kids would've thought it was Disney all over again...they had a blast running in an out of all the houses on wheels.
Lauren and Sarah's number one criteria for a rockin' RV was whether it had a set of bunks with personal TVs (they don't ask for much)...
Julia's tastes were a little more particular as she required no less than a fireplace, plasma TV, surround sound and granite countertops...
Lauren and her buddy, Emma...
In order to get to the show, we had to pass through the very swankified Amway Grand Hotel. Lauren was in love with the fountain and large chandeliers. The only way to get her to keep moving along was to mention that she could have her wedding here someday. That's no subject she wished to pursue...
The next stop was a place you're likely to find us most weekends. There are three logos the kids immediately recognize...Target, Wendy's and Costco...so here we are at el restaurante de Costco, the only place on earth that guarantees Sarah will finish 100% of a giant hot dog...
...and it will get scarfed at a rapid pace when a very rare purchase of Very Berry Sundae is made.
Mental note: A return trip to Costco will soon be made to return the poor excuse for a point-and-shoot camera I've been using lately!

Our Saturday was nicely wrapped up with a great meal and hang-out time with some other good friends. I guess we were having too much fun for the camera to get hauled out.

Sunday's highlight was Lauren getting to take her treasured Christmas gift for a spin on the ice. She was quite spectacular on her new skates...already 10X better than her mom, who has tried and failed many times at all things skating and skiing.

hello, old friend...

Just minutes after Eight Belles was put down after suffering two broken ankles in the '08 Kentucky Derby...I also had an "incident". As it turns out, I suffered a diaper changing injury. My knee swelled to five-times it's size and off I went to the med center.

Before leaving, a very concerned Lauren looked at me with big eyes and we quickly had to explain that humans don't suffer the same fate as horses when it comes to leg injuries. Which relieved her, obviously.

Regretfully, it wasn't anything impressive, like a torn ACL or ripped meniscus or anything I could get the purple heart of diaper changing for. It was bursitis. Believe me...it wasn't cool checking in at the sports med office the following week, standing behind a lady in her mid-seventies to hear her complain of the same injury!

This all happened one week after recovering from an ankle thing. So, thinking that ye ol' treadmill was now my enemy as it appeared it was weakening me instead of its intended use....I banished the treadmill and we have not spoken since. Until today.

Taking it steady as she goes, I have embarked on the "Couch to 5K Program" (click on the link if you're interested). I'm hoping to keep all limbs intact and be able to run the Irish Jig in March. Join me if you'd like! An 8am start and I hope to finish before lunch! Well, nothing like posting this stuff on your blog to keep you accountable...

colder than a metal toilet seat in Antarctica...

That's the phrase I recall from my whippersnapper years. The weather forecasters and whatnot are having a ball naming all this frigid weather we're having up here in the north. While not as creative as the potty-reference, my favorite so far is "skin-freezing cold"...yup, that sums it up.

Here's a couple pics from one of only two trips outside this week...

This is the grocery parking lot. Lesson: Be careful for crazy people in Hummers barreling from behind snow drifts (I learned that the hard way).

Yeah, so the sky is blue...but I almost can't see it, what with Kilimanjaro de la Michigan in the way!

I have one thing to say to my gloating kin in the south....Tthhhhhhppppptttt!!!!

a visit to the "zoo"...

After a full week of an elephant in the house, it was time to return Tembo to his habitat. Sarah's special day was on Tuesday and Julia came along for the ride.

See the large piece of plywood behind them? Imagine how that might feel if it fell and conked you on the head...ask Julia if you really want to know (ouch).

Snack time. Oh...to be four again. Wait! She's only one!

Julia excused herself from the snack table and took advantage of having all the toys to herself (see upper left in picture)...

how did I get this lucky...

Lauren gladly jumped (no joke) at her turn on the other side of the lens today. What a beauty!

i'm not ashamed...

Here's a little tidbit about me you may not know. I love to be called any one of these things: geek, nerd, crazy, smarty pants, or any synonym of any of those things. Here's another little factoid, which is slightly more embarrassing: When I would come home from college to visit...I loved mom's cooking, my cozy bed, and playing with Lego's. Uh, yeah, you read the last one right.

So, color me happy that now I have a Lego-lovin' four year old that can sit for long spells just piecing things together. Occasionally she'll hog the pieces I need, but if I ask nicely, she thinks about it and usually lets me have what she's using.

She added the beds on the roof...I thought is was a nice touch.

Knex is a wonderful version of Lego that I tip my hat to the designers of...pretty sweet stuff. Here's the fun we've had this week.

The Octopus Whirl...motorized...
A Ferris wheel...