Well, we have made it through one whole week without letting our kids near the iPad. And it turns out, I like our kids better when they aren't using the iPad all the time, as does Mark. I think we let them take advantage, but this little exercise has shown us the error of our ways. Isla was allowed to use it for a bit today, when she first woke up, and then in the late morning to rest in her room because she was tired. Turns out she didn't need it as long and gave it back to us without us having to ask for it. Sawyer on the other hand has not been able to use it, and she will go one more week without because she thinks she owns and runs our house, and has a hot temper that leads her to lash out at her sisters and/or me whenever she gets frustrated or mad about anything. I have no idea if this is working for her behavior, but I will say the kids play with more of their toys and at the very least I insist she realizes there's some consequence to her actions, even if it doesn't change her action.
Ha - slow news week for us, clearly. In other news I finally got around to making those molasses cookies Mark asked for during the Christmas season. We were a little heavy on the cookies in December and then stopped eating when we were sick. I have to say...they were damn near perfect. My Grandma's are sort of the standard in the family, and I think it's fair to say that most of us remember going to her house, and eating them out of the fridge (because they are best cold), and these were just like I remembered. The best part is the girls were also a fan. They moved their little table out in the kitchen for their dessert the one night.
I had a busy week of work (again) and it meant a lot of running around. I had been promising the girls we could do some Valentine's crafts and would go to pick up the necessary materials. So I ended up finishing up work a bit early Friday, spent some time in the basement with Sawyer and Margot, and then took them to the craft store. Off we went to get some canvas, paint, wooden things, embellishments, etc.
Here's a look at some stuff drying after day 1:
We only crafted when Margot was sleeping, but both girls did pretty well. They painted, while I circled to see clean up pain that inevitably got on the chairs and table. Of course there was stuff to fight over (I mean when you have two brushes that are exactly the same, of course you've got to find a reason to argue over getting the one you want) - that seems to be their M.O...but i digress. Things got painted, which was the goal.
Ultimately we did several projects this weekend - we painted an X and an O. One side is hot pink and one side is purple so we turn them around depending on what makes us happy. We made these little heart flag things. Basically we cut out some hearts out of felt and glued them onto a burlap flag thing we found at the store. That is probably my favorite thing we have. We also made a giant red heart with some decorative stuff on it that is hanging on our front door. And finally, both Sawyer and Isla got a small canvas which they were allowed to decorate as they chose. Sawyer's is on the left - and has some felt hearts glued to the top with some painted hearts below, and her name signed to the bottom. Isla used more felt hearts and did a few painted hearts, and also signed her name.
This is the extent of our Valentine's decorations. It amazes me that people can decorate for each holiday. I am terrible about shopping for that kind of thing, though I guess some of this will make it beyond this year..perhaps all, we'll see. Margot didn't get in on the action but is always more than happy to jump into a picture when she sees the camera out.
We went to a birthday party this weekend for our friend Robbie. Girls love a good bounce house party and it served to tire everyone out...which was good because Sawyer woke up at 6:15a, and had Isla up by 6:30. She got the two of them immediately dressed and ready for the party, at which point I told them to put something on the tv and proceeded to crawl back into bed until Margot woke up shortly thereafter. They then asked "when is the party" every 15 minutes for the next three hours which was super fun. Needless to say they were very happy when we left, partied hard with their friends, and then when we got home everyone was ready to rest. Margot took her nap, Sawyer curled up on the couch in the family room to watch Maleficent, Isla hit the basement to watch her fave show, Mark went to the living room, and I escaped to our bedroom. It was the nicest hour+ I've had by myself in awhile.
And now I'm thinking Go to Bed Erin! but i'm not quite ready so I'm watching episodes of The West Wing (what can I say - it was good the first time around, so I'm watching the series again) and thinking that there are just five more sleeps between me and Margot hopping on a plane for a few days in the sun with Grandma and Grandpa. I look forward to wearing sunglasses, warm breezes, and not having to wear coats, hats, gloves and boots every time I leave the house. You'd think I'd want to knock one of those sleeps off the list, but instead I'm going to close out Season 2.
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