Cousins and dogs

Look at these happy cousins, having some lemonade on the couch with a whole bunch of dogs:

 I think they were watching a cartoon. SpongeBob!

 On Saturday we went into town to ride the trolley and get some lunch.

"Go upstairs and get dressed," I told Maggie. And she did, because she's 5 and doing so many things on her own now.

She came downstairs wearing this:

It's her bedsheet. She'd fashioned it into some kind of sari or something. Of course not being one to stifle my child's self-expression, I just belted it and sent her on her way.

Kidding! She changed into real clothes. Well, pajamas of course. Actually she picked out a beautiful pink and purple Jasmine nightgown that looks more like a princess dress. She got many compliments.

Friday's hike

It rained all week last week, but does that ever stop us Maine women? No it does not.

So on Friday, the girls and I went for a hike with our friends the Mosses at Oven's Mouth. I'd looked at the weather, and it looked like there was going to be a break in the rain for about 2 hours from 10 to 12, so we got there at 11.

It was pouring. POURING. We hiked anyway, splashing through puddles and small rivers. Every time it let up any, it'd come pouring back with a vengeance. We were soaked through.

Then, as soon as we returned to the parking lot, the rain stopped! I guess they were off about 2 hours on the timing of that break.

After that, Nina did the grocery shopping and made us all dinner! She made fondue, and it came out perfectly:

She used a lovely sharp white cheddar for the fondue, and we dipped cubed baguette, apple, and grapes. It was delicious!!

You saw this on Facebook already...

...but here it is on the blog too, for posterity.

So, Karen McConnell came to visit and brought the girls a whole box full of Anna's old things. They had so much fun going through it all and it's good timing, since this week has been a total bust. Cold and rainy or cold and pouring. Ah, June in Maine!

There were a bunch of clips and hair elastics, and I took one particularly colorful, ribbony hairclip and stuck it in my hair.

"How does it look?" I asked Nina.

"You look like a teenager who dyed her hair gray!" she said enthusiastically.

Nice. It's not that gray, but I guess it's getting there. Little punk.

Spoiled rotten dogs!

Last night after Nick and I went up to bed, I came back downstairs to unplug my laptop. And what did I find?

Marley, curled up comfortably on the couch with his head resting on a pillow!

The girls were both awake because Maggie had woken up and started crying, so I took them both downstairs to get a look at him. They thought it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen. We let the poor old guy stay... it's the old couch in the living room that I was thinking about replacing, so now I feel totally justified in keeping it.

He's not as dumb as I thought he was though. He never jumps up on the couches during the day because we don't let him. But I guess he figured out that once lights were out, what we didn't know couldn't hurt us!

It's been hot and humid here, so Nick's been working down in the basement and the girls have been playing down there. I set up the old area rug that used to be in the living room on the concrete floor by the work bench, and they have a little table and chairs, their old kitchen set, and a whole bunch of other toys that I stored down there while we were gone and haven't brought upstairs yet. Marley has been staying down there all day, but Moxie is a total mama's boy, and he follows me wherever I go. Poor old dog picked the wrong person to follow all day, because I'm all over the house cooking and cleaning, and neither of us get a moment's rest!

We haven't even been swimming yet because the girls are so happy down there!

Desiree is the total package

Some of you know that I like to watch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette on Mondays.  It's my guilty pleasure. This season is especially exciting for me because the bachelorette is named Desiree, and I like hearing the men who are competing for her "love" say wonderful things about her.  Things like,

"Desiree is hot."

"Desiree is one in a million."

And

"Desiree is the total package."

I can't tell you how much this has boosted my self esteem, and I've gone around the house for the last several weeks talking to myself about how I'm the total package.

So tonight I was doing a magic trick and Nina was proud of my efforts and said, "Desiree is a total peanut." So close, yet so far.

"Desiree is the total package," I corrected.

"Oh. Whatever." She said.

See? See why I have to watch the show??

A happy house!

Look at this happy girl. She's in heaven!

Here she is hugging Marley

And here she is giving Moxie some love.

Moxie is the 10 year old, and at this point he's basically like a very large cat. He likes to lie in the sun, lie under the table, and lie in his bed. He's the perfect dog. Except last night, he got into the trash while we were gone! He'd only pulled a few things off of the top, and at first I wasn't sure which of them had done it. Well boy oh boy can you spot a guilty dog from a mile away! Moxie wouldn't even come into the kitchen, and when we dragged him in to confront his mess he had his tail down (usually it's up in this adorable curl on his back) and his eyes on the floor. He got a scolding, but now all is forgiven.

Marley played Hedbandz with Nina the other day:

He's not really as humiliated to be playing as he looks, he just has kind of droopy eyes. He's a good sport!

We're keeping them!!

The girls and I took Moxie and Marley to the vet today, and they're in fantastic health. So we're gonna do it! Eek!

Nina fell in love with them almost immediately. On Sunday she said, "I thought having dogs would be great, but it's wonderful." Aww. Then she read the little photo album called "who loves baby" that we have. "Who loves Marley," she read. "Mama and Papa love Marley. Nina loves Marley. Tante Vanessa and Uncle Micah love Marley," and so forth. Then she read it to Moxie.

Maggie has dubbed them "Moxie, King of the Brown Dogs," and "Marley, King of the Blond Dogs." Also, Marely ate Moxie's dog biscuit today and she gave him quite the scolding. "Bad dog," she said in her sternest voice. "Bad bad dog. Baddest dog in the whole wide world." So, I'm sure that won't be happening again.

Also, when the kids and Nick got back from Mom and Dad's tonight, they couldn't find Moxie. 'Oh no,' they thought! 'What if he escaped?' Could he have??

No, he'd accidentally shut himself in the bathroom. So, not the smartest dogs who ever lived, but among the chillest, because when he discovered his mistake, he just laid down and waited to be found. He didn't even bark. Maybe he was hiding?

I'll get some more pictures tomorrow!

Oh, also my knee is swollen from jumping on the trampoline on Friday. I'm such a wimp.

Big day!

First, there was this:

 It arrived at about 3:00, and dad and I had it totally assembled in an hour and a half. The girls helped, too. They handed us the springs, which was no small job, as there were 72 to attach.

Then they jumped in it for an hour straight... Two very, very happy girls.

It's off on the side of the lawn behind the swingset, as you can see.

And then, we got these two:

which was even more exciting.

So far, so good! The girls are quickly falling in love. Oh dear!

I have a third grader and a kindergartener!!

Where has the time gone??

Just look at these big little girls! Actually, Maggie's been a kindergartener since yesterday, as Wednesday was her last day of school. We found out that she'll have Mrs. Spaulding for Kindergarten, a lovely teacher who Nina had last year for first grade. Great news!

After school got out today, the girls and I headed down to Hendrick's Head to celebrate with some friends. It wasn't super warm (maybe 60 even at the beach), but we Mainers don't need heat to have fun at the beach.

There was a whole gaggle of kids hunting for (the boys) and saving (the girls) periwinkles, and they had a grand old time.

They're tired now, though. Maggie flipped out when she found out we were having spaghetti and sausages for dinner. She'd thought we were having chicken, rice, and broccoli because that was what she'd requested, but she didn't know I'd lazed out and made something easier. So when she found out, she wailed.

"My heart is broken," she sobbed. "It couldn't be more broken. I'll never love you again."

Because I'd made spaghetti. This is the life I live.

Eventually she numbed to the horror of my dinner and ate some. But then an hour or so later she asked for vanilla ice cream for dessert, and of course it fell upon me to explain that we were out of vanilla. You can imagine how that went over.

"You're the worst mother ever," and "this is the worst day ever" were among the best. But go ahead and try to point out that 4 hours at the beach can hardly qualify as "worst day ever," and break out the photos to prove your point, and I guarantee you're just going to make the tantrum worse...

How could I forget Make Your Own Sundaes?!!

Maggie requested a make your own sundae bar at her birthday party. It was so much fun! Unfortunately, I was too busy scooping ice cream to get a photo, but here are the girl enjoying sundaes on Sunday.

Cool whip atop gummy worms AND gummy bears. Mmm!

Nina's loose tooth on the right side and a sensitive spot on the left forced her to skip the gummies. Hope that sensitive spot is a canker sore and not a cavity! How oh how could my kids ever get a cavity? Well, no dentist until I get my insurance, so it'll have to wait!

Happy Birthday Maggie!

Yesterday we had her fifth birthday party. Yay Maggie!

Look at this big birthday girl! In a dress! (*with underwear!*). She's growing up so fast!

The girls and I made cupcakes. You can tell I've been at this motherhood thing for a while and am kind of giving up, because I used a box mix and betty crocker frosting. It used to be homemade, whole-grain oatmeal cupcakes with low sugar and real butter frosting. Not anymore, kids! The girls took one bite of these cupcakes and just about died with joy. Best cupcakes ever, they said. Must be that pudding in the mix!

 It was supposed to rain, so we prepared an old-fashioned game of tape the tail on the pony. That's Rainbow Dash there. Turns out you can buy this kind of thing at WalMart for like, $1, but that would require leaving the peninsula.

 The girls and I made the tails, too. It was a fun project!

 This present was a hit. The kids got right to coloring it.

 Then Nina and Charlie assembled it. Or, tried to. You know you've got a great friend when you can assemble a tent-like structure and have fun doing it.

And, Chester went swimming in a mud puddle. Good times!!

Motherhood is a thankless job sometimes

It's the end of the school year, and the girls are so excited to be almost done (Nina more than Maggie). And yeah, I'm super excited too. I hate getting up in the morning even more than they do, packing two snacks and a lunch, getting everyone fed, brushed, dressed and out the door... it's a lot of work! So this morning I slacked and packed Nina crackers, cucumber, and water for a snack and Maggie just water and a banana.

Well, her royal highness was really mad at me when I picked her up.

"I did not like my snack. I had a terrible day because I hated it," she told me.
"Oh, I'm sorry you didn't like it," I said. "But you were happy to get a banana this morning." Like reminding her that she picked it would ever help.
"Now I'm mad at you. I love you as much as a toilet."

Wow, ouch! I mean, I'm glad she's in touch with her feelings, and that she's so smart and able to find the perfect analogy for her love, but this is the thanks I get. Not, "Gee mom, now that I've had a lackluster snack, I'm really appreciating the homemade whole-grain oatmeal brownies you made and individually wrapped for me last week." No, none of that. Just "I love you as much as a toilet."

To be fair, she forgave me within an hour. She told me she loves me never ending universes, plus all the hair and cells. So, that's obviously quite a lot. Whew!

Oh yeah, I also have a job now! Say hello to BRHS's new physical sciences teacher! Yipee!!

Mini-golf was a blast yesterday

We had so much fun!

Look how adorable she is! Nina even got a hole in one (on the fish hook, not this one).

And that form! Top notch! Maggie did NOT get a hole in one, but I got two! Overall a bad performance for me though. For some reason I kept hitting the ball off the green. That never happens!

Then we rewarded ourselves with some well-deserved ice cream. Yum!

Oh my, no post since Wednesday?

Well, the girls were sick all week. Nina ran a fever on Tuesday, Wednesday, and was still over 102 with a funky looking throat on Thursday so I made a doctor's appointment for her on Friday. Well, that must have done it, because she woke up Friday fever-free and over the hump. I cancelled the appointment and recovery has continued ever since.

It's also been hot, hot, hot for the last three day! Not fun when you're battling a fever, but a nice change of pace from the cold spring we'd been having. We must have hit the 90s on Friday and Saturday, and will probably hit about 80 today. Then a colder front is supposed to move in and we'll be in the high 60 next week.

The girls thought getting sick last week was the best thing ever and are having trouble adjusting to the idea that it's actually not summer vacation yet, and there's almost two more weeks of school. But Friday is field day, and the week after that is only 3 1/2 days, so I think they'll survive. The end of the year is always so much fun, anyway.

I think we're going to head out later this afternoon for some mini-golf and ice cream. Summer fun!