Snow lady

Emma made this snowman all by herself - drew the circles, cut them out, glued them together.  Drew the buttons and the face.  And added eyelashes and lips all on her own.

(Oh, and I have no idea why it's black, other than that was the first sheet of construction paper she pulled out.)

Lives of the Princesses

Pajama-pants scarf

Spying on Rebecca in the bathroom

Engineer in heels

Princess fire girl who likes to pose for the camera

Princess engineer pianist

Video chat with grandma and papa

Snow White Indian

Snow White Fire Girl

Princess Cowgirl (who also likes to pose for the camera)

And Snow White pianist

I loved these two when I was going through the pictures.  Love the look on Becca's face in the first one.  And Julie totally posing.  And then a spontaneous hug.  Love, love, love.

Forced Nature Hike

So, on Sunday of that warm weekend back in January, we needed to get out of the house.  We decided (well, to be clear, Greg and I decided) to go to a new nature park that opened just up the road from our house.  For how close it is, we really haven't been there much.  There's a pretty good stretch of trail that's paved, so we used to take the strollers out there to walk through.

So, we get there and everything is fine.  We park and get out of the car.  Start walking down the path.  And, as soon as we can't see the car anymore, Emma freaked out.  I'm not entirely sure what was so scary, but eventually what I think we got out of her was that there were no people around.  I guess that makes sense, but I was not expecting it.  Becca fed off her fear, and started to get upset, too.  Julie was perfectly fine.

From here on out, this will be known as Emma's "I hate nature" face.

And - proud parenting moment - we threatened to leave them there while we took Julie on a hike.  That was seriously what it took.  And even then, it looked like this:

I can't remember why they were covering their ears.  Something freaking them out.  Julie was out in front leading the way.  Occasionally, Emma would yell at Julie for getting too far ahead.

After about 15 minutes (and a quick consultation with the trail map via iPhone), we realized we were heading in the wrong direction if we wanted to go find the big bridge.   And I don't think Emma and Rebecca let go of Greg's hands until we got to the bridge.

And that was enough nature for one day.  We headed out of the woods at a different spot than we went in.  As we were walking, Emma started saying her feet were tired and she couldn't walk anymore.  And then she saw the playground

The part of the park closest to the road used to be a minor league baseball stadium, and they've put in new little league fields.  I really had no idea this park was there, but it was really nice.

One of my favorite pictures of Becca

If only they knew what real teeter totters were like ...

Warm winter weekend

We had a pretty warm weekend back in the beginning of January.  Warm enough that we figured out that the air conditioner in the van wasn't working.  Good to find that out in January, right?

We went to IKEA on Saturday, and got a few things.  Nothing terribly exciting.  We certainly didn't get a picture of the three of them all looking at the camera and not moving.

We did get lunch, though, and that was pretty exciting.  This IKEA's cafeteria looks out over the entrance/entrance to the Small Land child care thing.  Becca and Emma were fully involved in people-watching and asking what was down there.  

 

We stopped at the outlet mall on the way home.  I did some quick shopping while the girls and Greg played at the playground.  I've become a master of quick shopping.

I think she was telling me about the broken horse.

Fashion

Oh, Emma.  Such a trendsetter.

Update

I am woefully behind on updating here.  Things have just been spiraling out of control here, and February hasn't been a very good month for me.  Putting it in perspective, though, we are alive, and just got to spend a week with my parents.

It's just been a few weeks where everything seems to go wrong.  And they're little things.  But it's like the straw that broke the camel's back.

I got a letter saying I have no prescription drug coverage.  Which I knew was incorrect, but knew was going to be a pain to fix.  It turns out that the problem was the nurse who tried to e-prescribe the scripts, but she was not forthcoming about her mistake, and last I heard from her, there was nothing they could do and it was a problem on my end.  Obviously not true at this point.

I am completely fed up with the doctors and nurses in this diabetes program I'm in.  I thought it would be a good idea.  But the doctor doesn't listen, the care isn't coordinated, things are constantly slipping through the cracks, my lab paperwork is never right, etc.

My debit card expires at the end of the month.  The new one came in the mail, but when I call to activate it, all I get is a message saying that it can't be activated.

I came home from work on Monday and stepped in cat puke.  And I've cleaned up more today.

I'm taking another class for work two nights a week.  I went in to register for the exam through a testing service, and on my profile, the test I needed wasn't an option.  I had to jump through hoops to find out that when I requested permission to take the test back in November, it was never communicated to the testing service.

What makes my blood boil is all of these things should have been routine ... things that should just happen, and make life easier.  But it just seems like, for me lately, nothing ever works right.  And I honestly don't have the time and strength to fight all these battles.  It has left me really bitter, and emotionally drained.

Anyhow, that's enough for now.  I'll be back with some happier posts soon.

Sick

Poor Julie.  Not quite sure what's going on.  Back in December, she had a low fever and some congestion that, overnight, turned into pneumonia.  But her x-ray didn't look too bad, and she was acting fine.  Just breathing really hard and fast.  A recheck right after the new year gave her a clean bill of health.

And the Monday after her Friday re-check?  We were back at the doctor.  It was the same thing - a low fever that, overnight, turned into something resembling asthma.  After another round of antibiotics and a few days on the nebulizer, we had her lungs re-checked, and she was good to go again.

This is from the day I spent at home with her.  See how sick and miserable she looks?

And I was home with her again today.  This time, her fever is higher (102), but it's like her cold turns into asthma-like breathing.  And again, she's acting just fine.

And, of course, mom doesn't get a day off.  I was trying to work from home, and this one was sure making it difficult.  Because being at home means that I should be petting her.  With two hands.  At any time she demands.

Yes, this.  She literally laid on the table between me and the computer.