A week in the life of Michaela & Danielle: June 16th 2013

In August Christine and I will have been married twelve years.During these years we've had a number of friends in the six different locations we have lived. We are truly blessed with the friendship of Dan, Michelle, and Lilly.  If I had taken their friendship for granted int the past at all, Father's Day 2013 will be in my memory for a while.  Christine has been gone the past week and they gave me a much needed break, even though they were both called into work on a Sunday!

The girls were exhausted yesterday and slept until the alarm went off at 8:30.  We got ready for the day and met them at Cedar Valley Golf Course for brunch.  There was a wide variety of food and all three girls tried hot tea, but not much was actually drank. 

Michelle took Michaela, Danielle, and Lilly to the La Crosse Children's Museum while Dan and I played a round of golf.  Michelle even took a couple of pictures to email Christine, know that she would be missing her girls.  My golf game is not very impressive anymore, but the weather was wonderful and 18 holes that I've never played before.

We picked up the Jeep from the mechanics, which now has the back brake lines replaced! We made a couple of errands in town and had hot dogs, bratwurst, and cauliflower for supper at their place. The girls have settled into a routine at night, with Danielle falling asleep in our bed first, a pillow between them as a placeholder for me later in the night, and Michaela hopping in our bed afterwards.

I hope all of our friends, family, and fathers had a wonderful day regardless of where they are.  Hopefully no one gets lost in Boston!

A week in the life of Michaela & Danielle: June 15th 2013

Today was the fifth day since the girls said bye to Christine when she hopped in the car with Cindy, Chris, and Caroline for Connecticut. We're missing her greatly, but all in love and happy they are able to visit the east coast family. 

Danielle had a rough night and was constantly waking with nightmares and kicked, screamed, and cried a handful of times last night.  I felt bad for her and was awake more than any parent wants to be between 2 and 6 in the morning. When Danielle got out of bed at 7 and laid down crying on the living room I was hoping that she was not sick.  Michaela slept for another hour but we snuggled the morning away watching cartoons.

Lunch was a colorful plate; salad, broccoli, and noodles...three items from the pantry and refrigerator.  The girls didn't like strawberries on a salad with dressing however.

Luckily Danielle is not sick, rather just tired and in currently seriously missing mom. Michaela is close in tow. Michaela told me yesterday that she wished that I had left instead of mom, not because she didn't love me but because she is really missing Christine.  Today Danielle told me it is boring with me and that she only wanted mom. 

After lunch the girls grew tired of each other and starting fighting over what they thought the other person said. Neither was correct but that doesn't matter when emotions are involved. Danielle's timeout lasted an hour and Michaela's was only 20 minutes.  In our wait for Danielle to join us Michaela tried her hand with the camera timer setting.

We took a walk around the house taking flowers pictures that may be done blooming before Christine returns, courtesy of Michaela the photographer.

 

             

I wonder how many parents are willing to admit that McDonald's play land can be a saving grace. After an hour and ice cream, luck brought a preschool classmate and another hour of play without incident.  The girls went to sleep quickly tonight and I hope they will be rested and in a better mood tomorrow for Father's Day brunch and play date.  I have a great appreciation for my wonderful wife and her ability to do this everyday, she is a saint.

A week in the life of Michaela & Danielle: June 14th 2013

Danielle got to talk about yesterday, so it is my turn today.  Last night I fell out of the bed around midnight.  Dad was watching a movie downstairs and I scared him good.  I don't remember it, but he told me I was scared and hurt.  I'm not sure if actually happened though as I don't have a bump on my head, perhaps Danielle fell out of bed instead.

We all slept until 8:30 today, but I woke up ready for cartoons. Before anyone else was even out of bed I was on the couch downstairs watching Dora.  We ate cereal for breakfast and went shopping at Menard's this morning.  Dad had a surprise for us, but he wouldn't tell us until we were there.  I picked out green and purple and my sister took pink (red) and gray.  We were very excited about them until the ride home when we found out they don't stay in our ears very well.

We got home just in time for mac and cheese for lunch.  Dad watch golf on the computer and we watched The Littlest Pet Shop on Netflix before my sister put Dora in and I threw a temper tantrum.  Dad consoled me and taught me how to play peek (four card golf) before we went back into town to pay for Jeep repairs.

I helped Dad empty the garage, but got tired and went swimming with Chase and Cameron while he cleaned the cement.  Dan and Michelle took me and my sister to pick up Lilly and play at Farmer's Park.  We found a monster alien at the park with 15 feet and 100 eyes!  When we got home Danielle helped dad was the car and put the garage back together.  

Tonight dad and I played and entire game of peek rather than only a few hands.  I kept score for most of the game and I WON!!

A week in the life of Michaela & Danielle: June 13th 2013

Last night I wasn't to happy with my sister, but I still expected her to be in bed with me and dad when I woke up....but she wasn't! I woke up happy and went downstairs to watch cartoons.  When Michaela woke up we started talking and dad came downstairs a few minutes later.  I was so proud that I woke up first and that I was quiet!!!

With everyone awake we had yogurt, bananas, and mini blueberry bagels for breakfast. We went to the golf course this morning with our own special bag and clubs.  I filled the bucket of balls, but it was too heavy for me to carry.  Sister carried the bucket and I toke the sunscreen. All of us hit and putted on the green.  I'm really good at golf already, but Michaela is better at putting. A gentleman thought it was funny that we were giving dad a lesson and he let Michaela sit on his cart, but I was too scared.

I wanted Chinese for lunch but dad took us to HyVee. We shared chicken strips, mac and cheese, a roll, low mien, a crab Rangoon, and orange chicken.  Dad let us watch a Barbie Mermaid movie in the car on the way to Farmer's park.  At farmer's park we only saw three butterflies but Michaela caught one. We echoed in the tunnel, played on play sets, collected seeds, and rode the sheep but my tummy was a bit sore from eating too much and I learned what a pit toilet was.

We got home late in the afternoon and put on our swimsuits to play with the neighbors in their pool while dad mowed the yard. Michaela had a tough time choosing her favorite part of supper as she really liked the crescent rolls with Apple Butter as well as the Cheddar Bites, but I liked the cheese bites best.

Dad is so funny, he thinks he is being tough by forcing us to be polite but little does he know we are really controlling things. We stayed up to 10 last night and 9 tonight, and we get to sleep wherever we want!

A week in the life of Michaela & Danielle: June 12nd 2013

Here is the second day of the week installment.

After yesterday's interesting night, I put the girls to bed in our room.  Danielle was first to sleep and Michaela followed only 10 minutes later. After posting yesterday's blog I returned to this sight. While Michaela and Danielle often snuggle and hug during the day, I was surprised as they are like oil and water at night.

Michaela woke around 8 and went downstairs to watch cartoons.  Breakfast was not until I woke Danielle at 10 and was light with three kiwi.  The girls helped peel the fruit and were wonderful the next two hours watching cartoons as I met with someone about the bird club.

The weather forecast included a chance for severe thunderstorm, hail, and a possible tornado but we packed up anyways for Whitewater State Park.  We stopped at Kwik-Trip in Lewiston for the girls favorite convenience store food, mozzarella filled bread sticks. A banana each and a shared apple rounded out the Quickie Mart meal.

We arrive around 1:15 for the 1 o'clock program...oops! Luckily the short program was interactive and she was wonderful at engaging the girls' thoughts. I found the skull and bones program interesting and I was amazed at how much the girls new about animals, especially Michaela. With skulls in hand they focused on teeth, especially the incisors and canines, to determine whether the animal was a herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore.

Their attention did not last however as they were very excited about swimming with life jackets at the beach. Even though 80s were forecasted, an overcast sky and winds had it feeling closer to 65.  We were all quite cold in the spring fed stream, but the little American Toad tadpoles (just likely a guess based on size) were quite entertaining.  The girls carefully caught many, and their actions were quickly turned into the activity for all most other kids (and adults) at the beach.

Drizzling rain started shortly after we left the park around 4:30. The girls hopped in the bath to clean and warm up as soon as we got home.  They washed each other's hair and checked for ticks before drying off for supper.  Salad and left-over noodles were any easy and quick meal.  With the sun shining, contrary to the weatherman's predictions, we found a blanket and headed into town for Concerts in the Park after a grocery store stop.

At the grocery store we ran into Danielle's teacher, who said "Danielle, we missed you the last week of school!"  Oops, somewhere we got bad information and Danielle missed the last two days of school.  We will have to stop by in July when summer school is in session to pick up remaining materials.

The Winona Community band played a handful of songs while we ate raspberries.  The nearby playground seemed to lure the girls away however. You can here a song end in the video above. The concert started at  8 and we were late getting home tonight.  A slice of lemon-poppy seed cake for dessert and off to bed they went.  As well as last night went, tonight was just the opposite. A bit of anger from both resulted in Michaela sleeping downstairs and Danielle in our bed.

A week in the life of Michaela & Danielle: June 11th 2013

I figured it is time to take a break from posts on birding, so today is hopefully the first day of a week long diary following Michaela and Danielle's daily activities.

Michaela went to bed last night in our bedroom closet while Danielle was in bed with us.  By morning Michaela had moved to the living room couch, but forgot to bring either a pillow or blanket and was sleeping like a  curled-up pill bug.  The girls haven't slept well or in the same spot since we rearrange the house to sell. Last night just happened to be weirder than usual.  Breakfast was fruit, donuts, and juice and we enjoyed a couple of cartoons and a bit of garden work during the morning.

We packed the car for a day of errands and drove over Stockton Hill, grabbing lunch at Taco Bell before stopping at Family Video.  The girls were allowed to pick out one movie each, and we found out that Family Video awards free rentals for grades. It would be a wonderful treat for Michaela if we can find her report card.

We planned to quickly returning a "Home for Sale" sign at Ace Hardware. It was too easy to buy something that looks right, only to realize after getting home that it the sign was one-sided rather than printed on both sides.   It was time to return the sign after having it lay around the house for the past couple of days. While I was signing for the 2 dollar credit the sign the girls were looking at the miniature train diorama. I've been to this store a dozen times but was blind to the "Find Waldo" sign until they pointed it out. Luckily the girls had done this before, told me where Waldo was last time, and informed me had to find him. Ten minutes later we found that Waldo happened to be camping in the woods. A store employee kindly turned on the power and we watched the trains and emergency vehicle flashing lights before heading out.

The next stop was to return a handful of due items at the Library. The girls quickly ran to the children's video section and each picked out a Dora DVD. Once that regular activity was finished they followed their normal schedule and went to the computer game station.  As they played I found a couple of field guides for later and we were off to HyVee to pick up groceries for supper.  

Three hours after leaving home we returned ready for an excited adventure using the field guides, but plans changed as a message on the answering machine informed us of a house showing later tonight. Michaela colored a picture and Danielle played downstairs allowing us to pick up the house. An hour later and we were ready to start cooking! 

The girls had picked out mushrooms (Danielle) and broccoli (Michaela) for supper, which we paired with pasta and Parmesan. The girls helped wash and cut the vegetables, reluctantly taking turns for what they deemed a very exciting activity. Both girls stopped at least once and looked at their fingers where it "felt like they were cut" but luckily neither was bleeding. They were proud of the fresh colorful dish which was followed by Lemon Poppy seed cake for dessert.  

I hope the house did not smell too strongly of broccoli during the house showing, but we will likely never have the opportunity to ask that question. We stepped out of the house and visited neighbors when the realtor showed up and returned home after an hour for a second round of cake before bed. 

We are tentatively planning on visiting Whitewater state park tomorrow for a nature program and swimming before Concerts in the park, but of course plans may change if mother nature does not cooperate.

Danielle's end of School Year

Danielle finished preschool last week, with Michaela going one week longer.  Danielle woke up early (around 7 when Michaela wakes up for school) this past weekend, but the past two days she is back to sleeping in until 9-10.

A week ago one of Danielle's schools had a end of year preschool picnic.  Each family brought a dish to share, the kids played, and it was nice seeing everyone before the summer began.  The weather was not cooperative, much like the rest of the past month, and it rained the night away. Michaela and Danielle avoided the rain by using their umbrellas and didn't play nearly as much as the other kids.

For whatever reason I felt inspired to get the girls to play, so I stole their umbrellas and we played tag long enough that they quit worrying about being wet.  We all had wet feet after getting home that night.