Celebrating Rainbows

Every year on St. Patrick's day, a The Blarney Breakfast is held as a fundraiser for Rainbows United. It is a really, really fun event. They have great food, Irish dancers, clowns, bagpipers, and decorations. We wake up at 6:00 to go before Will heads to work. This is a great event. We don't just go because its fun though.

Rainbows United is an organization that helps teach children with disabilities. When my girls were born prematurely, they both had areas of development that were behind. Emma was an especially difficult child because she couldn't eat. Her mouth muscles were too weak to suck. Feeding her required two towels - one to cover her, and one to cover the unfortunate person who was feeding her. Sara, an occupational therapist from Rainbows saved our lives. She taught us what we needed to do with Emma and stuck with us for a year and half to make sure they stayed on track.

We received all this help for free. Everyone does. Going to the breakfast is one way we are able to help Rainbows in return.

It took Taylor a little while to be excited about being up that early!

After breakfast we went to our friends' house to learn about rainbows! Once a month we get together with two other families and do a theme morning. We read a book, do a lesson, make a craft, and eat lunch! The girls love learning new things and playing with their friends, and I love hanging out with MY friends while the kids play!

Taylor and our good friend, Lily, working on a craft.

Emma thinking about how early she woke up that day.

Rashelle made this ever so beautiful and tasty treat for dessert!

Nap Update

Nap update: The girls have taken a nap three days in a row. Our lives have been better because of it. Maybe last week was just a crazy fluke or maybe they really are transitioning out of naps. Either way, I'm sure we'll make it through it.

On a side note, thanks, everyone (my five readers), for sticking with me as I make constant changes to the layout of my blog. I think this is finally the ONE! No changing for a long time. I say that, but when I feel the need to rearrange my living room furniture and realize there's nothing else I can do with it, I may just change the blog instead.

A Week Without Afternoon Slumbers

It's been a very long week at our house. Emma and Taylor have decided that it must be time to stop napping. I still have them lay down for an hour, but alas, only one nap this week. That makes for a really long day. True, they are going to bed earlier, but their behavior before then is extra whiny and difficult.

Monday, I went to pick them up from the childcare area at the YMCA and the teacher told me how awful Taylor was. She was disrespectful, threw a fit on the floor, and fought with Emma. She was kind enough to follow by saying, "We would have never seen that coming from one of your girls!"

Wednesday, I threatened them with their lives, and headed back to the Y. I went to a water aerobics class and had been in the pool 25 minutes when I saw the director of childcare walk in. I knew she was coming for me, because I was by far the youngest person in the pool. I met her at the edge with a horrified expression on my face. She said that Emma had been playing on a rope and Taylor wanted to play on the rope, so Taylor bit Emma. Taylor was in time out and they had cleaned up Emma's bite mark. She just wanted me to know about it. As she left, she told me to enjoy the rest of my work out. Seriously? I guess it could have been worse - she could have bitten someone else's kid, right?

She had consequences for all offenses. I'm not a parent that makes excuses for her kids, at least, I don't think I am, but this terrible behavior has to be exasperated by no naps. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. So, we'll get through this no-nap transition. We just won't take them out in public until then.

Tea for Two

The girls got a small tea set for Christmas from their Grandma Elisabeth. Every morning for the last week they woke up saying, "I want to play with our tea set!" Every night they went to bed saying, "Awww...we forgot to play with our tea set!" Its not that I didn't want them to play with it, I really did, but its made of ceramic. That means, if I want them to have it next week, there has to be constant supervision.

I loved playing tea with my sisters. We had a tea set that my mom brought back from Brazil. I knew they would enjoy it too. So, I planned the big tea party for today. I baked cookies, got out a cheery table cloth, and pulled out the tea sets.

They loved it! Emma told me she didn't like tea and Taylor dipped her cookies in water. They spilled multiple times as they filled their own tiny cups. This was anything but a proper English tea! We had sophisticated talk about princesses and ballerinas and Emma asked me to take a break to teach them some dance moves! I declined and offered to do it another time. All in all, I'd say it went pretty well.

For the Love of Music

I recently read the following in the CD notes of Fleet Foxes:

"...This leads me to something weird about the power that music has. Its transportive ability . Any time I hear a song or record that meant a lot to me at a certain moment or I was listening to at a distinct time, I'm instantly taken back to that place in full detail."

I love music. All kinds of music. Music speaks deep into my soul. Music has the ability to convey and evoke emotion that words alone cannot. My mom used to say that her life was a musical. She (and my grandma) would break into song at any moment. I do the same. If there is not already a song that applies to the moment, I will just make one up! I've noticed my kids doing the same thing. :) It brings joy to my heart.

It doesn't just bring joy to MY heart, it brings joy to my Maker's heart as well. The ultimate composer. God created music and gave us ears to hear it! He also gave us (some, more than others) the ability and desire to dance! He wants us to truly enjoy music!

I posted a music player with a random selection of some of my favorite songs. I wanted to explain that I really don't stop liking a song that I've already liked, I just move on and sometimes forget about them. But, when I hear those songs again, I am instantly taken back to the times that I loved them. I feel all the same emotions. So, when you look at my list of songs, which will be added to later, you get several snapshots of my life. Not just my life now, but all of my life.

Artistic Differences

In my last post I mentioned the different art styles of Emma and Taylor. I wanted to share an example for you. The one on the left was colored by Taylor. Each color carefully chosen and fierce concentration used when putting the ink to paper. The one on the right was colored by Emma. I'm sure there was a plan here, but this free-thinking, out-of-the-box child didn't take the time to explain it. That would have taken too much time, and she had other things to do.

Budding Artists

Its been fun to see how the girls artistic abilities are developing. They have very different styles. Taylor is neat and always colors in the lines. Emma, on the other hand, is more of an outside the lines kind of girl. This totally matches their personalities in other areas of life too. Emma is always a little crazy and out of control. Taylor works hard to follow the rules. They draw and color a million pictures a day. We hang them on doors, bulletin boards, and the refrigerator. We really are running out of room. Taylor drew something on a white board today that I wanted to keep, but like I said, who has that much room? I took a picture of it instead.


Do you see it? Its me on my "married day". Will is the one in the hat and the other is a flower girl. Emma asked "where are the arm holes?" Taylor responded, "Mommy didn't have any arm holes." She's right - my dress was strapless.