Anyway, here are a few recent Clara-isms:
Said in a sing-song voice when wanting me to pay attention to her while I was working on something else: "Mom, you better watch. Or you will lost your privileges..."
Clara was building snakes with playdough and mentioned wanting a snowman so I smushed up a snake (mistakenly thinking that is what she wanted). Apparently this was not good behavior and Clara let me have it, kindly but firmly. At one point she patiently asked me, "Mom, do I need to call your friends and tell them not to come to your pretend birthday party and we just won't have it?" After apologizing multiple times, Clara was still kindly but thoroughly berating me so I offered to let her call her daddy at work so she could discuss my behavior with him. I wish we had recorded that conversation because it was hilarious. After a lecture about choosing the right and me helping to fix the snakes, I was finally let off the hook.
"I need my paintnails toted!" (Followed by a confused look at how that came out of her mouth).
I told Clara that a particular yogurt I was pulling from the refrigerator had her name written all over it. She looked at it thoroughly when I set it in front of her and then pointed out that I was losing my mind because she couldn't find her name anywhere on it.
Spoken completely out of the blue after she had clearly been pondering this concept for some time: "Shampoo does not have poo in it. It makes my hair clean." Also, his gem: "Mermaids don't pee in the water."
While in line at the drive-thru at In-N-Out: "What's that amazing yummy smell?" Inhales deeply. "Mmmm, fries!"
While playing with the sticker book in the picture below: "I wish I had a yard like this." Then, spoken wistfully after a contemplative pause: "I wish I was a sticker."
And now on to some pictures. The girls went with me to visit the oral surgeons in Oakland who will be performing my jaw surgery (not for another 9-12 months but we still had to consult in advance so they can come up with a plan with my orthodontist). Clara played with this skull the entire time and loved when I made him "talk". Who knew being a mom would require ventriloquy skills.
I actually planned meals for the entire month one afternoon when both girls took naps (a rarity these days since when Clara naps she stays up until 11:00). I love when I get meals planned - we eat better, I stress less, and we save money - and yet somehow it hardly ever happens and I usually am scrambling to figure out what to eat the day of which results in extra trips to stores. I should get on top of things and start planning out July soon. We have actually done pretty well about sticking to the menu this month (while maintaining a little flexibility and shifting a day or two here and there).
Rose FINALLY got to start gymnastics. She's actually still too young - they have to be 18 months to join the class - but after doing a trial class with her, the coach in charge of the preschool program said they could make an exception for this semester. Rose clearly has been paying attention to Clara's classes over the past months because she hit the mat running (literally) once she finally had permission to participate. She has been trying somersaults and hot dog rolls down the incline planes, climbing up and down the obstacle courses, and even attempting handstands and the balance beam. She is still hesitant to jump on the trampoline though - I can barely get a bounce out of her - and prefers to sprint down the tumble track rather than jump down it. And she admittedly had a meltdown on bars this week (not because she was scared though - she just didn't seem to care for it much and wanted to move onto something else and couldn't because we had to stay with the class). It is so nice to be able to do a class with Rose while Clara is taking her class with her coach and every now and then the girls wave at each other. Clara also chooses which leotards they will both wear and prefers their black ones so that they can "match".
On National Donut Day Paul texted me to say that I had to get donuts for the girls. Donuts are Paul's thing, not mine, but what kind of parent would deprive her kids of donuts on national donut day (I am that kind of parent). Anyway, I have priorities so we had a good breakfast and went to the gym and only stopped for donuts afterwards (around 11:00). And everything was gone. At both donut stores. It was so weird. So we went home and I made donuts from scratch. They looked pretty but they were seriously the grossest. So we won't be doing that again. But Clara had fun with the sprinkles and it was an interesting experiment.
A friend had a birthday party for her 2-year old that the girls were invited to and she sent me this cute picture of Clara attacking the piñata afterwards. Clara LOVES this pink striped cardigan and pairs it was basically everything.
Our ward had an Elder's Quorum cookoff that has apparently been an annual activity for 30 years. Paul entered both the Entrée and the Dessert categories and took first place in both. He made smoked baby back ribs (my uncle Richard's recipe - he is from Texas and knows his smoked meats) and s'mores bars (the hungry runner girl's recipe with just a little bit of coaching from me although I stayed completely hands off and tried to keep my commentary to a minimum). Each wife was assigned to judge one category and then ballots were collected and tallied and prizes were given out. It was fun to see what the guys brought to show off their skills although I did not expect almost every single dessert to be a peanut butter/chocolate combination of some kind.
I took Clara to see a live children's production of Peter Pan with some other moms from church. We had fun although it wasn't amazing. It was one of those productions where every kid gets a part so they have an enormous group and it is more about dance numbers for everybody that about a really quality show and it got a little long by the end. Clara was nervous about Captain Hook and the crocodile but handled everything pretty well.
Beach days have started up again and we are loving it. It has been so nice to catch up with all our old friends from Hillsdale ward and the girls have been enjoying playing in the sand and the water with the other kids. Rose is a hat girl and has been good about keeping her hat on the whole time. Unfortunately, she turns out to still be really interested in sand and I often catch her dumping shovel or cupful of it into her little mouth, just to see if it still tastes the same. Such a goof.
Clara is struggling to learn how to ride her bike, even with training wheels. The biggest problem is her confidence and understanding of pedaling. If we are on any sort of incline whatsoever and she feels the bike moving, she falls apart and there are tears and tantrums aplenty. But when we are on totally flat ground, she actually is starting to get the hang of it. I get her to go out and practice by telling her we will ride to the park so whenever she wants to give up I explain that it's fine and we can just turn right around and head home if she is ready to be done. She never wants to do that so after some wailing and gnashing of teeth, we press on. The return ride usually takes half as long as the ride to the park and she doesn't have the same hesitation as when she first starts out. I'm hopeful that by the end of the summer we can take the training wheels off and she will be able to ride on her own at Yosemite this year.
Rose is just the cutest little busy body. She loves running around with no bottoms on other than a diaper and she gets into everything. She is always underfoot when I am cooking or getting ready or cleaning. And oh my goodness she is such a character. When Paul gets home from work and we are all sitting in the living room, Rose will stand up and lecture us while gesticulating with her pointer finger. She tells us to stay put (seriously, she gives us these looks and jabbers her command to stay where we are and waits for a pause to see if we got it) then sprints out of the room only to come back a minute later with some item she has retrieved from one of the bedrooms like a blanket or a book she wants read or a toy she wants to play with. And she knows our routines well and will often get her shoes or my shoes preemptively when she knows we will be heading someplace soon.
She is obsessed with fruit and loves all kinds but pluots, apricots, peaches, watermelon and berries (so basically all the summer fruits) are particular favorites right now. At the farmer's market we were hanging out on the grass enjoying a Mexican shave ice when I realized that Rose had snuck into our basket and was gobbling down pluots as fast as she possibly could. She will stuff her face full of watermelon like a chipmunk until she can't close her lips and juice is dripping down her neck and she starts giggling like crazy about it while we laugh.
We stopped for soft-serve at a cute, old-fashioned creamery in downtown Pleasanton. We let Rose hold Paul's ice cream cone for the picture and to have a taste but she refused to give it up afterwards so she ended up with her own (that I helped her with).
This was her face after we had tried taking the cone back from her. You can see the proteciveness of her grip and withering look of "you aren't going to dare trying that stunt to separate me from the ice cream again, are you?".
A new Whole Foods opened up nearby and they have the kid-size shopping carts that are perfect for Clara. We went on a Saturday so Paul could check it out. I don't shop there often because it is more expensive but there are some times when I go for particular items and I love that place. The meat section is seriously just beautiful and they have the best selection of fish and things like ground lamb. And they actually make excellent breads in their bakery. It's maybe silly or lame that we think family outings to the grocery store are fun times, but it's what we like to do I guess.
We've been having some hot weather so we have been spending a lot of time at pools and splash pads. Both girls started swimming lessons last week and did great. I found a place called American Swim Academy where there are classes for Clara and Rose at the same time and it is indoors so I don't have to worry about sunscreen or changes in weather. It's a semester based approach so we are signed up for 13 weeks and depending on how it goes maybe we will do fall semester too (or opt to try soccer or dance or something else instead).
One of the new splashpads we found out about is connected to a really awesome park with a zipline, huge slide, and tons of other fun equipment. We went back on a Saturday morning with Paul to play before it got too hot.
And finally, we had such a nice weekend celebrating both Father's Day and Paul's birthday. Since Paul had a banjo lesson on his actual birthday and wouldn't have much time at home (and the girls go to bed early anyway) we just celebrated everything on Sunday (and sort of Saturday when we went shopping and Paul picked out a bunch of new clothes). The girls love their daddy and we are sure lucky to have him.
For Paul's birthday, I made him a batch of bread & butter pickles using his Grandma Robertson's recipe. He loves having them on tuna fish sandwiches but hasn't had them in years. I got the recipe years ago with the intention of making some for him but didn't have the necessary bottling equipment until this past year. Anyway, it took all day but I got them done and hidden just before he got home one night (although I had to text him and send him on errands so he couldn't come straight home from work because I was franticly trying to clean up and put everything away so it could be a surprise).
And I think that is pretty much it for the latest goings-on around here. Now I had better post this before Rose wakes up from her nap and Clara finishes her coloring project!
