Today is heavenly.

Not only is it Friday, it is also one of those rare Summer-Spring days. Sunshine, blue skies, high temps all in the beginning of April. Just a taste of summer a little early. All around the neighborhood you hear the hum of lawnmowers, smell the tang of a smoking BBQ and see balls bouncing above the fence line. By Sunday the rains will be back but that won’t matter because right now, I’m thinking strawberry lemonade and ice cream cones. Yum.

Leina had her first Karate class today. She was so amazingly adorable in her little outfit that I was laughing so hard, I started crying. Watching her learn her kicks and punches was a sight I will never forget. The kind instructor even lent me her camera and I got to snap a few shots. Hopefully she will forward them to me and I can post them here.

Leina’s responses were hilarious. When the teacher was trying to teach her how to block, she asked Leina, “what would you do if I tried to pinch your nose?” Leina’s response, “I would run away!” When the teacher reached for her nose and told her to “block” her hand, Leina immediately reached up….. and covered her nose with both hands. The teacher cracked up and had to show her how to push her hand away. Every time she yelled “block”, Leina just covered her nose and laughed. I hope I got a picture of that.

Next, they played Push and Pull. The idea was to teach Leina how to jump up quickly and get back into fighting stance after a fall. The teacher would (gently) pull or push her over and then encourage her to jump back up. Leina let herself get pulled over a few times and then announced she was “done” with that game. She wanted to do the balancing and the kicking and wasn’t so excited about falling. That’s my girl! Kevin gets to take her tomorrow for her group class and I might have to warn him about the dangerously high cute level she emits. This is the best $40 I’ve ever spent!

Ahhhh, it’s 9am and I’m sitting up her surfing the ‘net. Where, you ask, are my precocious children?

Not bothering me!

I can here them downstairs happily playing with PlayDoh without any fighting or whining. So cries for “MOM” or “STOP IT” or “ARCHVICH” (Kulia’s cry of injustice.) Why are they playing so sweetly? Because Tutu is here! Yipee!

OK, it’s only for a week, but oh-my-goodness-gracious-me is it nice. The girls adore her and pretty much glue themselves to her side. This gives me ample free time to putter around the house, run errands, clean/organize, and blog at 9am on a Thursday morning. Ain’t life grand?

So, I have no time to type. I have web pages to visit! Hot coffee to sip! A whole morning to lounge away.

I must get cracking!

Kulia is back on fire.

Leina is down. Poor thing has two very bad ear infections in both ears right now and is pretty miserable. I caught it very quickly and she’s taking her medicine well so I’m hoping by the end of the weekend, she’ll be back on her feet.

Of course, by then Kulia should be down with some ailment or other. Thank goodness they take turns getting sick or I’d be in real trouble.

Grandma Vicki is down for the weekend and it has been gorgeous spring weather here so we are all running amuck soaking it in ’cause it’ll turn to rain all too soon.

Kevin is back home safe and sound from another trip to Taiwan. The girls have pretty much velcro’d themselves to him and tell me to “go away” whenever I appear. Sigh. So much for poor old mom.

Unfortunately, Kulia has somehow caugh a wicked illness. It started like a normal cold but has blown up into something very nasty. If I don’t see signs of improvement tomorrow, I’m hauling her down to the doctor’s for a real checkup. I’m sure it’s nothing but when little babies get sick, it’s scary. We have her dosed up on Tylenol and are running the humidifier in the hopes it will help. Leina is the only one enjoying herself as Kulia is too sick to be a true pest. Instead, she just sits in my arms, limp and listless moaning “boogers mama….boogers.”

Poor thing.

Here’s hoping a good night’s sleep will work wonders…..

We have broken down Leina’s crib.

It was one of the 3 in 1 do-hickeys that starts as a crib and converts into a toddler bed. For a while now, it’s been in toddler bed formation but I had noticed that my sweet girl pretty much filled the entire crib/bed. When she stretched out her toes, she hit the end rail and I knew it was time. We inherited a twin frame and bed board from Liza and they sat unused in our garage for a few weeks. You see, I was biding my time, waiting for my dad’s visit. Every time he arrives we have some handyman project lined up for him to keep him busy. Just in case hefting small grandchildren isn’t enough of a workout. So this time, I set him to work on Leina’s room.

Kevin kept the girls occupied and out of our hair so my dad and I could break down the crib/bed, rearrange the furniture, and set up Leina’s new twin bed. It took about 2 hours to get everything ready. Once we were prepped for the big reveal, Kevin led the girls upstairs and we ushered Leina into her new room.

Her reaction was not, exactly, ecstatic.

She took one look at her new bed, crosses her arms, furrowed her brow, and turned up her nose. I knew what was coming next. Her current favorite phrase is “I hate…..” and I could see the words forming on her lips when Kulia, bless her pesky little soul, burst into the room.

That kid ran straight for Leina’s new bed, threw herself on it, and began rolling around gleefully squealing with uncontained joy. Leina was torn. On the one had, she was all ready to hate the new bed. On the other, Kulia was clearly violating her personal space and having way too much fun. Leina is many things but most of all she is smart. She quickly transferred her hatred of the bed to….. her sister.

“Get that baby off my bed!” Leina yelled. “That’s my big girl bed and there are no babies allowed!”

Once Kulia was removed, Leina began to declare how much she loved her bed and how Kulia was never ever ever allowed to even looking at it again.

Sigh.

So last night, as I lay in bed with Leina and read her books, I asked her if she liked her bed. She said yes, she loved it.

“Isn’t Papa the best for building you this bed?” I asked Leina.

She thought about this for a moment and then said, “Yeah, I just wish we could think of some way to get him to stay here longer.”

I had to smile as I watched her little mind plotting away next to me. Watch out Papa, she has her sights set on you!

I’ve been hit by a sewing bug. Don’t know when I was bitten but I’ve got it bad. It started innocently enough with the Halloween costumes and has now turned into a full blown disease of unsightly proportions.

My sister told me about this online fabric place that sells “mystery bundles” and I got suckered into the first time buyer deal. Next to me sit 34 yards of various fabrics and I have no idea what to make. None. Even worse, I just found out that patterns tend to run 2 sizes bigger than store bought clothing so all the patterns I have are way, way too small. I flinch at the thought of buying a huge size 20+ pattern but that’s just reality I guess. So here I sit with tons of fabric and nothing to sew. Sigh.

And did I mention my new serger? I succumed to a horrible impulse and bought a it from Amazon during a delirous stage of this disease. I’m not sure what exactly you use it for but I’ve seen lots of directions that say “serge” so I’m hoping it’ll be usefull. It also came to two DVD instructions and an obscenely large booklet. When, exactly, I’m going to find time to figure this thing out I’m not sure but it’s sitting next to my pile-o-fabric and eyeing me alarmingly..

So that’s the state of things. I have all the machinery and fabric but no clue what, exactly, to sew. I’m thinking my only recourse is a trip to a fabric store which, I’m sure, will only lead to another large pile of sewing items to keep my already monstrous horde company.

Sigh. Will I ever be cured of the strange disease????