Love & Marriage

As I wrapped up bath time tonight, I realized I'd forgotten to brush Natalie's teeth. 

"Come here, Nugget, let me brush your toofies," I said. 

Then I asked Charlotte, "I wonder how long we'll call Natalie 'Nugget?' Do you think I'll still say it when she is getting married?" 

"When will I get married, Mommy?" Charlotte asked.

"When you're older and fall in love with the person you want to spend the rest of your life with," I told her. 

"How do you fall in love? What does it feel like?"

"When you fall in love with someone, you want to spend all of your time with them. You like the same things, you like to do nice things for them, they make you feel happy, and you get excited when you're with them - like little butterflies are in your tummy." 

She asked if her daddy & I got married when we fell in love, so I told her a little but about that - flowers, holding hands, laughing, etc. 

She got a little misty-eyed & hugged her little wet arms around my neck and said, "I think I fell in love already." 

Giving her a squeeze, my heart fluttered, anticipating a glorious little "I love you, Mommy." 

But instead, she pointed into the tub. 

"I feel that way about Natalie." 

Charlotte's New Bike

A brand new bike at Christmastime in Illinois doesn't make much sense, and her birthday in August seems so far away. So a beautiful spring day was the perfect chance for Charlotte to pick out her first "big girl" bike. 

Of course she chose a Frozen bike

 We went to Tipton Park where there is plenty of smooth trail to ride on. It took a few minutes for her to get her bearings, but she quickly got the hang of it!

We walked around the pond to one of the playgrounds (Charlotte insisted we go to the one that is "just the right size for Natalie"). Right as we got to the playground, Ben spotted a baby turtle on the path. He was showing Charlotte all of its different parts & warned her not to touch its head, since it might bite her. I got Natalie out of the stroller and let her have a good look. 

The turtle is the tiny dark spot in front of Nat

Natalie liked the turtle, saying "Look, Mimi! Turtle!!" She even shushed me and said "turtle night night." And then she did it. In one swift motion, Nat picked up the tiny turtle with her little hand. Ben and I kinda gasped and I think Ben grabbed Nat's hand to free the turtle. Nat dropped him right away, but not before Charlotte stood up, hopped backward, and let out the loudest, longest, blood-curdling scream I've ever heard. She was terrified that that teeny tiny turtle was going to chomp Natalie's whole paw off!! Of course the scream made Natalie cry, and then Charlotte was crying. Is it horrible that Ben and I laughed the whole thing off? The scream was amazing. Like, I'm surprised the neighbors didn't call 911 amazing. 

the scream aftermath

Aside from the turtle incident, I'd say the bike was a huge success! it did take us a little longer than expected to get it. Toys R Us wouldn't let us take the floor model, and we didn't want to wait the 24 hours for someone to build it, so Ben put it together while I took the kids to Sam's Club to pick up a few things and eat. Very short car naps, bike excitement, and dinner hunger made the Sam's Club trip just a little bit hairy. I even snapped a picture of "feeding time at the zoo."

That's Nat, climbing onto the table, begging for more bites of the fruit & yogurt parfait.

Weekend Away

The girls spent the weekend with their grandparents while Ben and I got to hang out with our friends in Kentucky. Friday night we hung out with some of my old Millcreek buddies at one of my favorite happy hour pubs, and Saturday we had dinner and attended a lovely alumni reception. Percussionists from all over the country came to celebrate their professor Jim Campbell's 30 amazing years at UK. It was so great to catch up with everyone, meet new friends, and see how Jim and his wife Nancy have touched the lives of so many musicians (and their spouses) over the years.

Ben and I had a great time hanging out with each other, too! We talked, we laughed, we missed the kids, shopped, finally listened to the Serial podcast, ate tons of our favorite Lexington food, slept soundly in a huge heavenly bed, got to wear grownup clothes and have grownup cocktails and talk with other grownups (okay, maybe I was the only one excited about those things). We basically spent just as many hours awake in Lexington as we did driving down and back, but it was great!

UK percussionists

Charlotte and Natalie got to have their own fun at their grandparents' houses this weekend. They baked cookies for a dog party, Grandma Val took them to visit a friend who had baby chicks and a trampoline, they explored the Bass Pro Shop, got their nails painted, watched some movies, tossed rocks into the river with Mr. Ron, and found some shells on a sandbar. It sounds like they had just as much fun as we did!

Making dog party cookies 

Nat loved the chicks!

That may be my new favorite picture of Natalie and Grandpa Jim. hahaha! 

After such a big weekend, it sure was nice to pick up my babies & snuggle them in their jammies after bath time. Even Donny missed them! He kept forcing his way into Charlotte's room, and eventually snuggled her until she fell asleep :)