Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Back at it...

Going back to school after spring break is always kinda weird.  Spring break gets me feeling ready for summer, but the weather isn't quite there yet, the sun still sets too early and rises too late, and then, of course, there is still about 10 weeks worth of learning to be done.  For me, this means that we've got about 10 weeks to learn about all the really important stuff in the whole world that happened from about 1900 to 2011.  And ya know, there's a lot that happened during those 111 years.  So...although Spring Break gets me itching for summer, there's a lot of work to be done before I can scratch that itch.

The end of Spring Break marked a change in the Petersen household.  While Ian and I headed back to school, Cora and Evaline did not.  We have been extremely fortunate that we both have our parents in town, AND they have been absolutely wonderful with helping us out childcare.  For the first year and a half, the girls went to grandma/papa-care instead of daycare - with both sets of grandparents splitting the time with the girls.  This year we started the girls at a large(ish) daycare center three days a week (the girls are still lucky enough to get to hang out with their grandparents two days a week - one day each side). 

We'd had no real complaints about the center, except for the cost.  So, after spring break we switched to a small in-home place (a place that some friends/co-workers use)...and are saving over $400/mo.  So far, the switch seems to be working out really, really well.  The girls are comfortable and get excited about going there.  They are napping well - which was a HUGE surprise, since they never napped very well at their previous place. There is a little baby girl there, which the girls find absolutely fascinating and none of the other kids have bitten Cora yet.  AND (knock on wood) its been almost three weeks without a trip to the doctor (knock on wood, again)!   

Its always such a big decision when choosing daycare, and before they started there we were questioning a lot whether or not we should make the switch.  But I think we made a good choice.

Oh, and the official countdown is now 8 weeks until summer.

Spring Break

Spring break has come and gone...with very little hint of actual spring.  Weather.com says that we're supposed to be in the 50s for the rest of the 10 day forecast, and I am so very ready  for that.  Actually, I'm ready for low 70s.  I'm ready for flip flops and bermuda shorts.  I'm ready for walks outside (perhaps an occasional run as well...it is  one of my 2011 resolutions to run a 5k...we'll see).  I'm ready for flowers.  I'm ready for green.  I guess what I'm saying is that I am so very ready for spring.

My perennials are just starting to peak through the mulch. It's almost time for those flowers, green, and spring.  I just wish it would hurry a bit more.

Do you think that a beautiful springtime yard (as seen in the link above) will make people want to buy my house?  Cuz it's for sale if there are any takers out there.  And the yard really is beautiful.  And huge.  Sound tempting?  Wanna tell all your friends?

The only bad thing about potentially (fingers crossed!  wish me luck!) moving is that I can't have a garden this year.  Not the flower kind.  The vegetable kind.  One of my requirements for the next place is a yard that will have some place for a garden.  In all honesty, I don't really care if that some place is the front yard.  I just want to grow some tomatoes.  And peppers.  And zucchini, and yellow squash, and butternut squash, and cucumbers, and potatoes, and kohlrabi, and raddishes, and asparagus, and eggplant, and rhubarb, and raspberries, and strawberries, and maybe some beets.  And some fresh herbs. Or at least part of that list. 

Instead...this year I plan to do some containers.  A couple tomatoes, a couple peppers, possibly zucchini and cucumbers, and definately a trash can full of potatoes.  I figure that I can start them here, and then move them...if, of course, I'm lucky enough to be moving before "harvest".

I've been reading up on container gardening a lot lately.  I had as one of my resolutions to read 12 non-school books, and I've already finished 5.  My intention was for these 12 books to be thought-provoking novels of great depth.  But, I think that these should also count.  2 books on container gardening and 3 books on canning and preserving food.  And yes, I do think that the cookbooks should count. I did read them cover-to-cover...and besides the first half of all them was tutorial.  Am I huge dork for reading cookbooks?  Probably.  But that's just part of my charm.

On a final note...here are my babies.  I mean big girls.  Evaline is even pretty much potty-trained.  That was our Spring Break Project.  Who am I kidding, though, Evaline pretty much potty-trained herself.  Cora...well, Cora is a different story. 

This was our conversation last Thursday morning: Me - "Cora, you've got a decision to make.  Do you want to wear the big-girl-panties or diapers?"  Cora - "Panties!"  Me - "Ok, you do realize that this means you will HAVE to use the potty, right?"  Cora - "Ok.  I wear diapers."  Ok.  Cora's wearing diapers.  She is, however, absolutely thrilled for her sisters potty-triumphs.  Jumps up and down.  Claps.  Gives words of encouragement and shows just as much pride as Evaline does herself.  But doesn't care to try it herself. Not. One. Bit. 

Ah well.  I'm pretty sure that all of my students at school are potty-trained...so I have every confidence that it will happen when she's ready.

One final thing that I'm looking forward to?  The day when both of the girls will look at the camera and smile  in the same shot.

Here's a great one of Cora:

Evaline's a doll in this one:

This was the best we could do to get them both looking decent:

Wordless Wednesday

Story Time

A few weeks ago we bought a box of Cheerios, and stuck to the inside front of the box was a "freebie" - a small book.  According to the box, there is a whold "collectible" series - but we just have this one.  This book - Jump - is one of Cora's favorite things in the whole world.  To make things even better, she has started reading aloud to us.  And now...to you, too:

One more thing - I wish I had kept the camera running for just half a minute more.  At the very end (in case you don't speak Toddler) she noticed that her hands were dirty (from playing outside) and she needed to wash them, dropped the book and ran away.  She ran to the sink in her play kitchen, where she grabbed her scrub brush that we gave the girls as a toy and proceeded to scrub away.  Totally Ian's daughter.

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Wordless Wednesday