Are you Type A or B?

We may have three females in our family but I am outnumbered. Alex is Type A, Rachel is Type A, Lauren is a bit young for me to be sure but she seems to be attracted to Rachel's carefully organized treasures and well folded favorite clothes. I am Type B. By this I mean I like a certain amount of clutter, I don't always close the drawers or cabinets fully (Alex would say never), and I try never to fold clothes, sheets, or towels. If I have to fold something it really is a pathetic attempt, no lining up of the corners or pressing of seams - like Rachel with her Cuddly or Alex and our outdoor plastic chair covers seem to require. I could not work at the Gap. Our chaotic house with toys, shoes, books and socks (etc) everywhere cannot be blamed entirely on just the girls. I love when our house is clean but overly neat I actually find uncomfortable.

So I really did not understand the attraction of this "game" pictured below. Rachel decided she wanted to line up memory cards in a big grid. Lauren wrecked Rachel's first grid which was on the floor so we moved the game up to the dining room table. Rachel wanted me to help her at first but I wasn't doing it correctly. So my job was to keep Lauren away so she could show Dad when he came home. Lauren got her own cards but she as you can see below she needs some more practice at least according to Rachel. I just wanted to push them all into a shoe box -randomly. Actually the cards came in a box with plastic tray with 24 sections where only 6 or so cards can fit in section. Both Rachel and Alex have spent some time organizing them into this tray as well. I just don't understand!

In a cave

The girls are peeking out of an indoor cave at the Palo Alto Junior Museum.

Pronunciation, Comparisons, and Exaggeration

Lauren, perhaps because she is such a hurry to do whatever Rachel is doing, likes to drop the first syllable from words, especially names. Her teachers Betina and Tamaya have become Tina and Maya to the point that I catch myself calling them these shortened names as well -- both at home and more embarrassingly at school. "Puter", "ogurt" were fairly recognizable as computer and yogurt. But my favorite because it took me so long to figure out was Guygamin. As in "Guygamin, guygamin I want guygamin". Finally she was happy when she got her vitamin.

Rachel, in her sweetest moments, likes to tell us how much she loves us. This is usually as we are leaving her room from tucking her in to sleep. Each time she tries to come up with something bigger like
I love you more than past a thousand.
I love you more than Belle Princess.
I love you more than the whole world.

At some point recently, Rachel must have said that she got hurt very badly and both girls noticed how quickly we responded. Now both girls add "very badly" every time they get a bruise or scrape but Lauren has taken it to a new extreme. Lauren needs to get out of her booster seat "very badly", needs her sippy cup of milk refilled "very badly" or even a book read to her "very badly".

My Artists

I have always loved drawing and painting so I love having the girls do art. They both really enjoy it. I have started taking pictures of some of the birthday cards they have done. Here are two favorites.

Belle and Cinderella

Here is what you get when you combine grandparents, the Disney store, and my princess worshiping girls. Two very happy princesses. (And I must admit not nearly the level of "Oh I want that too" that I was expecting.)

Here Mom, no wait

Mother's Day was great. I got to sleep in. Rachel and Lauren each gave me beautifully drawn cards and flowers from the garden (thanks Alex). Then the girls and I went shopping with my Mom, Dad and sister and had a nice lunch. At home, the weather was beautiful we played outside and had a good dinner. But the funniest parts were the two presents from Rachel earlier in the week.

The first present was a heart shaped wooden box that Rachel had painted and glued on jewels at her Wednesday art class. It was very pretty. Rachel loves pretty things. So although she was very happy to have me open the present (immediately on Wed) and admire it she was a little sad to see it stay in my room. After trying to come to an agreement with me on where I should put it so she could still see it, she decided that I could have the bottom and she would keep the decorated top. This was on Wednesday.

On Friday they had a Mother's Day lunch at our preschool so I got to eat lunch with both girls. Rachel's class had painted popsicle sticks and glued them into a box for holding recipe cards, and several blank colored 3x5 cards were included. So Rachel let me open the present but this time I didn't even get to hold the painted popsicle stick box for long. All the other mothers took their presents with them, but Rachel kept my present in her cubby. After school she brought it home and wrote "Rachel" on the colored 3x5 cards that she liked and "Happy Mother Day" on other half of cards for me. When I was spelling out Happy Mother's Day for her to write on my cards, I got to the "s" in Mother's she laughed at my "mistake" saying that there was no "s" since there was only one mom. So I have a couple recipe cards which say Happy Mother Day but the popsicle box and selected pretty colored cards are in her room next to the painted heart shaped box top.

The Platform

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This moving platform at my elementary school was a big hit when we went to visit Mooma and Papa. After many rides, with the adults taking turns spinning the controls, Lauren decided give Rachel a ride.

Slide

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Here is Rachel going down the slide at my Elementary School in San Mateo.

Dress Up and Drawing

I found my wedding shoes in the hall closet and Lauren had fun tottering around in them down the hall.


Here is Rachel, my little artist, next to her rendition of the Sun, in the backyard. Lauren, also proficient in chalk media, did the abstract work to the left of the sun.

Pedicure

I painted the girls' toe nails with nail polish from Aunt Marilyn. Notice they couldn't decide which color to pick so each foot got its own color.

Pony Farm

We went to a pony farm with Nana. Rachel was heisitant at first waiting to see how Lauren did before trying it herself. So when Lauren went once around the ring and loved it, Rachel then agreed to go and loved it as well. Rachel rode every pony, several times, chosing the order of ponies by their name and color. Lauren loved the ponies and the jumpy house.

Though it looks like Alex is rescuing Lauren from a hungry goat, he is really just trying to get both girls in the same shot for me.



The train ride was also a hit. Rachel picked the car with yellow seats.