Allison - Playground Warrior

A few weeks ago I received a call from school that Allison fell on the playground and scrapped up her nose pretty good. When I picked her up from school, I expected her to be quite dramatic about her injury, as scrapes are a pretty big deal around here; however, Allison really didn't make a big deal about it.  Her nose was quite red. I felt bad for her, but I didn't make a big deal out of it either.

A few days later, I tried taking Allison's picture and she said no because her "nose looked bad." Later on, she asked me to pick her up so that she could look at herself in the mirror. As Allison looked in the mirror she said, "I look beautiful" and then she scrunched her nose and said, "Well, not my nose - that doesn't look beautiful." My heart broke. I told her that she did look beautiful and that her nose was a badge of being a playground warrior. She asked what that meant and I explained to her that being a playground warrior meant that she gets outdoors and plays - that she isn't afraid to fall and get right back up. I told Allison that it lets the world know that she doesn't just sit there on the sidelines watching others play. I want my girls to be playground warriors; to be proud of their bruises and not to be content with sitting on the bench during recess. I simply want them to know that they are beautiful - no matter what. 

So, now at bath time, the girls proudly count their bruises and compare notes. So, I can take one little sigh of relief and know that this latest crisis has been adverted for now and feel confident that my girls still know that they rock.

Carrots, Peppers and Cotton Candy?

We are trying a new adventure this summer - vegetable gardening. We rented a plot from our neighborhood community garden. I figured a $10 plot fee was a whole lot cheaper than attempting to make our own garden bed at home.

With the help of a friend who drew up a garden plan for me, I wrote up my shopping list and we visited a large nursery to buy our plants. This nursery is very well-known in the area and recently moved to a new location. It is like the Disneyland of nurseries - they even have a carnival concession trailer located inside their store. Upon entering the store, Allison spotted the cotton candy at the concession stand and said "ohhh..cotton candy."  Amelia quickly responded with "Cotton candy plant!! Where???" She was a little embarrassed when she realized her mistake; however, she then thought that was the funniest thing and quickly came up with all these stories about how she would sneak out of the house to eat treats from her "cotton candy plant."

For now, the girls will have to make due with peppers, peas, spinach, etc. from our garden (if anything actually grows that is) and cotton candy from the cotton candy machine from my childhood that we are still using.

 

It Only Took 18 Years...

Well, it only took 18 years, but I finally checked "Tulip Time" off my "Places to Go/Things to Do in West Michigan List." However, based on how our trip went, it may be another 18 years before I get the nerve to go back.

We started off the day early by heading to one of the large tulip farms and gift shops. I was going to try to honor my girls' Dutch heritage and get each of them a pair of wooden shoes but I was too cheap to do so. I couldn't fork over almost $70 for two pairs of shoes! Instead, I was going to compromise and buy a little souvenir pair of shoes for $7 each; however, Brian convinced me that it would be just one more piece of clutter in their rooms. I figured if my husband, who is 100% Dutch, wasn't concerned about his daughters having souvenir wooden shoes, and the girls didn't show any interest whatsoever in them, then I didn't need to feel any guilt about the girls going without a Dutch costume or pair of shoes. We skipped the tulip farm since it would have been over $30 for us to go in; coupled with my passing up the authentic wooden shoes due to the price, my husband commented that I tend to act "more Dutch" than he sometimes does.

Instead, we headed to downtown Holland where we went to one of the parks in the center of town to look at the tulips. Despite me repeatedly telling Amelia that this wasn't a park with a playground, upon our arrival, she immediately demanded to know where the playground equipment was located. When reminded that there was no playground equipment, Amelia whined and moaned the entire time we were there. We made the mistake of having a slumber party in our living room the night before and we stayed up way too late so she was super grouchy. Allison,on the other hand, was just fine and kept finding flowers we should take pictures of and was a good sport.

After about ten minutes, I realized this "fun trip" was going nowhere pretty fast, so I called uncle and gave up. I suggested we find the candy shop to get a treat for the ride home. I made a wrong turn and realized the candy shop with the fun, retro candy was on the other end of main street. Luckily, the drug store had some candy, so we picked up a box of candy for each of the girls. We then quickly headed back to the car.  So no parades, klompen dancing, or street cleaning for us. However, we did make it out alive, which is all I can ask for. Maybe next year, I will bring just one of the girls back for the parade or dancing demonstration...or maybe not.

I Admit It....I'm a Soccer Mom!

I signed the girls up for soccer this spring. Our intention is to sign the girls up for different activities and sports over the next couple of years and let them decide which activity they like best. I had a feeling they might like soccer since they enjoy kicking the ball around in the backyard. Also, Amelia participated in a Tots Sports Academy class at the local community center that we belong to and she loved when they got to play soccer.  On days I would go work out, she would beg to go to the gym afterwards so I could play soccer with her.

I wasn't so sure how this season would work. I was under the impression when I signed up that the season was only six weeks long; however it was actually eight weeks. I thought that period of time might be too much for the kids and I wasn't looking forward to giving up six consecutive Saturdays for games.

Our first scheduled practice was cancelled due to rainy and cold conditions.  The next week, I kept checking the cancellation hotline thinking that surely practice would be canceled since the rain/snow clouds were forming. When we arrived at practice it started hailing and soon turned into snowy blizzard conditions.  However, the coach kept on with practice and all the kids had a lot of fun. They were supposed to have their first game that following Saturday; however, due to heavy precipitation that week, all games were cancelled. I wondered what I had gotten ourselves into.

Finally the weather cleared and they had their first game. I have to say, I was shocked at how well the kids played. I thought for sure that it would be four kids on each team running around the field huddled altogether kicking the ball anywhere. There were a couple of instances of kicking the ball in the wrong direction, but the kids were quickly pointed the correct way.  During the first game, the kids were a little timid about getting in there and really kicking the ball and trying to take it away from their opponents - understandable since we tell them all the time to "share and not take things away from others."

Amelia and Allison quickly found their niche on the soccer field and looked like they actually belonged. Allison kept the ball under control and had some great breakaways and was able to get the ball across the field to the net. We also noticed that when she was really into the game, Allison would have her tongue hanging out - sort of like another famous athlete (i.e. Michael Jordan). Amelia, on the other hand, let it be known that she wasn't going to be intimidated by others. When she came onto the field, Amelia would assume her "sumo wrestler" position and literally dig into the ground and then take off like a pistol at the sound of the whistle.

Rather than dreading giving up those Saturdays, we would look forward to watching our girls and their teammates play.  We were also treated in witnessing both Allison and Amelia scoring a couple of goals during the season. We were so fortunate to have such a wonderful team this year; the coaches were amazing with the kids and taught them a lot of new skills. The other parents were great too.

Not only did we enjoy watching the girls gain new physical skills, we also enjoyed observing their confidence grow week-by-week. We are all looking forward to the fall when the soccer season begins again. 

Our Little Village

I'm not really a very crafty or artistic person. I'm horrible about doing art projects with the kids. I know I mentioned this before, in fact, I think it was about a year ago when I did another project with the kids which consisted of melting broken crayons together. This time around I decided to work with the kids on creating a village using boxes from our recycling bin.

After collecting the right sized boxes and containers, I bought a piece of poster board to use as a base. On a snowy Saturday morning, I gathered the necessary supplies and the girls. It took me a few minutes to convince the girls (i.e. snapping at them) to not touch anything until we figured out how we wanted our village to look. Once we got the general pattern sorted out, Allison and Mia had a wonderful time cutting, gluing, drawing, and putting stickers on our buildings.  It was a good practice lesson for me to keep my patience and a good lesson for the girls to work together as a team to accomplish a single goal.

Allison's Caught the Reading Bug

A few months ago, Allison brought home "Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?" from the library. We brought it to bed and I made her read it to me. This was the first book that she read more than a few words at a time. I was so proud of her. The look on her face when she finished was priceless.

We are reading together every night and practicing her "popcorn" words. She knows all the words on the list we received from school and several other words I have added to her "popcorn bucket". She is up to about 70 words in her bucket.

Recently she was tested on whether she knew her popcorn  words at school. If they knew more than the ones they learned so far, they could read them off the list that was given to them. Allison told me that she knew all but two, so I asked her which two. She looked at me like I was crazy and said "I don't know Mom - I couldn't read them, so how would I know what words they were?" Ha ha. I was thinking that maybe the teacher told her what the words were when they were finished. 

Just Pulling Your Leg...Off!

Allison and Mia spent a few days with their Nana and Papa recently. I love hearing what they did while they were at my parents' house, and this time was no exception. The kids were apparently kidding with my Dad and my Mom asked Amelia if she "was pulling Papa's leg."  Since this was an expression neither of the girls have heard before, Amelia looked at my Mom with a puzzled expression and then looked at my Dad's leg and said, "No, I'm not touching his leg."  My Mom explained to them that the phrase "Pulling your leg" is a way of telling someone that you are only joking with them. However, the girls don't quite remember the actual phrase - so now when the girls make a joke, they finish up by saying "I pulled your leg off!"