Not so cool...

During my adolescence when I was going through the stage of not wanting to be seen with my parents I vowed to be a "cool mom" when I became a parent. I was going to wear cool clothes and drive a cool car and my kids were never going to be embarrassed of me. Ha ha! That makes me laugh so hard now! I am now going through that time with Aiana. I come up with some pretty "cool" ideas and she looks at me as if I'm from another planet! Not taking things personal is the key to getting through this stage!


On this journey of parenting an adolescent I've already felt the urge to get on anxiety medication, but I do have great moments. Just this past Sunday I told Aiana I was going to come watch her sing and bring the video camera since she was singing a solo during worship. She said no about 100x, but we agreed that it would be ok if someone else held the camera :). I watched from the back of the room and found myself in awe as I watched her worshiping. All "coolness" aside. I know she is just at the beginning of a long journey of peer pressure, and all the other fun stuff that is a part of growing up, but I am so thankful for each moment she can just BE with God. After her solo, Aiana and I made eye contact and shared a smile. Even though she says it's not "cool" for me to come and watch, I could see that she felt good to see me there. I am "cool", by the way, she just doesn't have the capacity in her thinking to see it yet!...and she may not see it until she is a mother one day :)

Hopscotch with Mimi

My mom made a hopscotch for Caylin and has been teaching her the game. We were cracking as we watched Caylin practice her hopping skills...

Planting day

I am not the one in the family with a green thumb. That is why I have two little planter boxes out in the front that I plant flowers in. They last about 5-6 months and then I plant new ones. Today was planting day. The girls and I went to Home Depot and this time I at least read the tag that indicates the type of lighting best for the plant. We made it home with all our flowers, except for one that Anika grabbed on the way to the car. The girls had fun digging in the soil, climbing in the flower beds, playing with worms. I love the spring, I love the weather, and I love all the new growth!

Right now as I write this, Anika is napping and Caylin is playing outside in her little pool with her duck...which is a shammy...named Kaia and she's feeding is fake cheese. Oh she makes me laugh!

Other updates:

Anika is now 16 months old and super busy. I never had to childproof my house other than a few outlets covered, cabinet locks, and gates here and there, but with Anika everyday I discover something else that needs to be moved or locked. She is very fiesty and scowls when she is told no, sometimes she tantrums. She loves cars, dancing, running, climbing, and babies (although not as much as Caylin did). Anika's tempermant reminds me more of Aiana's when she was little. She's talking a lot more and trying to copy what she hears. She is still a great sleeper, and she is getting better with eating...just not too adventerous with her food choices.

Aiana is getting ready for an overnight with her small group. They are heading up to Calvary Chapel for a conference called Planet Wisdom. I'm excited to see how God will show up for her this weekend! She also had fun during spirit week. One of the days was super hero day and Aiana couldnt find an outfit so she made one up with leggings, shorts, a t-shirt, and a sarong for a cape. She taped a sign on her front that said "? hero". I love her outgoing spirit. She does have her down days and can't understand why she feels down, but I told her that unfortunately that was just part of becoming a woman and that I have those days too!

Embarrassing moments at the zoo...and home

As a parent, I never know what the day (and night) will hold. Caylin had a croupy cough last night so I decided to keep her home from school today. I took the girls to the zoo to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. We always begin our trip with the ducks and flamingos, and hang out with them for at least 10 minutes or so. When we were ready to move on to see the monkeys, we took one last look at the flamingos and they just happened to be mating. Now, it was a very crowded day at the zoo today. Caylin yells out in excitement "Mom look! That flamingo is getting on the other ones back!" I could feel the crowd of people turn to see how I was going to respond and I quickly said "Yeah, I see that! He's getting a piggyback ride!" Someone then comments "Nice answer, I was waiting to see how you were going to respond to that one!". I laugh and we move on...

So that was not so embarrassing, as a parent I no longer get embarrassed as easy. We stopped to have a snack and Anika was running all over. Taking the girls to the zoo by myself is always a challenge. Caylin typically stays close by but Anika is a busy body and likes to run! Heading to our next stop, I chase after Anika and I hear Caylin say something, I hear "big big" and without thinking, simultaneously, I look up and see a very large women walk past as I say "What?" I then realize what Caylin was saying and tried to talk loudly about the next animal we were going to see. But Caylin's voice got louder as she said "THAT IS A BIG BUTT MOMMY, THAT LADY HAS A BIG BIG BIG BIG BUTT!" I continued to try and talk about the next animal, which I then realized were the Hippos...so along with Caylin talking loudly about "THE BIG BUTT LADY" I was talking loudly about the Hippos! After the lady and her family pass, I explain to Caylin that what she was saying was rude and to not say that. She then continued to whisper to me over and over "she has a big butt mom, the lady's butt is so so big".

I ended our trip after that in fear of what would happen next! Whew! I love being a mom!

Ok, so I needed to add one more thing to this post. Before dinner tonight I was out watering the lawn saying hello to the neighbors as they walk by. I then look over at Caylin who has decided to take out the training potty and use it for her mud pies...

I love this girl

Friday night I took Aiana and three of her girlfriends to the mall. They all wanted to shop for an outfit for twin day (this week at school is spirit week). I kind of stood back and observed these "tweens". They're a fun group of girls...and they like to have fun! They had a hard time coming up with an outfit that all four of them agreed on. But I had a (very exausting) blast watching and listening to them. Even one of their jokes still makes me laugh when I think about it. (Remember to ask Aiana about the horse joke).

Saturday I met up with a few people from high school and Aiana came with me. I photographed one of my friends with her son. Later that night I pulled out my high school year book and showed Aiana all the people who we met up with earlier that day. We spent about an hour looking through the annual. Aiana was tripped out by the hair and make up styles (gotta love the early 90's high bangs!). We had a great laugh together, I love my baby girl!

Funny Aiana saying:

Mom, how did Paul Beatle die?

me:

Who's Paul Beatle?

Aiana:

That famous singer

I then realized she was talking about Paul McCartney from the Beatles! ha ha! I lost focus that he's not dead, then she asked me if he was related to Jesse McCartney :)

New do

I decided to take Caylin to a kids salon to get her hair cut. I had been cutting it myself but wanted to compare my cuts to the salon cut. I think it was more the experience more than anything. She had fun getting her hair washed and sitting in the big chair. Plus we met a friend and went out for pizza afterwards. I enjoyed watching her little face while all of this was happening.

Beautiful weekend

We had great weather this weekend! After a family walk Saturday morning, and realizing how hot it was, we decided it would be nice to spend the afternoon at the beach. Aiana wasn't feeling her best but it was nice to have a family day. The beach was gorgeous. Caylin and Anika enjoyed the sand, and Anika was particularly interested in the seaweed, she even tasted it...along with the sand!

We ended the weekend with a family dinner with my brothers family and my dad. It's nice that Caylin and Kaila are at an age now where they can play with out fighting! They had a ball playing in the new bunk bed pretending they were in a castle. Grandpa pretended to be the dragon, Aiana was in on the fun too! I love these kind of days!