Toddler days

It’s been about 2 weeks since the big girls started school. We’re getting into our new routine. It’s different. It’s good. Actually it’s really good. We have hard days. We have good days. I’ve changed gears. They’ve changed gears. With just the littles home I have to do a lot more planning with activities and outings.

We started doing a zoom class that’s a kids cooking class taught by puppets! The girls had such a blast! They talked about the puppets all week!!

I don’t typically buy “colored” foods if I can help it. I LOVE colors. But in food… no thanks. I bought fruit loops (froot loops?) recently for some projects though. We’ve had more fun with that box of cereal!!! This week I drew them all a squid character with rainbow tentacles they had to match fruit loops to.

The girls love to paint. Especially juniper. This week I gave them each a small box and let them paint them. We pretended they were treasure boxes. They each painted one for a big sister! It was so sweet!

I think I’ve mentioned before. We do lots of baths and showers here. After the painting they went to the tub for their next phase. I made home made “scratchy slime” for them to play with! It kept them in the tub a bit longer so I could scramble around and a low my next project (or let’s be honest- drink coffee).

I added olive oil so it would make their skin soft when they rubbed it all over. It worked! They were silky smooth and soft after their baths!! Buuuuuut they looked like a couple greasy Italians after! I wasn’t thinking about what adding olive oil to the bath would do to their just washed hair!!! 😆

Bubble bath + scratchy slime + a twin sister to play with = life

This week we also went to the play ground A LOT. Lavender had a drs visit the other day. I told the twins we’d go to the playground after since they had to tag along. Of course when we came out it looked very stormy. But I’d promised. And you just can’t take back a promise to a 3 year old about the playground. So we crossed our fingers and went anyways. There was only a dad and son there. We basically had the whole place to ourselves! Plus I noticed a DMB tattoo on the dad. So naturally I had to talk Dave with him!!

With the summer came a big change in our house. The girls don’t nap any longer. It was a sad realization when I said goodbye to our friend “nap time”. A piece of my soul cried. So these days in the afternoons we snuggle up and watch Cocomelon and they relax. Usually I make a 2nd cup of coffee and get dinner started. Or try. There’s usually 57 messes to clean before I can start. Every day is 1 step forward and 8 steps back.

I love fall. So much. I know. I’m basic. I don’t even care. I love it. And my days are often a blur and I don’t get much down time to enjoy the moments. So one of my favorite fall things to do is simmer apples and spices in the afternoons while I cook dinner and listen to music. Sometimes I use cranberries or oranges also. But my sister brought a bag of tiny apples from her orchard. So I simmered a bunch of them with mulling spices and it made the house smell soooo good and cozy!!! Such a mood booster! Try it!! (Especially paired with Josh Groban’s Christmas album n November with the cranberries and oranges!!!)

I try to peck away at laundry when they watch tv and dinner cooks. Today I had a couple helpers. This one made herself nice and cozy in my basket! Then had t the nerve to tell me I was putting too much laundry on her!

The twins needs lots of activities and ways to explore. I love making them sensory tables. This week I made a few bottles of water beads. We set up the water table with bubbles and water beads and a bottle of shaving foam! I let them get naked and go to town playing with all the textures!!! They loved it! Naturally it lead to another bath! lol

I was having a particularly hard day the other day. Some days I’m running in circles so much that I literally don’t have time to fix my messy mom bun never mind make myself put together. There was a time when I spent time every day doing my hair and makeup nice. I love that stuff!! But I so don’t have the time these days. I’m usually wearing a tee shirt with questionable fluid from my kids on it and messy hair. This day was no exception. I felt like such a mess. Ron came home from the store with some gerbera daisies for me and said “for my pretty wife”. I just about cried. I felt 10,000 times opposite of being “pretty” that day. These little insignificant moments are what pull me through some days.

Today we finally got little miss Pearl into occupational therapy! She was such a great kiddo today. She really did a good job! I’m happy to have spent some one on one time with her! And happy to be getting some answers and feedback!!

After OT we really needed some Indian summer sunshine and fresh air!!! We played in the “play zone” (our fenced in play area/swing set. I decided to go down to the garden as pull up the dead plants and start to get my garden beds ready for fall. I took this opportunity to get the girls down in the garden with me to get dirty! We made mud pies! And scooped and sprayed and smeared. All the good stuff!!! Even Lavender got in on the action!!! I was sad to see our garden go. But the seasons change. We’ll have an even bigger more epic garden next year I’m sure!!

Have I mentioned I have some ADD struggles? On top of my usual mom struggles. So this blog has now taken me the better part of 4 or 5 days to complete! Typical Darcie fashion. I could delete it all and start fresh. But why? This blog truly reflects and ebb and tide of our lives. Some days I kill it as a mom and a human. And some days I’m not sure how to get out of bed. The good news is that tomorrow is always a new day!