Five Things Friday

Five Things That Happened This Past Week That Made Me Smile:

1. Samantha has been working on tying her shoelaces, and I'm proud to say that she's done it twice!
2. This past week, Sarah is learning to zip her coat up. She's done it a few times.
3. I'm selling raffle tickets for a brand new Kindle Fire.  Tickets are $5.00 each.  A total of 100 tickets are being sold and all the proceeds earned will benefit the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.  If you would like to purchase tix, email me at SimNiffer214@yahoo.com.
4. I received a secret shop this past week at work and got a 90% on it.  Hooray!
5. Jeremy and I use Netflix and only recently started putting movies for the Madore-ables on the list too.  So, this past week, Disney's Sleeping Beauty came in the mail.  The girls absolutely loved it!

Grand and Special

Recently the Madore-ables and I were driving around in the car. Samantha for a long time has been able to identify cars while we're out on the road...especially Jeep Cherokees. (A large part of that is because I drive one). So, it wasn't a surprise when Sam said,

"Mommy! There's a white Jeep Cherokee over there. Actually, it's not a Jeep Cherokee. It's a Jeep Grand Cherokee."

Sure enough, Samantha was correct. So a few seconds later, Samantha asked me,

"Mommy? What does the word grand mean?"

I thought about it for a second, and the best explanation I could think of was,

"The word grand just means fancy or extra special" Samantha thought about that for a minute.

"Oh! Just like Grand-ma! And Grand-Mamere!"

See? Proof from a 4-1/2 year old that Grandmas are truly extra special ; )

Five Things Friday

Five Things That Happened This Past Week That Made Me Smile:

1. The weather in Boston this past week has just been unusually amazing. I say "unusually" because it's March and it's not usually anything over 50 degrees, but we've had a week straight of 70-80 degree weather. The Madore-ables and I have done nothing but playground hop, run errands and just keep the windows rolled down. We started off with the nice, beautiful weather last weekend by going to the beach. There have been lots of dirty faces, hands and toes from all of our outdoor playing.



2. As a result of all this fresh air, the Madore-ables have been eating non-stop! It's nice to hear the girls asking to eat healthy things for breakfast and lunch.



3. My raffle for my AWBC walk continues to go well. For those of you who don't know, I'm walking 39.3 miles in May for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I'm running a raffle for a Kindle Fire. Tickets are being sold for $5.00 each and all the proceeds will go to my AWBC walk. The raffle will end on Sunday, 5/13 when the winner's name will be announced! If you're interested in participating in the raffle, email me at SimNiffer214@yahoo.com.



4. This past week, Jeremy and the girls have come in a few times to visit me at work. It's been a nice surprise to share my work-break with them :)



5. Sarah officially knows how to write her name all by herself! She wrote it a few weeks ago, but I needed to help her on the letter "R". Now that she has discovered how to write a lower case "r" it's easy-peasy!

When I Grow Up

I asked the Madore-ables the other night what they wanted to be when they grow up. Here is how they responded.


Samantha
"A mermaid waitress that works at Panera [Bread]. No, wait. I'd like to stay on the ground"

Me: "Umm, what?"

"Mermaids like to swim in the water Mommy. I don't want to live in the water. I want to live on the ground". Oh, I don't want to be named Belle. I like the name Samantha much better."


Sarah
"A helicopter (pause) a choo-choo train (longer pause) and a Princess that is named Sarah."

Life's A Beach

This past weekend, my in-laws came down to visit for the day so we all packed a picnic lunch and went to Plum Island Beach reservation in Newburyport, Mass.

What a beautiful day it was.

I think the Madore-ables had a good time.

Samantha knows the ocean is cold, but wants to go soak her piggies anyway

"Come with me Mommy!"

"Let's Go Daddy!"




Walking With Daddy

Sam Didn't Seem To Mind How Cold It Was

Sarah Inspecting Shells

(Love the Eyelashes On This Girl!)

Mommy! It's Hard To Smile When The Sun Is Blasting in Your Face!

Me & My Favorite Girls

It's Apparent You're A Parent When...

So I had one of those Family Circus "It's apparent when you're a parent" moments recently.

I was in the kitchen doing a craft with the Madore-ables and I decided to put the Toddler Music station on Pandora to listen to.

The girls finished their crafts.

Suddenly they were bored within 15 minutes and left the room.

No worries. My girls have short attention spans once they know a project is all done.

10 minutes later, I'm still cleaning up the kitchen and I only then realized...

I was still jamming along to Steve Songs and Raffi.

Sigh.

Five Things Friday

Five Things That Happened This Past Week That Made Me Smile:

1. Boston has been facing some warm temperatures this past week. The Madore-ables have been spending some time outside riding bikes and playing with sidewalk chalk. It's been a nice break from the cold frigid weather we've been having.



2. Last week, I announced that I was running a raffle fundraiser for my AWBC walk in May. I'm happy to say that I've raised over $500 so far and it hasn't even been a week yet! Tickets have been printed, all you need to do is just let me know how many tickets you would like!



3. Earlier in the week, Jeremy and I took the girls ice skating at one of the local skating rinks. We noticed a huge difference in Samantha's confidence level been this year and last year. Last year, she did more "sneaker skating" then actual skating with ice skates. Sarah wore the same skates that Samantha did last year, and she seemed to get the hang of it very quickly and so quickly in fact, we may just purchase skates for each of the girls sooner than we were planning. It was so nice to see Samantha so confident about something, and she knew it too! Sarah enjoyed skating with Dadddy. So proud of my little Madore-ables :)



4. A few months ago, Jeremy and I started the penny pail project. We started it as a way to encourage the Madore-ables to have good behavior. Everytime the girls show really good behavior (i.e - cleaning up the toy room without being asked; sharing and being nice; and saying please and thank you without being asked) we've rewarded them with nickels and pennies. When their little pails are filled up, then we take wherever they would like to go...within reason of course. I'm not saying it's a picnic everyday, but especially this past week, it's nice to see the girls realizing what the benefits are to behaving nicely.



5. Recently, Jeremy and I signed up for BJ's wholesale club and are seeing the benefits from it. First, using $15.00 in the free coupons that we received at the checkout line. Second, pumping gas and not paying as much as an arm and a leg as you would anywhere else.

Home Made Play Doh!

Recently, I signed up for Pinterest. I can honestly see why most people are addicted to it. I've posted so many recipes and fun ideas to do with the Madore-ables. Well, we accomplished our first Pinterest project yesterday...home made play doh!

Here is the recipe that I used:

1 cup white flour
1/2 cup salt
1 TBSP cream of tartar
1 TBSP oil1 cup of water (*I used baby oil. Smells yummy, keeps hands soft, and doesn't go rancid!*)
Food coloring (optional)

Place the first 4 ingredients in a pot. Add the water and stir well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for about 4 minutes, until the mixture clumps and becomes very difficult to stir. Remove from heat and knead warm dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. This is a good time to work in the food coloring, if you're using it.

I turned it into a science class at the same time. I had the girls gather the ingredients (I measured, they poured) and pay attention to what the wet goo looked like. Then every few minutes I had them come over to take a peek inside the pan. They were fascinated at how the substance changed from a liquid goo to a solid one.

I think the girls enjoyed it...what do you think?

Skating In "Winter"

Over the weekend, Jeremy and I took the girls skating at The Ice Center in Salem, N.H. A little ironic that we were skating on a 55 degree sunny day.

Last year, we took the girls a couple of times, but Samantha was too timid to do ice skating, so instead she performed "sneaker skating". This year was an entirely different story...

Sarah getting comfortable with the ice

We gave Samantha a skating aide/walker and she just let loose. We thought that was the best way for Sam to learn. There weren't too many people there, so why not?


Samantha's reaction to when she realized that she skated 1 lap around all by herself.

"Mommy? I'm really hungry and I'm so cold"

Daddy offered a piggy back and skated a couple laps with Sarah...that seemed to bring a smile back to her face.

Five Things Friday

Five Things That Happened This Past Week That Made Me Smile:

1. Earlier in the week, I decided to take a visit to the New Balance sneaker outlet in the Lawrence mills. It's been 3 years since I bought my last pair of sneakers for my Avon Walk, and I thought it was time. I'm never disappointed when I get inside. I found the next model of my sneakers right away and was completely shocked at the price: Regularly $100.00 marked down to $50.00. Shya! Thank you New Balance!



2. Jeremy and I recently joined Yelp which is an online site for the consumer to read reviews and also post reviews. We decided to set up an account for our Captured in Moments page, and the feedback we've received has been just overwhelming. We love photography (as if you couldn't tell) and to photograph someone's life event is just exciting. The adrenaline that comes along with it. It's just a lot of fun. So to hear our clients say how happy they are with our vision and our creativity is so awesome. So Jeremy and I cannot thank you enough!



3. My Mom has had back problems as long as I can remember, and she recently had some flare ups that required her to not only take some temporary medication, but also make appointments for MRIs to find out why she was feeling so uncomfortable. Seeing she's had 4 back surgeries since 1988, she wanted to take this seriously. Well yesterday, Mom had an appointment down at Lahey Clinic and I'm happy to report that the problems are not as serious as we thought. Mom's doctor's want to treat Mom with Occupational Therapy which is great! No surgery needed.



4. Samantha brought home her first report card last week. Even though it's a pre-school report card, I'll admit that it brought tears to my eyes. I've been proud of my girls since the day I felt them kicking inside while in utero. The report card is based on a "N" for "Not Yet", "S" for "Sometimes" and "C" for "Consistently". Samantha received "C's" all over her report card. I also loved reading the comments: "Samantha is a good friend and likes to play with Bobby, Chloe, Ethan, Marisa and Kae" and "Samantha is progressing nicely" and "loves to play dress up". We knew she enjoyed school, but it's just wonderful to see someone else's observations and also know that Jeremy and I are doing a good job.


5. Pinterest has definitely captured my interest. I have found so many awesome recipes and ideas on the boards for the Madore-ables.

Oh The Funny Things Kids Will Say

So yesterday as most of you know was Super Tuesday. My Mom and I decided it would be a great idea to walk over to the polls which was held at the local Junior High School to vote seeing that it was such a beautiful day. While we were on our little adventure, we mentioned to the Madore-ables that we were voting, and why it was important to vote. We discussed why it was important to have a president. We talked about how we vote to get a president into office. We discussed George Washington being the first president and our current president. It was a pretty interesting conversation, as most are with the Madore-ables.

So as we were walking, Sarah randomly starts talking about kayaks.

"Mommy, we're going over to the school to see the kayaks!"

I thought this statement was quite odd seeing it was the middle of Winter, and there is still a lot of snow left on the ground and kayaks was the furthest thing from my mind anyway. So I asked Sarah to explain what she meant. All she could do is repeat what she said before.

My Mom and I were so baffled. I felt bad because I understood what Sarah was saying, but wasn't understanding a connection at all. Then it was Samantha who was able to explain everything. Not me. Not my Mom.

Samantha is in love with games like "I Spy" and rhyming word games in the car. It was Sam who said matter of factly, "Mommy! Voting and boating rhyme!"

And then it hit me...

We were going VOTING. Sarah kept hearing us say BOATING. Henceforth the kayak comment.

From Ear To Ear

I never get tired of looking at these faces...

Or hearing their giggles

Or hearing the excitement in their voices when snow is falling on the ground.

As a parent, we teach our children so much when on the other hand our children teach us so much in return.

Take time to be excited about the little things.

Take time to smile.

Take time to giggle.

Love Notes

I love a nice love note.

If it's a kiss or a verbal "I love you" from Jeremy...I love it.

If it's a hug from one of the Madore-ables...I love it.

But, you know what I really love? Receiving love notes from my girls...

(This is a love note from Samantha asking me to bring home Panera Bread muffies for breakfast)







And this is Sarah writing her name for the first time by herself.


So proud of my girls.

Five Things Friday

Five Things That Happened This Past Week That Made Me Smile:

1. Boston had a pretty good size snow storm overnight Wednesday into all day Thursday. The Madore-ables were so excited. We were able to spend some time outside and made some "mini snowmen".




2. Sarah wrote her name for the first time earlier this week. No coaching or anything. She's still having trouble with the "R", but if that's the only letter then I'm not worried. Now she's writing "S's" and "A's" and "H's" on all scrap paper it seems. You could just tell in her face that she was very excited and proud of herself. Mommy was so excited that I just had to take a picture of it and show Daddy at work. (You can see a picture of it too...in next week's blog post).




3. Earlier this week, I also took the girls on a tour of Haverhill's police station. The girls really had a great time. Samantha was very uneasy about going into the jail cells, but that was only because she knew that's where the bad people went. I'm thinking she thought they were around the corner or something. She completely forgot about everything though at the very end when the police officer pulled out his big SUV police vehicle. If you missed this blog post, click HERE.



4. The girls now are proud owners of their very own library cards. We went earlier this week to borrow (or "buy" books as the girls say). The library we use has a self check out method, so the girls (especially Samantha) really liked the task of sliding her card in and making sure the UPC codes on the books went underneath the scanner. The girls really enjoy the library, so I think we're going to make it a weekly event. When the weather gets warmer (which by the sound of it is next week when Boston reaches the mid-50's as only Mother Nature can do, but that's another blog post for another day) we will walk to the library. If you missed the blog post about the girls going to the library, click HERE.



5. Training and fundraising continue to go very well. I've organized some fundraisers for the end of this month, and for next month. I'm not ready to announce it yet, but I'm also going to be holding a really fun and exciting raffle item very soon...but you're going to have to follow to find out what it is. I have now collected $1,206 so far, and have to at least raise $1,800 for the minimum requirement to walk in May. If you would like to make a donation, go here: www.avonwalk.org/goto/jennifer.madore

Jail House Rock

This past week, the Madore-ables and I took a little adventure to the local police station for a grand tour. Officer Malone spoke about the dangers of strangers, and bicycle safety. We were able to have a tour of the dispatch room and actually heard a live telephone call of someone reporting a house fire. Thankfully, nobody was hurt and the fire department was able to put the fire out quickly. The girls were fascinated that the two dispatchers had about 5-6 computer moniters in front of them. (In fact, Sarah whispered that one of the screens looked like a "really really big GPS").

The girls were pretty psyched about the tour...well, I guess I should say that Sarah absolutely LOVED it. Samantha was a little intimidated by the fact that the "bad people" have their time outs in a jail cell. She held hands with me the entire time we were there. She was fine by the end of the tour when she saw what was parked outside though...

Serving their 30 second sentence...Sarah loved it.

Interesting graffiti. My question is, what would Dora the Explorer have to say about this?

The Officer showing us the bicycle room and explaining why it's important to wear helmets.

This is the key box that stores all the keys to the Officer's cars. It's tradition that every ten years or so, they have a new box made to hold all the keys.

Sarah was inquiring about public records...

(Secretly, I think she was looking for a lollipop or something.)

Listening to Officer Malone talk about strangers...

Sarah LOVED the blue flashing lights and was poking them.