Baking, Reminising About Our First Tea Party, Preparing for our Second, and Swimming

Waking up this morning I decided we would bake cookies for our swimming play date this afternoon. There's something magical for my girls about pouring a few random ingredients into a bowl; Then seeing something totally different come out of the oven as they hear the timer go off and they yell in unison, "DONE!"

The cookies didn't take long to bake and as they cooled on the island, we sat at the computer sounding out words on www.starfall.com. We recently discovered this website and they love it! Of course L is a little older; it holds her attention quite a bit longer than M's. M just think she's getting away with something "playing with the computer mouse. I do think for the time that it has M's attention, that she IS getting a little bit of something out of it! She repeats, participates and dances with the music.

We made the decision to have a surprise tea party with Daddy tomorrow morning, SO we prepared a few things for that. My mom gave the girls their own special tea sets for each of their birthdays. We carefully selected these tea sets specific to each one of the girls. I wanted them to get something that suited them both in their own way! I wanted them to have something that would last, so they could keep them forever and possibly have tea parties with their kids (if they decide to have them). The kicker when I suggested this to my mom. I wanted to have 4 place settings and I wanted a special carrier to be able to take them out and put them away (that's part of the fun, right?). This is something I've thought about for quite sometime! My mom came through, we picked out one with stripes and polka dots for L and bunnies for M. The sets are wonderful! She bought 4 total ... 2 for each of them (so they each had 4 place settings). I wanted them to have memories of their own special tea parties! 

We had a tea party the day after L's birthday party with her set. February 18, 2013 I was so emotional getting things ready for that tea party, OUR FIRST REAL TEA PARTY! The whole time I was getting this party together, it was pretty magical! As I was taking pictures and getting everything ready have it in their room (which that morning, they decided was now Pixie Hollow!) We had made special banana bread to have with our tea (we really drank milk). I wanted to dress everyone up for our tea party, L said no, that she wanted everyone to wear t-shirts and big girl panties (I kept my pants on). M pointed out that the small cups were like what Willy Wonka (the original movie) drank out of. L agreed and asked if we could eat the cups, JUST LIKE Willy Wonka did. That was a big negative! No one was attempting to eat the cups! Tiny cups, Tiny hands, Tiny forks ... they loved the tiny forks! My heart exploded many, MANY times during our party! As I said, I had pictured my girls and I having special tea parties for quite sometime ... and it was finally happening. M is VERY VERY excited about surprising Daddy with a tea party in the morning with HER tea set!!

We left for the pool, had a great time swimming as usual. We met their Mamaw and cousin there. Her cousin is 6 months younger than M. It was their cousins very first time in a pool. They had a lot of fun and were exhausted when we left (as usual after going swimming)!

As I was reading another blog last night, it reminded me of some advice I was given while I was still pregnant. I was told several things to make sure I did with my little ones, and one of the things was to talk and at the end of the day to ask them their favorite and least favorite part of their day. We did this on the way home. M said her favorite part of the day was swimming and her least favorite part was being in the locker rooms. L said her favorite part was baking cookies and swimming and she fell asleep while trying to thing of her least favorite part (we were talking on the way home from swimming). 

Waking them up to go in the house (especially when they are this tired and it's this late in the day/early evening) is never fun. So instead of taking them straight in, we played outside for quite sometime waiting for Daddy to get home from work. It was beautiful outside at this point, 65 degrees. We played a bit of soccer, ran around for a bit, got a little dirty and called it a night. 

There's nothing more cute than hearing one of them say the word appreciate, them using it appropriately, and saying they appreciate something one did for the other or something I did for them. L and myself say it often. Today was the first time I heard M say it ... in her sweet little voice. While we were outside,  L collected some acorns. M asked me to get her some. I suggested for her to ask L to show her where she got them from. L did. M was so excited to show me that L collected some for her. I asked if she thanked her, M went over to hug L and she said, "Thank you for my acorns L, I pre-ciate it!" I LOVE THEM!!! 

Bath time, dinner time, brushing teeth time, and falling asleep snuggled up in Mommy's arms singing our night time song. I lay with them, one snuggled on each side of me. I rub M's face and L likes my arm around her and she holds my hand. 

We had a perfect day.