Little Karmic Torpedos

Our little kiddos are growing so fast. Lily's emotional grasp is growing by leaps and bounds daily. She ascribes feelings to the deer in our yard now, "I think they're missing their brothers and Mommies; the Mamas are not going to come back" when she sees lone baby deer in our yard, for example. She also loves to be a big helper and is really grasping the concept that she can be useful. It doesn't mean she happily cleans up after dinner but she's starting to get the concept.

Our kiddos love play dough (so much!). It's fun to see their creativity really blossom. Jamisen is especially good at creating the things that he sees on the boxes. He concentrates impressively for his tasks.

Despite that concentration, it's not quite enough for the adults in the house to do any actual work. The other day I had some documents I needed to focus on for work so I gave the kids iPads (aka: electronic babysitters) so I could focus-focus for twenty straight minutes. And before you think that putting the kids down with play dough or a book gives me 20 straight minutes of focus time, you'd be wrong; they still require supervision and active parenting. After about 15 minutes of playing quietly with the iPads on games, Jamisen looked up and said, "Mama, we're playing too much games." I agreed with him and he turned to Lily and said, "Lily, close the iPad, we're done."

The kids got to go to the MALL for the first or second time in their lives the other day. What a treat! They got Orange Julius Strawberry shakes (the lowest sugar option they had) and loved running up and down the hallways of the mall. Of course, I couldn't quit looking for danger around every corner with every baggy pant'ed youth walking by in a big coat; the hazards of modern life.

Behold, one of Jamisen's proud Play Dough creations - a beautiful pizza!

The days are getting longer and the rain is staying away for multiple hours at a time so we are thrilled to get more playground time. Even with 2 hours at this playground, the kids did not fall asleep earlier than usual; the Faiola Renoud kids are the energizer bunnies of the toddler world.

Jamisen continues to figure out the power of commerce. At least once a week, he sets up a full station selling passer-bys random food packets (bananas, snack packs etc.)

Chris and I had a great night at the Boys & Girls Bingo night. Both of our companies sponsored table and our respective teams came and played bingo (which is surprisingly fun and fast paced if you play with multiple cards). We so rarely get date nights that even though we were sitting at different tables, it was still super fun. PS - I made the nail polish on my fingers there (green and gold for St. Patrick's Day!). =)