Leader

“Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na Leader!”

The Simpsons The Joy of Sect, Season 9, Episode 13,

This past year the girls have been into the Simpsons recently. I love it because I still quote them often to this day. This quote keeps popping in my head recently.

The Animal Themed Weekend

Saturday we took the bus to the Queens Zoo.  We typically goto the petting zoo because the girls always seemed not interested in the regular zoo.  Saturday we went to the regular zoo.  Both girls were very interested and it was a fun outing.  They loved the ducks.  Amelia was interested in the Sea Lion’s however Teagan wasn’t so much.

We ate lunch outside at the zoo.  it was a nice day overall.

Sunday we went to the Queens County Farm for a birthday party of one of Teagan’s friends.  It was fun.  The girls got to see and pet a few more animals and we went on a hay ride.

Padington Bear Smuggling

Amelia may have some shady activities going on that we don’t know about.  She loves to take her Paddington Bear stuffed animal out of her room.  We don’t like either of the girls taking their favorite sleep time animals out of the room for fear they get even more attached to them.  In my mind this is justified by the fact that both girls attempt to take them all over.

Teagan has gotten better about leaving her favorite monkey in her room.  Amelia will take her Paddington out and act all nonshelont about it till she gets caught.  Other times she will be sneaky in a way only a 1 1/2 year old can pull off.  Recently I have caught her smuggling Paddington out of her room in a small bag she uses as her “pocket book”.  i love that she thinks she can pull a fast one on us, however I am wondering were she is getting all these ideas from.  I am curious what kind of side activities are going on in those toddler meet ups?

Its Been Fun Getting Excersise But I Want My Elivator

In October my building began upgrades on the elevator we use.  We only have access to one elevator so without it we have to walk up the stairs.  It is not so bad during the week.  it is only a few flights.  The challenge is the weekends when we need to move two small children.  It is still amazing to me how much gear we need to transport when going anywhere with two kids.  Even with an elevator going anywhere in the car was challenging since MC would go get the car and i would get downstairs with all the gear and both kids.  Now we have to get down flights of stairs with both of them and stuff.  it becomes a production.  For a basic outing near the house it is not significantly easier.  We had to leave the stroller in a room in our lobby and carry Amelia and have Teagan walk down the stairs.  I have been a sucker recently and picking Teagan up when she asks.  Did i mention she asks all the time to be carried.  Its just easier than having he take 5 minutes to walk up stairs.

Other challenges we have are simply doing laundry.  our laundry room is in our basement.  No problem you think, its just one more floor of steps to go down.  You would be correct if there was stairs that went to the basement.  Without an elevator we have to go outside to get to the basement.  In the winter when its cold or rainy that is an added bonus when we have to do the laundry.

I only feel compelled to write about this now since we are at or past the due date for the elevator to be done.  The reality is the work needed to be done so we sucked it up and dealt with the situation.  Now when the project is supposed to be done any day now, i can’t have it working soon enough.  Apparently all construction work is done but the city needs to inspect it.  Fingers crossed that when i get home today it will be done but i don’t know how good my luck is.

Frozen Avoidance

I feel like someone who dodged the zombie plague for so long only to catch it in the end. MC and I introduced Teagan to Frozen for the first time today. She didn’t watch the whole thing. Wondering if that means she is immune?

Thanksgiving

We survived our trip to my sisters for Thanksgiving.  I say that because we are still not sure how Teagan will handle car rides.  She was up and fine on the way out Thursday and slept a bit at nap time on the way back today.  We had one scare when she coughed a bit that we thought she would be sick but she was fine.

The visit overall was great.  My nieces and nephew love playing with Teagan and Amelia and by all accounts the feeling is mutual.  Teagan loved playing with Zach and Lexi.  Amelia had a blast.  The positive was that both kids were so worn out by the time they went to bed they both went down right away and stayed sleeping most of the night.  We have had challenges when traveling so wearing them out worked.

We had some minor car excitement when I realized the battery died on the car because we left the lights on.  Michael jumped us in the middle of the night just to be sure we were good.  We were fine after that.

Thanksgiving dinner was great.  Carrie always does great holidays.  It was also good to spend time with my dad.  My mom is away on a trip of a lifetime in Africa so she was missed but we hope she is having a fantastic time.

Day Off

Today I took a day off to relax.  After dropping Teagan at her tot’s class I headed into the city for a hot stone massage at this place MC sent me to as a gift a few years ago.  It was really good so I wanted to treat myself.  After a relaxing morning I hit up a coffee shop around the corner from the spa for some lunch.  From there I headed up to Penn Station and went out to my parents place to get my mom’s car.  After that it was a few errands around my neighborhood and then home a little early to put the kids to bed.  MC is working late tonight and hopefully should be home in a few minutes.  I am trying to avoid the Macaroons I bought for us until she gets here.