aunt sara and lovey dovey things

Our long weekend with Aunt Sara came to an abrupt end on Monday when Eisley and I took her back to the airport.  Time with family seems to follow an unfair pattern of time - flying by with no permission.

After a marathon trip to IKEA on Thursday, we returned home and had a late dinner out.  This might have been the most mortifying mom moment yet.  Aunt Sara looked at Eisley and said, "I see your dimples!"  And Ruby, from across the table, yelled to Aunt Sara, "I SEE YOUR NIPPLES TOO!"

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Seriously?  That just happened.  I had to tell her we don't talk about seeing nipples in public (or ever, really), and she just seemed to accept it.  Hilariously humiliating.

Ruby's school held a tea for moms on Friday.  It had the daintiest bites of beautiful and delicious food, surrounded with preschool masterpieces, and full of love.  Ruby told her teacher that while she is in school, I am busy taking care of Eisley and missing her (I think she nailed it).  She also said that I pull carrots out of the freezer for dinner which I wouldn't say was quite as spot on--but she did say she wished I would do that when I asked her.  So..I guess I can't complain for the extra dinner idea?  Who knew it was so simple?  I was touched so much by the inspirational speaker and the fact that I spent a sweet morning with my mom and Aunt.

We decided to try our hand at canvas painting on Saturday and made a snowy trek downtown.  Here, I would learn a variety of valuable things:

1) $35 isn't bad when you use 98435 paper towels.
2) I did not in fact miss my calling to be the next Bob Ross.
3) Those days when elementary teachers wanted to walk you through some "easy" origami and I was always 3 steps behind--that hasn't changed.  I had to keep working through the ten minute break in our session.  I am s  l   o  w.
4) Next time, I will get there earlier to enjoy my wine beforehand.  Concentration of painting completely took away from the cocktails part of it.
5) Sitting next to my mom felt like sitting next to Picasso.  Completely unfair.
6) The lady across from me that danced through the entire thing?  Distractions.  I think I'll blame her for  the gigantor leaves.  It just sounds better.

Holidays get better with every passing year.  This squishy-faced Valentine brings me so much joy.  My other sweet girl has spent the week sick and wasn't quite as cheery as little sister but brings a smile to my face and my heart all the same.
 

 Googly eyes in Michael's seem to be our lucky find of the week.  Hearing Eisley use her "Harry Potter" voice to make them talk to each other and to Ruby is priceless.

 I finally garnered enough creativity and free time to make a box full of pre-planned dates for Jimmy.  Comedy, spa day, restaurant adventures, and more.

The princess nightlight projects the coveted stegosaurus' tail onto the ceiling in a snake-like manner which sent Ruby into panic where germs were riled and without giving disgusting details, blankets are now in the wash; little sister has since done the same, and Jimmy leaves at 6 am tomorrow morning which means tonight will be F-U-N.

And we must now have a discussion about how snakes don't live in houses and they really don't hang out on the ceilings despite the mind's tricks.

And for your random note - my baby turns two in 17 days.

what.in.the.world?!

{being the over achiever that she is, she went ahead and blessed us with 'terrible twos' early - she is a master fit thrower all of a sudden}

Seriously.  How??