Wednesday - movie day

merry-go-round in the mall

these girls make 3D glasses look good!

play doh is fun at all ages

they're happy even if they're not doing everything together

Today we went to the mall (yes they suckered me into a small merry-go-round ride in the mall) and watched Toy Story 3. The cool part was we got to see it in 3D. I was nervous the girls would complain about the glasses being uncomfortable or something, but they both thought it was so cool and were VERY well behaved. No complaining, no bathroom breaks, no nothing. It was a good time, and actually a really good movie! I spent as much on food as I did on tickets so we could combine lunch with the movie. We had tiny cheeseburgers, fries, and pretzel bites - all washed down with chocolate milk.

After the movie, we went to WalMart so I could get some more capris for Kara (the ones I bought turned out to be full length leggings - ugh!). I let Hannah and Kara pick out some fun bath toys (tablets that change the water blue and more crayons, which they LOVE) and we were home by 2:30. They laid down for a nap, but giggled and talked until 4. I was getting a break, they were having fun, what was the harm? I just let them and will put them to bed early tonight.

They played in the basement for a little while with Uncle Michael, pet the frogs, slug, and praying mantis. (I'm only hearing the highlights, but the window well in the basement is set up like a terarium, so lots of cool things can live down there.)

Bad things from the day:
* The kids are used to each other, so they fight more. It's not so bad (nothing I really have to step in for), but a little annoying.
* Hannah is older than Kara, so she tends to argue with me. When I say something, she tries to correct me, but I'm not wrong, so she just argues it again a couple of times until I say loudly, "Hannah. I'm right!" That's tiring. (For example: Me: "Tomorrow we're going on the train, are you guys excited?" Hannah: "It's not a train, it's a subway." Me: "Hannah. A subway is a train that goes underground.")
* Both girls want to do something - pick out a color for the tub tonight, feed the gerbil, whatever, and they both say the other got to do it yesterday. Someone is lying. My solution was I get to do whatever since they don't tell me the truth. That worked very well!
* Michael is really busy at work these days. I was thinking he would be home all evening to spend hours and hours with us, but it's been more like 15 minutes a day for the last few days. His work has a lot of nerve needing him when we want him to play with us. ;-)

Good things from the day:
* Taking older kids who I can trust to be well behaved to the movies. I love doing things like that. They got so excited to see the 3D stuff and it made it all the more fun for me.
* Listening to them giggle and play. While the fighting is kind of annoying, it's not as frequent as the happy playing. You know, even when Kara (who's used to her own time and own space) takes some time to play video games alone, it's fine with both girls and the day just flows seamlessly.
* Hannah got four little pieces of candy from the tooth fairy and she shared TWO of those with Kara. Every time Hannah ate a piece, she made sure she gave Kara a piece too. I was so impressed - I wouldn't have made her share since it's for her tooth, but she wanted to. My heart just warms more and more toward that little girl.
* While Hannah is in the middle of one of her speeches, Kara despirately wants to say something. So, while Hannah is talking a mile a minute, saying "um" every third word, Kara says, "excuse me, Hannah. excuse me, Hannah. excuse me, Hannah." Lol! It's hard not to crack up!
* Seeing Kara mature before my eyes since she's hanging out with an older girl. Today Kara went up to Hannah and said, "Hannah, earlier today you called my gerbil a hamster. Jerry CERTAINLY isn't a hamster." Lol!
* After making dinner and expecting to find a play doh mess to clean up, I saw the girls had the play doh cleaned up perfectly and were sitting quietly at their table eating already. Wow! Not only is that a big kid thing, but that's a WELL BEHAVED big kid thing. Woo hoo!

I didn't get much sleep last night (just a random thing - happens every once in a while), so I have been running on empty most of the day, so little things are more annoying than yesterday. However, I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight. They're going to bed at 7, so I can rest a few hours before I go to bed early. Then my mom (who the girls are IN LOVE with) will come with us to DC: the subway, then the Natural History Museum. I think the Natural History Museum should be called "The Evolution Museum", but we won't be reading the write ups, we'll be having fun in the mammal exhibit. Kind of like an air conditioned zoo where the animals aren't alive so they don't stink and you can get really close to them. :-)