scoot-scoots

C-baby is now mobile! She'll occasionally crawl on her hands and knees, and is really starting to cruise more now that she can pull herself up to standing. But, her primary mode of transportation is the scoot-scoot.

I love how she has her own unique way of doing something. It reminds me of A's mouth nod. And, I know it's bound to happen, but I will be so sad when the scoot-scoot goes away.

the big sibling reveal

SlackerBaby is...


And, lest you think they weren't all that excited with the news...here they are celebrating the news.

tgif

Since I'm working from home today and the girls were up and dressed by 7:15 (damn you, Daylight Savings!), we had a little extra time this morning to hang out around the house (just like old times). Both girls wanted ponytails, which I obliged even though it wasn't my best hairstyling effort. I actually think I french braid better than ponytail...who knew?

While I checked my e-mail, the girls played and put together a show for me. A sang a rousing rendition of "You Belong Wif Me" while E was a background foreground dancer. It's too bad "Solid Gold" was canceled because E would tear that show up.

party in the u-mess-a

I don't know what I love more about this little video...how cute A looks when she's moobin' her hips like yeah, or how completely unphased E is that her sister is singing, dancing and otherwise hamming it up for the camera. It happens a lot around these parts.

now i'm cwaving cwackerjacks

The girls have figured out a new method for delaying bedtime. They get up on the couch, snuggle up to Daddy, smile sweetly and say,

"Daddy, I wanna watch the ball game with you!"

It has worked like a charm pretty much every night this week because there always seems to be a baseball game on in the Slacker house in the summertime. Not only that, the College World Series is going on, and due to Virginia's Cinderella run, the Slackers (well, really just John) are very into the whole thing.

In fact, John was waxing poetic about how exciting the CWS is...how he can't believe he hasn't watched it before...how it was his new favorite sport. It sounded so familiar to me. And then I realized that I had heard the exact same speech a few weeks ago during the Stanley Cup finals. Ah...to be married to a sports addict.

Anyway, while we had the Virginia vs. Arkansas (aka, the Hoos vs. the Hogs) game on the other night, A broke out with her rendition of "Take me out to the Ballgame." And, even though I realized over a year ago that we need some lamps in the living room, I still haven't gotten any. So, sorry the lighting sucks. We'll just pretend I shot the video in sepia.

petioning the school for older-sibling free classmates

First, E's classmates taught her about the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cirus. But now its gotten much much worse.

That's Beyonce's "Single Ladies" for those
who couldn't name that tune.

In other school news, it's Spirt Week at school this week. Yesterday was Pajama Day and today is Beach Day...or is it Luau Day...whatever, it is something which prompted the girls to wear their bathing suits and flip-flops to school today. And goggles. And carry beach towels. I stopped them at putting on their arm floaties. A also tried to put on a swim diaper, but I told her (1) she wasnt' actually going to swim in her bathing suit today and (2) she actually didn't *need* a swim diaper anyway seeing as she's potty trained and all.

But the most horrifying thought for today was when I was kissing the girls goodbye, A asked me,

"Mama, why you not have your babing suit on?"

The thought of an Office Beach Day might have made me throw up a little in my mouth.

it's a shaky egg...

Last night was wild and crazy dance party...courtesy of Laurie Berkner.

 

 

 

 

photo opportunity

This morning, I got the girls dressed in their new winter outfits courtesey of Grandmom. E's is a cute printed t-shirt and skating skirt, with sparkly-farkly snowflakes, with matching tights...A's is a dress with coordinating tights. As soon as they put them on, they started twirling around the room singing their Princess song. I lovingly styled A's unruly mop hair into two piggles, and put E's bedhead into one piggle, with matching elastics. They looked picture perfect, which was the point as today was the day I was taking the Christmas Card picture.

Dun-dun-dun!

Round 1 ended after taking one picture of E making a weird smirky face, and A screaming "Pancake! Pancake! I want PAAAAAANCAAAAAAKE!"

Round 2, after breakfast, ended abruptly with A yelling "I go poop in the potty!"

Round 3 (it was a successful potty trip) ended with E, after I explained that I was trying to take their picture to send to all of our friends, asking

"Why don't you just color some pictures and send that instead?"

So, I might try again this afternoon. But after a day of school the kids definitly look a little ragged. Luckily I have an ace in the hole if I'm unsuccessful.

To cheer myself up, I Elfed the Slacker fam. They have all sorts of new dances available this year...and I actually giggled out loud at the Disco one. I think it's because pretty much every move shown in the video is in my dancing repitoire. Enjoy!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

ding dong

A has been a little obsessed with the doorbell ever since Halloween. She insists on ringing it every time we come into the house...even if the door is open and everyone is already inside.

Really, it should be no suprise that this is how she spent a good half-hour today while the rest of the kids in the neighborhood ran around and played in the leaves.

Good times were had by all.

mahna mahna

Proof positive that the Slackers are enriching our children's lives by teaching them The Classics.

And if you are wondering why my girls are humming the Dr. Pepper jingle...looks like you need to take a look at the original.

these girls know how to tear it up!

Last night we had a little party for A's birthday. My parents came over and we had pizza (A's fave) and then cake, and opened presents. A loved everything she got and had a great time -- no signs of feeling unloved because she did not have a moon bounce princess extravaganza like we threw for E. All in all it was a great evening. It was great to see how happy A was to get her presents, blow out the candles on her cake and sing "Happy Bird-day" to herself. But, what was even more entertaining was watching E react to all of this. E wanted *so bad* to be in the thick of the present opening and candle blowing. She kept saying, "Oh, it looks like she needs help..." when A would open a present so that she could tear the paper off herself. When we told her A was fine, she would provide friendly advice from the sideline, like this:

Watching the two of them be so excited for presents made me get totally pumped up for Christmas, since this year they will both get it. I don't know about your house, but in our house Santa's gifts were unwrapped. However, after watching them tear through the gifts this time...Santa might have to rethink that strategy.

charm school teacher, i am not

So a few weeks back, I posted a video of the girls in which I tried to use The Princesses and Diego to encourage good manners. Here's a video where I kind of completely do the opposite.

This was shot when I was recovering from my sinus infection and had discovered that gargling made me feel better. E can gargle like a champ...and A gets bogged down by the details (namely: needing a water to gargle...apparently her sippy of milk didn't make the grade). What cracks me up in this video is you can see A's famous "mouth-nod" right at the end. Enjoy!

phone-it-in friday

I've been working like a dog this week, combined with a little road trip...I'm just not feeling inspired today. So here's what Monday night's dinner looked like Chez Slacker. John worked late, so it was me and the girls. We're trying to get E to eat less like a neadrthal toddler, so the focus is on manners. And who better to teach manners than the glamorous, beautiful Princesses? According to A...everyone's favorite animal rescuer.

they should charge admission

I've mentioned before, but my neighbors have a tree in their front yard, around which they've built a small stone wall. When E was a baby, she loved to play around this tree. I thought it was cute and quirky. But then A had the same fascination with it...so I now attribute this to my former career as a Tree Hugger Extrodinare. (Sidenote...did you know that my tree hugging organization is no longer in existence. Never was the same with out my talents.)

Anyway, as I was saying, this tree and wall has provided both A and E with hours and hours of entertainment. They dig in the mulch, attempt to hang from the branches and walk around it ... a lot. Because of the location of my house on our lot (we're in a pipestem), it's kind of in our front yard, which allows me to get my groceries at least to my front door with them entertained. If they ever need to rebuild, John and I should surely pitch in as my kids have used the heck out of it. Here the girls are doing one of their favorite activities around The Tree, from Sunday.


Note: No toddlers were hurt in the making of this video.

See what I mean? She pops right back up and keeps on keeping on.

a's vocab list

Here's A giving us a listing of the words she says/signs. It's not totally inclusive, but it's most of them!

I'm sorry for the poor lighting. Apparently I need another lamp (or two) in the family room!

better late than never

Slacker Mama is quickly becoming a technological goddess. (She is also enjoying referring to herself in the third person, but that's not important right now.) After learning some new skills in Photoshop (hence the new header graphic, and those of some of my blogger friends), I have now joined the world of YouTube. And that means you get to experience the joy that was Christmas morning.

she walks!

A is really mastering that whole walking thing. Here's a quick little video I took. She claps every time she stands up by herself...she's used to the cheers from Mommy and Daddy, I guess. (Sorry about the sideways-ness of the video...I can't figure out how to rotate it!)