Family Night

On Friday Daniel suggested that we have Family Night and rent Prince Caspian (since Mara lovvvved Chronicles of Narnia and we had a coupon for a movie for $1.99).

Daniel was tired, having not slept on Thursday night/Friday morning when we had no power. So when he got home from work, he took a nap for an hour and suggested I walk to Blockbuster with the kids and rent the movie.

“You took Corban and Mara to Blockbuster last weekend, right?” I asked. “You didn’t have any problems? With the stroller?”

“No! I didn’t have any problem at all!”

The double jogging stroller fits a lot of places. But not all places. And it’s always hard when you find out it’s not going to fit, after you’ve already loaded up the kids and walked there.

So with confidence I walked to Blockbuster, and backed into the store with my double jogging stroller. It just barely fit–but like Daniel said, ‘no problem at all!’ (The only “problem” I had was that someone had reported my Blockbuster card “lost or stolen,” rendering it unusable. But we worked through that one.)

After checking out the video, I turned to leave, and my stroller would not fit out the door. I tried backwards, forwards, at an angle. The guy who checked out my video was trying to help, and I said, “This is crazy! My husband came here last weekend with the stroller, and he told me it was no problem at all.”

Before I knew it, there were four Blockbuster “assistants” lifting the stroller in the air saying to the kids, “It’s like a ride–at the amusement park!” Finally they tilted the stroller at just the right angle so we made it out the first glass door. One of the salesclerks was saying, “I hope it fits through the next door, because otherwise you’re stuck in there.”

Fortunately it went right through the second door, just like it did when we came in. . . And one of the guys called, chuckling, “You can tell your husband it was no problem at all!”

What an ordeal!!! I was thankful the guys were so helpful–but glad to get out of there!! . . . and no, I didn’t take pictures.

When I got home and related the incident, Daniel said he never went in Blockbuster. He just dropped off the video in the dropbox. He didn’t realize I was asking whether the stroller fit in the store . . .

FamilyNightMicahVignette

On to family night. . .  We had grilled chicken caesar salads. Then we had ice cream. Micah loves ice cream! We can’t ever feed him fast enough–especially something he likes so much!

We tried watching the movie with Micah but he does not sit still. Ever. His goals were: climb over the back of the couch, land on the family, crawl off the couch, and go back around and do it again. . . Once we put him to bed, the movie was more enjoyable. That was when I actually started watching.

FamilyNightVignette

Mara had fun eating popcorn with Mommy and Daddy. And she loved the movie! At the first sighting of Lucy, Mara shouted, “Mommy and Daddy, I found Lucy!” Then she waved at the screen. “Hi, Lucy!” she called.

Now and then, I want time to freeze so I can somehow preserve the moment.

Maybe that’s why I blog . . .

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Micah has begun imitating Mara. A lot.

Here she was drinking her sippy cup. So he drank out of his sippy cup.

DrinkingSippys

Mara began shaking her sippy cup.

MaraShakingSippy

So Micah began shaking his sippy cup.

MicahShakingSippy

When Mara realized he was imitating her, she kept taking drinks, then stopping to shake up her cup–just to watch Micah do it.

Oh, and he is not actually standing. Mara is standing. Micah is leaning against the wall, which gives the visual impression that he’s doing the same thing as Mara . . .

Crazy little monkey! 🙂

The Blueberry Toast Crunch Train

At breakfast Mara was saying, “Look, Mommy! It’s a train!”

LookItsATrain

I looked over to see that she had lined up her Cinnamon Toast Crunch and placed a blueberry on each square.

Quoting Micah’s “Thomas” book (Stop Train Stop), she was saying, “People got on and people got off,” and moving blueberries “on” and “off.”

BlueberryToastCrunchTrain

Riding “Bikes”

Mara recently observed, “Daddy has a bike. I have a bike. Now Mommy needs a bike!”

Actually Mara’s “bike” is a tricycle, and since the neighbors gave her the Dora tricycle, we now have two tricycles. When they first offered the trike, I thought, ‘No, thanks. We already have one.’ But then I realized, I suppose it’s good to have two, since we have two kids!

When Corban is here, it still works out because Mara likes to ride on the back of the trike, letting Corban do all the work.

MaraCorbanTricycle

Not to be outdone, Micah “runs” around the house, pushing the other trike, since he’s not yet big enough to sit on it and pedal.

MicahTricycle

They have fun “riding bikes.”