many minor accomplishments

Getting through Sunday with my sanity while the girls still have smiles on their faces is the result of many minor accomplishments. Some being:

French pressing, for the first time, the Vietnamese coffee that Justin said I could finish off while he was gone and then making ca phe (love the clever spelling-thanks for correcting me Meredith) with sweetened condensed milk. Life changing, is all I can say.Feeding both girls breakfast at 7AM and then realizing that the meltdown at 10AM was hunger induced. Feeding them a "snack" (more like early lunch) solved the problem.

Bella and her driving gloves
Taking Lucy for a walk complete with tutu, princess gown, bare feet, leftover chocolate chip pancakes, oh, and the dog. We then begged Lucy to do her business since she has a serious propensity to wandering aimlessly looking for the G.D. perfect three square inches on the sidewalk to poop ( I swear she does this on purpose, punishing us for moving her to a city when she was perfectly happy crapping in the grass in Arlington-fair enough). It's extremely maddening while trying to maneuver my Hummer double stroller in the hot streets of Salcedo.Ant chalking around the tiny hole the itty bitty ants were crawling through and then again around the hole they were marching to. No, I didn't squish the ants that started freaking out, just confused them. Suckers.

Making up three new random games with a bunch of colorful plastic cups. 1)catch the bubbles 2)stack the cups 3)sort the coins. Desperate measures are being taken to avoid boredom today. Taking a shower AND brushing my teeth before noon.

Giving absolutely no time outs for Addie today!

Making homemade mac-n-cheese for lunch (would have made the boxed kind but we didn't have any) with a little chimp in my arms. I learned from Ronnie that I am significantly stronger on my right side from holding Bella. I'm trying to switch arms with her. I've mastered doing things one handed. All Moms must be.

Catching Addie giving food to Lucy. When I reprimanded her she corrected me by saying "Mom, I'm just letting Lucy clean the peanut butter off my hands." Well, in that case.Halting a mutiny when I promised we'd go and get cupcakes this afternoon then as we were packed and standing at the elevator realized that I didn't have any way to drive us to the cupcake store because Justin had taken the car key with him.

Being extremely efficient by immediately texting my driver and asking him to go make a spare car key this week at the hardware store.

Brushing away Addie's tears and changing gears quickly for a walk to get ice cream and eat it at the playground. Everyone was happy and the girls burned off some steam running around. Making a friend at the park. This little boy was a pure gentleman. He insisted Addie go first on everything with a polite "after you" every time. He put on some serious charm when he asked her for her name and then showed her how to twirl up the chains on the swing so you spin. Addie ate it up. They were running around together the entire time.Addie said her favorite part of her day was getting ice cream and playing with the little boy at the park when I asked her at bed time.

Having a minor victory at dinner when I got both girls excited about dipping cucumber sticks and crunching them. Addie said "these are awesome". Score!Addie learning how to use our touch pad mouse on our laptop today and playing her first computer game! She's totally hooked.

An evening thunder storm scared Addie but we solved the problem by letting her come into Bella's room and sit with us while I went through Bella's bedtime routine. Addie ended up singing the songs with me, rubbing Bella's forehead, and kissing her goodnight. The storm could have derailed bed time but instead the girls had a really sweet moment together. Bella fell right asleep with no crying when I put her down. Miracle!

Getting both girls asleep by 7PM all by myself.

Lots of minor accomplishments add up to a pretty darn successful day.