Flower Show

Every year we go to the flower show at Macy's in Downtown Minneapolis. This year, we thought we were being smart by getting there right at noon on the opening day to beat the crowds. It turns out that we were not that smart and that people had been lining up before the store even opened to go to the flower show. So, we decided to grab a bite to eat and stock up on some candy for the long line. It ended up that the line, while very long, only took about 25 minutes. The kids were fully sugared-up to enjoy the colorful experience at the flower show.

Dancing at the flower show.

Notice that Sophia has her around Juliet's shoulder and Juliet is grabbing her hand. They really do love each other a lot.

Another little snuggle party.

A sample of the amazing flowers at the show.

The three musketeers.

I Heart Sophia

Three boys at Sophia's school have expressed their sincere love for her. This means that in the first 7 months of Sophia's Kindergarten experience, more boys have expressed their love for her than in my entire 36 years of living. I think we may be in trouble. First, it was Aruel (5 yrs old) who told Sophia that he was going to marry her. Sophia promptly started to cry and told her teacher that she did not want marry Aruel. Mrs. Lisa informed Sophia that she could marry whomever she wanted, but that she should not worry about this because she had a long, long time before she needed to chose. Second, Sophia came home from school one day and said that Sam (3 yrs old) told her that he loved her. This time, she seemed unfazed by the profession of love and did not elaborate further. Then, Sophia came home recently with the following items from school. The bottom picture is a work of art that she and Grier (5) worked on together. One would draw one thing, and then the other drew the next, until they created the drawing together. We had just had a discussion with Sophia the night before about what "BFF" means (Best Friends Forever) because the letters were written on her new pair of slippers. She informed Grier what that meant, and they incorporated it into their drawing. Then, Grier put into her drawer the next drawing that he did on his own: a big heart with a arrow through it and "BFF" on top. Apparently, just to make sure there was no question about it, Grier put little cut-outs in Sophia's drawer, shown in the top photo. One says, "I love you." Another, "BFF: Sophia, Grier." Another: "BFF Club." And another appears to be a boat with the initials "S and G" on it. I think it is so cute that I can hardly stand it!

A few (unexpected) new things

New Thing Number 1: A New Car

On February 28th, Juliet and I were in a car accident. As I was entering an intersection on a green light, a driver did not see me and took a left turn directly in front of me. I smashed into his passenger side door. Juliet screamed and initially complained that her shoulders hurt, but she is okay. I was able to drive my little Corolla home, but it was ultimately totaled by the insurance company because of significant frame damage. Luckily, the driver's insurance company has taken full responsibility and, after a bit of haggling, the company compensated me fairly for my car. So, we had to go car shopping and we opted for a bigger (and brighter) car.

Adam and I did some car shopping together, but he picked out the car for me. He told me that it was "blue," but failed to mention that the color actually is called "electric blue." I often lose my car in big parking lots, so the color will come in handy. The color has taken a bit of getting used to, but I like my Ford Escape! The only problem is that I prided myself on my ability to parallel park with ease, but I am nervous to try with the big Escape. I think I will practice this Spring.

Having never been in a semi-serious car accident, I did not realize that whip-lash takes a few days to really set in. While I had initially thought that my most serious injuries were to my knees, which hit the dash board, the whip lash quickly became very painful. My parents were kind enough to interrupt their wintering in Arizona to take care of me and the girls for week shortly after the accident. I am receiving therapy and and will, hopefully, get better over the next few months.

A few days after the accident I was resting in bed and Juliet snuggled up next to me and read me some books. At one point, she looked me and said, "I forgive him." I said, "Who do you forgive?" She said, "I forgive that boy who hit us in the car crash." I thought that was so sweet and unexpected for her to say!

New Thing Number 2: Carpeting in our Bedroom:

We when first moved into our house 9 years ago we put new carpeting in our bedroom. I had it in my head that I wanted color, so we decided on light green carpeting and peach walls. I liked it for a long time, but then we decided to sell our house. So, we repainted the walls white, but kept the green carpeting. Then, on Monday Juliet accidentally knocked over the iron and it landed on the light green carpeting. She was okay, but it burned the carpeting. It did not look good. We finally decided it was time for some new stuff. Thus, the green has been replaced with a dark cream and looks great.

We are hoping for some good luck in the next month, because our pocket-book is feeling the pinch from all of our accidents!