Don't look behind the curtain

As our summer is drawing to a close and we have some time to reflect, we see that we are extremely blessed.  With good health, steady jobs, and a fun place to live, we feel very fortunate and typically focus on these concepts when blogging.  But there is another side to our time with the girls that doesn't get published, but is a daily grind.  The girls are not always happy, nor are they always nice, and we don't always respond in the best way.  Raising kids can be frustrating, especially when you're doing exactly as they request and they're still unhappy.  From potty training failure, to occasionally refusing to respond to family members & friends, to the physical altercations, the girls definitely have their moments.

While both girls have strategies to dealing with their anger and frustration, it sometimes boils over.  Pip screams and yells a lot, but is quick to tell Nina, "when you whine, you get nothing."  She often will cry "that hurts my feelings" when she feels she's been wronged, and even when she wrongs others.  Pip's newest coping mechanism is to color a picture for you and say she's sorry.  Nina mostly curls up in the fetal position or goes to her room to cry whenever she feels she's being mistreated or whenever she's done something wrong.  She tries to compose herself, but needs some time away.  She then will try to come back and do something light-hearted to show her change in attitude.  She occasionally takes to art with her frustration as well, and will even draw angry pictures from time to time.

Stuff happened

Kara's summer has sadly come to a close, but she continues to get in her trips to the park, pool, and library.  The girls "miss her so much" and greet her with laughter, shouting, stories, and whining.  The girls have gotten to spend time with Maggie and Charlie, Grandma and Grandpa, and had a lot of fun with Nana and Papa while we were at Angel and Dusty's wedding.  We spent some time at the Mall of America with Lara, Ian, Eric, and Aaron and the girls loved going on the rides.  They also enjoyed "costume day" at the zoo, where the total number of participants was two.

Nine Years

We've been blessed to be married for nine years and to see our family grow in beautiful ways.  It doesn't seem that long ago that we were battling the heat inside the now-closed Church of St. Philip, but at the same time it seems like a different lifetime.  Nina has been a part of our life for over half our marriage and Pip has inserted herself with authority too.

The girls have been fairly nice to each other recently and play together more and more.  They invent some games, tell some stories, and like to make each other laugh.  Yesterday, in the car, Pip said, "Hey Nina, let's hold hands."  When Nina asked why, Pip responded, "Because we're sisters!"  The hand-holding lasted about 3 seconds, but the quote was still cute.  Also, Pip insists that the days of the week go "One-day (Monday), Twos-day, Threesday..."  Nina is attempting to steer her right.  Our family has loved trips to the pool more than ever as Pip has taken to the lazy river while Nina cannot get enough swimming in the deep pool.  She loves to go underwater, touch the bottom with her feet, and bounce back up with a variety of games.

We got to see a fair amount of family recently when Cassie came back to be in a wedding down the street and Erin Nak graduated.  It was wonderful to see Paul, John, Esther, Lara, Shane, and the boys.  Luckily, there were some cool parties like the Aquatennial to help console us once they all left.

"They call them the Twin Cities, ya know" 

Birthday week

 

The birthday week has been a sugar-rush of fun, laughing, crying, eating, playing, and occasionally sleeping.  From visiting with both sets of grandparents, cousins from Connecticut, family from China (although they're soon moving to India), friends from Ohio (although they're soon moving to Indiana), and back to playing with the neighbor boys across the street who also have birthdays this month, we've been busy.  We also went to take in the Twins game atmosphere (although we didn't go in) and watched the first Timberwolves scrimmage to see what their new stars can do.  The biggest milestone might have been the first family bike ride, where we made it around two whole blocks. ;)  Pip likes her new bike with training wheels and she just wishes we didn't have so many hills.  

Pip is a Threenager

Our intense young girl turns three today.  She is either extremely happy, angry, curious, or thirsty.   She will finally sleep through the night, but when she wakes up, she is usually ready to go.  She is a determined little one who likes to sing, go to parks, and laugh.  Vivian likes listening to The Beatles, The Monkees, and The Beach Boys; maybe she was born in the wrong decade.  Her giggles and stories make everyone laugh, and we found a lot of video with her cute cackles, so we thought we would share them.

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