The Abridged Version

So many things to write about, so little time.

Here's the abrigded, annotated version.

1. Fifi's second birthday party was great. We held it at the church, where the kids had loads of room to go mad. Fifi loved the cake, especially the candles, which she tried to put her finger in. She is now two. My baby girl is two. I could cry.

2. I have totally gone all out with this bento box thing. See pictures here. I love putting these lunches together at night as one of my chores (see below for info on chores). I love thinking about what fresh fruit and tiny snacks to buy for the week. Scott told me to hold off buying too many accessories until I know for sure this obsession will last. I think it will. I'm constantly learning new tricks, and new dos and don'ts, for successful bentos. One don't I've learned - don't pack crispy things in the same tier (without a plastic divider) with juicy things. Yes, funnily enough, juice moves and makes crispy things soggy! Learning all the time.

So I've gone a bit mad with this obsession. On the way, somewhere in the international post, I have silicon cupcake cups, mini sauce bottles (shaped like tomatoes), two bento boxes, two bento box straps, a set of dividers and three bento box bags. eBay and Ichiban Kan are my new best friends.

3. My children are sick. Fifi's very unwell (high temps, throwing up, runny nose, etc) and Lolly just has a cold. I cannot get sick with them. And if I do, it needs to be between Tuesday and Thursday, since my TinyTalk classes are on Mondays and Fridays.

4. The snow is falling outside again, and it is lovely. I'm supposed to go to Scott's parents' house for dinner tonight and then to the grocery store, but I think it will hinge on the snow.

5. Fifi is doing really well with her potty training. Even sick, she's using it. She woke from her nap to ask me to change her nappy, poor thing. I just read The No-Cry Potty Training Solution by Elizabeth Pantley, and I think I've got enough tools under my belt now to get really started. Oh my.

6. I've got tickets to America!! I fly out, with my two offspring, on the 5th of April, and return on the 30th. I do not pretend to know how I'm going to travel on my own with two children, and I certainly don't know how I'll travel with a newly potty trained/still training toddler, but I'm ignoring those minor details. I'll be in Arkansas for almost a whole month! So exciting! Mean Pig, Dixie Cafe, Taco Bell, Red Lobster, here I come! (Can you tell what it is I miss most about the States?)

7. My chore schedule from Motivated Moms is genuinely changing my life domestically. I've been using it religiously since the start of January. My house is now in a perpetual state of almost clean. Usually all that is needed to spruce it back up is a toy pick-up and a few dishes put in the dishwasher or handwashed. My enthusiasm has kinda sagged today and yesterday due to sick kids, but it's still in good order. And Sundays and Saturdays are restful days anyway, according to the schedule. And even yesterday I managed to dust Fifi's room, hoover (okay, Scott hoovered), and scrub the stove, along with the normal daily chores of laundry, dishes, etc. Today I've done very little besides lying in bed, cuddling and nursing sick children, but that's okay. It's the Sabbath. (Not really... Sabbaths are sundown Fridays to sundown Saturdays, but you know. Modern Christians don't have a clue anyway, so we just say Sunday as if we do.) Anyway, I can now feel comfortable just inviting someone over to the house on the spur of the moment without embarrassment. I can even leave the bedroom doors open, since the beds are always made and the laundry is usually somewhere within the normal range for a family of four! And the toilets! Usually clean! Please, come pee at my house.

8. Fifi got her first full haircut. She is cute as can be. She sat very still for the hairdresser. She looks like Ramona Quimby. I could eat her up.


Okay... I think that's all for now. Pretty good catch-up, don't you think? Valentine's Day plans on the way. I think I'm going to attempt this, if I can ever get the time.