Now we are five.: March Bits 'N' Pieces.

1. Alec asked for chocolate chip cookie dough- for breakfast. He loves to make cookies with me, and will point out the ingredients and say cookie. And then gets out a spoon and says Spoon! Mix! and then goes to the cabinet and says bowl. Even though my nutritional standards have flown out the window for my darling third child, even I said no to this request. Though he uses good vocabulary words when asking, so maybe it somehow counts as Therapeutic Baking.

2. When I came downstairs after getting dressed this morning, Alec approached me naked and with poop all over his hand. That scenario rarely ends well. And it didn't this time, either.

3. It is freakishly beautiful here- sunny and 75 degrees in March. My daffodils are aching to blossom, especially since they've been sprouting since January. Yes, January.

4. Yesterday was our first official soft serve ice cream cone of the season.

5. Yesterday the girls and I had a fun afternoon: we went to a Girl Scout- sponsored Mother/Daughter Brunch at our local country club. It was the first official activity that I've attended with both of my favorite Girl Scouts! It was very sweet; Jenna stuck to me like glue and Michaela quickly ditched me to sit with her friends from her troop. Sigh.

Afterwards, on the way visit some family friends, we stopped in at a Open House located in a home that we watched get built and have admired for months. It was pretty beautiful inside and the girls were amazed by the Jack-and-Jill bathroom while I admired the butler's pantry and gorgeous molding. Of course, the house was listed for $630,000, so it's no wonder it was so breathtaking. It spurred on a great conversation about how much things cost and living within one's means. Michaela, who is just beginning to grasp the concepts of how much things cost, said to me, "When you said it cost $630, I thought, well, that's not too bad! That's, like, the cost of a car! But then you added the 'thousand' on the end and I thought, Whoa! That's a LOT!" Watching her grow up is really so much fun.

6. Speaking of houses, Dan and I watched a House Hunters the other day in which the wife had a very flat Minnesota-type accent, and when she walked into every house, she said, "LOOK, BABE! Look at the hardwoods! LOOK, BABE! I LOVE this hall way! It feels so GRAND!" And Dan and I have said/emailed/texted LOOK, BABE! to each other multiple times a day ever since.

In a related note, I was watching a show in which a couple were looking for their first house and when they saw brand new black granite countertops in the kitchen, they dismissively laughed and agreed, "These countertops are JUST NOT US." What does that mean? You aren't shiny and pretty? And new? And high-end? Ohh, you'd rather have bright yellow laminate for your countertop?
Nothing in their sentence made the least bit of sense to me.

7. Alec's new favorite thing is to throw items into the cart when we're grocery shopping. Today he "bought" Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, SpongeBob Squarepants mac and cheese, Cosmic brownies, chocolate chip cookie mix-in-a-bag, and a Hershey bar. Only two of those items actually were purchased. He makes a huge deal when he throws the item in, really heaving it and then making a "WHEW!" sound once it lands in the cart.

8. The annual Spring Birthday Party Season has begun. The girls have been invited to eight birthday parties in the last six weeks.

9. If I end up foaming at the mouth, unresponsive and rocking in the fetal position, it is because my daughters complained ONE TOO MANY TIMES at breakfast that they don't want to eat their orange-flavored calcium gummies and they really only like the pink and purple ones and WHY DO YOU ALWAYS MAKE US EAT THE ORANGE ONES? People not blessed with children cannot possibly know how incredibly persistent children can be. I have heard this complaint at least twice a week for the last year. Good thing I love them to pieces.

10. In a related note, I was laying on Michaela's bed with her last week at the end of a very long day and we were having nice quiet time together. I said to her, "I wish you could understand for just a moment the amount of my love and energy and soul that I pour into you and you brother and sister every single day." And of course she didn't understand, because 10 year olds are not supposed to understand what that means. All they know is that their mom is their mom, and she does stuff for them. The nice part about having your kids grow a little older is that you can share things like this with them and it starts to open the door of understanding about what it is like to be grown up.

And in a related note to THAT, Michaela will be going through the school's Growing to Maturity curriculum next month. Oh, yes... the Big Talk. The Birds and The Bees. I am not sure how I feel about it. I know several moms who have older kids and similar values to me and they support the content whole heartedly (which is a tremendous relief) so it's really about coming face to face with the idea that one of my babies is growing up. And even that causes mixed feelings for me: I miss the little preschool girl that she was and never will be again, but I so much enjoy her as a tween and watching her navigate through this process. Michaela is such a great kid, so fun to be with and funny and earnest and energetic, and I have a strong feeling that no matter how tough her teenage years may be (and I am under no illusions that they will be smooth sailing) I feel that I know she and I will always be thick as thieves. I just really like being with her. Hopefully she tolerates me when she's an adult.

11. Alec has been fighting his naps again, which means that this is happening more and more at about 6pm- and then he sleeps right through til morning: