Emma's evil twin

First of all, I will be trying to shorten this post up a bit. The computer seems to have an attitude today, therefore we do not have a very good working relationship at this time. It will spontaniously shut down and lose everything. We will see what I get done here.

Emma woke up and you coud tell that she was going to be in a funky mood. She was a bit short with everything. Madeline, smiling as always. I was trying to get running out the door to accomplish some errands before our playdate came over. Got to the gym to meet Mary for a 20 ass kicking minutes on the eliptical. It is amazing how quickly time goes when you have a good partner to talk to while on these machines. Zipped over to Cub for a couple of necessities. As we were leaving we ran into Don (stepdad). He helped load my water into the car.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mary running toward me. She is waving her hands, and out of breath she manages to ask "Is this man ok to be talking to?"

"Him?", I say pointing to Don.

"Yes, is he following you?"

"No Mary, it is Don!"

We all burst out laughing. Mary worried that she looked so stupid thinking that Don was a strange man following me. I was just happy that someone would look out for someone like that. Of course Mary would. She is awesome. Then we also had to laugh because Mary is petite in her 5'2" frame. What would she have done to 6'2" Don?

The kids and I made it home to find Valerie and her son Will waiting for us inside. I haven't seen Valerie and a long time. And it was the first time I met Will. He is 15 months and just a little sweetheart.

About this time, Elvira, Emma's evil twin, started to rear her scary head. Ohhh, and it was ugly! Christmas decorations were flying. Water was being spewed from her mouth. End tables were used as a launch pad for a soft landing on the couch. Talking, time outs and ignoring were no match for this superhero. That was only in the first half hour. Madz loves to follow what her beloved big sis is doing, so it was like watching the Dynamic Duo at work.

Amazingly Valerie and Will were able to put up with the antics, that I so obviously could not control, until nap time. I was very thankful to have had a short amount of time to catch up with her, wishing that she could make the trip back from Montana more often.

I did confide in Val my "secret". She is a great person to talk to and she has experience with dealing with health issues. Valerie has been free of thyroid cancer for 5 years now. It is a wonder, all of the things that go on in life.

Thankfully, Elvira took a nice long nap.

The girls and I had an evening alone as Jay was privy to another Wild hockey game. I am guessing that he will not be "sick" tomorrow - just kidding honey!

The girls made up for all of their crappy-ness throughout the day at story time before we put Maddie to bed. I sat in the rocking chair with them both perched on a leg. It was time for kisses, the girls turned to each other, and with their little noses touching ever so slightly, they gave each other kisses and had a little "conversation" for about 5 minutes. They topped off the exchange with a big hug. It was so great!

I will end this post with another photo from my budding professional. This image is a piece that has not been titled yet . . . I will call it "Hideous stairway spindel".