Some of my fondest memories from childhood are of sleepovers with my cousins, whether it was Jenny and Stacey who grew up next door or Nadine who had come for the weekend from a few hours away. We did air guitars, made strange milkshake concoctions, played orphans and put on performances for our families. This weekend, Anissa and Elianne had the special treat of cousins - Nadine's kids- sleeping over at our house. Our friend Barb, who I didn't know as a kid but feel like I did, also came on Saturday and her two girls joined in the fun. We were treated to a lovely dance performance complete with accordion music that had Nadine and I reminiscing about our own little shows thirty some years ago.

It's been a long, hard winter and, being suburbanites, Elianne and I have spent an embarrassing amount of time in the mall while Anissa is in school. We meet up with friends, take the kids to the play area, hit the pet store, occasionally splurge on a coffee and a cookie. Very little shopping is ever done because that's not the point. Yesterday, though, it was finally a nice enough day to break from the routine and take a stroll around one of Calgary's trendy outdoor shopping areas, Kensington. The shops are depressingly expensive, but we had a great time hanging out with Wendy and Sydney and having a breakfast lunch out at a fun little diner, Nelly's.

At home, the girls have been staying (mostly) happy with pure silliness. They hammed it up for me a few days ago wearing Anissa's (clean!) panties on their heads, but of the zillions of photos I took my favorite is the last one, when the underwear/hats came off. 

It started with Halloween, and the gingerbread house we made at Christmas sealed the deal. Elianne is a sugar addict. She'll take sugar in any form, and demand more and more, and has recently started asking for candy (from the house, still in our living room), cookies, or chocolate. In the beginning, she only pleaded a few minutes before giving up. But now, she goes on and on and has a tantrum and just won't let it go. This morning, Mehdi caught her on the kitchen counter scooping sugar out of the sugar bowl with her hands, shoving it in her mouth. This afternoon, she cried and begged and yelled, "Elianne NEED candy! Elianne NEED it." When we asked her why, she paused with a long "uuuuuuuuuh", then replied, "because Elianne is sick." Yes, it's a sickness all right. I've thrown out the gingerbread house and we are getting tough on sugar!

Mehdi stayed home with Elianne on Friday afternoon so I could help out with the rollerblading clinic Anissa was having at school. It was extremely entertaining watching all the kamikaze kindergarteners whip around the gym, and Anissa impressed me with her confidence. I guess those ice skating classes she's been taking are paying off. She's been so into it lately that last week at her lesson, while watching an older girl's hockey team warm up, she asked me when she can start playing hockey. Oh boy! I spent a good portion of my childhood cowering in net while my big brother and friends fired snapshots in my direction, and it's not really what I had envisioned for my daughter. Then again, I was always the puniest, wimpiest kid in class and she's always been strong and tall, so who knows.

One of the girls' favorite songs in the past few months has been Raffi's, "Going to the Zoo". The chorus goes:

Mommy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow, the zoo tomorrow,

Mommy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow, we can stay all day.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo,

You can come too, too, too,

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo.

And it's all because we're lucky enough to have a pretty decent zoo a 20 minute drive away and annual family passes. So Mommy (and Papa too) took the girls to the zoo on Sunday, with friends Aurora and Storm and their Mom, and we did stay nearly all day. Next time maybe you can come too too too?