This past weekend was gorgeous and sunny and felt more like June than January. We celebrated by spending lots of time outside, playing at parks and letting Caroline perfect her scootering skills. On Saturday, she scootered all the way to (and from) Troy Park, our neighborhood playground that is actually really close to our house but feels 1000 miles away when you are carrying a toddler. We left Vivi at home napping with Mike and set out and I was convinced I would be a schlepping her and her scooter home, but nope! She was determined to do it by herself and I was surprised to watch her scootering skills improve even on this quick trip!

When we got home, I surprised both girls with these cute lunchboxes I found on a Pier 1 sale…

 

Caroline loved hers immediately. She called it her “luggage” and packed it to the brim with 2 yogurt pouches, a half-empty tub of frosting, a Lara bar, and a fizzy water.

Vivi just enjoyed putting the strap around her neck, giving Mike a near heart attack.

Well the near heart attacks weren’t over yet for Mike because that night, we pack up the family and headed out to an Au Pair event–roller skating! When we told Caroline about the concept of wearing shoes with wheels, she furrowed her brow and said, “you mean we are going to wear roller coasters?”

The venue was in a local community center and it was THE PLACE to be on a Saturday night. The line was out the door and at first I was like, “surely this isn’t for roller skating??” How wrong I was–that’s exactly what it was for and it took us awhile to get through the entrance, pay, and get Caroline (plus Suelen and Mirele) all laced up and ready to roll. Luckily the DJ (ohh yes did they have a DJ) kept the giant venue pumped playing hits from ABBA, the Jackson 5, and some 80s numbers that made Mike nostalgic for the last time he was on roller skates 🙂

Form the minute I snapped her skates on over her shoes, this girl got into it.

I mean, she reminded me of baby Bambi on the ice, but she pulled it together and didn’t actually ever fall…

 

She really liked it and was obsessed with going fast. Her only regret was she didn’t get to wear “the roller coasters that light up” as she had seen worn by some of the more elite skating crowd.

Mirele was really good! And Suelen was more of a newbie, cautious but also really good too!

Caroline skated around the giant complex 2-3 times then called for a Snack Break:

Because she (being no fool) had packed her “luggage” for the Skate Night occasion.

She had such a great time that we literally had to drag her out of there to go home with promises of return trips with light up skates.

Later, when I put her to bed, she whispered, “Mommy? Do you think I can get purple roller coasters that have lights that are red and blue and yellow and black?” Because isn’t it every little girl’s dream to have black lights on her skate wheels?

On Sunday morning, I finished a book about an American expat raising her young kids in Paris and included in the book was a recipe for Yogurt Cake. “Children often bake in France and this is typically the first cake they make because it is so simple!” stated the book. “Often children make this cake by themselves before they are even three.” Looked simple enough and we had a whole afternoon ahead of us:

So when Caroline woke up for her nap and Meg came over to hang out, we gave it a shot. Dump all the liquids together and stir–Caroline was really good at this part. Scooping out the flour for the dry parts was more challenging but we got there. I gave her the option of adding chocolate chips, sprinkles, or blueberries. Mike tried to sell her on a blueberry lemon curd concept that she wasn’t having. We settled on chocolate chips and (a LOT of) sprinkles. She liked seeing the colored sprinkles all swirl together and helped me pour the batter into the pan and pop it in the over.

And then came the best part of any baking project–licking the bowl!

And a mere 35 minutes later, voila! We had this little gem, which we enjoyed for dessert that night and sent some home with Meg:

Not a bad way to kick off the week!