March 2000- Vallee 1

The Vallee Family

Tessa, 36, Erin, 36, Svetlana, 6, and Freja, 6

Narrated by Tessa

The girls are growing up way too fast. They started kindergarten back in September and although they were scared at first and they had a hard time settling into the new routine, over the past few months they have flourished. They are no longer hard to rouse for the day and they go to bed without complaining (too much). Some days we don't even have to wake them up to get ready. I've recently found Svetlana up playing with her toys in their room when I get up.

And Freja is often already downstairs watching TV.

Them waking up so early is really helping out with getting them off to school on time. Sometimes Freja even has time to make herself a muffin, which she is always really proud of.

Their interests, though, have been mostly focused on ballet. Every time I turn around they are in their tutus and "practicing ballet". Erin and I are beginning to think we need to set them up with ballet lessons.

Well, between my and Erin's work schedules and the girls being in school now, we though that we should spend some quality time with them. I came home early from work one day to meet the girls when they got off the bus. After some quick consulting they decided they wanted to spend the day shopping and at the park. The only thing was, they really didn't want to change out of their tutus. I was hesitant to allow them out in public in them, but they're six years old. And we were having an oddly early spring so it wasn't too chilly outside. I'll just say they were... a little happy to not have to wear regular clothes.

Our first stop was to buy some new tutus. Svetlana wasn't too into shopping or having her picture taken, but she decided on a cute lemur leotard.

And Freja, who was much more excited to be shopping (although I couldn't get her to stand still for a picture) ended up choosing a flamingo outfit.

After the girls got their new outfits we decided to go to the park. The girls began by running off some energy. Well, sort of. Freja decided it would be fun to pick on Svetlana. I have no idea where she got the water balloon.

Svetlana was a bit concerned when Freja tried to trick her, but for some reason she didn't call her sister on it.

Freja was a little gleeful about how easy this was turning out to be.

Oddly enough, after she was hit with the water balloon, Svetlana seemed perfectly happy with Freja. There weren't any hard feelings at all. And they both became very excitable again.

As the night wore on, the girls decided to check out the maze. I let them wander a bit on their own since the maze was very simple. Both girls were pretty confident when they set out to explore.

Svetlana showed no hesitation at all, she was on a mission to explore every path.

Freja wasn't so confident after she was out there for a little while. She kept wondering if she was getting lost.

I think she was also afraid of the oncoming darkness and being alone but she got over it once she decided to stop exploring.

Instead she chose to swim. I wasn't going to let them swim at first because it was so chilly, but the pool was heated and the girls wanted to give it a go.

The only trouble we ran into was some random old lady. While I was in the pool showing Freja a stroke she began picking on Svetlana and yelling at her for being in her swimsuit.

The poor kid was terrified and I must say, I found the woman very rude to make a comment like that to my child.

But the woman was not right. She later yelled at me for allowing the girls to swim in the cold. As long as they weren't shivering, I wasn't concerned but she would not stop butting in.

I seriously began to think she was crazy.

I was tired of dealing with her though, so the girls and I went home for dinner. We got home and started eating shortly before Erin came home which worked out perfectly because when I got up to do dishes they were able to fill her in on our day.

The next few days were nice and relaxed. I called up my siblings to see if anyone would want to come visit over the weekend. I got a couple takers, Rachel, Harry, and Silas said yes. Oliver was busy that weekend but he's promised to visit soon.

I spent the rest of the week trying to clean up the house with minimal help from my wife and daughters. Svetlana was focused on a new video game Erin got her.

And when there were no video games or ballet going on Freja was playing on the piano for Svetlana. It kept them occupied but they were still in the way.

So, instead of continually getting frustrated with them I sent my girls out for a nice dinner. It gave me a chance to clean and let the girls spend some time with Mama since she usually gets home shortly before they need to go to bed.

Erin says it turned out great. She's amazed at how quickly they're growing and that they could actually hold real, in-depth conversations. She couldn't believe the stories the girls were making up, I guess they were quite the tale tellers.

They each took turns elaborating on things to the point where they couldn't help but laugh at each other.

And they were very reluctant when Erin suggested it was time to go home.

Freja was exhausted but kept insisting it was nowhere near bedtime. Erin just ignored her.

They were excited, though, to be given the opportunity to explore the kitchen. Erin contacted a friend of hers and he arranged a private tour to end their evening. The girls were even excited to try out a couple jobs kitchen hands have to do. They felt like they were really working.

Having my siblings over was a little less exciting than I thought it would be, but it was nice to catch up. We mostly just hung out in the kitchen talking, filling each other in on our lives, and lots of talk about Silas' new twins Juniper and Jordan. He and Maeve are still in shock.

Pic spam:
I know one shouldn't have favorites with twins, and these two are adorable, but... Freja is my favorite. I don't what it is about her, maybe the way her hair fits her face? But she is definitely one of my favorites. Svetlana is expressive (as seen in a few pictures up top) but Freja is just a sweetheart.