I really do like Tuesdays

Loving life this morning - all is sunshiney wonderful in my world. Hot cup of coffee, house relatively, reasonably clean, two cheerful toddlers watching Disney and I'm feeling pretty good about the rest of the day. I'm almost officially decided on Chana Eliana as a Hebrew name. I love, love, love the name Eliana and would almost want to use it if I had another baby girl, so that's the only thing that might hold me back. I'm a firm believer in middle names, and since both my kids have them, I want to have one too :-)

Burgers and salad tonight for dinner, in case anyone is interested. I made homemade chicken nuggets last night, with a bread crumb and parmesan cheese coating, and fresh green beans (Jessie had four helpings, very pleased, they were all crunchy and I tossed them with butter, salt and cheese). I'll definitely be making those again.

I started a new routine last night - I had fallen into this lazy habit of letting the kids eat in the living room while I chilled out with a book during dinner. Only on the nights that Marc isn't here, and I rationalized it by saying that I needed a little break... but I've been kind of immersed in Jewish teachings leading up to the conversion ceremony in a couple of weeks, and there's one book, The Blessings of a Skinned Knee. I loved the book, and it definitely inspired me to get a little more proactive about my parenting. So I instituted a meals only at the kitchen table (snacks are still okay in the living room - it's hard to cut that out cold turkey), and last night, we had the nicest, calmest, most relaxing dinner. The food was lovely, the kids enjoyed it, and Jessie helped me clear the table. She was so enjoying the structure, she asked if we could make a new Rules Listing.

The Rules listing is a thing that Jess devised, where I write all the family rules down on a piece of paper and we post it up on the wall. And some of them are really cute, we have all the no brainer ones, like no hitting or pushing, be kind and helpful, but we added the all meals at the table rule, and also (at Jessie's suggestion) added a "include everyone" rule, so when all the kids are here playing, they can't exclude anyone. She also suggested a "cuddle with Daddy when you can" rule, because frequently Marc gets the shaft on cuddling because they're go to spot is my lap and not his.

I was nagging Jess earlier about brushing her hair and for the very first time, she said me "stop making the face." The face?? What's up with that?? Is she fifteen already?