Bedtime books

Watching the girls read/look at books together was a sweet moment. And then, about five minutes into Liz reading a book to me, Alaina leaned over (I thought to look at the pictures in Lizzie's book) and whacked her big sister on the head multiple times with a book.

Ice cream afternoons

Wednesday afternoon has become ice cream time for us (we have to kill some time before Lizzie's art class). Alaina got ice cream everywhere--even her ear.

Lizzie ate half her cone then noticed some blood in it (from her super lose tooth) and refused to eat any more.

The tooth finally fell out during dinner. It had been hanging by a thread for a couple days. So, that's four teeth in basically one month.

It's started.

The busyness of ski patrol training has started. Unfortunately it's coinciding with one of Andrew's busiest work weeks ever (busiest in my recent memory at least).

Last Saturday he had what we originally thought was a family day at Liberty ski resort. Upon further inspection, however, he realized it was just for him. So, the girls and I went to the ward fun run/health fair on our own and then to Michael's craft store for the free kid's craft and to stock up crafting supplies to occupy ourselves for the rest of the weekend.

As usual I over estimated how much we could complete in an afternoon, but maybe by the end of the week we'll finish stuff off. Still I'm excited for Andrew to do ski patrol. I know it's something that he's wanted to do for a while now and at least he and Liz will be able to ski for free. I will to, but really, how likely is it that I'll hit the slopes?
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One of the projects we started this weekend was a daily (pictorial) "to do" chart for the girls. I'm slowly collecting shots of Liz and Laines going about their usual routines. This evening I didn't get a lot of usable pictures, but at least we all survived till bedtime.

Lately Alaina has been scrunching up her face and saying "cheese" whenever I pull out the camera (and other random times as well). Andrew insists it's the face I make when I'm trying to get her to smile, but I refuse to believe it.

Alaina wasn't exactly "difficult" tonight, but she sure kept me busy. While Liz was taking a bath Lainey ran into the bathroom and tossed her beloved teddy bear into the tub. Then she (Alaina) dissolved into tears when she realized it was wet. I did my best to dry teddy with a towel and returned it to her. Lainey got all excited. She hugged the toy and giggled. Then she ran right back to the bathroom and tossed the dumb bear back in the tub. Hello?! Cause and effect kid!

Lizzie lost a third tooth

Non-stress test

I passed my first non-stress test today. Hurray! I thought it would be a weekly occurrence, but it turns out they want to see me two times a week. Ugh.

In other news, we cut a few more baby names from our list: Amelia, Anastasia, Annalise, Emma, Gretchen, Gwyneth, Katelyn, Naomi, Sadie, & Sydney.

Longwood Gardens

I LOVE day trips. Drew does not, but on my birthdays he plays along. I have wanted to go to Longwood for awhile now and it definitely did not disappoint last weekend. It took us longer to get there than we thought it would and after dealing with tantrums, the temperature, multiple bathroom breaks, lunch, and the water features in the children's garden, we only had time to see about half of the grounds. I can't wait to go back and experiment with my new camera once I finally read the manual/take a class and I know what I'm doing. As it was I had a lot fun taking pictures of the pretty flowers.

Oh, and I had fun with my family too.

We especially enjoyed the topiary garden where Andrew and Lizzie played tag and hide 'n seek.

Unfortunately, we did NOT dress appropriately for the weather and ended up buying each of us an over-priced sweatshirt in the gift shop. I plan to leave them in the car for emergencies (or other times we simply neglect to plan ahead).

We finished off the day with cake, of course.

Lainey's a sweety mostly, but she really worked me over yesterday by pouring bags and bowls of food on the floor and pooing on the carpet. Scrubbing up excriment on my hands and knees felt like quite a change after such a pampered weekend.

My Birthday

I had a very nice birthday this year: pancake breakfast, lunch with Sharon, lots of well wishes from family and friends, dinner at Guapos, fancy new camera from Drew, day trip to Longwood Gardens, cake at home, and a day of no diaper changing. Quite nice. I thought it was pretty nice of the Guapo guys to bring a sombrero for Lizzie when they sang to me.

Alaina wanted to wear a hat too so I passed her mine. She's been very aware of when she is left out lately. She had a hard time in the restaurant lobby when she saw Drew, Lizzie, and I chewing gumballs that she couldn't have. It was actually Lizzie's first time chewing gum. She kept it in her mouth maybe two minutes before spitting it out.

We're enjoying the pleasant spring weather

Blowing dandelion fluff: Lainey popped the first one right in her mouth.

Visiting local parks:

All the kids enjoyed tracking a caterpillar.

This week

This week has been pretty typical - endless rounds or dishes, driving, diapers, and laundry - but along with the usual routine we have enjoyed visits with some of our brothers (one of mine and one of Drew's). It was lovely to see them. Other fun stuff: bird watching with Alaina (she can almost say it too).

Cherry Blossom Parade

No one wanted to go but me. Still, the rest of the family was (fairly) supportive and seemed to have a nice time once we were there. The girls liked the bands, floats, and especially the balloons:

Lizzie also got excited when she saw the Geiko gecko. She exclaimed, "That gecko is in the insurance commercials!" Andrew and I were a little surprised that it had made such an impression on her and this after we've tried to limit her commercial exposure.

Better Late Than Never

19 months old

Still delightful, loud, and brave. She loves the slides, swings, and birds at the park, coloring, and putting stuff in the garbage. She also still surprises me.

Yesterday I gave her some apple slices with lunch then left the room. When I returned I saw that instead of eating them she was rubbing them all over her face and neck.

OBX Easter

Our first Easter in the Outer Banks was in 2007.Our second Easter in the Outer Banks was yesterday. It's funny that we have gone to the OBX four times in the nearly nine years we have lived here, but three of those times have been within the last year.

Last weekend we enjoyed lots of time playing in the sand on the beach and flying our kite.

As usual Alaina loved playing in the sand (so different from Liz at the same age).

She also spent a lot time (most of her time actually) wandering around the beach giving people handfuls of sand. Sometimes she also distributed seashells (and occasionally licked them).

My brother-in-law's neighbors came to the beach as well and Alaina was completely smitten with their oldest son.

It was Lizzie's first Easter with extended family. Along with playing in the sand, we did some traditional Easter activities. We decorated sugar cookies.

We had both an egg and a scavenger hunt. Lizzie grudgingly agreed to use the new fabric basket I made her for the egg hunt. I made one (with lots of help from my mom) for Liz, Laines, and our potential new baby girl. They weren't hard, but for me, who rarely uses a sewing machine, it felt like a huge feat. Liz took one look at them and said, "I like the ones at the store better."

I had already purchased most of the basket stuffers weeks ago, but due to a miscommunication with Drew at least half of the stuff didn't make it to the beach. So, we were at the grocery store with all the other shmoes late Saturday night. It ended well though.

Pretty much all Alaina cared about were the sweet potato puffs in her eggs. After she shared a few with Drew he asked Liz if she had any jelly beans in her basket for him. Nope, only Barbie fruit snacks. He looked at me like, "what the?" and I informed him that this year I figured the bunny should only leave Liz treats that she actually likes (instead of including treats that he and I like as in years past). Incidently, when Drew was slow to get up Sunday morning Lizzie said enticingly, "Come on Daddy, I bet I have some chocolate in my basket that I won't want to eat."

Ahhh, the beach. I miss it already.

Oh, and here's proof that I was on the trip too: