This one's for the grandparents . . .

The other day while I was driving Lizzie and her friend home for a playdate, I overheard Liz talking about how much she loved and missed her grandparents. Then she said that sometimes she wished that Nana was really her mommy and I was really her nana and that Papa was actually her daddy and so on.

Making Do

Liz had a play date out our house this afternoon. Alaina needed a nap. The girls share a bedroom. All of the toys are kept in the girls room. Argh.

What to do with the sleeping baby? I'm still not quite sure. Today I tried laying her on a blanket in our closet. Needless to say she didn't sleep as long as she usually does. Poor second child.

Swim

So it's Sunday night and tomorrow will start week two of swim class. I originally planned to do six weeks of classes, but I'm not sure I will last that long.

Other notable things from last week and weekend:

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We enjoyed fireworks at Alexandria City's 260th birthday party on Saturday (America is only 233 years old).

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Andrew and I went to the gym together for the first time ever. So fun.

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Alaina started to consistently feed herself (without us prompting her to put her handful of food in her mouth and then let go).

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Liz put her face in the water (multiple times) at swim class!

I love Freecycle!

On Friday, around 6 p.m. I listed our computer hutch and couch on Craigslist and Freecycle. It was their second time through on Craigslist, but the first time on Freecycle. Freecycle totally came through! Within four hours I had over a dozen requests for the furniture and within 24 hours they were both gone. It is an awesome network. Use it. Love it.

South Carolina & Georgia

I spent last week in South Carolina and Georgia visiting family. It was my first time in Georgia so I got to check it off my state list (only 27 to go!). Here's the lowdown on our trip:


Sunday - drive forever. The kids behaved wonderfully. Liz listened to Pippi Longstocking and seemed to like it. Afterwards I said, "That was a silly story wasn't it?" And she said that it was definitely NOT SILLY because sometimes Pippi did not do what she was supposed to and was orphaned and children were chased by a bull and stuck in a burning building and so on. . . . Despite this, she has wanted to listen to it non-stop since then (I think we are on our 8th time through).

Monday - my mother and I started a new quilt for Lizzie's bed. And we discovered (and caught and disposed of) a mouse in the basement and probably completely traumatized Liz in the process because at one point we were all standing on the couch screaming and I had to pry my mother's arms off Lizzie and Liz was screaming "I want my daddy!" over and over. Later that night I drove to Georgia to visit my brother, Scott's family.

Tuesday - went to a fabulous Six Flags waterpark. The girls had fun, but they seemed to enjoy playing in the bushes at lunch almost as much as the water slides. When they had a five minute warning they chose to spend their last precious moments of park time in the bushes instead of the slides.

Wednesday - Liz, Iris, and I went to the Georgia Aquarium, the biggest in the world. It was amazing. My favorites were the jellyfish, beluga whales, and dragon fish. Liz loved the whale sharks. That evening we went to a laser and firework (and pyrotechnics) display at Stone Mountain Park. Everyone loved it but Willa and Lizzie. Liz was completely freaked out whenever there were fireworks or pillars or fire shooting out of the ground.

Thursday - drove back to South Carolina with my girls and Iris. Pool time. Sewing. Playing. Andrew and Iris' parents arrive in the evening.

Friday - We celebrated Mom's birthday. First, Mom, Codi, and I went to a tea house. It was super cute, the food was fabulously girly, we got to pick out our own tea cups, and they even had gaudy hats for us to wear. When we got home we had cake with the family and that night Drew made us a delicious feast of Chinese food.

Saturday - Lots of pool time. Drew barbecued for us, Liz freaked when we lit off some fireworks but she slowly warmed up to sparklers so it felt like a small step forward.

Sunday - Mom finished Alaina's baby blanket. So cute. Drive home. Liz was with Drew so I didn't have to listen to Pippi.

More Dance Pictures

Settling in for summer . . .

Even though yesterday was the beginning of Lizzie's third week of summer vacation, I feel like it was my first real day of summer break (as in having my kid home from school all day) because the previous two weeks were eaten up with Vacation Bible School and visits to family. I'm not sure what we'll do the rest of the summer other than swim lessons, but here's a little of what we did WEEK ONE:

Picnics and park time (the weather was fabulous).


Vacation Bible School (the theme was Australia)

Lizzie let me put her hair in hot rollers (for the first time ever) as long as she was could "do Lainey's hair."

The usual evening playtime with Daddy (or as Liz says "my bestest Daddy").

Liz finally wore the flower clips I made her when she saw that Alaina was wearing one (and we took Drew out for some pre-father's day barbecue). We celebrated Father's Day with crepes for breakfast, meatballs for dinner, presents, cards, and compliments.

Alaina continued to avoid crawling, standing, and feeding herself.

Liz had her very first dance recital! (Video footage pending)