Longwood Gardens!

Last Saturday my lovely friend, Jessica, took me to Longwood Gardens with her.  It was a really fun day.  I always enjoy visiting those gardens, but it was extra fun to do it with a friend that actually knows plant names and facts.  At one point, Jessica pointed out the flower that she had on her cake (something I'd never heard of) and I realized that I only knew the names of three of the many flowers that where in my wedding bouquet and on my cake: rose, gerber daisy, and lily.  Not too impressive.

 Alaina loved smelling the flowers and having her picture taken with them (especially the pink ones):

 Ellie also liked smelling the flowers, but had a hard time remembering to keep her hands off them, thank goodness she didn't pick any:

We spent all our time in the conservatory (along with everyone else that visited that day) because it was so cold (and the flowers were so lovely and fragrant).  Flower chandelier?  Yes please.  Now I know what was missing from my wedding.

 

Lainey was way excited about the rock bench (or couch according to her), but didn't last long thanks to the sun in the cacti section:

 Of course we had to end in the children's garden:

 

Ellie got completely soaked, in part because she purposely scooped up water and smeared it on her face and clothing.  Luckily I had a change of clothes for her.

Luckily I also had a change of clothes for Lainey because she peed her pants.  I told her that it wasn't okay and that she couldn't do that when she started school in the fall.  Then she cheerfully explained that I could just put a change of clothes in her backpack and when she had an accident her teacher would help her change her clothes.  Argh.

All in all a good day, and it was especially nice to carpool.  .  .  .  Meanwhile, Liz and Drew were off skiing with a father-daughter duo that I think will be their new ski buddies.

ANNOUNCEMENT!

Fun stuff the girls have said to me lately:

(above picture by Danelle Empey)

Lainey looking at my wonton soup: "Is that pee?"

When I told Lainey that I was going to the bathroom and that she could talk to me when I got back: "I can talk at the door and you can still hear me."

Lainey every night: "Good night, dream tight."

When I asked Lainey what she's afraid of (for her preschool registration form): "Hmmm, getting taped to the wall. . . . And bats." (I just put down dogs and bugs.)

Often in the midst of a tussle with her sister, Lainey will call out: "Mom! Ellie says I'm not part of this family!" (When I've heard nothing of the sort from Ellie.)

When I can tell that she needs to go to the bathroom: "I'm just cold." (Liz used to say: "I just like to wiggle.")

When we tell Ellie that we love her: "No!  Jesus loves me!  You no love me!  Only Jesus loves me!"

Also when we ask Ellie her full name: "Ellie Gabrielle Ellie" She absolutely refuses to acknowledge that her last name is Nielson


Lainey, when we ran low on milk: "When is a cow going to pee out some more milk for us?" 

After an interview with her piano teacher Liz reported: "She had to face a Styrofoam too." Turns out she meant stereotype.

Sick Week

One night last week, Andrew and I were having a heated discussion (a.k.a. argument).  At one point I started to get a little dramatic and extreme in my statements (I can say that now, but at the time everything made perfect sense).  Andrew kind of chuckled and said, "Okay, let's all calm down.  I think we're making a bigger deal out of this that we need to.  We just need a little dose of reality."  And then, right on cue, we heard the tell-tale coughs followed by the sound of liquid splattering on the floor and walls.  Lainey had thrown up all over herself, her bed (two sets of bedding by the end of it), and the hallway.  As we bathed her and moped up vomit, I asked Drew, "Is this enough reality for you?"  I'm sure it wasn't what he intended, but it sure made us forget our disagreement.

 As often happens we didn't deal with just one sick family member, it seemed everyone had something going on.  Ellie battled pink eye while also adjusting to her eye patch (she has to wear one a few hours every day because glasses just aren't cutting it for her lazy eye).  Liz came home with a fever Wednesday afternoon that kept her home from school the following two days (luckily we were able to bring it down enough with ibuprofen so that she could try out for the school play during that time and she made it!).  

 Then, to finish off the week I managed to throw my back out Saturday while reorganizing my closet (and lifting nothing heavier than a stack of folded sweaters I swear).   I immediately laid down and called Drew (on his way home from a ski patrol shift).  I asked him to order pizza for us because I wasn't sure I could make it to the wallet I left in the van.  I'm still not sure what's up with my back but in the meantime I'm walking like an old lady and laying on the couch a lot while the kids wreck havoc on the basement and watch tons of television.

Finally, some snow

The girls were pretty excited when we got some snow last week and by "some" I mean an inch, maybe.  Still, living where we do it was enough a two-hour school delay on Thursday and a two-hour early release on Friday.  Overboard?  Yes, but it sure was fun to play in the little bit of snow before school.

Check out these poor snow-deprived children trying to scrounge up enough powder to use in their tea set.

It was even cold enough for Liz and Drew to going skiing (on completely man-made snow).

 Now today the weather is fabulous so instead of playing in snow we played at the park (no jackets necessary - but for Alaina Halloween costumes apparently are).  

NYC weekend

Last weekend Andrew and I went to NYC.  By ourselves!  

We've been there together three times before, but never just the two of us.  It was nice.  We saw a couple plays, ate a couple delicious meals, then took the bus home.  Our play reviews:

Jersey Boys - Amazing, loved it, very polished, we'd recommend it (though "authentic New Jersey language" was listed as a "special affect" so if you go to this show be prepared for a barrage of f-bombs), we'd see it again.

Spiderman - Eh.  .  .  .  Don't waste your money.

It was nice to go away on a three-day weekend because we came back Sunday afternoon and still had Monday with the family.  Andrew used the day to get a bunch of stuff done around the house.  He put down an attic floor and moved all the holiday decorations up there (using his rope climbing ropes to haul our heavy artificial tree up), fixed our shower door and towel rack, put in a couple door stoppers, switched out the door knobs for the front and back doors, fixed our storm door, and replaced my break light along with a running a slew of errands.  I was significantly less productive.  The girls and I spent the morning at Chuck E. Cheese, then in the afternoon I dug up a few oak trees that were trying to take root in my garden (just bush sized) and plowed through some of Shelby Foote's mammoth Civial War, A Narrative (book 1 of 3).  Ah, if only all weekends could be three day weekends.

More family pictures

The variation in the kids clothing is due to retakes (Ellie stained her clothes right after the first photo session when we rewarded her for her cooperation with chocolate ice cream).  Speaking of Ellie, she only wanted Andrew to hold her.  When we tried to get a shot of just her and I she screamed and cried and otherwise carried on.