What Liz wore to church yesterday:

She originally had on a purple dress (and pink leggings, lime green knee-highs, and scuffed gold shoes of course). The dress tied in front, but Lizzie refused to tie it. She planned to just go to church with the ties dangling in back. Drew told her that would look too sloppy. He said tie the bow or change the dress. So . . .

She changed into what she thought was a little red dress. I explained that it was a long shirt, not a short dress and told Liz to either put on a skirt or change into another dress. Naturally she found a super short black skirt that that barely peeped out from under her shirt.

So much for our fashion interventions.

Saturday: ski, temple, Suess, cake

Yesterday while Andrew hit the slopes the girls and went to Lizzie's Primary activity at the temple and then to Lakeshore Learning Center to do crafts (they were celebrating Dr. Suess' birthday). Liz really enjoyed her time at the temple and later on told me that she wants a Jesus-themed birthday party. She explained that the kids could dress up like Wisemen and go on a scavenger hunt by following stars/clues. At Lakeshore the kids enjoyed story-time, face painting, and various crafts. Alaina especially liked dot painting her Horton Hears a Hoo elephant ears. Later that evening Drew took the girls out for a Daddy-Daughter date and returned with a slice of chocolate cake for yours truly. In all it was a nice day.

How I keep Alaina busy during Lizzie's pottery class:

Initially we watched swim meets. Now that those are over I have had to find other diversions. The drinking fountain was the latest. I found that if I pushed a chair up the the fountain I didn't have to bother with either holding Alaina or pushing the button. She loved it, but by the time class ended the floor, the upholstered chair, and my child were all soaked.

Lainey was pretty upset when I cut off her fountain access. This tame shot was taken between screams and sobs.

Other things I wish I had not introduced Alaina to this week: vending machines and ketchup.

More Cuts

The latest baby names Andrew has cut from from my list of possibilities: Adeline, Charlotte, Emeline, Emmalynn, Greta, Madeline, Nadia, Odette,Patrice, Rachael,& Sophia.

Only 14 names remain. I think we are doing much better than last time.

Discover Engineering Family Day at the National Building Museum

Highlights:

Watching some guy from t.v.'s Design Squad shoot up to the ceiling on a rope ascender
Eating free popcorn
Designing a "space ship" with a plastic cup, tape, straws, and mini marshmallows & eating the marshmallow "astronauts"
Playing in the Building Zone
Making a biosphere out of toothpicks and gumdrops (according to Lizzie it was, "Where they used to put dead people in the olden days. You know, a pyramid.")

Valentine Exchange. Finally.

On Friday Lizzie finally had her Valentine exchange at school. As per her request we made mouse cards (the tails are lollipop sticks). Liz was really concerned about getting her Valentine box to school and asked about it for days before the party. Turned out she was only one of three kids who even remembered to bring a box. I let Alaina sample one of the leftover lollipops. Naturally she loved it.

Blast Off For Babies!

I didn't put Liz in a class at such a young age (if I remember correctly), but I figured if everything worked out with the pregnancy and the baby and all, it might be awhile before I have the stamina to take Alaina to another class so I went ahead and signed her up last month. So far she's loved it. And after three weeks of nothing (thanks to travel and snow), I was glad to get back to the soft play room this morning.