Nothing Exciting to Report

I wish I had new and exciting things to report, but nope! We spent Memorial Day weekend just doing "stuff." Bob rode 75 miles in a Bike Ride on Saturday, so he was pretty shot till Monday. The girls and I had BBQ dinner with my mom and dad at the Club on Saturday night and witnessed a quite grueling "country" band...WAYYY to country for me. Ronnie and Susan came to visit on Sunday for a few hours, so that was fun for the girls, even though Sarah had some sort of mysterious illness, which left her with a fever and a major case of crankiness! Beth was also riddled with a case of the crankies this weekend, which made for a LOOONG holiday weekend. Lovely. Monday, Bob and I spent HOURS redoing landscaping. We tilled up all our "flower beds" in the front of the house, after getting all the overgrown bushes out throughout this spring. We then went to Lowes and bought 85 edging stones and placed about 1/8 of them before we lost steam and got too hot and dirty. So, its still very much a work in progress. I fully intend to get SOMETHING planted in there soon - bushes, small trees, grass, flowers...whatever. But for now, I'm tired.

An interesting development over the last week has been Sarah's TEMPER! WHOA BABY! That girl can throw one heck of a temper tantrum. She lays on the floor, rear in the air and scoots around, all while screaming bloody murder. Its so nice to witness. Ugh. I remember this with Beth - its that age where they can't communicate what they want and we can't communicate to them what they can't have...so they get mad and throw fits. Lotsa fun. However, I do not remember Beth hitting that "stage" till around 16-17 months old, so for Sarah to be doing it at 13 months surprises me...but I'm not sure why. She's done everything so much earlier! Maybe she'll pottytrain earlier, too? One can only hope!

Only 4 weeks till we leave for Destin. I'm so ready to go. Then a week and a half after we get back from Destin, the girls (minus Sarah) leave for Colorado! YEAH! That trip has been a year in the making, so to say I'm READY, is an understatement. I guess I need to get myself in gear and get that portable DVD player sometime soon.....I WILL NOT make either trip without it! Its terrible how dependant I am on that thing to entertain Beth (and Sarah, soon enough) on long car rides! We all made it through just fine with our coloring books, magnadoodles and things....but just don't bring up the time my crayons melted all over the back of my dad's car on a trip to Destin a LONG TIME AGO..... I think I'd rather go with the DVD player......and lots and lots of DVDs!!

They froze, we fried!

While the boys were in Chicago Sunday at a Cubs game, shivering in the 48 degree rain, the girls in Kentucky were frying in the 85 degree sunshine! I got out the little pool for the first time, much to Beth's excitement! While she giggled and loved the pool....Sarah was very unsure and REALLY didn't like the cold water, which I remember being Beth's first reaction to the pool as well, at this age. I think Sarah lasted MAYBE 5 minutes before she just couldn't take it anymore and I took her in and dressed her in clothes. She happily played in the water table the rest of the day...needing a few more clothing changes, along the way. I love the water table- its the best thing since sliced bread for kids and warm weather! The best $29.99 I've spent...we actually bought it the summer of 2005 and its been wonderful ever since! TOTALLY worth the money - skip the water and sand tables- the sand gets in with the water and makes for big clean-up mess!

A little unsure....


Hum..maybe this COULD be fun...we can splash and kick....but hey, its COLD!


An old pro at the pool!


The most wonderful outside toy EVER!!!

What an exciting and exhausting weekend!!

My very dear friend Katie came to visit this weekend with her 2 1/2 year old, Mary Hughes (MH). Beth and MH played VERY well together that first day, great on Saturday morning, but by Saturday afternoon, you could tell they were getting tired...and by Sunday morning, forget about it. They (and us mommies and Grammy) were purely exhausted. I felt like I hadn't stopped moving for three days! It was totally fun, though! The adults enjoyed a few cocktails at dinner and the girls just kept playing! It was nice. (Oh, by the way, the "boys" were all in Chicago at a Cubs game this weekend, hence the girls weekend at our house!) I hope Katie doesn't mind if I post a few pictures of the girls....

Filling the Birdbath...

Looking for bugs....

Triple Trouble!!

Isn't this adorable!!!

I swear - these cheapo tubes are the best toys ever!!

Boy....I'm tired.....

Surf's Up, dude!

Just a few fun pictures from Beth's Nursery School program - Surf's Up! A few pics aren't very good - I couldn't get close enough and my flash was doing funny things! Oh well - nevertheless, they are cute!

Beth "slow dancing" with one of her classmates- sooooo cute!!! But geez....somebody tell those kids they need at least 6 inches between each other!

Here he is trying to twirl her - all together now.....ahhhhhhh......

Beth singing Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini:

And a few of Beth and her friends around the "props!"

Last day of 3 year old Nursery School...and some other pictures!

Today was Beth's last day of 3 year old Nursery School! Sniff, sniff. I took some pictures of her first day, and took some today of her last day - wow, has she grown up in the last year!

There is a "graduation" program tonight, mainly for the Kindergarteners, but the 3-year-old and 4-year-old classes are "performing" in the play that follows, titled "Surfs Up." It ought to be cute - the girls will be singing Yellow Polka Dot Bikini!

Here are a few pictures from Mother's Day:

And here is one random one of Sarah that I took earlier this week - she looks so "old" to me! She'll be 13 months old soon! YIKES!

New Patio Furniture!!

Yes, I know, I'm slacking in the update department! Its been a busy few weeks...and this week proves to be no different!

Mother's Day was great- I got a new patio set!!

(and no, that is NOT my patio/yard - its the stock photo from the website).

I'm just so excited to have a FUNCTIONAL table and chairs to use! A table and chairs with no ugly yellow paint peeling off of them! Chairs that don't weight 20lbs each!! WOO HOO! We've had it for two nights and eaten dinner outside two nights! Beth thought it was great and Sarah...well....I don't think Sarah cares! YEAH!!!!!

Today is Beth's Nursery School Year-End Family Picnic and Thursday night is her year-end play - "Surf's Up"! All I know is that the girls in her class are all singing Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polka Dot Bikini and the boys are singing Do-Run-Run (or whatever the actual title of the song is!). I'll try to get some good pictures Thursday night! Friday night Bob leaves for Chicago with my dad, brother and family friend to go see the Cubs play and my dear friend from Birmingham (Katie) is coming to visit!!! YEAH!! Her little girl is 2 1/2, so it aught to be a fun-filled weekend!!!

And hey - maybe we can use the new Patio Furniture!!!

Just a swingin'

So its been a while since I last posted. Last week was kinda crazy,between a relatively active week at work, to being a "single mom" for 4 days while Bob went fishing.....

It also rained much of the week and both girls had a LOT of pent-up energy, so we spent the better part of Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday OUTSIDE! It was great - 80ish and breezy! Gotta love that weather!

Both girls LOVE their swings, and each has their own, which is very convenient, especially for this mommy who spends her outside time running back and forth between the two swings constantly PUSHING each girl!

Sarah LOVES to swing...

...and after about 30 minutes in her swing yesterday, she FINALLY decided there was more to outside than that swing and it was the first time EVER she didn't scream bloody murder and then throw herself on the ground crying when I took her out of her swing....

Beth also loves to swing...has since DAY ONE. It was a sad day in our house when we had to put up the baby swing! She loves going to local parks...to swing.SO finally last year,we "built" Beth her own swing in our yard to let her enjoy her passion without having to drive all over town to parks! What we DIDN'T consider, was that she doesn't know "how" to swing....to pump her legs and make herself swing. So....most of the time we are outside, this is what I hear "can you push me on my swing, mommy?" or "push me, mommy" or "push me, daddy." Hence, why I go back and forth between her swing and Sarah's.

Quick funny story - when we DID put her swing up - I was 8 months pregnant with Sarah and it became increasingly harder to actually push her...to the point where it was painful, so I had to stop. She "understood" that mommy couldn't push anymore cause of Baby Sarah and after Baby Sarah was born and I had rested a while (csection), I could push her again. The DAY Sarah was born...the MOMENT Beth first saw me after surgery and I asked her what she thought about it all...the FIRST THING out of the kid's mouth was "can you push me on my swing NOW?" Geez........

And Beth likes to swing "HIGH!" Ugh...hope she doesn't fall out of that thing anytime soon.....

Just a great picture of Beth!!!

And because we DO have another girl in the family that is CONSTANTLY being overlooked, I captured her cute face yesterday, too:

This is Bailey, our beloved 7-year old Yellow Labrador Retriever. She is a WONDERFUL dog- I can't state that enough. She is fabulous with both kids and plays so well with them. Sarah is in love with her and points and says "BAY!" all the time. Bailey was our first "baby" who now gets ignored more than she should....

Tonight Beth has a soccer game. I'll try to snap a few pictures! Whether she will actually PLAY Is anyone's guess, though!