Happy Birthday, Jules!!

We just wanted to say a big Happy Birthday to "Baby Jules". I guess we're going to have to stop calling you "Baby Jules" now that you're two!! Lana was too cute picking out Jules' birthday presents. Amy (Jules' mom) had said that Jules loved books so I asked Lana if she thought we should give her some Fancy Nancy or Pinkalicious (Lana's two favorite series right now) books. Lana said "No, Mommy. Those are ripping books and Jules is too little." I had to remind her that Jules was two now so she could have "ripping books." After that, she was excited to introduce Jules to her favorites. Sorry, Amy and Jeff. Not sure how much you wanted the frufru books!! You know Lana. Anyway, we had a great time at Jules' birthday party this afternoon! We're looking forward to playdates (and swimdates) this summer since Amy's schedule at her new job should be a little more flexible. (BTW - BIG Congrats to Amy on the new job!! We're so excited for you!)

St. Patrick's Day

As many of you know, St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays. We have always done St. Pat's big in my family and I'm trying to pass this on to my girls. We had a blast on St. Patrick's Day with a little playdate with some friends and the girls had a great day. We started off with green pancakes (Lana wants to know if/when we can have pink pancakes).





Then we had a playdate with a bunch of the girls' friends - 7 kids and 4 moms. The girls thought it was great (though Calli was a little overwhelmed at first).




After naps, the girls and I played outside for a bit enjoying the beautiful weather.





And here's Calli "doing a puzzle". She's really been trying to do puzzles and things like this recently, though she's not quite there yet.

Afternoon at the Zoo

Melanie and I were very nervous about trying to take the kids to the zoo in the afternoon. Afternoons are for naps and planning dinner and mommy time. Afternoons are when we hunker down and lay low and pray that the 4-6 witching hour won't really be that bad today. But ever since the girls started school and going to the sitter's, we only have one morning a week for playing (Wednesdays, but that's beside the point) so we're trying to be brave. Mel and Jack had something on this morning but we've been trying to take the kids to the zoo for ages. It's been too hot or we've had something else on or whatever. Wednesdays are half-priced day at the zoo, so we almost always go on Wednesday. Anyway, we ended up having a blast! The kids loved it. They lasted a good two and a half hours before the mommies got tired (about the usual visit for us). We went right after lunch time and left around 3:30. It was great.

I have to say, though, this is the first time that Lana has ever gone to the zoo when she wasn't scared of the animals (since she started noticing the animals). She was scared of the gorillas and monkeys when we first got there. Once Jack started getting all excited and climbing the fence, she forgot all about being scared. She even climbed the fence on the elephant's pen to look at them and told me the "baby" (smallest one) was "sooooooooo cute". Her favorite things though were the penguins, ducks and flamingos.

Calli didn't notice many of the animals but she really liked the flamingos too. She was also fascinated by the white tiger that was pacing right in front of the window on her cage. I loved the baby lion cubs the best. Soooooooooooo adorable. Maybe a month or two old. I can't remember. Too cute. Lana loved them too.

Anyway, here are a few pics from our visit today. (There are tons, sorry!)
















And all the kids sound asleep in the van on the way home. (I love my new mini-van!!)


I know I'm totally behind on entries and I'll have to back date some to get them in the right place from last week and whatnot, but I just had to share our zoo story and how brave Lana was.

Playdate with New Friends and Old Friends

Lana and I invited her friend Elisabeth, her mom and her baby brother to the park with us last Thursday after school. We're trying to get to know more of the kids in Lana's class and I'd met Elisabeth's mom at a Mother's of Young Children meeting at church. She mentioned they were new here and still getting to know everyone. Funnily enough, her husband is also an engineer/physicist with Brent's old company so the boys would probably get along great too. Anyway, despite the totally spur-of-the-moment plans, Lana and Elisabeth had a great time at the park. They ran each other ragged just playing and running around. It was funny to watch them since Elisabeth is in something like the 95% for her age and Lana is in somewhere around the 5%. They didn't seem to notice, though.

Calli also tried to play with Elisabeth's little brother, Greggy (aka Coco) who just turned one last week. Here are a few pics of the girls at the park:





Blake, Carter, and Elane met us at the park after Blake got done with school. After Elisabeth left, Lana and Blake spent ages sitting and watching the ducks. They would inch closer to a major drop off and we kept having to make them move back before giving up and deciding to just go home. (Plus the big kids got there from an after school program. They were being great, but that many big kids and Lana tends to get lost.)


We're hoping to plan more after-school playdates...but we might have to work up to them. The girls and I were exhausted after all this. We left the house at 8:15am and didn't get home until 5:15pm. That's a long day for us!!

Grapefest

Since Brent was already planning on taking last Friday off for our trip, he decided to stay home anyway. Thinking it was going to be our only nice day all weekend, we decided to pack the girls up and head to Grapefest (a wine tasting festival over in Grapevine). Of course, as soon as I got in the car, I had to call a few girlfriends and see if they wanted to meet us there. It's just what I do. You understand that. So does Brent even if he rolls his eyes. Anyway, Elane met us there with her two boys and we had a blast!! First we piled Lana and Calli in the wagon and went to have lunch. We found some Irish music (shocking) on one of the stages and had lunch near there. The kids didn't eat much, but Lana and Blake had a blast dancing to it.


Then we headed over to the kids' area. We attempted to pile three kids in the wagon and it worked for a bit until Lana decided to get out and walk and Calli started to get tired.

Lana went on the carousel (which she still hated though she was dying to get on it while she watched it) and the tea cups (which she loved and kept spinning us faster and faster). I forgot to leave my camera with Elane while Brent and I took the older kids on the carousel but here's some of us on the tea cups.


Finally Lana played in the sand pit and with the little tricycles while I nursed Calli.



We were hoping (ok, I was hoping) to get another hour out of the girls so I could look at the little shops, but Calli was just done, so we ended up packing up and heading home. It was a fun morning and Lana couldn't stop talking about it all weekend (though to hear her tell it, she loved the carousel...). We promised she could ride the tea cups again (and a carousel if she wants) when we go to "visit the princesses" in November. (We're going to Disney World with Mom and Dad in November and all Lana can talk about is visiting the princesses.)

Playdate with Our Friends

Last week, we invited our friends over for a "Happy Hour Playdate". With our new schedule, we have been having more and more playdates after naptime rather than in the early morning. Since it was after 4 (or at least 3), we decided it was more than appropriate to break into my new bottle of wine. I ordered three bottles of a new red to try from wine.woot.com. Besides, the nice UPS man bringing them drove up right when Melanie got here so, of course, I just had to share. We had a great time (and so did the kids).

Since almost all of Lana's friends are boys, our house is the girly house. The boys love Lana's "princess house" (the tent Maria got her), her doll house and her dress up clothes. Here's a great pic of Jack all dressed up in Lana's hula skirt with a mop. We were dying laughing.


And Blake "holding" Calli. Blake still is in love with "baby Calli." He's so sweet with her!



We even attempted a craft with the kids. Here's the two door hanger thingies Lana made for herself and Calli. We had to hang them in their room on their closet doors because Lana kept getting frustrated that one would cover the other when you put them on their door knob.

Trip to IKEA

So yes, lots of people think Calli looks just like Lana. Still, it never hurts to dress them alike. Here are some "sister outfits" Nana got them this summer. Trying to convince Lana to wear shorts instead of her usual dress was like pulling teeth. We were going to IKEA and I prefer she wears shorts shopping and whatnot with running around and riding in the buggy anyway. Besides, it was just too much fun.



IKEA is almost an hour away so Melanie and I decided to pile all the kids in Brent's truck one day last week and take them. Elane even decided to come with Blake in her car following us just for fun. Here's all the kids piled in the backseat.


There is definitely plenty of room for them in there, but Lana kept bugging Calli and waking her up just because she could touch her. She also gave her all sorts of things we didn't want her to have (like a paper napkin and Lana's shoes). She likes to share with Calli.

Mel was looking for a play table for Jack with some storage and everything and I was looking for a new kitchen table. I need to sell my old kitchen table and my dining room table but I need something bigger. What I'm really looking for is a big farmhouse type table with a bench for under the windows and maybe three chairs on the other side plus I could add two chairs at the end. Since we got rid of our dining room, I need to make enough room in the kitchen for holidays and such when we have everyone here. Of course, I found the perfect kitchen table (and Mel found the perfect play table) only to have neither of us be able to find it when we were hunting downstairs. If you've never been to IKEA, they have all the furniture in boxes on shelves downstairs. You write down the row and bin number and pick it up yourself. It's a bit of a pain, but it's cheap and we love it so we do ok.

Despite the disappointment of not finding what we were looking for, we had a lot of fun. And the kids did great. All the older kids rode in carts or a stroller for the top floor while we traded off who carried Calli. (I forgot my double stroller at home when I was packing up Brent's truck.) At the end of the top floor, we got lunch and let the kids play in the kid area. (Yes, IKEA is the most family friendly store I have ever been in.) Of course, it was impossible to get the kids back in the buggy and carts so we let them walk, but Lana and Jack had a rule. They had to walk behind me (where I was pushing Calli in Elane's stroller that she loaned us) and in front of Melanie (who was pushing the cart) and they had to hold hands. (Sorry for the bad quality pic. I couldn't get my camera out fast enough so this was taken from my phone.)


and Calli asleep in the buggy...


They did really well with this except if we wanted to stop to look at something. At that point, anything and everything was fair game and they went running off all over yelling and playing their version of hide and seek. Ok, it wasn't that bad and they were great for two-year-olds and totally patient. Still, Mel and I are going back sometime in a few weeks with just Calli so we can spend more time looking downstairs for the furniture we want and have a chance to ask someone.

Congratulations, Norman, Jaci & JT

One of my best friends, Jaci, had her second little boy last week. Preston gave us some scares throughout this pregnancy, but it turned out there was nothing to worry about. He's healthy, happy and perfect. We were all so excited to meet him! Congrats!!! He's adorable! Here are a few pics of Baby Preston.



I didn't get to hold him as much as I would have liked because Calli got totally jealous when I did.