Lucy's Bedtime Routine

Lucy's new thing at bedtime these days is to talk herself to sleep. I mean that literally - no matter what time she goes to bed, she talks and talks and eventually fades off into la la land.

Here is tonight's babbling:

Pat cake, pat cake, pat cake (patty cake), trow it in da pan. (she repeated this about 3 or 4 times)
Mocagycle (she just heard a motorcycle go by). Yea! Mocagycle!

Roll it, roll it, roll it, trow it in da pan! (repeated this about 3 or 4 more times)

Ahhh, ahhh, ahhhh (this followed by some panting is Lucy pretending to be puppy).

Hold you, Daddy. Hold you, Mommy. Hey, Mommy! Hey, Mommy!

1, 2, tree, 4, five, sis, yeven, eight, nine! Yea, Norah! Yea!

She continues for quite a while but we can't understand much more - it is all slurred together.

Weekend in Morton

We spent the weekend at my parents. My cousin, Krystal, was in town from Portland, so we went to see her while she was in town. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures!! Krystal took some* (can you email me a few - if you get a chance?), but I didn't even get my camera out of the car. The girls acted terribly shy at first, but by the time we finished lunch on Saturday, they had more than warmed up to everyone!! We had a great time catching up with my cousins!
We also spent a lot of time with my brothers, Rick and Max, my sister-in-law Denise, and my niece, Contessa. Contessa is a doll and really seems to adore Norah and Lucy. Norah is at a fun age to actually play with and try to entertain (or so she tries) Contessa. Contessa's favorite game is Patty-cake. It is SOOO cute.
Lucy doesn't sleep that well away from home - she is getting too long for the pack 'n play, but I don't think we are ready to switch her to a big girl bed yet. So, because of her lack of sleep, she was incredibly grumpy today. At one point (after we dropped Norah off at school) she was in the back she shouting, "Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy!" She also had about 7 or 8 pee pee accidents today! She hasn't had more than 1 accident in a day in a couple of months. After the first 2, I put her on the potty instead of waiting for her to tell me, and she was still having accidents. She doesn't seem to care if she is soaking wet! Hopefully, tomorrow with be a better day.
Anyway, I also do not sleep well away from home so I am off to bed!

*Pictures from Krystal!

Lucy & Norah took a while to warm up to all my cousins.

My cute niece, Contessa!

Grandma and Krystal

All is Quiet

So it is about 8:10 a.m. and the girls are still sleep. What!? Not that they are early risers - they usually sleep until 7:30, but after 8 is unusual. We have spent endless hours outside this week enjoying the incredible weather - I guess they are just worn out.
I hardly know what to do with myself (obviously, since I'm blogging and not getting housework done).
Today is supposed to be rainy - maybe I can actually get something done inside today.

Enjoy your day!!

Sprinklers in Heaven

Norah prayed at dinner. We try to encourage her to pray from her heart, but usually she just wants to pray "God is good, God is great. Let us thank him for our food. Amen." Tonight she added, "Thank you God for this beautiful day. Please don't turn on your sprinklers in Heaven tomorrow. I don't want it to rain. Amen."

Junk Mail

Anyone else tired of getting junk mail (I'm talking about snail mail junk mail)? I am. What a waste of paper! Did you know that "at least 100 million trees are destroyed each year to produce junk mail, and 28 billion gallons of water are used to produce the paper"? This info and more came from this link. Check it out and find out how to reduce the amount of junk mail you receive.

Our Trip to the Zoo

After watching the weather last night, I decided to take the girls to the zoo today. I know the weather is only going to get better, but I've been anxious to take the girls this spring. I love going to the zoo during the week during the school year because it is never busy!!

Norah had dance this morning, so I packed lunches and we headed to the zoo from the dance studio. Lucy dozed off in the car for about 20 minutes - which helped her make it longer in the afternoon. We ate lunch while we watched the sea lions eat theirs.

The weather was perfect! We had a great time! Norah wants to go back tomorrow.

My Little Chef

Norah has always enjoyed helping me in the kitchen! We try to bake together atleast once a week while Lucy naps. Of course, knowing this, the Morrison's gave the girls great presents for their birthdays - aprons and a cookbook. (Let me just say that Norah was not very happy about getting her picture taking - she just wanted to get baking.)

We made mini cheesecakes. Norah is a great helper! Actually, I was more of a helper this time around. Norah did almost everything!

Here is our finished product. We served them to our small group Bible study.

Party, Party, Party

As stated in the previous post, we had the girls party on Saturday. The party was at our church - in the indoor playground. We love it because the kids a confined to one large area. No one can get lost and they can climb, run, and slide as much as they want to!

Our invitations were made by a college friend (we have reconnected recently through blogs!), Sara. She did a great job - check out her other designs here!

My friend, Kristy, made the cake. Kristy is a pastry chef/manager for Truffes Inc. Norah had this idea that she wanted a purse cake and I wasn't sure this was something that I could make happen. Kristy did it, though, and it was incredible! When I ask Lucy about her birthday party, all she can remember is the "yummy cake! yummy cake!"

All of our family was able to come to the party - thanks everyone!! My Grandma Jacob and my uncle Mike both came down for the party! Rick even flew down for the day from Chicago! Thanks - Max and Dad for coordinating his rides to and from the party!

Norah really enjoyed having most of her friends/cousins in one place. She often talks about her friends to each other - even though several of them had never met.

The girls received a number of wonderful gifts - all of which they love! Thanks again to everyone who helped make the party a memorable one!!!

Enjoy the pics!

To view the rest of the pics, click here.

So Much Going On

I feel so behind on my blogging, but life has been busy! We had the girls' birthday party on Saturday - I will post on that later, when I get my thoughts together. Let's just say, they had a great time and thanks to all our friends and family who helped us celebrate.

Our weather here has been incredible - upper 60's and sunny! We played outside quite a bit Saturday afternoon, all afternoon yesterday, and all afternoon today. We ate dinner outside - one of my favorite things to do in the spring and summer!!

Kevin ran in the St. Louis half marathon yesterday! He did great - had his best time ever!! Yea! We are very proud of him - Norah was more happy that she got the medal.

Stay tuned for pictures of the party! Hopefully, I will get those posted soon!