Weekend Away

We spent the weekend in Nashville visiting the Morrison's. Just before we headed out on Friday to make the trek south, Daphne fell and split her chin open. Thankfully, she just needed a quick trip to our doctor for some dermabond and she was good to go.

The girls did great travelling on Friday - they read, watched movies, drew pictures, listened to music, etc, so I slept and Kevin drove. Daphne actually napped - probably as a result of a slightly traumatic morning.

Kevin and Ryan headed to a basketball game on Friday night so once the kids went to bed, Heather and I were able to spend time catching up (plus, she showed me some of her homemade Christmas presents - amazing!!).

On Saturday we went to the Nashville Zoo - it was a beautiful day! Daphne was exhausted because she didn't sleep very well - so she was slightly on the feisty side.

Sunday morning the kids played and played (and several cried from exhaustion - lol) and then we headed home. The ride home was not quite as relaxing since we had some sleepy kiddos but we made it in one piece!!

It was fun to hang out with Morrison's again and look forward to doing it again!

Camping Trip - sort of

We planned a camping trip with Kevin's parents this fall. We didn't want to go too far from home because the last time we took Daphne camping, she woke up in the middle of the night and screamed hysterically and would not go back to sleep so I eventually took her home. Kevin's parents stay at KOA campsites all the time so that is what we went with this year. Our lives have been so crazy this fall that we didn't do a lot of research before we decided on a place to stay so we made reservations at the Granite City KOA. Once we got there - we realized that it wasn't quite what we were expecting. It was in the middle of an industrial park - so no hiking and not many trees in general and no fire pit. That was probably the more disappointing aspect because the girls were looking forward to roasting marshmallows and it just isn't the same over a charcoal grill.

The cabin was clean and nice but in the end we decided to just stay one night and head home for Saturday night. We spent a little time at Eckert's on our way home and then the girls just played and played with Grandma and Grandpa! The weather was beautiful so we still spent a lot of time outside - it was just at home in our own backyard!!

Here are a few of the pics from the weekend:

Yep, we are letting our kids watch a movie on the I-pad while we are camping. We figured if we can watch the Cardinal game (game 5 of the NLDS against the Phillies - so worth it!) while camping that they could watch a kid show on Saturday morning.

The girls all wanted to ride the ponies at Eckerts. They have a fascination with horses right now so this was their highlight!!

Silver Dollar City

We had so much fun last year at Silver Dollar City for the homeschool weekend that we decided to go again. Only this year, I didn't fill Norah's whole day with classes (last year we were racing to get to each class that we didn't get to do much of the normal theme park stuff until Sunday).

My parents were already in Branson - visiting with a cousin of my mom's. They joined us on Saturday at Silver Dollar City.

Here are some highlights:

(pay close attention to Lucy's face in the first 2 pics)

This ride looks like it is going to be fun!!

Maybe not as much fun as I thought!! This was typical for almost every ride!! She is not very daring - not that I mind it most of the time. She was very picky about what rides she thought were acceptable! If it went a little too high or just a little too fast - she didn't want to have anything to do with it!!

Daphne thought she was big stuff this year since she could actually ride several rides!! She loved it and she has NO FEAR!

I had to post this picture for 2 reasons: 1 - my mom's face is hilarious! 2 - it looks like she and I are the only ones on the teacup ride!

hanging out with Grandpa Steve

The little school house is probably Norah's favorite place to go at Silver Dollar City. We basically had to drag her out of there!!

We had a great weekend! We love Silver Dollar City - it is such a family-friendly, clean amusement park!!

Hiking

The girls are totally into hiking right now. Seriously - they love it. They have great imaginations too. When we hike in a wooded area, they make up stories about hiking through an enchanted forest to a castle. Cracks me up.

It had been a very rainy weekend. Thankfully, no one actually fell into the mud!!!

We borrowed the backpack from some friends - Daphne loves her view from up high!!

P-Fest

We all headed up to Morton for the annual Pumpkin Festival. It ended up being. . .an interesting weekend this year. The weather was beautiful all week and then the forecast for Saturday afternoon was rain. We weren't sure we would make it downtown to ride rides and eat the yummy food.

Kevin and I headed out extra early on Saturday to run in the 10k. I have the best husband ever - he stayed with me the whole time. Even though he can run way faster than me - he knew I would need the encouragement towards the end. My friend, Susan, ran with us for quite awhile too - which was totally fun to catch up a little. (I just need to add that after the run, we walked a mile back to my parents and then had to walk a mile to the parade, and under normal circumstances we would walk a mile back - all after running 6 miles).

We headed to the parade. The girls were pumped! The sky was looking a little overcast at this point but the rain was supposed to hold off until afternoon sometime. We sit about at the halfway point of the 2 mile parade at my great aunt and uncles house. My brother lives right behind where we sit. Before the parade actually started, it stared sprinkling. It would stop and then start again. Then as the parade started - it started raining harder and harder. The parade starts with the American flag, the parade Grand Marshall, the high school band, high school and junior high cheerleaders, junior high band, and then all the floats, politicians, local businesses etc. Before the junior high band actually made it to us, it was blowing and pouring. I mean POURING. Daphne and I ran for cover at Max's house with Max and Contessa. Then a few minutes later Kevin and the girls (and my sister, her boys, Denise, Alex and Rick) come running and they are soaking wet from head to toe. The parade was cancelled - I guess they started turning everyone in the parade around at the closest street.

We had lunch at my grandma's and then once the rain stopped, we headed downtown for some festival fun. The kids rode rides and ate some great food - pumpkin ice cream and elephant ears!!

Chicago

Kevin and I spent a weekend in Chicago back in September. The girls hung out with Kevin's parents for a few days while we were gone. We went to Ikea, slept in everyday, ran along Lake MI, went to a Cubs game, shopped on Michigan Ave, and ate some yummy food!! I never like leaving the girls, but we enjoyed our time away.

Those are some serious nachos.

It is hard to tell what he is doing - but while standing in front of the American Girl Place, Kevin is looking in his wallet. Wow. That store is something. . . and having 3 girls, I have a feeling we will be making a visit or two.

Guys Weekend

On Friday, Kevin headed to Nashville with Michael and a friend of Michael's. They (and several other friends of Ryan's) stayed with Morrison's then they headed on Saturday morning to Knoxville for an Oregon Ducks game.

I really don't like it when Kevin is gone and I am so thankful that he doesn't travel for his job. Not sure how I would survive. After the girls being gone for 5 days, this week was rough getting back into a groove. Everyone was EXHAUSTED so school did not go well and we had some serious attitude! Plus, Daphne woke up on Saturday morning with a low-grade fever, Lucy was up at the crack of dawn and I woke up with a headache.

However, despite a rough start to our girls' weekend, I tried to make the best of things.

We started with a pajama tea party first thing Saturday morning. I set the table on Friday night after the girls went to bed - we used my grandma's china that she gave us as a wedding present and a little tea set from my mom. We enjoyed Trader Joe's chocolate chip scones, grapes and yogurt. I filled the teapot with milk - the girls enjoyed pouring their own milk into their little teacups. I had coffee - seriously needed some caffeine this morning.

Then we did an art project. We spent several days looking at the book Come Look With Me: Exploring Landscapes with Children. Norah loves Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night" so the girls made their own night time landscape paintings with texture. They turned out wonderful! I was totally impressed!

Then the girls worked hard to clean their room - fun, I know! Ha!

After rest time and lots of playing, we did some experiments with magnets. First, we tested the magnet pull of some of our magnets by putting a pin at 0 on a ruler and dragging the magnet closer and closer to the pin until the magnet actually pulled the pin towards it. Then we made butterflies dance. We tied a string to tissue paper butterflies and taped the other end of the string to the table. We put a paperclip on the butterflies and using the magnet wand we lifted the butterflies up and pulled the wand about an inch from the butterflies - making them look like they were flying!

We ended our day by playing with Legos. After Daphne went the bed, Norah, Lucy and I played with Legos for a long time. They decided to leave everything set up so they can play with Kevin when he gets home today - and, thankfully, he is close to home!! Yea!!

What a Week!

I have been a little out of touch over the last week because life has been crazy - some planned events and some unexpected activities! I think the best way to review the week is with bullet points.

• Monday - We hosted a Christmas cookies exchange with some mom's and their little girls (one little brother tagged along because his dad had to work late - he didn't seem to mind being the only boy). We ended up with about 8 different kinds of Christmas cookies - that is the way to make the perfect plate of Christmas cookies without having to bake them all!!
• Tuesday - We had a wonderful, lengthy playdate with a friend who is the sister of our babysitters. She is in 4th grade and the girls had a BLAST playing with her and I really enjoyed my visit with her mom who is a dear friend of mine. Tuesday night, Kevin had a client event so he had to work extremely late. The girls and I had an early dinner and the girls hit the sack by 7.
• Wednesday (here is where we took a detour in our plans) - We were going to have an easy day at home getting school work done and playing, but little Daphne Jane had other plans. She woke up with a fever. . . AGAIN. . . and I took her to the doctor just thinking her ears were not clearing up from the previous ear infection. By the time we got to the doctor, her fever was 103.3. The doctor checked her ears - while she thought they looked clear, she didn't seem totally confident. She kept saying, "I think they look okay." They did a flu culture, strep culture, and took a urine sample, but of which came back negative. The doctor asked another doctor to come in to look in Daphne's ears to confirm and that doctor also said, "the right one looks great and I think the left one is okay." They were concerned, though, that she had such a high fever when she was still on her antibiotic from the earlier ear infection. They sent us to the hospital to get some blood work done. About an hour later, the doctor's office called telling me to take Daphne to the hospital immediately - her white blood cell count was really high. I dropped the girls off at my friend, Cherie's house (thank you Cherie - you are a God-send!) and drove Daphne to the ER at Progress West. Kevin met me there (my sister came later to check in and then picked up the girls to take them home and put them in bed). After attempting 4 times to get her blood, the nurses finally got a sample to send away for a blood culture. They gave her a 24 hour antibiotic and sent us home about 6 hours later. She still had a high fever - 104.4, but the doctor thought we could manage the fever ourselves with motrin. No one slept much that night - Daphne was awake and crying about every hour and a half.
• Thursday - I already had plans to take Norah and Lucy to see the Nutcracker performed by the St. Louis Ballet. Kevin really thought we should go ahead and go and he would take Daphne back to the doctor (they wanted to see her first thing in the morning). The girls had a blast at the Nutcracker - although, Lucy started to get antsy after about an hour. It was an excellent production! Daphne ended up having another ear infection - not sure if it was missed but the 3 doctors the day before or if it just came on all of the sudden. She is now on a new antibiotic - hopefully this one works. My sister and I took my mom and grandma to see White Christmas at the Fox. We went to dinner first and then to the show - it was wonderful and we had a great time. We didn't get home until almost midnight and then Daphne was awake again. . .A LOT, so we didn't get much sleep that night either.
• Friday - We hung out with my grandma and mom in the morning. They headed out after lunch and we cleaned and cooked like crazy (well, I did. The girls just played and rested). We had our new pastor and his family over for dinner. We had a really great time. They have 3 girls, too, right around our girls' ages!
• Saturday - Kevin and Lucy did some Christmas shopping then Norah and I did some. I baked and wrapped presents then we headed out to another Christmas party with the Goods, the Bohlmanns, and the Biggers.
• Today - Church, of course. The girls' classes had birthday parties for Jesus - complete with cupcakes! We are headed to yet another Christmas party this evening.

Whew! I'm exhausted after reliving all of that! I should add - Daphne woke up from her nap on Friday a totally different baby. She was happy and playful and HUNGRY!!

Now we are prepping for another crazy week!

Are you ready for Christmas?

Monopoly

A few weeks ago Kevin mentioned to me that he LOVES monopoly and can't believe that we don't have it. We have been married 9 1/2 years and I had NO idea that he loves monopoly. He went out that night and bought it. We have played a handful of times in the last few weeks. I have never been a big fan of monopoly - I am just not a risk taker. I hold onto my money - fearing that I will lose it all if I buy too many properties.

We played last night after the girls went to bed and this is what our board looked like close to the end of the game:

He has VERY little money left and has mortgaged most of his properties. I on the other had have a number of houses and a lot of money.

Kevin took one more turn and landed on a property of mine with 3 houses. He had to pay me close to $800 - but couldn't afford it. I'm now wondering if it is still one of his favorite games!! Ha!

Spectacular Sunday

For those of you in the St. Louis area (or the Midwest, for that matter), hasn't this weekend's weather been INCREDIBLE?

With Lucy still not feeling well, we didn't want to take her to the park to infect others around us, so we have spent the entire afternoon in the backyard. We borrowed the Morrison's play yard when we went camping and we have neglected to give it back (we will return it, Heather, I promise). Since we still have it, we put it in the backyard with a tarp underneath so Daphne could play outside without eating the grass or leaves. Norah and Lucy played and ran around and I worked on lesson plans for the girls for the month of December. I am going to post our Christmas lesson plans for anyone wanting a few extra things to do this holiday season. Stay tuned!

It looks like the next few days are supposed to be nice too - not quite as warm, but still nice! I am hoping to spend a significant amount of time outside!!

A Camping We Will Go . . . Again?

Alright, if you have been reading my blog for awhile or you know me well, you know that I don't love to camp. I do it occasionally because Kevin likes it so much. We went camping about a year ago (well, actually, Lucy and I slept at home - I was 7 months pregnant and was not about to sleep in a tent). Then we went camping again this summer for Father's Day.

In early August, Kevin started talking about camping again . . . this year! Ummm, I don't think so. Daphne struggled with her sleeping and I just didn't want to do that again. Once she was asleep, she was fine, but she had a hard time falling asleep and I just didn't want to go through the stress of her waking everyone else up in the campground! Kevin asked me if I would consider going if we stayed in a cabin. I think my response was something like, "I guess I could consider it." Well, that was all the okay Kevin needed. He made reservations that day for last weekend!

His parents are big campers so we invited them to go with us - the cabin sleeps 8. We went last weekend to Klondike Park. The cabin was really nice - but it would have been even nicer with a kitchen and a bathroom - ha! The weekend ended up being pretty cool - especially once the sun went down. Daphne REALLY struggled while we were there. She didn't take ANY normal naps. She slept occasionally in the the little hiking backpack thing, but really didn't want to sleep in the pack n play in the cabin. Friday night we put her to bed - lots of rocking, swaying, singing, but about 9:30 she woke up screaming. I calmed her down and put her back in bed. More screaming. I tried putting her in bed with me - she was fine for a little while, but not sleeping. Then she started crying and she cried and cried. Kevin and I finally decided I should take her home - we really didn't want to risk keeping the big girls up ALL night. We were just about 30 minutes from home so I drove her home - slept in my bed in my nice warm house!!

Daphne and I headed back first thing Saturday morning. Norah and Lucy seemed to sleep well and we excited to eat pumpkin pancakes for breakfast! We were busy all day hiking, playing, and running around. If you live in the St. Louis area and you have never been to Klondike Park, you should go. It is really nice! The trails are nice and they also have paved paths - we took the girls bikes so these paths were perfect! The girls totally wore grandma and grandpa out with all their walking and running and bike riding. Seriously, Norah could hike FOREVER!!

I took Daphne home again Saturday night and Kevin, his parents, and the girls headed home mid-morning on Sunday.

A Quick Recap

I know I haven't posted for a little while, but we have had a MILLION things going on!! Here is a brief overview of all we have done.

I have coffee/dessert with some new friends who are also homeschooling. It was great to chat about our plans for the next year without being interupted by all the children. They have great ideas/suggestions that I plan to incorporate into our day.

Kevin and I went to Florida for a few days. Those of you who know me, know that I stress out about leaving my kiddos - especially when flying on an airplane. I don't usually sleep well the night before we leave and I have a nervous/anxious feeling in my gut from the time we leave our house until we land safely at our destination (it starts all over again when it is time to leave).

This time, however, I saw God working in my life when our good friends, the Norwines, showed up behind us at the security check. Even more ironic is that they were on our airplane. They were flying through Miami on their way to the Bahamas. They are incredibly busy with teenagers and we, of course, are busy with little ones, so we don't have a lot of time to hang out. We were so busy chatting/catching up that the time in the airport flew by - and I don't even remember feeling anxious or nervous. I LOVE recognizing the little ways God reveals himself to us.

We had a great time of relaxing and sleeping. We spent about 2 days on the beach (with LOTS of sunblock and a large umbrella - I have this new found fear of skin cancer and wrinkles) and we ate at some yummy restaurants. It was nice to get away for a few days while the girls played nonstop with my mom.

Sunday, my sister and I (and Nicole, although we didn't see each other) ran in the All-Star 5K. It was a beautiful day - not too hot with a slight breeze.

Sunday afternoon, my college roommate, Beth, came by while she was in town. It was great seeing her and catching up.

Yesterday we went to one of those bounce house places, similar to Bounce-U. The girls had a great time running around with some new friends (other homeschoolers).

Today, the girls hung out at Heather's while I ran some errands. We hadn't seen the Morrison's in a couple of weeks, so I know they enjoyed have some time with Savannah and Sawyer.

I am trying to get some planning done for our first 12 weeks of school. Besides homeschooling Norah this year for kindergarten, I am also going to do some preschool stuff with Lucy. I have decided to follow this plan with Norah and I am really excited about it.

Through all this craziness, I am also continuing to train for the triathlon. This week I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of the exercising, but knowing I have a little over 5 weeks helps a little. The running is going fine and the swimming is fine. I have been biking 7-9 miles and have to get to 12 before the race, but adding the 3 together is the overwhelming part!!

Surprise - Happy Early Father's Day

I'm not great at surprises - in fact, I pretty much NEVER plan them because I usually spill the beans or mess something up. This year Heather and I decided to plan a surprise camping trip for our husbands. Kevin and Ryan had been talking about going this summer and the kids were asking too. I knew if we could pull it off, Kevin would be really surprised, because I don't camp often.

Heather and I decided on a weekend and a park. Norah and Savannah made books about camping for their dads. The last page said, "Surprise! We are going camping tomorrow!" Heather scanned in Savannah's book and posted it here . We had dinner on Wednesday night and the girls gave Kevin and Ryan their books.

The kids really did great! They were awake later than anticipated on Saturday night (that would be thanks to Lucy who was WIRED), but all in all they slept great. Daphne had a hard time falling asleep at night and didn't nap as much as she would have at home, but once she fell asleep at night - she slept all night! Because of the lack of naps, Daphne cried more than normal. Kevin actually thought she did fine.

We really didn't do a lot while we were camping. No hikes this year - I forgot the Baby Bjorn. The kids went swimming in a little water hole - totally grossed me out, but Kevin thought it was fine (I did make them take showers immediately following and again at bedtime! Ha!). The kids rode scooters around and basically just played together the whole weekend. There was a nice playground right in the middle of the campsites - perfect for us. The kids got along great - it amazes me that they pretty much never have any squabbles.The weather was INCREDIBLE and the park was very nice. We had great food and fun with the Morrisons!

The only issue we had (well, besides Lucy keeping her sisters awake on Saturday evening) was Norah waking up wheezing and coughing in the middle of the night on Saturday. Totally freaked us out. She hasn't needed any breathing treatments in almost a year, so totally forgot to even take the nebulizer. The more she coughed, the more she cried and the more she cried, the more she coughed. Nice. We were able to get her calmed down and got her to drink some water and she finally went back to sleep. Kevin and I didn't sleep very well because we kept checking on Norah. We decided we needed to head out as soon as we could pack up so she could get home and start her breathing treatments.

We were home by lunchtime and the girls rested in the afternoon. I think by now they have completely recovered from a lack of sleep and Norah is talking about the next camping trip (which Daphne and I may skip out on).

So Busy!!

Why is it that EVERY weekend flies by?  

Although the weather was supposed to be rainy - it ended up being beautiful!!  We had dinner Friday night with our friends, the Harper's.  They are friends of ours from church.  Their girls are the exact same ages as Norah and Lucy.  We have all been so busy that we haven't seen each other much outside of church.  

Norah had soccer on Saturday morning and Sunday evening.  She is doing a great job!  She really seems to enjoy it.  At first I wasn't convinced that she would make it through the season.  She likes practice and now seems to enjoy the games as well.  At first, she backed away from the ball and could care less about actually touching the ball with her foot.  Now, she runs right into a group of girls and tries to kick the ball away.  She is great at dribbling and doesn't hesitate as much when someone comes at her.  

We had dinner at a park with the Greene's and Diehl's on Saturday evening.   We had great weather and a great time catching up on each other's lives!!  Pictures to come!

Sunday after soccer, the Morrison's came over for dinner!  We haven't seen them in about 3 weeks - crazy since they live so close!  Again, we had great weather, so we ate outside!!  Heather brought a yummy salad - spinach, red onion, strawberries and a poppy seed dressing (Heather, can I get that recipe?)  It was delicious!  

The girls were at MDO today while Daphne and I walked with a friend and her new baby.  It was strange walking with just one child!  

Tonight our small group Bible study is coming over for dinner and Bible study!  Whew!  I think we have 2 calm days the next couple of days!  Thanks goodness!

Swinigan Christmas

Kevin's parents were in town last weekend to celebrate Christmas.  Shawn, Shawna, Jackson, and Janelle came out Saturday morning to open presents.  The kids had a great time playing with each other and their new toys.  Norah watching Jackson play a new game on his Leapster.

Lucy playing with her new Little People toy.

The 4 cousins - getting ready to open presents.

Norah and Jackson singing "Jingle Bells."

Not Much to Blog About

Not a whole lot to blog about.  We had my nephew's birthday party yesterday - my sister blogged about it.  The girls had a great time with their cousins!  

Lucy is as feisty as ever.  Can she sense that her life is about to drastically change?  She is wearing us out!!

Norah is napping again almost everyday.  If she misses - she is fine, but she seems to crash pretty quickly if she is in her bed.  

We might be a little closer to names for the baby.  Well, for the boy we are probably down to 2 or 3.   If we have another girl, I don't know how we'll choose.  Our list is atleast 5 long.  We don't have middle names either.  

We have less than 6 weeks to go - hard to believe.  I know I haven't posted any belly pictures.  I may have Kevin take one this week so this child knows that I did in fact carry him/her.  I just try to avoid too many pics of myself when I am pregnant.   

Had dinner with the Morrison's.  It had been a while since we had seen them - sad, I know, since we live 4 minutes apart.  The kids played great together!!

That is about all the randomness for now.  

Home Alone

I spent the weekend home alone - the entire weekend.  Kevin took the girls to Indy to see his parents and grandma.  The girls hadn't been there since May and with the baby coming, it will probably be a while before get there again, so he wanted to make the trip.  They left right after lunch on Friday and they are just a few minutes away.  I don't think I have ever spent this much time alone!  

Of course, I had a list of things to do, but my priority was scrapbooking.  I wanted to get caught up before the baby comes - and I was about 9 months behind.  Friday evening and most of the day on Saturday, I scrapbooked.  I ended up scrapbooking about 25 pages!!  I realize that if I would just take a couple of hours every couple of months, then I wouldn't get this far behind.  It is hard, though, because I prefer to spread out all over the living room floor to work.  I  left the house twice to run to Michael's for more supplies (thankfully, Michael's is less than a mile from my house).  I think cleaning up was more overwhelming than all the scrapbooking!!

I did accomplish a few other things while home alone.  I finished a couple of homemade presents and wrapped all the presents that I have.  I also cleaned the upstairs level of our house.  

I had hoped to catch up on some sleep, but I am getting a cold and I couldn't breathe very well in the night.  Between that and going to the bathroom every few hours - I didn't get much sleep.  I still feel more rested than normal - probably because I wasn't responsible for anyone but myself.

*Kevin and the girls are home - he said they did great in the car!  It's funny because we have commented several times recently that they are both finally at good ages to be able to do certain things (like travel) and we are throwing a new baby into the mix soon!  

Before putting the girls to bed we realized that both girls are running fevers - which means no Mother's Day Out tomorrow.  I didn't think Lucy would go willingly after being apart all weekend.  

Our First Snow

There is nothing like the first snow of the season when you are 2 and 4.  As soon as I opened the girls' shade this morning they were oohing and aahing as if they had never seen snow before (in all reality, Lucy may not remember ALL the snow last year).  Although I am not a snow person, it is quite fun to see their faces filled with excitement.  

After 6 Weeks. . .

We think Norah is officially over her finger sucking habit!  I say, 'think,' because we obviously don't really know what she does in the middle of the night.  She doesn't put her fingers in her mouth at the times she used to - when she is tired, watching TV, in the car, when she is hurt, etc.  I have even napped with her a couple of times and she hasn't even tried!  Yea!

Norah's big reward for filling up her chart (she got a sticker every morning if she kept her gloves on all night) was a trip to Build-a-Bear.  Last weekend, we dropped Lucy off at Shawn and

 Shawna's house (Kev's brother & SIL) and we took Norah to the mall.  She was very excited to pick an animal - of course, she chose a PINK leopard.  She was amazed at all the clothes to choose from (actually we were, too) and ended up picking a denim skirt that is similar to one she has and a purple shirt and leggings.  

We finished our little outing with cookies from the Great American Cookie Co.  Yummy!

Bunk Beds

Between computer issues and just feeling too tired, I haven't blogged about anything fun recently.  So here we go!  The girls are in their "new" bunk beds!  We bought them off of Craigslist a couple of months ago.  They were a light wood which I probably could have learned to like, but the great (and handy) husband that I have knew that I had my heart set on white.  He spend the last several weekends stripping, sanding, priming and painting - and they look fabulous!  He did a great job!

We debated whether to put the girls to bed at the same time or put one down earlier and one later.  Typically, Lucy talks/sings herself to sleep (this has been her routine ever since she could carry a tune) and Norah falls asleep instantly.  It doesn't seem right to put Norah to bed first, since she is older, but if we put Lucy to bed first, it could take a LONG time for her to fall asleep.  So, we have put them to bed at the same time and so far it is working great.  The first night both girls were exhausted so they both fell asleep right away and they both slept until 7 (unusual for Lucy - her typical time was 6:15 or 6:30).  The second night Lucy was singing and we heard one loud "SHHHH" from Norah (we temporarily put the monitor in their room - mostly for our own entertainment).  Lucy continued to sing, but both girls drifted off fairly quickly.  Last night, they giggled and talked for about 20 minutes.  At one point Norah was singing and when she stopped, Lucy said, "Norah, do that again."  Kevin went up one time to remind them that it was bedtime -  and we didn't hear another peep.  7:00 has been their wake-up time this week - I love that!

So far so good.  I know we will have some nights that aren't so great, but I am happy with how well they are doing for now.

Naptime has been a little more difficult partly because Lucy is so excited to be in a new bed.  I have to take the ladder to the top bunk out of the room during naptime.  Lucy won't stay off of Norah's bed and this morning she had actually climbed on the outside of the rail to the top bunk.  Next thing I know she will be jumping from Norah's bed to her bed. Ha!

I realize that my pics don't actually show the beds - just proof that they are sleeping.  I will try to get a picture of the beds to post.