Our Date with Lilly

On February 20th our niece and god-daughter turned 4 years old!

As our gift we arranged a "date" for just the three of us. Yesterday was our date! Chelsea stayed home with Zac and Shyla while we took Lilly out on the town for a morning of surprises!

Every good date starts with a flower. We picked Lilly up around 9 AM and presented her with this flower.

Our first stop was IHOP. She and Stevie "skipped" into the restaurant.

Lilly had chocolate milk and a Rooty Jr. with strawberry pancakes (which she didn't like), bacon, and eggs. She enjoyed playing on the placemat and even got a compliment on her behavior from another patron.

Then it was time for the main-event:

A first-ever trip to Build-A-Bear!

Here are the steps she followed to create her new friend.

She gave her a voice "oh, oh, oh it's magic, you know...."

She stuffed the "skin."

She picked out a heart and made it beat by shaking it.

She and Stevie gave the bear a bath.

Gave it a name in the computer and created a birth certificate.

And then posed for a few pics with her new bear!

It was a great morning and a great date!

The Girl Loves "Tweets"

She also loves veggies and fruits and pastas. But she absolutely loves "tweets." Not the kind on twitter, but the kind in which she is trying to say "treats" and it comes out like "tweets!"

These pictures were last weekend at our friend Ayden's 2nd birthday party where she was enjoying a cupcake. Really enjoying.

Backyard Work

The good news is that progress is being made in our backyard.

See:

Rodeo Weekend!

Have I every told you how much I love the rodeo?

I love the rodeo. So much so, that my most recent facebook post was "God bless the rodeo."

But, I don't actually love going to the rodeo.

I love the rodeo, the Tucson Rodeo that is, because we get Thursday and Friday off of school for it. We are the only ones! I have friends that go to Disneyland for these two days, I have friends who run a 203 mile relay, I have friends that (gasp!) actually go to the rodeo, and my family used to go skiing over this important holiday break. Not even Phoenix has these days off! Ha ha, Phoenix; one more reason why Tucson rules and you drool.

For two years I had to help park cars at the rodeo as a fundraiser for Pima Softball.

But I digress.

In any event, this year I cannot ski or run a relay because of the fetus in my belly.

But we have had a great weekend nonetheless:

Thursday I got my haircut, brows waxed, and a pedicure! I also took a nap, went to costco, and had lunch with my mom.

Friday Shyla and I went to the zoo then Stevie and I went to the wedding of our high school friend Brett.

Saturday, the three of us met my friend Maren and her baby Jensen at the zoo (again!) then went to a birthday party for our good friend Ayden (turning 2!).

And Sunday looks to be full of family time, my favorite!

Thank you, handsome cowboys, for coming to Tucson!

In other news:

• 2 weeks left until Spring Break and I am NOT teaching intersession!
• we are having demo done on our backyard and are looking forward to creating a fun and functional yard for our baby(ies) to play!
• 3 weeks until we find out if Fetus is a boy or girl!

and so we played!

We just ended a long, busy week.

I have 2 great girlfriends in town and went to a girl's dinner on Wednesday night so I didn't see my Shyla May. I was looking forward to playing with her on Thursday morning before work because I didn't have a meeting, but when she woke up she was mad. She was out of sorts and not herself and just plain mad.

My mom, graciously, took her back to her doctor on Thursday who said her ear looked better but was still clogged. Thursday night I have parent-teacher conferences until 7:00 PM so I missed her bedtime again. Then Friday morning I had to sneak out of the house before she woke up because Stevie was taking her back to the ENT while I went to work.

Conferences lasted until 4:00 PM on Friday so I rushed home to see my girl.

And was SO relieved and happy to find that she was in good spirits. So we played, and played, and played! (Oh yea, and took pictures because I am still getting used to my new camera!)

Enjoy!

In case you are wondering, after her bath this evening I did trim her bangs so hopefully we will be able to see her eyes in any pictures I take today!

A really SUPER day!

Let me first start by explaining that Thursday was a really awful day.

Tucson experienced the coldest temperatures ever!

On my way to take Shyla to daycare I was informed that the pipes at the daycare center were frozen and I needed to take her to another rearranged center. I called my co-worker and told her I would be late to our morning meeting. After dropping her off I hustled back to my car thinking I could perhaps still make it on time. Then I hit ice and fell. Not too hard, my knee took most of the fall, there was blood, there were tears, but I was fine. People at work (surprised that I wasn't my normal 15 minutes early to my meeting) tried to get me to go to the doctor but I knew I was fine, just shocked.

I talked to my sister and found out she had hit her face on her bathroom wall and was bruised. Also found out that her school didn't have water or flushing toilets but they weren't sending anyone home.

Then a pipe burst in our cafeteria, which resulted in the sprinklers going off, which resulted in the fire alarm going off, which resulted in us evacuating at about 9 am. Still very, very cold.

Then I found out that Shyla has another ear infection. My mom took her to see her doctor and apparently one of her tubes got clogged with debris so it wasn't doing its job and an infection formed. So she is back on 2 types of antibiotic. She didn't sleep well all week, but is definitely on the mend. (Thanks, again, Mom!) The mom guilt gets me everytime...I wonder how long she was in pain and I didn't take her to the doctor. Arrggghhhh.

Anyway, after we got through Thursday and Friday it was the weekend and today, Sunday, was a really great day!

We started with a trip to the grocery store. Shyla was a good helper so we got to go to Starbucks for my coffee and her shortbread cookie.

Then we went to the zoo with Aunt Chelsea and Lilly and Zac.

Then she took a 2 1/2 hour nap (after sleeping for 12 hours last night), catching up on the sleep she missed last week.

Then we had fun at my parent's annual Super Bowl Party!

Enjoy some pics and I hope you had a nice weekend too!

Our continual attempt to get a pic of the three kids!

Handsome Zac!

Silly Lilly!

My girl!

And Beth's baby-girl, Sadie, who cries nearly every time I get near her!

A Double-Stuffed with LOVE Babyshower!

For those of you who don't know, my beautiful sister-in-law, Kirsten, is pregnant with IDENTICAL TWIN GIRLS!

Although she lives in California, she was able to come back into town one last time before delivery (which will probably be in 7-8 weeks from now), which meant we got to throw her a babIES shower!

I worked on the shower with some of Pat's best friends: Nancie, Julie, and Pat Sousa. I think everyone had a lovely time and I know Kirsten was showered with many lovely gifts! Those babies are already SO loved and will be SO spoiled (especially by, ahem, their favorite auntie!)

Have a look at some pics:

Chelsea and I made 2 diaper wreaths as decoration for the shower and also for the nursery if they choose. Chelsea had made me 1 when I was pregnant with Shyla and I loved having it in her room. I never actually used the diapers, but I did pull off the goodies as they were needed.

Shyla, of course, attended the shower! She is going to have so much fun playing with 2 girl cousins that are smaller than her! She was a very good girl at the shower and she had a lot of fun, come to find out, though, she was feeling under-the-weather and had a temperature of 101.3 when we got home. (sad face)

Kirsten received two beautifully knitted baby blankets (called car-seat blankets) from my Grandma Palmer. These are a treasure in our family and I'm sure the babies will treasure them also.
Big Steve spent a few days in Sedona and he brought back these ADORABLE onesies!

And then there was this gigantic box that everyone thought was going to have to be shipped back to CA for them. Turns out there was just a box of wipes with a note that the double stroller they registered for will be delivered to their home. He he he.

We hope Kirsten had fun at the shower and continues to feel good for the remainder of her pregnancy. And we hope to see those baby girls often!