Randomness Part 2

Sorry my blog has been kinda lacking lately. I am having a really hard time uploading photos to the laptop -- sometime it just freezes up and crashes, which is so annoying! But the good news is that you haven't really missed much. Most of our friends are out of town, so we haven't had many play dates. It has rained on and off the past week, so we haven't been out doing fun things and the one play date we did have planned at the splash park yesterday got rescheduled since it stormed in the am. And boy did it storm -- it came in about 6am and the lightning woke me up!! I sleep with ear plugs, so I didn't hear the thunder, but the bright flashes from the constant lightning actually woke me up -- it was crazy! Lily woke up too since the power went out briefly and shut off her white noise machine. Thankfully she asked us to turn it back on instead of asking to get out of her crib -- so she slept another hour and a half! I think it is official, she gets up around 7am now. :( I was hoping it was just a phase and she would start sleeping her normal 10-11 hours again, but after nearly 3 weeks of only 9 hours at night I think this is it. But her naps are usually around 3 hours (knock on wood), so she is getting enough total sleep. It is actually a good thing since she'd have to start getting up at that time in September once preschool starts.

I have gotten a lot accomplished this week that I have been meaning to get done for weeks now. I finally replaced the spare tire in my trunk, got my hair cut and took the computer in to get fixed!! I never did find the receipt for the computer with the service plan #, but I called Best Buy and told them I had lost it and they e-mailed me a copy of the receipt from Sept 2007! It was SO easy and they were so nice about it! Wish I would have known that was an option before I spent days searching and tearing the office apart!! They have to send it out and we should get it back in a week or two. . . .

That is really about it. Here are 2 random photos of Lily that I managed to upload today -- I couldn't get the other 40 to work, but I'll try again later!

Randomness

This morning we hosted playgroup at our house since it was too cool and cloudy to go to the pool. Then Lily and I ran over to the grand opening of the new JC Penneys in town. I wasn't planning on going, but some friends mentioned in playgroup that they were going to use the $10 coupon they got in the mail and I realized that I had that coupon too, so Lily and I checked it out. I am so glad that we did -- I got a new shirt for me and a pair of shoes for Lily for $4 total!! A savings of $48! Pretty good. I never ever liked JC Penneys when we lived in CA, they were all kinda gross, but they are really nice here -- you almost forget you are in Penneys!! Maybe that is because the headquarters are in Plano . . .

Anyway, I didn't take any new photos but here are some from the last few days that I have not had a chance to post yet:

These are from Lily and I playing our version of "hide and seek". We take turns hiding behind doorways and walls and then jump out and scream at each other. It is silly, fun and aerobically effective!

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Lily helping me clean. She loves to help clean -- I hope she still feels that way in a few years when she'll actually be an effective cleaner:

Peter Piper's

This afternoon we met Patti & Emily and Lori & Hannah at Peter Pipers Pizza. I was a little afraid that it would be really busy since it is stormy and raining today, but surprisingly it wasn't too crowded. But they did lose power a few times and the last time it didn't come right back on. It didn't really bother the girls too much since we had already been there awhile, but we waited around anyway and I am glad we did -- we each got free candy, jump ropes (which were way nicer than the cheap prize we would have gotten with the small amount of tickets we had) and vouchers for 2 free lunch buffets, 2 drinks and 10 tokens! So it actually ended up being a great place to be during a storm!!

The mini carousel was perfect since it sat 3. The girls rode this a zillion times and could not get enough! Us Moms wanted to go play games and get tickets, but they just wanted to ride.

Emily, Lily and Hannah

Lily, Hannah and Lori

Hannah and Lily driving. Lily LOVES driving games.

"Riding" the horse after the power went out.

Sitting in the car with Emily waiting for the lights to come back on.

Unfortunately, Lily ended up falling out of the car. I didn't see it happen, but Patti said that Emily pushed Lily out and she felt so bad about it. Lily was ok, but has 2 gnarly bruises on her knees. Thankfully she barely missed hitting her head on a nearby game!

Our New Favorite Play Area

This morning we had to go to Target, but since it was overcast and not too hot out we made a quick stop at the play area in the new Target shopping center. I've been meaning to take Lily to play here before, but never have. It was an awesome area and a nice change from typical playgrounds. They had a little town set up with a firehouse, a train station, gas station and bank. They also had a real caboose that you can rent out for birthday parties! It was super cute! Lily had a lot of fun playing in all the houses.

The fire station -- there was a real fire hose inside.
The gas station was her favorite.

She liked to crank the gas pumps. . .

. . . and look out the window.

Inside the gas station.

Working behind the counter.

The train station was my favorite -- it had a bench and a little table and chairs inside to play on!

The Bank.

The vault inside the bank.

She also had a lot of fun going up and down the stairs on the caboose.

The best part about the play area was the grass maze:

I wasn't sure if Lily would like it, but she loved it! I think if you saw it from above, it was shaped like the state of Texas (which is not all that shocking since most things here are shaped like Texas).

Lily lead the way through the maze.

which way do I go?

let's go this way!

We had a lot of fun and I was sorry that we didn't stop there sooner, but we will definitely be back to play again soon!

Sleep Sack

Lily is very particular. Like most toddlers, she has to have things a certain way -- her way. Ever since she was 4 months old she has slept with a sleep sack blanket (the first 4 months she was swaddled). I love the sleep sacks -- they are safe and I know that she will remain warm and snug all night long. Lily is an extremely restless sleeper -- a blanket would never stand a chance. Unfortunately she finally grew out of her last sleep sack. They only make them up to a certain size, then there are toddler sleep sacks with legs and holes for feet so that they can walk around. Lily never had a problem walking in hers and I figured the nights she did not wear jammies with feet, her little toes would get cold. So I was never too excited about the toddler ones. Well, early this week Lily woke up complaining that her "blanket was too tight." I offered her a big girl Mickey Mouse blanket, but she refused to sleep with it. She hates things in bed with her. It is just her and her mattress. Only recently did she start sleeping with "Stretch" the giraffe toy she has had since birth, but even then he is usually way on the other side of the crib. So it quickly became clear that a blanket wasn't gonna happen anytime soon, and she was waking up 2 hours early and taking only 1/2 of her regular nap. The poor baby has the biggest bags under her eyes! So I went out and bought fabric and extended her sleep blanket! I do not sew and do not have a sewing machine. Since I could only really work on it while she was asleep, it took me 3 days to finish, but I did it!! I was kinda proud of myself, I hope it doesn't fall apart soon!

Before
After!!
Yes, I know it is quite long! :) But I figured I can always make it shorter if I need to and now she can use it until she is 16 if she wants!

Before her nap in her blanket.

She was SO excited that "mommy fixed her blanket." However 5 seconds after this picture was taken she realized that the pink fabric was "stuck" to her blanket and she got hysterical! She wanted it off and wanted her blanket "tight again". Thankfully, I calmed her down and got her to sleep. I hope it works and we get back on a normal sleep schedule soon!

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Also, note the Tinkerbell doll in her hand -- we bought that 2 weeks ago for her to sleep with. She promised me that she would sleep with it and twirl Tinkerbell's hair instead of her own. Of course as soon as it is time for bed she refuses to sleep with it. I don't know what to do about the hair twirling -- it is pretty bad and she is almost entirely out of hair on top.

Lily and Avery

Today was Gymboree day. I thought it was our second to the last class ever since we will be in California at the end of August and then preschool starts, but apparently I am billed in the middle of the month and it was too late to quit -- so we'll get to continue through mid-August which is actually better. I wasn't really ready to leave yet. It is kinda sad to think that she has outgrown Gymboree and is moving on to preschool!! My Mom came with us today to watch Lily since she hadn't been to Gymboree with us for awhile. Of course as soon as Lily's friend Avery got there, Lily was off and running around with Avery!!

On the see-saw with Avery.

After class we went to the mall with Avery and Kathleen to get lunch and play some more!

Yummy Chick Fil-A
In the play area at the mall.

Silly girls.

(the play area had a food theme)

After the play area they wanted to ride in the cars. Of course Kathleen put money in to turn it on and Lily LOVED it. There goes my free entertainment . . .

It was a fun morning. We wore those poor girls out!! :)