Connemara

Pretty much right around the corner (and essentially part of my parent's neighborhood) is a nature preserve/meadow.  Lily has gone many times with her school to observe the changes in season, but I have never been.  They have open houses like once a month for anyone to go, but we've never made it.  Finally yesterday, since the weather was nice and I was still feeling a bit of the cabin fever from being home with sick Dani, I decided to take the girls to get some fresh air and check it out.  It is pretty -- I imagine it would be gorgeous in the Spring and Fall.  There are some nice walking trails -- half mile to a mile+.  It's a nice place to walk, relax and feel like you are in nature.

 

The meadow.

Sunday Morning

Just playing Barbies and watching a Muppet movie!!  I love these two!!!

World Thinking Day

Saturday night was "World Thinking Day" for the Girl Scouts.  All the troops in the area met at a elementary school gym.  The older troops set up little booths representing different countries.  The other girls went around and learned about the different countries, got a snack from each country (usually a cookie of some kind) and a "swap" that represented each place. It's a nice idea, but it was pretty crowded and chaotic and I don't know what the girls actually got out of it. 

 

We carpooled with Courtney and Melanie and drove thru McDonalds to get something to drink.  We didn't realize the $1 drinks were large and got a kick out of the girls' beverages!

  

(Donnie the class dog came too)

They look thrilled, huh?

Knight of the Week

My sweet Lily got Knight of the Week which is kind of like citizen of the month.  She is such a sweet, smart girl and a good student.  It never really surprises me when she receives this accolade.  When you are Knight of the Week, you get to take home "Donnie" the class stuffed dog for the weekend and document your adventures.  Personally, I think this sucks -- "Congrats for being good -- here is extra homework!!", but the kids don't see it that way and love it.

 Donnie came to the park with us after school.

 

And to Lily's first soccer practice of the Spring season.

He chilled at home with us on Saturday morning/afternoon . . .

and is somewhere in here for Lily/Dani story time which I peeked in on and found so heartwarming and sweet. 

New Park!

The city redid our neighborhood park -- all new equipment, a sand volleyball pit, new sidewalks, etc...  It is really nice and now we have two playscapes!!  It was really sad to see the old one go, but after the park being shut down for months and the weather finally nice this last week the whole neighborhood was just happy to have a park again! Dani and I finally made it out on Thursday and Friday to play after school with Lily and all her friends.  I love our neighborhood and it is so nice to go to the park and know like 90% of the people there.  Hang out with friends, chat, watch the kids play.  It's awesome.  Lily was off with all her friends, but I got these pictures of Dani -- she LOVES it.

 Dani has fun playing with Truitt and kept dragging the poor boy all over the park.  He's so sweet though, he was a good sport about it!

Puzzles

Dani loves doing puzzles on the ipad and was excited to find a real puzzle in Lily's stuff.  Of course, I had to help her and do most of it, but she was a big help and had a lot of fun!  Maybe she'll love puzzles like her sister did.  

Did Somebody Say Banana?

On Wednesday Dani and I finally got out for a trip to the store.  Dani wanted bananas, so I bought her some.  She doesn't normally eat or like bananas so I was hopeful that would change.  It's obvious she never eats bananas because she was upset with me when I peeled it for her and though the fruit part was "gross" and only wanted to eat the peel.  So strange.

Poor Sick Baby

On Valentine's Day, Dani had a very low grade fever that came and went.  It was odd.  Bu Saturday morning she had a full blown fever and Sunday and Monday were worse.  She was so lethargic, had no appetite and just pretty sick.  I took her to the Dr on Monday and she tested negative for flu and strep which was good.  They gave her antibiotics and some cough medicine.  Thankfully, by Tuesday afternoon her fever broke.  She still has a cough and some congestion, but is feeling MUCH better!!  It was a bittersweet week.  Dani and I were stuck at home for 5 straight days -- we missed out on Top Golf with friends, the new park (finally!) opening, playdates, dance class, etc. (thankfully Lily still got to go to the park, play dates, top golf and movies with friends) But I did get to cuddle with my sweet baby for a whole week -- often while she slept in my arms.  And while I hated that she was sick, I kinda liked having my baby curl up with me.  

Here are tons of pictures of my sweet sick baby.  She was so cute when she slept, I couldn't stop taking pictures -- it is a rare occurrence that she sleeps while the sun is out!!! 

Monday night she passed out in the middle of dinner.  Poor thing.

Tuesday she woke up at 8, but immediately fell back asleep in my bed until 11:15am!! 

 

She may have been sick and tired, but she still had on fabulous shoes while she slept in my lap.

 

Poor thing just passed out on top of me!

The little stinker trying to lick me and infect us all!!