Another "New" Outfit

Thursday Lily had a playdate with Emily and since it was a cooler day, Danielle got to wear this old outfit of Lily's.  I think it was Danielle's first time in jeans!

Of course she didn't like the hat.

Typical Danielle.

Summer School

Like she did the last 2 years, Lily is taking summer school just M/W/F for the month of June.  She LOVES it.  The first day she was up at 6am all ready to go and wore her backpack around the house from 8-9 until it was time to leave -- she was so excited to get back to school!  All her BFFs are in her class and it is a nice extension to the school year.  Lily gets bored so easily at home and she loves her time at school.  We still have all of July and August for summer fun.  This year the theme for summer school is "travels around the world" so they are learning about different countries which we both love!  After that class she stays for an extra hour to take a phonics class to help her learn to read.  She is doing really well and can already read a lot of three letter words!  My baby is getting way too big!!

First day of summer school!

Finger Foods

Danielle has been all about finger foods this week.  In fact she was pushing all spoonfuls of food away that came near her.  She just wanted cheerios and puffs.  It's great and cute, but she needs to eat more than cheerios and puffs.  So I bought age approved carrot and apple bits that are soft and mushy finger foods for her to eat.  She actually tried the carrots, but I think the gooey, slimy texture really threw her off and she did not want them.  She wouldn't even let me feed them to her.   So we went back to the cheerios and puffs (which she seems to have mastered -- even whole cheerios -- no more gagging!  Knock on wood).    It does make it easier to take her out to eat and stuff -- I just give her cheerios and she is happy for hours!  I even put the tray on her stroller and she was super happy at Lily's swim class this week.  My baby is getting too big.

It's been awhile since I had a baby -- a plate was NOT the best idea. :)

So we just put he carrots on the tray.

Like Daughter, Like Mother!

Lily and I were having fun with my phone's camera the other day.  She would make the face first and I would copy.  We did all these pretty quick -- no time to really think of faces.  They just came out.  It was fun.  I love my little mini-me and I love how we look alike in a lot of these pictures!

I LOVE this girl!!!!!

Interior Decorator Lily

Lily: "You know how you said I could do things around the house this summer to make money? Well, I am decorating the house with shells (post it notes) to make it more beautiful!". Apparently this is going to cost me $10 and 1 penny, plus the cost of post it notes.  It is not exactly the type of 'work' I had in mind.

Little Trouble Maker

For the rest of her life, I can honestly say that yes Danielle did indeed eat paint chips as a child.

She chewed up her crib and when I went to get her she had white paint flakes all over her face.  Needless to say we went right out and got a teething rail cover. 

Baby Wrangler

Lily has been asking for awhile now if she can pick up Danielle and I would never let her.  But after this week "relaxing" at home and constantly chasing Dani around the house, I gave in and appointed Lily with the job of "Baby Wrangler".  So whenever Danielle goes too far or crawls out of sight, Lily is there to bring her back.  So far it is working pretty well.  The only downside is that I think Danielle really likes Lily carrying her around, so she seems to be crawling away more than usual just to get Lily to come pick her up!

We're working on baby gates.  Unfortunately they don't make pressurized ones big enough for our openings and I don't really want to drill into the walls.  Then we'd have to have the whole downstairs repainted in a year when we take the gates out since I don't have touch up paint and it is all connected.  So, we'll see how we handle this.

Food Network

Lily has suddenly, and rather randomly, become obsessed with the Food Network.  I honestly don't have any idea where this came from since I do not watch the Food Network.  But she asks to watch it now instead of her usual kid shows.  Her favorites are Giada and Rachel Ray -- I think she'll watch any girl cooking.  It was funny because last night she asked me to turn to the "Food Network" and "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" was on and she was so disappointed.  She said "I only like the shows where they show you how to cook something.  I don't like these shows where they travel around to different restaurants!"  I admit, I was taken aback and shocked that she knew so much about the Food Network and the different programming and types of programs.  She still manages to surprise and impress me daily.   

So today she wanted to cook something in the kitchen.  I had a box of cake mix, but no icing.  So we found a butter cream recipe online that called for all ingredients we had at home and made cake with homemade icing.  The whole time we prepared the cake and icing, we had to "talk about it like we were on the Food Network".

My next food network star putting the finishing touches on our cake.

(yes, the icing is a little runny.  But it was good!)

Cheerios

Dani decided this morning that she did not want baby food for breakfast and would only eat Cheerios - which is weird because she has never really eaten Cheerios before.  But when she kept refusing her usual pureed fruits, I offered her broken up cheerios and she went to town.  She kept pointed at the box when she finished what was on her tray.  She loved it -- but it was the longest breakfast ever.  It took awhile for her to eat a decent amount of cheerios, especially when I broke one "o" into 2-4 pieces! 

Lee and Sparky

On Wednesday night I went out to dinner with my old boss (and current friend) Lee who was in town since she has a client on the new remake of the show "Dallas".  It was so great to see her and catch up and I was so glad that she had time for me on her quick trip here.  She stayed down in Uptown, where there is tons to do and places to go, but I don't get down there much.  So I brought Rhiannon with me to meet Lee and suggest places to eat and hang out.  The best and most random part of the night was when we all went back to Lee's hotel to have drinks and hang out with some of the cast from the show.   It was a little crazy to just be kicking it and having drinks with Patrick Duffy on a Wednesday night!

Teeth

I was trying to get a good picture of her top teeth.  All 4 across the top have broken through and are in different stages of coming in.  You can kind of see them:

Baby Cage

And the fun times at home this week just keep on coming.  Both girls were highly entertained with the laundry basket.  If only I could keep Danielle in there longer than 10 minutes -- that girl needs a cage!

"This is so fun!"

I don't know what that face is, but I love it.

Of course, Lily had to get in on the action since Danielle was having such a good time -- although, she didn't fit quite the same.

HIghchair Rides

The girls have found a fun way to entertain themselves this week at home -- highchair rides around the house!  Lily loves pushing and pulling Danielle around and Dani appreciates the ride.  And I get some quiet time when they are both entertained -- everyone wins!!  

SIt-N-Stand Giraffe

Sunday was the beginning of our "week off".  Since the girls and I have been a little tired and burnt out lately, I decided to try to spend this week relaxing at home as much as possible.  We all need some downtime and some quality time playing at home.  So, I brought down a new toy for Danielle to play with -- the sit and stand giraffe!

She figured out right away how to "feed" him the balls!

She can't quite pull herself up yet (only to her knees), but loves it when I stand her up.  The BEST part is that she'll push the button on his head so the song plays and look to Chip to dance, just like Lily did when she was a baby!!  Chip would dance whenever the giraffe's music was playing and Lily would smile and laugh and keep pushing the button and now Dani is doing the exact same thing.  It is so cute and crazy.

Happy Birthday Hadley

Last Saturday we went to Hadley's petting zoo birthday party.  Shockingly, it took Lily awhile to go in with the animals, but she had fun with it once she did.  

We have been going going going for the last few weeks, but even I was shocked to see Lily passed out on my bed Saturday afternoon after the party!  She slept for nearly 2 hours!!!  It was a good thing too since after we went to "Auntie" Beth's house (Rhiannon's sister) for a Memorial weekend BBQ and Lily literally spent about 4 straight hours swimming in the pool with her friends.  I didn't get any pictures since I was in the pool with Danielle, but I was SO proud of Lily.  She was actually swimming around!  Of course, it made me so nervous, but it was good for her.  Summer is officially here!!