Big bed and zoo

The big news for the week is that Lucy moved into her toddler bed! It is basically just her crib with one side removed. She is doing really well with it other than a few mornings she was up quite early. Before we could get away with ignoring her and she'd go back to sleep - she couldn't escape her crib. Now she can just walk to our room. Oh well, 6 am isn't too horrible of a time to get up, but sometimes on a Saturday I'd like to sleep a little longer!

It has been a hot week here. We are ready for my parents to get back from their vacation so we can head up to the lake again. It was nice to have a few weekends at home though. Yesterday I met up with my old college roommates and their kids and today we went to the zoo with Dan, Nicole and Tyler. Tyler is exactly 1 year younger than Lucy.

Strollers, snacks, and drinks. Essential for animal viewing.

Daddies giving a great view to check out the bears.

Father's Day '09

I know, not the best picture but to get a good one of the girls together is next to impossible these days. Bella and Lucy made cute gifts at daycare for their daddy. Bella painted a free-standing picture (or card) holder and Lucy painted a can cooler. We all went out for breakfast and then had a picnic lunch at Fox Brook park where they have a beach and swimming area.

Bella had fun making a soupy sandy mix with her sand toys and Lucy spent most of her time in the water.
And in case you haven't noticed, I almost have zero time to update this blog anymore!

yearly update

Bella & Lucy had their yearly checkups at the beginning of the month. Both are doing well and I'm happy to report that Lucy is now back on the growth chart! She shot up in height to the 50th percentile and her weight is at about the 5th. Bella was 25th for both. I was told that Bella is on track to be about 5'-2" and Lucy 5'-4". No basketball stars here! Maybe gymnastics would be a better fit...

We took another trip up to the lake. The girls and Carlo went swimming - it was still too cold for me. I was shocked they went in! I found some cute Smokey the Bear bed sheets while rummaging. I'm debating on whether to use them on Lucy's bed (when she moves to a bed) or to sew them into something else. I'm sure that project will be long in the future if it happens.

My cousin brought up a canoe to my parents so we had some fun trying it out.

the party

Well, we survived Bella's birthday party. And I actually I think the kids had a good time! And Bella wasn't scared of having the party either. I had really hoped for nice weather, but it was cool and rained a bit which limited our outside time. We started out playing outside since it wasn't raining at that point. As soon as I felt a drop of rain we did the Dora pinata. Typical Bella, she didn't want a part in a group activity and wouldn't take a try pulling a string of the pinata, so the others didn't mind taking a turn for her. It turned out great with the last string opening it up! No fights over stuff either :)

We then had to go inside to escape the rain. We did the one game I planned - a Dora mad libs game where each kid picked out things to go in a story. One game was probably enough for them though. Then we did cake (Bella again wanted no singing - note her covering her ears) and opened presents. Opening presents was chaos at that point. Our basement seemed really small to begin with having 8 kids and their parents and with wrapping paper and gifts all over, it seemed to get smaller!

Bella handed out the gift bags to each of her friends and then played a bit until it was time to go. Bella has such a hard time with big group situations, and although she did better than other events, she gets so defiant at times and says/does things in front of others that you wish she hadn't. I know this stuff happens to all parents, but I hope they all know Bella really did love having them all there. In fact, the first thing she said to me the morning after was, "Mom, I had a really fun party." Carlo & I had fun too, but agree that maybe we will plan the next one somewhere other than our basement :)