'Nastics

Lila has been taking gymnastics classes since the fall, but I've never documented it with pictures - until now.
This was actually our last "nastics" class. Lila is not the most compliant child, and having her in a mommy-and-me class was at times painful for me. I decided early on that she needed to learn how to be in a class. We wouldn't quit going just because Lila wasn't following directions, in fact we would keep going because Lila needed to learn how to follow directions. Well, she's gotten better - not great, but better. And truthfully, I'm tired of going every Tuesday morning, so we're done. Spring is coming and we'll find other things to do. She's actually really good at gymnastics, though. She has the perfect strong little body for it. Maybe we'll pick it up again sometime in the future - when I can drop her off and not have to watch her do the opposite of what the teacher says every week.

Night of the Notables

Emma had a really cool school event last night - The Night of the Notables. Each kid in the gifted and talented program (grades 2 through 4) with her has been researching a "notable" person this year. Last night was a party where the kids came in costume and the adult guests mingled with them - in character. The kids stayed in character and weren't supposed to tell who they were. They answered questions that the adults asked them and partied with punch and cookies. What a cute project! The kids really had an understanding of who they were portraying, and they were SO cute!

Emma was Princess Diana. She was gorgeous and knew her stuff! At the end of the night, the kids all got up to the microphone and gave their real names and their notables. Here's the video:

Beauty Shop

This is what you play when you have two little girls.

Dancing Fools

So, it's a snow day, and I'm going to try to figure out how to put video from my camera to my blog. It can't be too hard, right?

We had a school skating party on President's Day. At the end, when the skates were turned in, it changed into a dance party. Lila loves to follow Emma and her friends with their dance moves. Here they are:




Lila also did much better on her skates. She wanted to go with Emma and Hailey - not Mommy and Daddy!

Lila's favorite dance move is the "Elaine" from Seinfeld. I think I maybe captured it here.

Snow Day!

Yeah! We've been waiting for one of these all winter! All three of my girls had a blast out in the snow. We got about 3 inches, maybe more, but it's supposed to rain later. Afterwards, the hot chocolate was delicious!

Breakfast in Bed

Monday morning, while I was still recuperating, the girls decided to bring me breakfast in bed. Such sweet and thoughtful daughters I have! Ryan was gone for the day, so they were downstairs while I tried to sleep in past 7:30. The next thing I knew, I was awakened (yes I had actually fallen asleep between yelling at them and at Trudy), by two very proud girls. They brought me a kids plate with one piece of slightly toasted bread and a little tiny bit of butter spread (I've not had any calories in days - the real butter would have tasted good!). Also on the plate was a kid bowl with about 7 grapes in it. The toast already had 2 bites taken out of it, and Emma was scolding her sister about that. Lila asked for some as soon as I picked it up to take a bite, so I tore off a piece for her. Then Emma looked at me longingly. She wanted some too. So there we sat. Three of us in my sick bed sharing one piece of almost toast and 7 grapes - good times!

Sick Mommy

I'm recovering today from a very bad stomach thing. It hit Saturday night and involved simultaneous stomach explosions (if you know what I mean) until dawn. I'm trying to decide if it was food poisoning or a bad flu bug - but does it matter? I lost 3 pounds! I'm hoping it was the food poisoning thing so the girls won't get it next. This morning I feel pretty good. I just ate some cereal - my first food other than a couple bites of chicken soup last night. We'll see how it sits in my tummy.

Fresh Haircut

Lila was due for a haircut today. She sat so nicely while I cut and dried her hair. Afterwards, she even let me take some pictures. So here's her fresh look. We're thinking about growing out the bangs. They look good dried to one side. We'll see.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We enjoyed a day celebrate our love for each other today. The girls started out their day with pink heart-shaped pancakes on our special plate. Luckily Emma ate about 30 minutes before Lila, so they each got to use the plate.

Ryan surprised us by coming home early! -But unfortunately, it was because he's sick. So he delivered his Valentines to his three favorite ladies and promptly took a long nap. The girls were pretty excited to get heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and roses, though. (So was I!) Lila said, "Oh my goodness, Happy Valentime's Day, Daddy!" Emma was happy to be be reminded how much her Dad loves her.

I cooked a great dinner and invited my mom over, since my dad's away and my husband was was too sick to enjoy it. The girls were also excited when Aunt Becca stopped by with Valentines. They each made cards for everyone and were very proud to send them and hand them out.

Ryan and I were talking about the Hallmark holiday this week. And, while we agreed that it's a totally commercial nonsense holiday, we talked about how important it is for little girls to know that their Dad wants them for a Valentine. My whole life, my dad always went out of his way to bring me a rose or some chocolates - he still does. I want our daughters to be reminded often that their Daddy loves them so much and thinks that they're worth a little romantic treat every now and then. They're so lucky to have Ryan for a Daddy!

My Dear

One of Lila's latest catch phrases is "my dear". Once again, I don't know where she gets it! I just handed her a bagel and she said, "Thank you, my dear." She says it through out the day at random times. I must admit, I like it - so proper!
Her other new ones are "holy guacamole!" and "chihuahuas cheese and crackers!", but that's from our new favorite book, Skippyjohn Jones.

Retreat

I was blessed last weekend by being able to attend a Women's Retreat from our church. I've never done this before and what an experience! The weekend was all about God's love for us - His daughters. One thing we were taught was to look for God's love in the everyday things. God definitely loves me through my friends...

He shows me His love through His awesome creation. How about this sunset over the Chesapeake Bay?! (Thanks for the pictures, Shelly).


He loved me by giving me 6 meals with my closest friends that we didn't have to prepare, clean up after, or cut up for anyone.

..And then there were the snacks which accompanied the tremendous fun and games portion of the weekend! I had a wonderful time learning about God's love for me - because my husband loves me enough to say, "Go, have fun, we'll be fine!" How blessed I am!