We had a beautiful day today! Let me start
by saying it ended with a nice, calm bedtime and both kids
asleep by 7:00pm. Can’t beat that!

I
took them to the lake today. I’m pretty sure it’s Lex’s first
time at the beach and it’s definitely Eve’s first time. I
think!! Anyway, they both loved it! I was a little worried
because swimming the past two summers has involved me standing
right behind Lex and hauling him up every time he lost his
footing and went under. Today only involved one rescue mission
and it was at the end of our stay, when he was very tired. On
the way over I made up the “belly button” and “stop, return”
rules. The first says he can only go as deep as his belly
button and the second says if mommy yells “stop” he must stop
immediately and come back to me. Surprisingly he did very well
with both rules, although a few times he “confused” his belly
button with his nipples. :)

Eve was
very excited when she saw the beach and water. Here she’s
standing by the shore squealing as Lex is running around in the
water.

A
typical conversation went like this. Me: Can you see your belly
button? Lex: (looks down) No! Me: C’mon back in then! And he
did :)

Eve spent most of the time at the waters edge playing with
the sand and splashing in the water. She seemed to love it
though, and when we went up to the picnic tables for lunch she
kept trying to run back to the beach. She learned to say
“bucket” today. You can hear it pretty well in the video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9Vj1lWEWsg]

This is
a cool picture, I think. He was freezing and his teeth were
chattering, but he looks beautiful in the
picture.

Sitting
on a bridge at the playground. The lake has a great beach area,
a playground, and lots of picnic tables. It’s a really nice set
up. Eve was laughing as Lex and Nate ran across the bridge, but
I couldn’t let go of her long enough to get a good picture.
This one is silly, but cute.

Lunch
time. This morning Lex asked me to cut up a pear so he could
bring it to the lake. He was excited when lunch time came
around and he could finally eat his pear.

We were there from about
10:30am-2:00pm. I was convinced they would both pass out in the
car, but not so. Eve fell asleep pretty quickly, but Lex chose
to eat biscuits instead. When we got home I put her in bed and
he said he wanted to “watch the singing penguin movie and read
some books,” so I put on Happy Feet (I love our library!) and
he sat on the floor reading to himself. Not sure why he wanted
both, but he insisted and I wanted to eat lunch and unload the
car, so his plan made us both happy :) She woke up after about
an hour and they played happily while I cleaned (much overdue)
the kitchen/dining room area. I often feel bad about cleaning a
lot while they play because I don’t want to be ignoring them,
but after the busy morning I think a quiet afternoon was just
what we needed.

Dinner involved a fun
game of “Eve, can you say…” fill in the blank, she repeats it
as best she can, and Lex rolls around in hysterics. The game
was much funnier today because they were both so tired. Then
showers, stories and bed. Love it when it’s easy. Lex is now
sleeping with doggie stuffed up his PJs shirt. I guess that was
easier than the blanket belly pack he normally constructs for
doggie.

Alan is playing poker tonight so
I have sooo much time to myself tonight, and the kitchen is
already clean!! I’m going to savor the moment by watching lame
TV and eating fat-free, sugar-free pudding. Wild woman, huh?!?
:)