We’ve been busy little birthday bugs
around here lately; baking, cleaning, shopping, preparing, and
planning. Lex is getting pretty excited and asks each day if
it’s his birthday yet. I made his cake today (early I know, but
it’s so cool and I wanted to have time for revisions if
necessary). He helped and picked icing colors and all. Then we
got a big delivery from FedEx and promptly opened it (fair
game, right Mema??) Lex loves his new table and umbrella, and
of course the box it came in. Thanks Mema and G’Tom. It will be
very handy for the party too. And I suspect we will do a lot of
picnic lunches this summer.

Alan took
today off to help get ready and just have a family day. It was
nice. I even got to sleep in for the first time in forever!
Extra nice! Now I have a few presents to wrap and then I think
I’m calling it a night. Family arrives tomorrow. Yay!!

Here are a few pics to tide you all over until
tomorrow or Sunday :)

Silly
boy in a box.

Cute
girl in a hat.

I have a
series of pictures of Alan and Lex carrying the picnic table
around the house. It amuses me because Alan holding the table
over his head like nothing and Lex was right behind him saying
“oh, this is so heavy! This umbrella is sooo heavy!” The
picture is cute but the memory is best :)

Someone
loves his new present!

I think
everyone loves the new present. Alan says this one looks like
an album cover :)

I added a few more pics to the photos.datdec.com
site. I have lots more to add, but not a lot of time. I’ll get
there though, I promise :)

Eve has taken an interest in her baby dolls
these past few days and has been carrying one or more of them
around and even sleeping with them sometimes. It makes me
wonder if it’s a girl thing or just availability. We didn’t
have dolls when Lex was 13 months, but if we had would he have
gone through the same phase? We have one scary doll (IMO) that,
when squeezed, says “I love you” and makes kissy sounds. Our
daycare toddler used to carry it around all the time and sit on
it at mealtimes, so we’d all be sitting there eating lunch and
all of a sudden we’d hear the doll making kissy noises under
her butt. It cracked me up. Anyway, one day Lex said, “Eve,
that’s the kissy doll” and now whenever she picks it up she
kisses it :)

We had a scary moment this
evening when Eve took a dive off the changing table! Poor baby.
There’s about a 1sq ft space on the floor, surrounded by the
step stool Lex was on, the changing table and the diaper pail.
She managed to go straight down and hit her head right in that
empty spot. I grabbed her before her body fell and hit
anything, but unfortunately just after her head hit. She cried
for a few minutes, but otherwise seems fine. She was walking
and babbling and all, so I’m assuming she’s ok.

My little birds got up at 5:46 this morning –
ridiculously early and probably before the rest of the birds!
We were going to go grocery shopping this morning (I’ve been
saying that for 3 days now) but Eve went down for a nap at
7:30am and slept until 10:30! It was great. Lex and I played,
did some tidying, went outside, played on the swings, did some
weeding, and ended up having a snack in a tree. Well, he had a
snack in a tree anyway :) He said he wanted to sit in a tree,
like a bird. He said he was a black bird, then looked at his
outfit and decided he was actually and blue and white bird :)
Definitely a bird!

Then, for some
strange reason, he took the world’s easiest nap! We’ve gotten
to the point where he gets out of bed repeatedly until I “hold”
him for a few minutes, which results in me being
angry/frustrated and him kicking and screaming. After a few
minutes he settles down and goes to sleep. This has become part
of the bedtime/naptime routine, unfortunately. Last night,
after the screaming, I told him that I really don’t care if he
sleeps right away, he just has to stay in bed. We talked about
some quiet things he could do in bed, like singing himself a
song, or telling doggie about his day. He got right in bed and
that was the last I heard of him. At nap time this morning I
reminded him that he doesn’t have to go to sleep right away,
just stay in bed, and I had him tell me a few quiet things he
could do. I didn’t hear a peep out of him and he didn’t get up
once. I went up 1/2 hour later to check on him and he was sound
asleep! Yay! Probably just a fluke, but I enjoy every easy nap
time I get. Then Eve took a nap 1/2 hour later so I just had a
full hour with no kids! She’s up now though, so I should go be
attentive and what not. Actually, I think we’re going to try
for some grocery shopping this afternoon. I really don’t want
to have to do it Saturday morning!

I’m thinking about becoming a recluse.
Some days it just seems like it would be easier. We went out
for a walk today with two friends and their kids (3 moms, 3
tots, 3 babes) and it was nice… mostly. Lex and Eve were both
sans naps, but that was the only way I was able to get out of
the house. I tried for an hour to get them to nap, but when my
friend called to see if we wanted to walk I gave up and headed
out. I figured I’d just get them extra tired for an early
bedtime. Instead the final leg of the walk involved me carrying
Eve and chasing Lex then forcing him into the stroller with Eve
precariously balanced in my arm. He was exhausted and sooooo
dirty! We picked up Alan and our shiny old car (got the Saturn
serviced and cleaned and boy is it nice now!) and headed home.
Bath was crazy, dinner was short and crazy and bedtime was long
and drawn out with lots of tears from both of them. So much for
an early bedtime! Days, naps, and bedtime usually go smoother
when we don’t go anywhere further than the yard. Now that it’s
summer maybe I’ll just be a serious home body and give up the
little remaining social life I have…. hmmm… that might put
a damper on my Pampered Chef party plans though! :)

Pics: (ok, the batteries in my camera
were dead so I wasn’t able to take any real pictures, but just
close your eyes and visualize these two scenes I would have
captured)

1 – Lex, in his
orange long sleeve shirt, blue jeans and matching hat and
Crocs, holding hands with Josie in a pink dress and blond hair,
holding hands with Dylan in shorts, tshirt,and a baseball cap.
The three of them walked, ran, and played like this for several
minutes. I was behind them and it would have made a really cool
picture.

2 – Lex and Josie sitting in
our double stroller with the giant flexible sun shade pulled
down over them and just their little blond heads poking out the
top. Lex had it tucked under their necks like a blanket. Very
cute.

We had a really nice day today. The
weather was beautiful and we spent most of the day outside. My
wonderful husband took care of my outdoor “honey do” list. We
got the back deck (almost) completely cleaned off, the garage
cleaned out and organized (yay!), stakes in the garden, the
slide up on the new, hand-me-down playset from our neighbor and
lots of other stuff. The kids played outside, neighbors came
and went, etc. It was great. Lex is also super helpful and
carried stuff for Alan, watered the gardens for me, and more.
We are very lucky to have such helpful, sweet, well behaved
kids. We will be ending the day with take-out from Lui Lui’s
(yummy!), ice cream and a movie :) Overall a pretty excellent
way to spend the day :)

We worked hard
all day and didn’t have the camera handy, but here are a few
that were worth hunting down the camera.

Lex with
a makeshift stool to play with the light switches. We had a
mini-rave in the garage for a few minutes.

Eve has
taken a liking to all the ride-on toys we have kicking around.
She’s at the age/stage that she can get herself going backwards
but not forwards yet, so she spent awhile backing out of the
garage and crashing into the cars in the driveway. Then I’d
pick her up (bike and all) and bring her back into the garage
where she’d start the process over again.

We had a nice day today. The Pampered Chef
party went well and I bought stuff, of course. I’m even
contemplating hosting one. Think that’s insane? Today’s party
officially “closes” on Wednesday, so I have to decide by then.
If I do it I want to be sure my friend gets the proper credit
for it :) I kind of like the idea of it, and getting together
with friends is always fun, but there’s that awkward sales
pitch part that I find a little off-putting. Anyway, we’ll
see.

I got done early enough to head
over to the birthday party too. That was fun. It was a
beautiful day and there were lots of kids. We dressed Eve in a
party dress (well, a dress anyway!) and they had fun with the
other kids. My two were the youngest ones so they mostly
watched the other kids, but I think everyone had fun. Then we
played outside here for awhile with the neighbors. Now I’m
wishing Lex would fall asleep so I can finish vacuuming :) Alan
is outside finishing the lawn mowing. We’re a wild and crazy
bunch, eh? We might even top off the night with some fake,
dairy-free ice cream Alan got at the Co-op the other day. Slow
down!! ;)

The Lilypie ticker says Eve is 1yr, 1mo,
1wk, and 1 day today. That’s fun :)

Sorry for the lack of substance lately.
I’m sure I’ll be inspired again soon. We have a busy weekend
coming up. I’ll be attending my first Pampered Chef party on
Saturday. That’s how you know when you’re officially a grown
up! While I’m there Alan will be taking the kids to a birthday
party. Sunday we are hoping to do some yard work. There is a
lot to be done before Lex’s party. Of course the weather is
supposed to be cold and rainy all weekend, so we’ll see how
much yard work actually goes on. We’ve had a nice week of
sunshine and lots of outdoor time. Eve now fully enjoys the
outdoors and often brings me her shoes and asks to go out.
Anyway, they are both up now so I should put this away. I’m
hoping to pop them in the stroller this afternoon and take them
for a walk. After baby turns 1 I think you’re no longer allowed
to use the term “baby fat” unless you’re talking about fat on
the baby! So I gotta get me some exercise :)

I’m uploading some
videos too, so keep your eye on the movie bar down the side
there.

There’s nothing like a child’s laughter.

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

PS. I forget to
give Alan props for the video :) I think I was sleeping that
morning.