Aunt LAURA!!!

I picked Laura up Friday night, and after about 10 minutes in the car, we ran out of things to talk about. Awkward silence. I almost turned the car around to take her back to the airport, but remembering how important it is to my parents that we get along, we decided to try to work things out. Fine! It's so hard to get along with her. Also, I forgot to bring snacks for the long car ride back (with so much food, we might as well start right away!), and since she hadn't had much to eat that day, we stopped at Bojangles. After an agonizing decision-making process, we left with our fried chicken and biscuit. Welcome to the South.

The next morning, the girls cooperated nicely and let us sleep in until 8--they were thrilled to see Laura. Dave picked up breakfast at Bojangles (we seriously don't eat there that often--Laura likes biscuits!), and after eating, we went out to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. It was gorgeous.

Chalk drawings:Laura teaches Mabes the art of spinning bubbles:

After Annabelle's nap, we went to the Nature Museum. We felt like we had to do something to break up the eating, plus--thanks to getting a family Exploratorium membership at Christmas--we got in free. We wandered around, saw some bugs, snakes, birds, butterflies, turtles, and an owl.


Okay, I have to admit: when I was telling Laura some of the things I'd thought of doing that day, I mentioned the Nature Museum and added, "Plus, it's right next to Freedom Park, one of the nicer parks in Charlotte. AND, judging by the Bachelor previews, Emily meets Brad at that park on the hometown dates episode airing Monday." Sold. It was a gorgeous afternoon, so we took a stroll through the rather crowded park. We embraced on the bridge, Bachelor-style:

And then we went to Cookout:
We have late church (boo!), so we spent Sunday morning playing and eating waffles with spekuloos* (yay!). Went to church, came home and had Sunday dinner, put the kids to bed, and then had popcorn. It was a good day.


Monday was Presidents' Day, but because of snow days last month, Mabes had to go to school. This worked out nicely--after dropping Mabes off at school, we put Babybelle in the jogging stroller and Laura, Dave, and I went for a run. It was a good run, punctuated by Laura periodically throwing her arms out and shouting, "I LOVE this weather!" We had time to come home, shower, eat breakfast and head over to Mabes' school to eat lunch (brunch?) with her. She loved getting to show Aunt Laura her school, and tell her friends that her Aunt Laura from New York was coming for lunch.

Then Laura and I went shopping, though the highlight of that trip was sitting out in the sun, eating frozen yogurt, and just chatting. It was perfect. That afternoon, the girls had a bit more time to play and go for a walk with Aunt Laura, and then it was time to head to the airport. As if sending her back to 30 degree snowy weather wasn't bad enough, halfway to the airport Laura realized she forgot her coat. I tried to get her to take the Strawberry Shortcake blanket we had in the car, but she assured me she'd be fine.

We did...well, not much. But that's why I love my family. Some visits are packed with things to do (organized by a yellow legal pad), while others are pretty much just hanging out. But it's always fun. Mabes had a hard time going to bed that night, and the next morning she told me she didn't sleep well because she was so sad Aunt Laura had to leave.


*And I thought the Dutch were brilliant! Kudos to that whole region for delicious breakfast foods. The jar of spekuloos says it's made from Belgian gingerbread cookies, but I think they somehow manage to get rainbows, sunshine, and perhaps a little crack in there.

Berry Berry Kix

Mabes was so sad to see both Laura and the two boxes of Berry Berry Kix I'd bought for her leave Monday night that I promised I'd buy Mabes a box for her on Tuesday (more on Laura later). I did, and she enjoyed them Wednesday and Thursday for breakfast. This morning, I asked Mabes if she wanted more Berry Berry Kix for breakfast or something else. She said she didn't know what she wanted, but she didn't want Berry Berry Kix, because "When I was eating them yesterday, Daddy sang a song about Berry Berry Kix, and I didn't like the song. It embarrassed me. I'm afraid if I eat Berry Berry Kix again, he'll sing the song again. I don't think I can ever eat them again."

My response: it must have been a bad song to make Berry Berry Kix lose their appeal.

Dave's response: That embarrassed her? Oh, just wait until she's in middle school!

Happy

It's 73 degrees outside, I have my windows open. The house is clean, floors are scrubbed, laundry folded and put away, clean sheets on the beds. Bullet Bill is gassed up, washed, and vacuumed. I'm wearing short sleeves. The girls are getting over their 6 week long back-to-back colds and ear infections and sleeping better (sadly, this is relative--I was still up a couple of times last night with Annabelle). If Annabelle's ear infection comes back again, I have a much better thermometer. I'm tracking orders from Amazon that will arrive this afternoon (what? the "out for delivery" notification doesn't thrill you?). And this evening, I will be tracking the North Carolina-bound flight of this redhead:

And because Laura cannot live by cheeks alone:
(not pictured: Diet Coke, 3 kinds of ice cream, Bojangles, Cookout milkshakes, and either the roast or tri tip we have Sunday night)

It's going to be a good weekend. Anyone have any suggestions of something to do tomorrow? Laura isn't hard to please; she'd be perfectly happy playing video games, eating, and hugging all day. But I'd hate to waste a gorgeous Saturday inside.

Christmas in February

Last weekend, Dave's mom came to visit and brought Christmas with her. Mabes was thrilled to see her Grandma, more so when she saw the pile of gifts to open. Annabelle seemed a bit overwhelmed by it all but had a blast. She got a new doll that she loves:

And rocking chair:
She also got a push/ride-on toy. It's basically a walker. It seems like she's been *so close* to walking for a while now, but this may actually do it. She can stand on her own, even push herself up into a stand in the middle of the room and do squats, but she's not terribly interested in actually moving her legs. When we were at my parents' for Christmas, my mom brought out the little chair that Mabes used to push around, that basically taught her to walk. Annabelle had no interest. But now she's showing more interest and she really likes this toy. She's been pushing it around and on Monday she took 1 step on her own. She did it again yesterday (not when we were trying to help her, of course--she pushed herself up to standing, took a step, sat down and clapped), but that's about it. I think her determination to do this her way and on her own terms is kind of hilarious.




Jackie also brought treats from the local donut shop, which I love. She brought a donut for Annabelle, since she didn't get the traditional (guess it's not a tradition if we only did it for one kid) first birthday donut.

She wasn't impressed:

We had lots of fun with Grandma Jackie and are so happy she was able to come visit.

Where did you get that hat?

Tuesday was Mabes' hundredth day of school. I've heard of all sorts of "hundred day" kindergarten celebrations, but I have to say, I loved Mabes' assignment, even if I was a little overwhelmed: she had to bring a hat with 100 things on it. At first, Mabes wanted to bring a hat with 100 of her toys on it. We talked about it more, and decided to do flowers. I was thinking I'd stick 100 foam flower stickers to a hat and call it a day, but then I had flashbacks to being the creative underachiever in 10th grade biology and reconsidered (that's a story for another day). I talked to my friend Karin and she said she her daughter wanted buttons, so she sewed on the buttons. Crazy, I thought. Who would sew 100 buttons to a hat? Not me!

The more I thought about it, the more I thought a ridiculous flower-covered hat would be awesome. And since Mabes isn't gentle, I realized I'd have to sew the flowers on. So I ate my words (something I seem to be doing a lot lately) and spent a good chunk of time on Saturday and Monday sewing flowers to a hat. When Dave rolled his eyes at me, I pointed out that since it would be a well-made hat, Mabes could wear it should we get invited to Prince William & Kate's wedding. It could happen.

And I found a cute ladybug button, so we decided to do 99 flowers and 1 ladybug. Mabes was quite relieved by this, as she didn't want anyone to think that she was wearing a 100 flower hat to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Hundred Flowers Movement. *That* would be embarrassing! Kindergartners can be cruel if they suspect Maoist sympathies.

So here's Mabes in her hat:

It's ridiculous and reminds me of spring and I love it. But I really don't think it's dressy enough for a royal wedding, so we're back to square one on that.

And while we're on the subject, here's Annabelle in the awesome hat my good friend/former roommate Emily knit for her. I love this hat so much, and it always makes Annabelle smile. That could be because I'm laughing at her when I put it on her, though.

There's a first time for everything

A couple of days ago, I was driving Mabes home from school and she was complaining about how cold she was. (I'm not complaining--it's been much nicer than last winter, in that it's been above 40 degrees several times already!) "Hey Mabes, you think it's cold here? Where Ainsleigh and Dono live, it was so much colder yesterday."

Her eyes got big, "Like, as cold as when it snowed here?"

"Colder. Remember how cold it was when it snowed? It's like that, only 30 degrees colder."

Mabes' jaw dropped. "What? That's...I...uh...I don't even know what to say!" She was quiet, presumably deep in thought, for the remainder of the trip.

I'm going to have to record this in her baby book: February 2, 2011--the day Mabes was rendered speechless.

One year one month one day

This little girl

is now 1. Technically no longer a baby, but still my baby. To be honest, I was kind of dreading her birthday. Annabelle has been a great baby, and I didn't want the baby stage to be over. It was a great year. I miss cuddling up on the couch with her:

But I love chasing her:

Her current interests include crawling faster than any baby I've seen, standing a lot (more lately, now that she's feeling better and her ear infection is gone), clicking her tongue, growling when something makes her happy, cuddling with Murray, laughing at Mabes, saying "Dada," not saying "Mama," and being a complete Daddy's girl. Dave works from home, so if he comes out during the day, her face lights up, she growls, yells "Dada!," bounces a little, then race-crawls over to him, knocks her head into his shins, sits back, and wiggles her ankles and wrists until he picks her up. The other day I was cleaning up the kitchen and before I knew it, she had bolted down the hall and was outside Dave's office sticking her fingers under the door whispering "Dadadada!"

She has her own opinion and gets mad when she doesn't get what she wants and randomly throws her food on the floor even though she's still hungry. So cute! And she still wakes up at night and I think she's trying to drop down to one nap, which I am totally not ready for. But despite that, she's an absolutely adorable one-year-old.

How could you not want to squeeze her?