Zoo, Working in the Yard, & singing in the "rain"

So really, the pic of me and the girls was the best of many many pics taken--of course I am not sure why hubby thinks it necessary to practically cut off Ella completely so that we have so much blank space above our heads--but this is crops up in ALOT of pics of me/and Lilly. Oh well-what a fun weekend we had!

We need a date night or weekend

Tom always needs these quicker. He wants to date me any chance he can get, however I usually don't NEED a night with just him for a little while..then it just hits me like a wave. I start making dates in my head...last night we were laying in bed and I said.."I want to go out for Indian food" Indian food? Really?? I thought about it b/c I figured it would be interesting, something we have never done..Honestly there are about a hundred things I would like to do...try a Greek place with high recs..use our gift card to Ruth Chris, go to the Melting Pot, Try the Anvil in Cicero..go out on a boat..I don't know--see a movie, go to a casino...really lots of things..we just need to go out together..alone..and regularly. I am pretty sure Ed Young sais you should go on a date night once a month and honestly that was the plan when Lilly was born. Lilly is two..I think we have gone out by ourselves oh maybe 5 times. It was okay after she was born b/c we used to take walks in the evenings and catch up and she was so quiet that we could talk and it was like she wasn't there. Now she is a toddler..a crazy toddler who definetly wants to be part of the conversation and has a mind of her own-we love our family time, but we need a date and unfortunatly using my mom as a babysitter has not worked out in the past so much (she is busy most of the time). So its time to find a sitter. A real reliable once a month sitter. Hey I would even take once a week if we could. Last year we were supposed to take a date Tuesdays with the concerts on the lawn---we didn't end up getting to go ONCE. Not once..ack...okay I am done..
Cuteness that is Lilly-last night she was calling to her daddy and he went in there and she put her hands together and said "more milk..please please please" ridiculous..she is definetly learning cute gets her places. How do we combat this? :)

Dads Lap-a favorite dinnertime spot

Tom startd something when Lilly was little..probably before she could even eat table food. He would hold her while he ate...then he held her and they shared food. She loves this time with him, but now there is competition. Often times he now holds Ella while he eats and Lilly is in the highchair. Well if she gets done early she will often times wander around the house-but if dad is still eating she often times jumps up in his lap. Yesterday---she did something so cute I just about died. She got down, Tom was holding Ella--and she tried to get in his lap too. There is obviously not room for an wobbly infant and a squirmy two year old on his lap, but Lilly doesn't really get that. So she was trying to make a spot and he kept telling her she wasn't going to fit..so what did she do..she turns right around walks over to me and doesn't say anything she just looks at me and starts pointing wildly at her daddy. Needless to say, I got up and took Ella so she could sit in his lap. I couldn't help myself-just the act of her "telling on daddy" for not letting her in his lap cracked me up. Plus she didn't whine or cry...just pointed wildly with a look on her face saying.."mom take care of it" I guess she knows who gets things done around here :)
These past few days have been Blessed...Tom has had a ton of time off work so on Friday-I had a MOPS meeting but didn't take Ella so I could socialize freely without her asking to be held and then we just did lunch, nap, gym thing..it was a good day- Saturday we had a GREAT day. We got up and went to the zoo (which was tricky to get to with the parade going on, but we made it), we then ran errands, cleaned up the house a bit, took a walk as a family--we had a very full day that was filled with family fun AND getting stuff done. Sunday we went to church and then Bob Evans where we ate huge portions of delicious breakfast food..yum yum and then napped and more errands. Monday we really worked on the house and the yard-I hate our yard..every year we try a new approach to make it pretty and it just isn't..I am going to have to call a company b/c we just dont have any skill in landscaping. We laid down some sod where we had previously mulched. I am just hoping this new approach will lead to a prettier yard. It was a busy day, but the girls were good all weekend and we got so much done and had a lot of fun too. Today Tom is back at work, but then he has the next two days off as well. If I get the time I will try and post pics of the zoo time fun and Lilly helping with the yard work (she took my gloves and put them on to play in the dirt--I love it when she mimics).
Time to start my day.

How I refound myself this week

This week I started off in a not so good place. I got frustrated. I let one person frustrate me so much it brought me down. What it did though was make me so fed up I called a couple of old girlfriends I hadn't talk to in awhile. I needed that easy connection or at least to see if there was still a connection there. There was, and additionally God sent me two other friends to chat with for extended periods of time and of course my safe best friend was still thrown in the mix. Five gloriously different, all crazy and wonderful in their own way woman spent time with me this past week. Time I desperatly needed to be reminded that I am likable. I love these girls because they reminded me who I am. Then another miraculous thing happened I read two different articles this week that basically asked about how comfortable I was with my spouse and how well did we know each other. Wow God, Thanks...exactly what I needed. I call myself the introverted extrovert because while I believe that deep inside me I am an extrovert--I was raised by an extreme introvert so I never learned how to be an extrovert--I feel awkward most of the time because of this. But meeting Tom and falling for him and knowing how much he loves me gave me so much confidence. I truelly felt when we got together and still do that if nobody else in the world liked me at least he did and he is my favorite person anyway. These articles reminded me that my husband and I do know eachother very well, and like each other very much. By the end of the week I felt like the confidence and frustration that I was feeling at the beginning of the week was virtually gone. I don't believe anyone is 100% confident all the time, but at least I feel like me again. God is so good.

Cover the Gray? and Things I would do for a million dollars

So after getting my hair cut, I noticed something..my grays..I am developing nice bright gray hair. I have had grays before, I knew they were there, but for some reason chopping off my hair they stick out to me like soar thumbs. I wouldn't dare pull them out b/c I have heard two grow back in their place (probably ole wives tales..but I am not about to risk it). The thing is, I don't really mind going gray I just don't know how to approach it. I have always dyed my hair for fun up to this point, not with purpous and actually decided I would stop coloring my hair b/c it cost to much and I was fine with my natural color. So as I ponder this I think..should I just buck the trend, throw caution to the wind, and let the good times roll..or rather-let myself go gray. Am I really that confident? How long will the graying process last--how will it look as it changes? Questions I am sure nobody has the answer to. So will I color my hair..not today, but go gray...well I guess only time will tell.
Another thing that came up today was what would I do for a million dollars. Anyone that has spent any time with me knows I can talk forever-my husband knows this for sure-so 90% of the time something will come to my mind to talk about and this is what I thought about today. It came about b/c he said he could ride his bike 10miles in the dead of winter and I said no you couldn't..you would never do that..and he said, but he could and I said well that is a silly thing to say..that is like saying I could shave my head for a million dollars, I could but I wouldn't..then I thought about it. A MILLION dollars..okay..I would shave my head. In reality this post should be what I would do for 250,000 dollars--b/c that is the amount I decided would be enough (tax free) to shave my head. I also decided that I could give up cheese for a year for a million dollars and chocolate for five years. My husband said I should start a blog about it and maybe something would intrigue a wealthy person enough that they would decide they would want to pay me 250,000 dollars to shave my head or whatever..I wont be doing that..but I thought I would at least put it here and as the question continues to circle around in my brain that often doesn't quit I will update when I think of more.

Ha Ha

Little Blue Pants..Hand..and Gross stuff

Darn it I was watching Lilly grab a pair of these tiny blue pants off the laundry pile and remembered a story..First off-for some reason she thinks these pants are a hat currently and while she is not putting them on her own head she is resting them on her sisters head and saying "hat"-now if she could actually get it on her head and not that I would let her get that far this could be a very funny look. Anyway, the only reason these pants are on the laundry pile is that somehow they got pulled out of the too small for anyone bag and put in a drawer (Lilly antic at naptime). The thing that makes this story crazy/funny for me is that one morning Tom got up with the girls and when I emerged Lilly was wearing these pants--size 0-3 months. Yes, He squeezed her into pants Ella isn't even wearing anymore b.c "they were in her drawer". This is the difference between moms and dads. Moms would know those pants shouldn't be in the drawer..they would also realize they are so small--who cares if they are in the drawer they obviously don't fit. I just couldn't believe my 2T year old was squeezed into size 0-3 months (which were capris on her-ha).
The other thing that came to mind is Lillys whole thing with taking my hand and saying "hand" as she does it..which means she wants to lead me somewhere. I love this but she is tough..and often times I am feeding her sister..but boy will she hold my hand with such strength and determination, esp when she needs to show me something "gross".
To this I have to say Thank God she was never one of those kids to put gross stuff in her mouth- instead she freaks when she sees anything resembling anything gross. She points at it with such determination and will not stop talking about it until it is cleaned up--she can't get it out of her head. I mean I am talking fuzz balls here that could be gross. Occasionally, as cats do the vomit in her playroom and she will go in there all nonchalant to play and all of a sudden she will come tearing out screaming and yelling at me to follow her-to which she walks me directly to the grossness for me to promptly clean up. I don't know where she got this behavier-but it just goes to show you sometimes Nature is stronger than Nurter b/c I am really not that clean of a person-physically I shower every day--house--often in shambles. I mean I wouldn't let cat vomit just hang out--but I certainly never screamed and freaked when I saw it..neither has Tom. I am honestly hoping what this means is-she will be a super neat kid who wants to clean the house b/c she can't stand living in a mess. Hey I will gladly give her a pretty decent allowance if she wants to clean the house for me..Crossing my fingers :)