A Dreaded Day!

Ah, one of those days that I have long been dreading arrived today. I know that most of the dreaded days are probably associated with puberty but I have really been dreading the day when Cady starts wanting to wear character clothing items. Not terrible in the larger scheme of things, I know, but I REALLY HATE all the Strawberry Shortcake and Princess (i.e. Cinderella, Snow White, etc.) CRAP that's out there. It's just so YUCK and I don't think it's cute at all, but I know that little girls LOVE it and that it why companies keep making it!

Anyway, we were shoe shopping today and I picked out a couple pairs of simple and, I thought, cute sandals for Cady to try on. She humored me briefly, complained that they were "too tight" and then spied the shoes pictured above, complete with light-up heels.



"I want THOSE, Mommy," she said, or something to that effect. She slipped them on her feet and looked at them longingly. After a moment passed, I presented another pair of shoes that I liked and asked her to try them on. This fashion struggle continued through several pairs of shoes until she sighed loudly and then muttered, "oh, I don't care."


Had I beaten her down so easily?? Oh, I don't think so. We ended up not buying any shoes for Cady and, after all, she was already wearing her Dora flip-flops.

Visiting the Greenville Zoo

It's been a lovely treat this week to have Grandma Weezie visiting with us. Mostly, we've just enjoyed having someone new to play with and who never gets tired of pushing swings at the park. Yesterday, we trekked 30 minutes down to Greenville to check out their zoo for the first time. What a wonderful little zoo! Way less walking than the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, but just as many animals.

We saw elephants, giraffes, aligators, lions and lots and lots of different types of monkeys. Cady's favorites were the leopard and the aligators. Maddy's favorite was just riding along in the stroller ... Maddy is so content to ride along in the stroller and watch the world around her. About halfway through the zoo, there was a little preschool playground with comfy Adirondack rocking chairs for the parents, not that I got to sit down for more than a minute at a time! It was a perfect break from animal watching AND we got a few good pics too!

Overall, it was a great day ... we'll definitely be back!

So Close ... the end is near!

I know that I've been saying this for weeks but now I think it may actually be true ... the house will be done soon. The weather hasn't been cooperating with Ray's plans to complete the sanding and painting on the exterior, but the forecast for later this week is looking GOOD: low wind, warm temps and no RAIN!! So, if Ray is up for working for several hours after he gets home from a full day at Powers, then maybe I'll be posting some exterior pics by this time next week. I hope so ... yesterday I was talking to our next-door neighbor, who was saying that she was afraid that her lack of lawn-care is making her look "white trash". After what could only be called a "pregnant pause", she hugged me and said, "I'm so glad you're my neighbor!" Hmmm.

Anyway, here are some pics of projects that are completed, all inside. There's Maddy's cheery lavendar nursery (is she too old to be in the "nursery" now? I hope not) and the downstairs half-bath -- a big improvement from before, which we used to call the "crap shack". It had just been a toilet under the stairs but Ray and his brother Jon raised the ceiling, closed off a storage closet to make space for a sink and laid tile for the floor. It's as beautiful as a half-bath can possibly be!

Cady and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

As some of you may know, this past weekend was our church's General Conference, during which we usually hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir several times. Thanks to BYUTV,we were able to watch the broadcast from Salt Lake in the comfort of our own home. Well, Cady is very into MoTab now. Our new little evening habit is to sit down and eat ice cream while watching the choir, thanks to our handy dandy DVR. She likes to watch the "boys and girls" and gets quite perturbed if one gender is shown more than the other. If "the boys" are singing for a while, Cady wants to know "where the girls??" and vice versa. It is so funny, but not very surprising I suppose. Cady loves to sing, loves to listen to "her" music in the car and loves to dance, so why not love MoTab too??

Spring Break is Over

I always used to be appalled when mothers would say that they couldn't wait until their child(ren) went back to school after spring break or summer vacation. What a horrible thing to say, I thought, or even worse, to feel. How could you not want to be with your children all the time, I wondered. Well, now I know. Cady leaves me to go to preschool for a scant 3 hours each weekday morning and it is precious time. As Maddy is still usually taking a morning nap, I often have at least an hour in the house when I can "do my own thing" (i.e. CLEAN!) with no interference from little ones. It's such a good thing: the house is cleaner when Cady is in school AND that translates into me feeling more like I can focus on the girls later in the day.

So today was the official last day of Spring Break and, as the weather was cool and rainy most of the week, we made the most of a lovely, sunny day and walked down to our neighborhood park. Maddy has never been a big fan of the swings but she humored me a little today and Cady pumped her feet in the right direction ... ahhh, the little milestones that are victories in the life of a 3-year old, and her mommy!!