23 Months

Ha! I remembered today. Only one more month until my baby turns two. I am not ready for her to grow up yet.

She loves her siblings, and wants to be like them and do everything with them. She is very affectionate and gives lots of hugs and kisses.

I'll Get It!

This is what Danielle said when she dropped her fork on the floor at the dinner table. The past week her vocabulary is expanding and starting to include some 3 word sentences. Her speech is not nearly as clear as Emily or Brian's so we are easily frustrated by what she is trying to tell us. If it is out of context, most of the time we have no clue. She repeats most words, but again she does not enunciate at all.

Eddie put a picture of the big kids as wallpaper on my iphone, and Danielle loves to play with my phone, when she sees the picture she points and says Brian, and Emily. I will have to get it recorded so we can remember how she says their names.

A Little OCD

My littlest babe reminds me so much of my first babe. She is very observant, and notices the little things around her; something in the wrong place, some candy placed mostly out of view, and knows where she has left something. We used to call Brian "eagle eyes", and while that doesn't quite fit her, I will have to think of something clever. She pays close attention to details.

She has almost gotten the "potty" thing down...she tells us that she is "poppy" even when she is just wet, goes in the bathroom, wants her diaper off, the Fuzzi Bunz that we use have snaps, so she can't undo them by herself, which I am thankful for, puts her potty seat on the potty, wipes, flushes, closes lid. She is just missing one important step...actually going to the bathroom, but I am sure she will get it soon.

Today I was working at the office, and we have a card reader for our new check-in system. I didn't even realize that she was paying attention, but she wanted her own card to swipe, so cute. She also tries to make copies, gets papers that have been printed, dumps out paperclips, uses the stapler, works on the computer, talks on the phone, and makes notes on papers. I have my very own office assistant.

While I was working the big kids when to River City day camp. When I picked them up, them both had their hair done cute. I guess that was the afternoon "activity". Emily had a cute french braid twist bun, and Brian had a "mohawk" down the middle.

Stupid Hot

One of my friends on Facebook described our current weather as "Stupid HOT". I liked it so much that I think I will steal it.

Forecast: Today 103, Tuesday 106, Wednesday 104, Thursday 100, Friday 98, Saturday 97

Official Highs, Little Rock, AR
August 1st 101
July 31st 102
July 30th 100
July 29th 100
July 28th 96
July 27th 97
July 26th 98
July 25th 98
July 24th 100
July 23rd 100
July 22nd 101
July 21st 100
July 20th 97
July 19th 95
July 18th 97
July 17th 96
July 16th 96
July 15th 100
July 14th 97

Everything outside looks so sad, the grass is brown, the trees are droopy, I don't even want to check out the plants. ): Now you know why we sit inside and don't really do anything, except watch TV, and surf the internet. It is really too hot to do anything else.

Growing Up

Brian has outgrown all of his church clothes. His pants looked like he was waiting for a flood, and we are definitely not expecting one of those anytime soon, but I digress. He complained about his shoes being too tight, and the black socks...when I could find some that actually matched they usually had holes in them.

So we had a mother and son outing to Burlington Coat Factory. They have an excellent selection of dress clothes for boys. We found some new shoes, exactly like the last ones, only a few sizes larger. Then I chose a couple of pairs of black pants, while Brian picked out shirts and ties. I wasn't planning on getting shirts, but Brian was very thoughtful about his selections and I couldn't disappoint him. Then he found a "real tie" that was the right length. It didn't have a tag, but there was a sales associate that picked out another tie that was marked $2.99 and told us to just use that one. Sweet!

So we got shoes, 2 pants, 2 shirts and 2 ties for $62. I think we did pretty good! Brian was very excited to show off all his new things when he got home.

Today as he was getting ready for church, daddy helped him tie his first real tie. He sure is growing up.

As for the rest of us, Danielle has been running a high fever since Thursday, it finally broke on Saturday morning, she is still very lethargic, is not eating much and has a sore throat, which makes her cry when she coughs. I started to feel like I was getting it yesterday, and today Emily is complaining about her throat being sore. Guess we will just continue to sit around the house and be lazy some more until school starts.

Speaking of being lazy...I feel really bad for not keeping up with our blog this summer. But actually we have not done anything very interesting. I will do a recap soon, but actually planning our upcoming Walt Disney World trip is what has been keeping me busy lately.

I have been spending hours on the Internet researching, planning, learning, reading everyday. Here is how I am spending my time this summer.
I hop on the DIS Boards to get lots of info: http://www.disboards.com and http://www.wdwinsiders.com/
I subscribe to newsletters from these sites: www.mousesavers.com, and www.allears.net
I read interesting blogs about Disney: http://scarlettachely1.wordpress.com, www.themouseconnection.com, http://disneyshawn.blogspot.com/
I bought the Unofficial Guide to Disneyworld, as well as touring plans from Ridemax, Tour Guide Mike, and Touring Plans. I have Disney World Apps on my iphone including WDW Lines and Undercover Tourist.
I am making ADR's, finding codes for car rental deals, getting deals on hotels from Wednesday Internet only specials. I have booked BBB for Emily, Pirates League for Brian,and a trip to the MK Barber Shop for Danielle.
I am stalking ebay for Princess dresses, and trading pins.
I ordered a Encyclopedia of Disney Characters, and I am going to have it spiral bound to use for autographs. I need to pick up some retractable sharpie markers.
I am collecting items to keep the kids entertained and having fun: Disney Pez dispensers, mister fans, glow sticks, flash lights, and silly bands.
I am planning to let the kids have fun filling a box with Disney Mr. Potato Head parts, and making your Light Saber in Downtown Disney.
I have received my set of Walt Disney World maps, and I am going to send a request for an autographed Disney Character print.
I am making invitations for dining at the castle with Cinderella, and having a postcard from Mickey sent to the kids before our trip letting the kids know how excited he is to meet them.
I have figured out the best day to do what park, I am planning to be at ropedrop every morning, I have scheduled all the parades, shows, and special events.
I am still trying to book a Fantasmic Package, and I can't wait until the Ridemax dates for October are up, so I can schedule our rides and fasspass timing.
I still have a few more little surprises to buy for the kids.
The countdown on my iphone app currently reads 71 days 1 hour and 35 minutes, and I cannot WAIT.
Can you tell I am excited not only about the trip, but having a blast planning all the details.

OK

OK, I have been on a blogging strike, no reason, just not in the mood.

OK, I missed posting Danielle's 22nd month birthday. It was two days ago...

OK, is Danielle's new favorite word. If you ask her to do something, she says, OK, it's really quite cute. This summer we have discovered that she is a water baby, and has no fear, jumps right in the pool, her head goes underwater, and she doesn't even care. She tells us when she is poopy. Brian is still her idol, and she copies everything he does, including hitting head with her hand when she is mad about something, I almost have to laugh when she does it. She wants to do everything the big kids do, she takes her backpack to summer camp, takes off her shoes and puts them in the cubby just like them.

OK, Brian just informed me that his pee is red, I guess we now know that the kidney stone is still there, darn! We haven't seen any signs in 5 years, and we had hoped that he had passed the stone

OK, the big kids jumped of the diving board without any floaties today, Brian did a good job at swimming to the edge, Emily is doing pretty well, but needs some help, and reassurance.

OK, hopefully I will get back on track, posting regular updates about our lives.

Let Freedom Ring

The 4th of July was on a Sunday, and while I tried to convince Eddie that it would be fun to go down to the River with thousands of other people and not be able to find a place to park, to watch the fireworks, it is just as fun that we didn't.

We had our own mini fireworks in the street at dark and then we were able to see a few aerial fireworks that were not too far away. The kids had fun, but Danielle thought they were a little noisy and scary.




Danielle made this cute flag in nursery, and the flag and this blog title are reminders of why we celebrate today.