Tough

This girl amazes me.

Last Thursday I came home to find out she had fallen on a sewing needle that (I) had left on the ground. She is normally so busy, something was clearly wrong when Lily wouldn't move or put weight on her leg. So, Matt took her to urgent care where X-Ray confirmed that she did indeed have a sliver of needle in her thigh. They didn't have the tools to remove the needle, so they sent her home and told us to take her in to our clinic in the morning.

In the morning, we called the clinic who advised we take her to the ER (thanks, we could have done that the night before). And so our adventure began. The nice resident tried to remove the needle in the ER, but couldn't (really, someone needs to invent a magnetic tool for this type of thing), so we waited for her to come out of sedation in the ER so she could get scheduled for the OR and taken up to have the procedure done there.

Fortunately, the surgeon was amazing, and Lily was even able to come home that night. Saturday and Sunday she spent a lot of down time (and I put up the Christmas tree and decorations to cheer her up). By Monday, she was full speed ahead. I had to remind her multiple time, "Don't jump." "Don't jump off the couch." "Don't jump on Dad." "No you may not go down the stairs by yourself."

But she has a system now and she does everything herself. Except take on and off her right shoe.

Oh Lily

I went to bed at 8 tonight and woke at 11 to the gleeful sound of Lily playing in the bathroom sink (Matt had gone to play basketball). After putting her back in bed, I soon discovered that her escapades extended beyond the upstairs bathroom. Downstairs I found all the lights on and the TV playing Dora. She had found and eaten half a box of ice cream sandwiches, and there was a half-eaten ice cream sandwich smushed in the carpet in the family room. She found, dumped out, and played in a box of graham cracker crumbs.

When Matt got home, I said, "Good call on putting the latch on the front door. She could have escaped." To which he responded, "I didn't." So, I guess Lily took the initiative to safely lock herself in the house. (Scary).
We also then went looking for Jimmer to make sure he was still alive and well. Lily had let herself into the garage, got out the outside toys, and graffiti-ed the floor and walls with colored chalk, we found another half-eaten ice cream sandwich on the garage floor.

That girl.

How to Tell When Your Kids Are Up to No Good

A Bug's Life

We celebrated the girls' birthday with a Bug Party!

There was a Build-A-Bug Station with Bug/Critter Face Painting:

(Lily wanted hers washed off RIGHT AWAY):

And a Dig-For-Bugs Station:

A Beehive Cake (complete with nice bees):

And after a quick costume change:

Grandma and Grandpa spoiled the girls:

Even Uncle Matthew came to help us celebrate:

What a fun birthday celebration!!

Nice Bees

Yesterday I was getting Ally's backpack ready for school and I noticed an sandwich bag filled with little flowers. It made me smile - that girl is always collecting bugs and flowers - so I took it over to where she was eating her snack and said, "Did you pick these at recess?" She grinned. "They're for the bees." "The bees?" To which Matt chimed in, "Yeah, she put bees in her backpack!" "Ally! You have to be careful the bees will sting you." "Mom, these are nice bees."

Apparently she's been collecting these little bees - she had four of them in her backpack, even better she had one in her pocket in class and the teacher made her go put it in her backpack (I wonder if she didn't realize it wasn't alive/real). On the way home from school, she let one out while Matt was driving, he said something to the effect of "there's a bee in the car!" and she said, "there's three more in here!" That crazy kid had managed to collect four live bees without getting stuck. As Lacey said, she's apparently the Bee Whisperer.

Just a Relaxing Day on the Lake

Mother's Day Weekend

My girls love critters. They did not get this from me.