fantasy football?

Bengals win.

Packers win.

DETROIT wins????

Carrie is a happy girl (with or without Detroit).

Nature Adventures

Going on the theme of wanting to be a Park Ranger for Halloween, this weekend was quite the little nature weekend for Ms Lil. Saturday we went canoeing at the local nature museum with Papa. Dad & I had envisioned a slightly larger lake when we came up with this idea, but it turned out to be a little pond that we circumnavigated in about 7 minutes. But, it was a big hit with Park Ranger Lilly. To top it off, they gave her a map, a compass, a book about pond life, and a page of animals we might see. She kept looking at this map to see if we were going the right way - which was hilarious. This map showed an island in the middle of the pond, which threw me off until I realized it was a tree in real life. Felt like maybe the map should have come with "Things on map are larger than in real life" kind of statement. But, Lilly loved it. However, she had to go potty after about 30 minutes, so we called our canoeing adventure a day and headed back in. It was a great first step though...and she has been playing canoe with her stuffed animals ever since.

Then we came home and Dad helped hang a new bracket for my birdfeeder. Lilly and I have really gotten to enjoy our birdfeeders, but so have the raccoons. But, I theorized that f I moved it down the wall a little on the garage, the coons couldn't stand on the fence to graze. Lilly had a fabulous time helping Dad. Here you can see her celebrating that she found the right size drill bit...

Then the Drill Off 2009 (Lilly's is a plastic drill Jerry gave her for her birthday so she could "help" him. She keeps it in an Ace Hardware bag and carries it around. So cute.).

Then Lilly helping Dad. What I love about this picture is how you can see hight variances...Lilly doesn't make it past the azalea bush. Dad is tall...but the rose far surpasses him. It has to really stretch to get the sun in that spot, so it is just gloriously tall. Speaks to what we are all capable of with proper motivation I guess...anyway...it is in its glory right now.

And...as for the raccoons, it seems to be working. They haven't been able to drain the birdseed out of the new location. I know it is ticking them off, though, as they took the other birdfeeder (located on a tree that I know they can still reach), took it off of the bracket, and hid it underneath Lilly's slide. It took Lilly & I a good five minutes to find it this morning. I felt a pang of sorrow for these little creatures...but not enough to go buy them good birdseed. They aren't exactly skinny little things, and it isn't like we have long, harsh winters here. If it snows, I'll put something out for them. 'Til then...they can be the little rascal scavangers God made them to be.....

Countdown to Halloween...

Having learned from last year how hard some creative costumes can be to pull together, I have started talking about Halloween with Lilly to see if I need to find sewing patterns or search down rare items on ebay to create the right costume. That whole pirate pig hat thing still haunts me from last year....

She is clearly less committed to one idea than this time last year. So far, here are the costumes she has suggested:
"Builderman"
"Soccerteam" (assuming we'd just go as one player, but you get the idea)
"Park Ranger" (Maren has given her a cool hat)

My suggestions so far that have been rejected:
Baby Jaguar
Jellyfish (saw a really cool costume in the latest Family Fun magazine that looked easy to make)
Surfer
Wonder Woman (nostalgia really - I was Wonder Woman for Halloween at age 3...would have been fun to hang the 2 pics up next to each other!) - BUT she said she hadn't heard of her. Note to self...bring Linda Carter back

Things that I am too smart to even suggest:
Anything involving the words "princess," "fairy" or "dress"
Superheros other than Wonder Woman (she still get scared when we see pictures of spiderman, or "that green guy" (not exactly sure who he is, but I think he is supposed to be a "good guy"

Rainy Week At The Beach...

So we had our looonnnggg awaited week and the beach, but the weather didn't exactly cooperate. But, despite two ear infections (both mine) and 14+ inches of rain, we had a good time. The house we stay in is AMAZING, and even in the roaring wind and rain, the view is great. My parents celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary (Pirate Lilly Style).

Aunt & cousins....
And, it was dry enough to go down to the beach twice and build sandcastles. Here is Lil very proud of her creation!

The "no swimming" flags were up the whole week, so we didn't actually swim in the waves. But, we did play in the surf, and I think Lilly may have found her true niche as a surfer chick. We swam in the heated kids pool one evening, which was really fun until you had to get out of the heated pool into the freezing wind (yikes) - only did that once. Lil was freezing until Cousin Beth saved the day with a warm towel hug....

Thankfully, we were at a "resort" place that had an indoor fitness center and pool we could use, so we did that one night too. But, Lil is a homebody at heart, and is always happiest when she can stay in her PJs all day long and not have to leave the house...so she was happy as a clam. SHe chased Ollie (Maren's dog) and her MaeMae around the house for days on end. Sometimes she added a pirate hat, vest or sword on top of the PJs. Sometimes even Mae Mae andOllie dressed up too.

Pirates Lilly and Mae Mae......and their noble steed Pirate Ollie

I loved it because I had brought my sewing machine (they all laughed when I packed it), but it was perfect for sewing and I fininshed the top and bottom of the quilt I have been working on for ages. I was perfectly happy hanging out with the extended family I never get to see, watching the surf from the window, and sewing away.

As the weather was stinky, we ended up coming home a day early, which I was a little bummed about at first, but having the extra time at home to unpack/regroup/grocery shop/etc was good.

Today (Monday) I took a "Mommy Recovery Day" so Lilly is at school, and I am at home alone and loving it. Ironically - the weather is GORGEOUS, so I have the windows open and plan to be out in the backyard with a book later once I finish the unpacking.

Dentist Visit...

Headed to Lilly's dentist this morning. Let me preface all of this by saying she stinks at brushing her teeth, and she fights me trying to do it for her. But, when she does it, it really looks a lot more like sucking the toothpaste off of the toothbrush than any actual brushing.

The acocmplishment today was that she sat in the chair by herself like a big girl. The first two times we went to the dentist she sat on my lap and never let anyone put their hand in her mouth. Today she let the hygenist count her teeth, but was not up for the fancy dental toothbrush that made noise. She did acquiesce and let the lady brush her teeth with a regular toothbrush. The dentist was able to look in her mouth briefly, but that was about it. So, at about $80/pop * 3 visits, I figure I have now paid almost $250 for no actual dental cleaning! :( BUT, I did get them to lecture her about letting me brush her teeth after she tries it herself TWICE a day. We shall see how far that gets us.... But, I really love this dentist's office. Totally kid oriented, not scary, and they totally relate with the kids and celebrate the baby steps to getting comfortable with the whole "dentist visit" idea. All went great until they gave her a princess toothbrush, which went over like a lead balloon. Anyway, after a quick trade-in for a CARS toothbrush, the day was saved, and she got to pick out a toy bouncy ball, and we headed off to school.

She is so excited because she and Jackson are hanging out tonight...very exciting. Lets hear it for old friends, Labor Day weekends, cool breezes and the start of fall!

Still Going Well...

Lilly still LOVES her new school. She is so happy to go each morning I am lucky if I get a goodbye wave as she zooms into her class to get to "work." The absence of Jackson is heavy on her heart, and there have been some tears for sure. But, I just keep talking about how we have old friends and new friends, but they are all friends. Lil & Jackson will spend Friday evening together, so hopefully that will help both of them feel reassured that they are still best buddies, even if they don't see each other every day at school.