Humidity

We almost have no recollection of what it would be like to have a day with no rain. I am sure we must have experienced it previously, but definitely not any time recently. We were able to swing this afternoon for a while before the now predictable afternoon shower. Can you see the humidity in the air?

Celebrity playlists

As the upper right corner of the screen indicates, REM dominates the girls' playlist, and "Happy Happy" continues to be a favorite. Whenever Lauren sees the computer or ipod, she immediately asks for "Happy Happy" and begins dancing in a fashion that can best be described as a deer-like skip. Gracie has more of an enthusiastic bounce move. Today, they briefly took command of my computer, accessed iTunes and enjoyed some Happy.

Staycation 05.25.09

Staycation continued today with a trip to the zoo:

Staycation 05.24.09

We had originally planned a beach trip for this weekend. In fact, we made reservations many, many months ago. As it turns out, we have a work-related event that takes place at the beach (yay!) soon so we canceled our beach plans for Memorial Day weekend and took a trip to Asheville last month, instead. So... we're at home this weekend. Normally, we would be completely happy to stick close to home, but there has been a near-constant downpour of rain for the past week that has made us a little cabin-feverish.

To take shelter from the rain, we went to the library yesterday afternoon, and then made a trip to the mall last night:




We caught a huge break this afternoon. The rain cleared for a few hours, and we were able to get spend some time at the park. Lauren and Grace made a friend, Kayla, and they had a great time sliding. The friendship was tested when Kayla had a front row seat for Lauren's bug phobia. A fly flew past Lauren when she was at the top of the slide, and her ear-piercing shrieks could be heard across the entire playground. Unfortunately for Kayla, she was at the top of the slide with Lauren during this incident. When we explained that "Lauren doesn't like bugs," Kayla quickly turned her interest to the much quieter Grace.

Ready, set, go!

What we're watching

This DVD has recently joined the rotation and has been renamed (at least at our house) "Happy Happy" because it contains a cameo appearance by REM, who perform "Shiny Happy People". Lauren calls this DVD "Happy Happy," and both she and Gracie really sing their hearts out on the chorus.

Blue skies

Watering plants, etc.

Please don't go

Today was a stunning day. We had planned to go to "Toddler Time," a story time at the library, but had to reconsider when Gracie showed some cold-like symptoms. Our "Plan B" was to play on our swingset again. Plan B quickly became the best plan ever when Skip actually took some time for lunch and joined us for a few minutes.

The above picture captures Gracie's disbelief that he would return to work for the afternoon. She stared after him until he disappeared. I could almost hear Harry Wayne Casey's* soothing voice in the background, singing "Please Don't Go."

*Harry Wayne Casey, of course, was the founder and lead singer of KC and the Sunshine Band.

Enjoying a cool morning

"Emmo Pennies"

In an effort to encourage potty training, Grammy treated the girls to some Elmo panties several months back. In fact, it was Grammy who first put the girls in their "big girl" Elmo panties. That day, I came home from work to find the girls BEAMING and incredibly pleased with themselves. You might think that this would really incentivize training, but, so far, they are quite happy just using them as diaper covers.

"Emmo Pen-nies" (their pronunciation) have become a ritual, and I have been working hard to try to capture them talking about Emmo pennies and then to, somehow, figure out how to upload audio, sans video. (Given my limited abilities with technology, this will likely not happen.) "Emmo pennies" are now the single biggest sensation in the girls' lives so far. They LOVE them and cannot talk about them enough.

All dressed up for Mother's Day

Lauren wasted no time learning how to remove the flowers from her dress:



Pretty flower!




This little piggy went to market; this little piggy stayed home; this little piggy...

Cymbals

Our little Grace adores music. Early on, her favorite toys were always those that were musical, and we often hear her belting out Elmo tunes in the car. In American Idol fashion, she always "really makes it her own" by adding some extra emphasis and "punching it up" a little.

"La La La LA!
"La La La LA!
Elmo's World"

She recently discovered how to play the cymbals with two plastic plates:







When the pressure of playing gets to be too much: