A happy Mother's Day it was

I enjoyed these messages in my inbox from 

babycenter.com

and

bodenusa.com 

I didn't cook all day, which I usually love to do.

But really, it was a nice break.

Breakfast at Jackie's, then...

Dinner at the Blackburns'. 

(I did make a strawberry cream pie, but that was pretty effortless.)

We went for a Mama's Day boat ride:

And even though we didn't get to see either one of them on Sunday...

We are thankful for the two mums who made "us" possible.

Gigi:

and Nana:

Photo update: Easter and springtime fun!

A quick update (mostly pictures) from Easter and the warm spring days (finally!) we have been enjoying around here.

 

We hid and hunted the same eggs over and over on Easter Sunday. The kids played in the sprinkler - hence the wet hair (and clothes) here.

The weekend before Easter we went to a big Easter egg hunt at Cooper Park in Mtn. Home with Jessica and Regan. There were hundreds of kids! It was crazy but fun.

First sleepover (gasp!)

Last Friday Lola had her first sleepover (we called it a "slumber party" back in my day). Regan spent the night with us. Let me just say there was a whole lot of giggling and squealing.

Finn and I picked the girls up from school on Friday.

We ordered pizza from Jackie's, then the girls took a bubble bath.

We made homemade popcorn, and I polished their nails.

We made a pallet in the living room floor. They started to watch Mary Poppins then decided they'd rather watch Frosty the Snowman, which we still have on our DVR from Christmas. (The below picture was actually taken Saturday morning - Regan woke up at 5:30, and the first thing she said was: "Can I put my princess dress on?") They were still pretty excited at bedtime, so they had a hard time falling asleep. I laid down with them, and they were asleep within 5 minutes. Regan slept great. Lola - not so much. But that is a story for another day. The girls had a blast, and I think Regan's mom and dad enjoyed a much-needed night to themselves. :)

In other news, Finn was a bit under the weather all last weekend. I'm pretty sure it's all related to his teeth. He usually goes down for naps in his crib without a fuss. But he wanted to be held and rocked instead. It's hard to take time for that when there is another little one (Lola) vying for my attention, but I try to remind myself that someday he'll be too big to rock. So, I'll take it for now.

Sleepyheads

24-hour cold water challenge

It might be April 2, but the water temp is nowhere near warm enough to swim!

Have you heard of this 24-hour cold water challenge thing? I was hoping to fly under the radar, but I was tagged by my cousin, Beth Morgan Strong, and I couldn't let her down. I did this to raise money for the Pontiac Fireworks. And I challenged Norman Eubank. Craig Mincke, Jackie Klineline, Betsy Stilley, Kelly Laurie, Mike MacPherson and the Honorable Judge Cynthia MacPherson. They pay me $20 if they accept; $50 if they do not. Hahaha. Good luck to all. 

.

Spring break!

So, we don't technically get a "spring break," but we took (a short) one anyway. A couple weeks ago, cousins Megan, Patrick, Chaney and Keaton came down to spend a couple days at the lake. Then the four of us (adults) dropped the kids off with the grandparents on Friday and headed south to Hot Springs, Ark. for the weekend. Matt and I hadn't been in five or six years. It was so much fun - I hope we can make it an annual trip! We stayed at the Arlington, which is really handy because it's within walking distance to all kinds of downtown restaurants, bars, bathhouses and shops. No hot baths this time, but we did average more than 9,000 steps (strides?) on Saturday at the horse races - according to Patrick's pedometer. (Ha!) There were 10 races, and Matt and I bet on every one. He won on quite a few races - I won three or four in a row, got a little cocky (not really) and then proceeded to lose most of the rest of them. Matt pretty much broke even. I did not. We had a blast.

Waiting for a race to start. Are those the faces of winners, or what?

Here we are cashing in some winning tickets with our "lucky lady." Don't know her name, but we both placed our first bets with her, and since we're superstitious, we had to place ALL of our bets with her. Too bad she wasn't more of a lucky charm...

If that weekend was fun and carefree, this past weekend was, well, the opposite. Both kids have been battling colds, coughs, fevers... and Finn is cutting teeth like crazy. Neither felt well on Saturday, so we didn't do much besides stay inside and try to get well. 

Finn and I spent the day together on Friday. (This was before they both started feeling pretty crummy.) It was nice, so we spent some time outside.

He's really enjoying the playhouse this year, now that he's old enough to climb the ladder, go flying down the slide, swing on the swings... such a big boy, he is.

Matt has been wanting to take Lola white bass fishing. There was really nothing being caught this weekend, but we ran down there for a bit anyway - between naps and fevers - to let her get a line wet.

And finally, we have been on a homemade-pizza-making kick lately. We seem to throw these together on nights when we really don't have anything else planned. The crust recipe is a "quick and easy" one: 1 package dry yeast, 1 teaspoon white sugar, 1 cup warm water, 2 1/2 cups flour (I usually do half white/half wheat), 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon coarse salt. Preheat oven to 450. Dissolve yeast and sugar in water, let stand for about 10 minutes. Stir in flour, salt and oil until smooth dough forms. Let rest for 5 minutes. Turn dough out on a floured surface and work into about a 12-inch round. Cover with toppings and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden and bubbly. We had to scrounge for toppings when we made this one, and it turned out to be one of our best yet. We used mozzarella and sauteed strips of red onions, red, orange and yellow peppers. Simple. But really good!

15/16/17 Months

Finn had his 15-month checkup a couple weeks ago (he was actually already 16 months at the time, and now he's quickly approaching 17 months. Gah! Time flies.) Here are his stats:

Height: 32.5 inches (75th percentile)

Weight: 24 lbs, 7 oz (50th percentile)

He tries so hard to communicate! But he doesn't say very many words yet. A lot of grunting, groaning, yelling, babbling, laughing... He says milk (sounds like "meh"), cracker, dada, Lola (sounds like "ya-ya"), mama (he doesn't say this very often, which is puzzling to his mama), nanny (for "nanny Linda" - sounds like "nan"), bird, Gigi (sounds like "ga-ga"), and a few other random things. He is a busy, busy boy. So playful, loving, sweet, ornery, snuggly and oh, so funny. He makes us laugh every day! Just a sweet, sweet boy right there. :)