Tuesday, April 28, 2009

a little problem...

So this is Paige's current shoe collection. Only six pairs - not too bad. EXCEPT for the fact that this collection is for someone who is only 20 months old!

But let's be fair - those brown ones up in the top right corner are pretty much done - brown Mary Janes are so fall/winter. And the cute pair of sneakers right in front - she's almost grown out of those. So that only leaves four pairs for the spring/summer season.......

I can't help it. She LOVES shoes. And they are so cute on her. Especially those pink Mary Janes(right side) - an impulse buy at Target.

I won't even go into Emily's current shoe collection. Paige is rubbing off on her.

Also - the plant in the picture - another one I didn't kill. It came back!! Yea for my black thumbs.

Monday, April 27, 2009

April in the D (lots and lots of pics)

Please pardon my giddiness. It has been a REALLY long winter up here. If there's a flower blooming within a one mile radius of me, I will take a picture of it. If there's a kid wearing sunglasses within a few feet of me, I will take a picture of them. If there is any outside fun happening, it will be photographed. Why? Because before we know it, we will be INSIDE again, escaping yet another cold winter, and I want to remember all of this. Warm thoughts, warm thoughts, warm thoughts.....

It is seriously windy today - but it is a very warm wind. In a few more hours it will be raining, so I am taking in all the sunshine today - and the eighty degree temps. We will be back in the sixties tomorrow. Which, by the way, is the normal high for this time of year.

We took a walk this morning - and stopped to take a picture on this rock. Emily loves this rock. We planned our whole walk just so we could sit on it.
Paige is now over her "baby" swing. She only wants to use this one. Only she uses it Superman style. A trick she learned from Olivia next-door.

Fun fact about Paige this week - her new phrase is now "I need....." instead of "I want...". She used this one at my cousin's surprise 50th b-day party this past Saturday. We were all eating cake, and Paige comes up to me and says, "I need cake."

Of course you do darling. We all NEED cake.


Some of the flowers we saw on our walk this morning -



And these are the blooms on the tree outside my office/scraproom/playroom/guest room. It exploded since last Friday. The tree, not the room.



And for those of you who live in warmer temperatures year round, wondering why the heck I would ever leave that....look at those dang tulips!! Look at them!! A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. 

Just so you know, these are not my tulips. I took their picture on our walk this morning. Come next spring - I will have my own tulips. I will be planting the bulbs this fall. Don't let me forget!
Have a wonderful Monday!!! And really, I haven't had any sugar today. I am just high on SPRING. :)

Sunday, April 26, 2009

April Baseball

I am not sure why, but I neglected to blog our trip to Comerica Park - where the Tigers play - for game two in our home opener series. I guess I got busy. Well, don't you worry  - here it is.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day. Sunny, and 54 degrees. Our seats were fantastic - a little bit lower than we usually sit, a little closer to the action.

We got to the park about 50 minutes before game time, so we walked around for awhile, and got to see a lot of stuff that we usually don't have time to see.
We ate at Big Boy. It's a Michigan thing.
And, in case you didn't hear the story- the fountains in the outfield are usually sponsored by GM. This year because of all that is financially going down, GM called the Tigers and said they couldn't afford sponsorship this year. The Tigers owner Mike Illitch decided that GM's name - as well as Chrysler and Ford - would remain on the fountain - FOR FREE. He also added the sign underneath, showing our support for all of automakers here in the "D". Such a cool thing. And, yes, I got a little teary seeing it in person.


So that's it. A good game - we won 4-3. Sorry this took so long - I know you were all waiting....

Friday, April 24, 2009

It's just amazing to me...

that something this pretty is growing in my yard. I have the worst case of black thumbs - and this tree, as well as most of the other stuff that is planted on our yard, seems to be completely immune to it. Of course, this tree was here when we bought the house - but in the past that has not seemed to matter.

Yay SPRING!!! Green grass, flowering trees, LEAVES, warmer weather, and my incessant happy crying as I drive around town - we are so READY. Bring it on!!!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Tell me when...

Dear Emily and Paige,

Last night when I was checking on you after you were both fast asleep, I began to think about how little time we actually have left. How many more times will I sing you both to sleep? How many more nights will I actually be able to check on you while you are sleeping - Emily clutching her doggy, Paws, and Paige sleeping all over her crib?

You see, it feels like you - Emily - just started Kindergarten, and now you only have about eight weeks left. And then you will be a first grader - going to school all day, a packed lunch, pencils, notebooks.....it's going to be here in a matter of minutes.
And you - dear, sweet Paige - have changed overnight. You are trying so hard to be independent - pulling away from me...wasn't it just last week that you didn't know how to walk, talk or even feed yourself. I'll blink again, and you'll be going off to school.

How many more stories will you have me read before you can read them yourself? How many more times will it be that you need ME to dress your baby dolls, or buckle them into the stroller?
How many more silly moments will we have? How much longer until neither of you actually fit underneath the bar stool?

It's so important to appreciate the little things. The moments. The laughs. This time we have together.
I am glad that I am taking the time to do just that.
Make sure you do the same....
Love, Mom.


***ETA: Sorry to make you all teary - I just had this idea in my head to do this for a scrapbook page, and I wanted to get it down before I forgot it. Since I scrapbook chronologically (total OCD thing, can't help it), and I am about eight months behind, I often use the blog to "journal" about my photos so I won't forget what I want to say eight months from now. It's VERY helpful! Thanks for humoring me.***

Sunday, April 19, 2009

this is getting to be a habit....

I guess life is pretty exciting and busy around here. It's not like me to not post but only a couple times a week. 

Other than a couple cloudy, rainy, dreary days at the beginning of the week, we had a beautiful, sunny and WARM Spring Break. The temperatures even ventured into the seventies on Friday and Saturday. YEA!!!  AND, the buds on all the trees are just about ready to burst. Stay tuned this week.....

The above picture is Miss Paige - DUH - and her favorite Easter present from my Mom - talking eggs. You turn them on, hide them, and they talk to you while you try and find them. Once you find them, you open them up and there's a little chick inside. It even says, "You Found Me!". Paige loved searching for them on Easter - and this continued all week. I think she really just loved the "Liddow Cheeken" inside.

On Wednesday, we - Eric and I, the kids, and my Mom and sister, went to the DIA (Detroit Institute of Arts) to get ourselves some culture. Most of the adults thought it was wonderful - Emily, not so much. Paige, not really loving it either. Oh well, next time Eric and I will go by ourselves.

Paige is doing very well with the tricycle - she almost has it. Her determination astounds me.


On Thursday we went to the Detroit Zoo.  If you remember from last time we went with the Vorobels, Eric LOVED the onion rings. He was all to happy to have them again - even if he had to stand in line for 35 minutes to get them. The zoo was crazy crowded - I knew it would be busy, but I had NO IDEA it would be that crowded. I guess if you add Spring Break, a beautiful, sunny, and warm day all together, you get lots and lots of people out and enjoying it. That's okay, we still had fun.

This was from yesterday - Emily modeling her Spring/Summer wardrobe. We are all so tired of wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts - bring on the Capri pants, cute dresses, bright colors and FLIP FLOPS!!! Is she not the cutest?

Paige today - wearing Emily's play shoes. She LOVES them. I am all too happy to oblige her. Emily has never really been into the girly girl stuff, so this is a total change for me. I know, this is most likely breeding trouble - but for now, it's SO DANG CUTE.
There's that determination again.....
Have a GOOD week. Hopefully I will be around more.....

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

easter photos and haircut day

Just wanted to post a couple - because this is basically all I have - photos from Sunday. I was so busy getting things ready for our brunch, that I ran out of time to snap some photos before everyone showed up. So this is what I took in a couple minute span right after everyone showed up. Captured the moment - and the girls very cute dresses.

I took Emily to get her haircut this afternoon.  Our big outing for the day. I would have to say that her favorite part was the Slurpee on the way home. I took this picture outside - in the cold rain. I am sure this face is saying, "Hurry up Mom, my feet are FREEZING." (she had no socks or shoes on)
And of course, there was a balloon.  Paige was very excited about that. She saw it the moment she woke up from her nap. Thankfully, Emily was in the sharing mood today.

Have a great day!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Quick Easter Video

I have a few pictures from today - but I thought this video was so stinkin' funny.  Paige was all about the candy this morning.  She figured out - after her BIG sister showed her - that there was candy in the hidden eggs, so she broke one open and QUICKLY shoved as many jelly beans in her mouth as she could before I caught her.  Later on, when her Daddy was showing her what was in each of the eggs that she found, she tried the same thing - to grab the jelly beans and chocolates before Daddy closed up the egg.  The above video is a prime example of this.

Emily also had quite a bit of the sugary stuff this morning - but did not have the Easter morning chocolate hangover that she usually has.  I think she took my advice and paced herself.  She was also really into this new game that the Easter bunny brought called Rush Hour. I highly recommend it for kids and adults alike who are into puzzle solving.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend.  More pictures from today - and yesterdays outing at Comerica park later...

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

what's goin' on

It's Spring.  And I know this because on March 20th it said so on the calendar. I would not know it by just looking out my window. There's quite a bit of snow on the ground here, and as of this moment, it's still falling from the sky. Maybe it's "Spring Dust". Yes, I will just keep telling myself that.

Of course, anyone who lives here knows that it's just par for the course. It's just how it is up here in Michigan. And a couple of months from now, when we are sitting at the beach, watching our kids play, it will be a distant memory.
April 1st, our favorite local frozen custard place opens up for the season - Erma's.  It was not exactly a nice day on the first, so we went on the second, when it was at least a little bit warmer, and sunny.  It was still cold. And even more so when you are eating something that is frozen.


Paige just cracks me up. She likes to put her plate up to her face and say, "I see you." It's pretty funny.

She also like the phrase, "I want....". And because she is communicating, I usually comply. But because she is so dang smart, she has figured out that she can try and get just about anything, as long as she asks. Well, I am still a bit smarter than her, and I have figured her out...for now.

I am going to have to stay on top of her, or else we are going to be in a lot of trouble.

Yesterday was the official start of baseball season - and we celebrated with Tiger dogs for dinner. Of course, since it was Monday, Eric had train club, so I was stuck watching the Tiger game, as well as the NCAA championship game, all by myself. And it was not good for either team - the Tigers got their butt kicked by Toronto, and the Michigan State Spartans lost to NC Tar Heels. I did hear that the Red Wings won, so at least it wasn't a total loss for Michigan sports.

Eric and I will be going to our first Tiger game this season on Saturday. Hopefully, it will be a bit warmer by then.


This morning the girls and I had a ball doing practice Egg Hunts. It was Paige's first real experience with hiding and finding eggs - and she LOVED it. I don't know what she enjoyed more, hiding or finding them. She was so freaking cute. She would hide them - with some help from me - for Emily, and then she would help Emily find them. She really did get the concept, which is awesome. When it was Emily's turn to find the eggs, she knew that Emily would have to get them and put them in the basket - Paige would just help her by pointing out where the eggs were hidden.

And when it was Paige's turn to find them, she was just giddy with excitement whenever she would find a hidden egg.

So cute - can't wait until Sunday. We may have to do a couple more practices, just for fun.
That's all for now - have to go and put the little one down for a nap!