Things they love.

feeling the vibrating toothbrush ... she will stare Graham down until he lets her have it ...

crawling to whatever she wants ...

Crying Baby ... she seems fascinated by Crying Baby's face ...

playing with eachother ...

for just a few minutes ...

making "soup" ... this particular pot was bandaid soup ...

KittyKitty the wonderful paci ... I think we're going to have to cut out the paci at some point and turn KittyKitty into her lovee ...

working on a project ... we have created a new house rule that all art projects {drawing, cutting, and glueing are her obsessions now} must be done at the table ... E is up here every day surrounded by her supplies just working away ...

"Holdy Hands People" ...

watching water {and her sis} in the bath ...

the handles on the dresser in the den ... LOVES them ... I think because they make a clinking noise ...

waving hi ...

standing up to get things ... we were amazed that she stood up just using the wall ...

the rabbit piece of this puzzle is the one she goes for and chews on everytime ...

her morning playspot before breakfast ...

our sweethearts

While we did spend a good portion of Valentine's Day buying the new car, there were a few other fun things that happened. Eden started the day by passing out roses to her teachers and former teachers at PDO. I also sent two vases to her classroom to collect the individual roses from all of her classmates to their teachers (after I e-mailed the other parents about the idea). It was a huge hit!

Here are E's valentine's for her classmates ... sticker pages on the back ...

We spent the afternoon opening cards ...

 

... and trying to eat them ...

... and we spent the evening making phone calls, opening E's package from Aunt Beverly, and enjoying our beautiful flowers ... ... a single pink rose from her Daddy and a bouquet of roses for the girls from Granddaddy ...

It was a love-ly day.

-ashley

Mardi Gras

Last night, Graham took Eden to her first Mardi Gras parade at her classmate Hill's house a few streets over. Apparently, the people twirling fire and the police sirens made her cry at the beginning but as soon as Graham put her on his shoulders and she started to catch some beads all was well. Here's the last minute outfit I came up with to show her Mardi Gras colors ....

Don't worry about the solemn face in the next photo. She's pretending to be a lower-case L.

And, yes, that last one was the letter i. She's also skilled at the letters O, V, Y, X, and T :).

sick day

One day last week, E woke up coughing a good bit and was still dealing with a runny nose. Since I didn't have to be on campus, I decided a day at home with her momma might do both of us some good. So Graham took Lydia to PDO and I prepared to nurture E back to health. After watching half of Shirley Temple's The Littlest Princess [I forgot the dad dies halfway through! Thank goodness I remembered and turned it off just before the sad part came.], I realized that Miss E was starting to feel ok.

She requested for the second day in a row that we make her sister a dress. So, we started to cut out some fabric, and Eden got her own piece of material and a threaded needle to work with ...

She loved it, and I just kept looking at her thinking, "Oh my, you look so old, my sweet girl!"

Watching her use her fingers so carefully and delicately amazes me ...

I kept thinking how pleased Mama Sally would have been with our little sewing session.

By lunchtime, it was easy to tell that this one was feeling pretty good ...

Sometime later, she had her own "coffee" that somehow left a chocolate mustache :) ...

If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times ... I'm so thankful for my reduced workload this semester.

- ashley

Meet Pilot

This past Saturday, we sat in a Pilot. I went back to get the price down. On Monday, we went to test drive it, but it was not there - they had loaned it out to someone having work done on another car. So, Monday night the sales associate drove it over to our house and let us drive it around. We took turns test driving while getting bedtime done.

On Tuesday, I went back to get the price down a bit more (after doing some research and pulling comps). I signed the paperwork around 11:00. A pretty nice unplanned Valentine's gift to eachother.

Meet Pilot ...

Ashley is especially excited that the carseats fit next to each other! Eden can feed and hand Lydia her paci!

When she picked Eden up from PDO and told her the new car was outside, Eden's response ... "Holy cow! No way!"

On Tuesday, I texted Ashley throughout the negotiating process. Here are our last two texts ...

• aj - So are we getting a car? do u feel good about it?
• g - Yes and yes
• aj - :) trying hard not to jump up and down

happy valentine's day

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I waved hi.

This afternoon, Lydia stretched out her little arm, rolled her little hand around, and then opened and shut it while Graham was across the room waving to her. She repeated the little trick at dinner with some friends. It's still slow, as if she's watching herself in amazement while it happens, but she's definitely trying!

Car Review: Honda

After we decided the Sienna was not for us, it was on to the choices from Honda. Ashley has been seeing Pilots everywhere since the new car discussion started, and it seemed like the optimal car. Not too big, third row, full second row, car seat anchors everywhere ...

So we went to test drive one. Ashley fit in the second row between the girls (and so did I, though perhaps that is a reason not to buy one...).

It was all perfect until Ashley sat in the driver's seat.  When the seat was positioned in a way allowing her heel to hit the floorboard and her toes to press the gas, she could not easily see over the dash. When the seat was positioned in a way allowing her to see, her heel would not hit the floorboard making for an uncomfortable and unsafe driving machine. When she and the sales associate came back from her test drive, the associate said he could hear the music inside Ashley's head go "Woh. Woh. Woh." Indeed.

She sat in an Odyssey - apparently Honda makes minivans for short moms, a perfect fit. You could hear the sad music again ...

Since the girls were getting restless and dinner time was approaching, we left and set to schedule an appointment for the next Saturday to drive an Odyssey, and since the sales associate could also sell Toyotas, a Highlander.

Fastforward a week - We got to the dealership around 11:00 on Saturday. The associate we dealt with last week was out sick. So we met another associate who looked at the inventory of used Odysseys. There was an 08 with 48K miles on it in our price range. We saw it, put the carseats into it, and drove it around. Cue music - just not the "ah-ha" Ashley had felt with the Pilot. It had a full second row, and the middle seat between the girls was comfortable for both of us. But, it was a removable seat that really wasn't made for a car seat.

So that she could get it out of her mind, she asked a used car associate to let her sit in all the Pilots on the lot - you know, just in case she fit into one. There was an 07 with 50K miles - silver (her color) with leather (perfect for spills). And ... drum roll ... SHE FIT!!!! Apparently the change in body style/height was done in 2009, so all 2008 and older will work. We did ask the sales associate last weekend if this might be the case, but he said no. We found out today that he is last in sales for this month. We tried the car seats in the second row and we both fit between them comfortably. We tried the strollers in the back -- the single stroller fit behind the third row while it was up and they both fit with tons of room left when the third row was down.

At this point, we are in negotiations for that car ... I got them down 14.5% in the hour and a half meeting I had after I dropped Ashley and the girls off at home. Hopefully they'll break next week - or we will find another low mileage Pilot soon. Seems like that's the car ... stay tuned!

[Editor's Note: We are in the middle of "No Spend" Month, and I think it's hilarious that we may buy a car this month.]

iphone Friday

Over the past week, I have become completely addicted to the iced coffees Graham has been making me every morning from a recipe I found here. It's so-o-o easy to make and extremely delicious

E went to a birthday party last weekend and just knew they'd have balloons for everyone. They did.

Earlier in the week, we hung out in the car for half an hour while Lydia finished her nap pre-doctor's check-up. We entertained ourselves with the iphone.

And, when we got home, E "made" cupcakes and said Fable and Ever could come over to have them. I can't get over how much she is starting to look like a four-year-old ... I think it's happening while I sleep at night.

Today, we tried a new hair-style ...

... and then I almost got a picture of this cute little one in her raincoat and boots.

We spent the morning at a playdate with one of E's school friends and spent the afternoon getting a party ready for Camille and Caroline in case they decided to drop by.

I spent quiet time flipping through a magazine and daydreaming of wearing a dress again for an entire day. I'm sure it will be here before I know it.

We played all afternoon ...

... Lydia entertained herself by banging this football on the ground over and over again to make it play the Auburn fight song ...

E entertained herself by drawing a girl snowperson with crazy hair and a boy snowperson with four arms ...

I told E about the quote book we got for Christmas and that you write down things your children say so you won't forget them. Then, she said this ...

Too bad the fun had to end. At 4:43, E just lost it and NEEDED her Dada to be home. At least she cracked a smile when I told her I'd take a picture of her runny nose.

She spent a few minutes staring out the window waiting on her Daddy.

When she got a little frustrated with him during dinner, she told us she was going to Mississippi and that she was going to stay there forever. It's a good thing she can't drive.

- ashley