Proof that Daddy is more fun

(or possessed...)

Good bye ivy

Well, for those of you (Amy) who thought that the ivy in the front yard was ugly, you won't have to look at it any more. The cold snap that came through in April killed what little ugly ivy was left. So, we decided to make landscaping the front yard the project of the summer. We were fortunate that Pat works with someone who does landscaping on the side. He was able to give us direction on which plants to use and where to put them. Below are a few pictures of the end result. You may notice that there isn't flashy color everywhere. The main reason for this is that we chose plants that would stay green all year. We also didn't want to be spending a bunch of money and time on annuals every spring. So, with a selection of about 60 evergreens and perennials, we have a yard that will not require much maintenance or money in the future. The guy helping us with the design suggested that my little rock wall wasn't going to cut it. So, I built a new retaining wall out of cut limestone. Hopefully we can keep everything alive. Next summer, the side of the house and the back yard get a makeover.

The Bluegrass Fair

Yesterday evening, we started another annual tradition with Elizabeth - a trip to the Bluegrass Fair. It was a fun-filled trip involving lots of over-priced junk food and past-their-prime, spin-until-you're-sick carnival rides. In other words, a 2-year-old's dream come true!













The fun-filled evening was capped off with an introduction to an important part of every childhood - cotton candy!





(Mommy and Daddy enjoyed it too!)

Retraction

I realized today that we've left all of our loyal readers thinking they've heard the last of the potty training news. Not so! Yes, Elizabeth went several days without an accident in her big girl panties. Then, she decided that using the potty wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and went almost completely back to pull-up pants (except for when she went stinky, thank goodness!). To be quite honest, that made life a lot easier - especially when we were traveling to Chicago - so we haven't pressed the issue. Now, she still does her "stinkies" in the potty, but we're a long way off from being trained on everything else. David and I have decided not to sweat it. I'm completely convinced she'll be fully potty trained before she enters kindergarten. Until then, there's something to be said about not having to run and find a potty every time we leave the house!

Back from the Windy City

David, Elizabeth and I spent this past weekend in Chicago. We got there on Friday in time to meet up with a group of friends from my online group of May Mommies at the Lincoln Park Zoo.



The zoo was really neat and right in the middle of downtown Chicago. Unfortunately, it closed early that day, but after a nice walk through the park, we spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the butterflies at the Notebaert Nature Museum across the street.



Afterwards, we all descended on a local pizzeria for dinner. The waitress deserved a medal for serving all of us - including 7 toddlers! But, the food was great, and it was lot of fun to see all the kids together.

Later on in the weekend, we ventured out to Navy Pier. We had a great time riding the ferris wheel, which provided a terrific view of the city.











But, Elizabeth's favorite ride was still the carousel:



With the Thomas Train ride coming in a close second:





We ended the day with a fun boat ride out on Lake Michigan:



And, of course, a ride up the Hancock Tower to get a view of the city:




While up there, Elizabeth really enjoyed "washing" the windows - "just like Curious George"!



On Sunday morning, we all went to the Shedd Aquarium, which was just a short walk from our hotel. Elizabeth really enjoyed seeing all the fish - especially the dolphins! Then, David and I took a quick spin through the Field Museum while Elizabeth napped in the stroller. After that, we all walked back down Michigan Street to Millenium Park, the home of the Cloud Gate, aka "The Bean" - a really neat modern art reflective sculpture that Elizabeth loved playing around.



If you look really close at that picture, you can see all 3 of us reflected in The Bean. Here's a closer view:







We then finished the evening with a lot of walking through town, just taking in the sights.

On Monday morning, we got up and did a little walking down by the harbor, then finished up back at Millenium Park, where Elizabeth had a lot of fun playing in the big fountain:








Then, we had to pack up and head back to Indianapolis, where I spent 2 days doing roof inspections and arbitrations (while Elizabeth and David enjoyed the hotel pool and the Indy Children's Museum) before heading home tonight. It was a fun, quick trip! And, the best part was how well Elizabeth traveled - she did so well in the car and sleeping in the hotel room. Hooray!

We're in trouble

Lately, Elizabeth has become very opinionated about the clothes she will wear. She has to pick out her outfits "all by herself," and we quickly noticed that she will not agree to wear anything that is not bright pink. This has caused a little bit of a dilemma, as occasionally (like today) she does not have any clean pink clothes, which means we then get to spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to convince her to wear something else. (And for those of you who might want to tell me to just shove her into something, I have several thoughts....the strongest (and most printable) include "pick your battles" and "MYOB," which are closely followed by, "I'd rather try to dress a rabid raccoon than a screaming, writhing 2-year-old.")

This morning, as I was pulling out outfit after outfit (the girl has drawers and drawers full of very cute, practically new, non-pink outfits) and trying to convince her to wear one of them, the stark reality of the next phase of the Clothing War hit me. I held up a perfectly good one-piece outfit (which had some pink on it even!), and she looked me square in the eye and said, "NO! That's for babies!" While I was laughing at the absurdity of the statement coming out of the lips of a just-past 2-year-old, I realized that I hadn't seen anything yet! Now she's rejecting outfits based on their "style"! The horror of it all sunk in even further when she insisted on carrying her black velvet purse outside with us when we went out to the mailbox...

What on earth have we gotten ourselves in to?

Bouncing back

Elizabeth's doing really well. The swelling on her lip has gone down a lot, and she just had a little tenderness today while eating and drinking.

This evening, we got out the "poppers," since she didn't get to play with them last night. She really loved throwing them on the ground, and then stomping on the ones that didn't pop.








We're waiting until Jonathan gets home from camp tomorrow night to light the rest of the fireworks we purchased. Everyone in our neighborhood will still be setting fireworks off for the next week or so (much to our chagrin as we try to sleep), so we might as well join in the fun!

Her first "big" boo-boo

Well, our fourth of July didn't end as well as it began.... We had a nice time catching up with friends at Carolyn's party - until Elizabeth decided to roll off the couch and do a faceplant on her hardwood floors. She split her lip - and managed to almost give Mommy a heart attack in the process with all the blood! Fortunately, one of our friends was a nurse and she was able to help us stop the bleeding and assess it quickly. It doesn't look like any permanent harm has been done (not even any loose teeth!), but I have a feeling she's going to look like she was on the losing end of a boxing match for a few days.

Just this morning, we told Elizabeth she couldn't get a band-aid for a boo-boo unless there was blood. So, she quickly reminded us of that on the way home. Of course, we couldn't really get a band-aid to stick to this boo-boo, but we did give her a Dora band-aid on her knee to cheer her spirits!

Happy 4th of July!

Of course, another holiday means another obligatory picture of Elizabeth celebrating it! These pictures were actually taken on Monday, after Elizabeth dressed in her 4th of July outfit for school, but she'll be wearing it again this evening when we go to a picnic at Carolyn's house (that is, assuming we can coax her into it - lately she hasn't wanted to put on anything that isn't PINK).

So far, we've had a busy day today. Our plans to go to the swimming pool were cancelled by clouds and cool breezes, but we did manage to go to the park, get some things done around the house, bake some brownies and banana bread, and go to buy Poppers to throw on the ground tonight. Elizabeth also spent a good portion of the morning marching around with her plastic flag, holding impromptu parades. Too bad our street doesn't have one like Cousin Brooke's!

We'll be heading to Carolyn's party once Elizabeth wakes up from her nap. It's been a very enjoyable day - hope you've had one as well!