a typical tuesday

we started out the day at the library for story time, like we typically do on tuesdays. i think that shelby is starting to recognize and understand what it means when i ask her if she wants to go to the library. after story time we have lunch with sandra at zuppa.

elise plays peek-a-boo so well! it's adorable to see her do it. i'll have to get some pictures. sometimes she gets her eyes covered, and sometimes she doesn't. sometimes she just squishes her face and eyes like a shar-pei puppy and it's hysterical :)

sharon woods

the girls and i went to sharon woods park today and went on a hike on the edward s. thomas trail. we got two more answers for our metro parks passport, i'm very excited!

shelby took her 'telescope.' it's an empty paper towel roll. i was trying to get her to look at squirrels, leaves, etc. but we mostly used it to look at elise and each other :P

at one point there was a tree down in our path. ya know, the guys that we passed coming from the other direction could have let us know! we made it... shelby climbed over it, sorta ;) and i was able to lift and maneuver elise and the stroller over it. it's stephon's fault... the forecast said that it was going to be windy so he warned me to be careful of falling branches and trees.

of course, we know that shelby was collecting sticks the entire way. she found one that was taller than me and carried it for quite awhile, i was impressed!

we hung out on the observation deck that is off of the trail for awhile. shelby played and read the map. that was funny... she mixes babble and real words and acts like she is reading them off of the page. i love it! and i let elise out of the stroller to crawl around. she investigated everything, and taste-tested anything that she could cram into her mouth before i could stop her! mostly it was acorn lids. and maybe one acorn and a leaf. a well rounded diet, really ;) she scratched at the nail heads in the wood and pulled herself up on the railing. it was interesting to watch her investigate the two-foot and under world :)

once we left the observation deck the girls started to fall asleep. i was looking over the stroller at them and not paying attention to the path and i swear i could have hit the deer that walked into the path in front of me! they startled me at first. a mama deer and two baby deer were standing about ten feet in front of me! i could read the number on the tags on their ears. i slowly got my camera, but don't know why i was so slow since my pushing a squeaky stroller down a gravel path didn't even make them pause, and tried to get a couple of pictures. what a time for my camera to be difficult. ugh. anyhow, they were beautiful :) the babies missed the whole thing.

at the end of the trail is schrock lake. shelby had a bit of her peanut butter sandwich left and so did elise, so we fed them to a few ducks. elise was still asleep. shelby kept asking the ducks if they were hungry. it was cute and pretty funny :)

back in the saddle

i went scrapbooking with terry, and the rest of the scrapbooking crew today! this is the first outing that i've been on for a number of hours without the babies since elise was born. it was great!

today was the last sunday of my rotation with the infants at church. what a blessing they are! heritage has a great system for childcare workers and i truly enjoy the opportunity to care for the babies. elise likes to have me in class with her, too :)

sisters and friends

it's neat to see shelby and elise develop a relationship. individually we see them look up to and admire us as parents and family, but their relationship with each other is more equal. it's sweet. they laugh together, look for each other, get bored waiting for the other to wake up, and today shelby tried to comfort elise. elise was crying and shelby brought her a pretzel. it worked! hey, i can use all the help i can get.

elise crawled across the family room this evening. she has been doing a combination crawl / army crawl, but today she got it down! the more mobile she gets, the less frustrated she gets ... and the easier it is to keep her happy. gotta love it.

lovey

elise has a new trick! today shelby was especially affectionate towards her. elise hugged her back today :) when shelby hugged her (looks like she's pinning her down in a wrestling move, really) elise patted shelby on the back. it was sweet :)

nathan got his first guitar today. he's so excited! he is taking guitar at school. we went to the guitar center, i highly recommend it. it's amazing how much better it sounds than the backpack guitar he was using!

sick day

i am so sick today. i have a sinus infection again.

nathan is taking guitar at acpa. today he wrote his first song and is practicing for his first test. today i realize why parents really want grandchildren. there is no way your child can appreciate what they put you through while learning a new instrument until their child does it to them ;)

bugs

the girls and i went to blendon woods park today to play with bugs!

shelby got to see a turtle, that apparently couldn't find the bugs that it was supposed to be eating, and a toad that did much better. there were 20-some kids squealing in delight when the toad ate the meal worm. it's probably traumatized and will never eat again. we went outside to collect and look at bugs... shelby collected sticks. she is such a two-year old :)

elise was busy in the back of the room with me during the class portion. she had a chair that she kept pulling over her head. it was her little baby cave :) otherwise, i can't say that she was very content. she wants to get out of the stroller and run around with her sister when we went outside! it was too wet and rainy, so she was frustrated.

waving the white flag

i had such high ambitions for today; stop at the bank, fill up the bike tires, go to the park for a ride, have a picnic lunch at the park. we started out pretty well, but it all went downhill quickly. broken air pump, rain, no rain, rain, and then out of time. that pretty much sums it up!

elise is standing up on things now! she pulled up on a toy bin at sunday school yesterday. the first time i saw her do it smoothly was on friday in her crib.

she's funny at nap / bed time because of it. she sits and smiles at me and shelby and laughs and talks and now she stands up to do these tricks! the more ambulatory she gets, the less frustrated and more happy she is, especially when it's time to go to sleep :P

the arts and college preparatory academy

nathan is going to the arts and college preparatory academy! we really really like it. the work is challenging, which i love (especially when i get to help with algebra or science). and they incorporate art into the curriculum (right now he is taking guitar), which nathan loves.

i'm just a little disappointed that none of the new friends that nathan is making have red or purple hair.