Friday

We had one of those mornings where I felt like everything was out of sync.  Lorelei woke up just before 5:00 a.m. to nurse, so of course I was tired when my alarm went of at 6:00 a.m.  I pressed snooze (as usual...Chet loves that), but at some point I must have acknowledged the alarm, because Lorelei woke me up squawking and it was 7:15 a.m.  Well...  Obviously my body needed the sleep, but it put me in a little bit of a tailspin.

We got dressed to go to the to the gym, and were ready to walk out the door a little after 9:00 a.m.  Lorelei was just starting to act cranky, so she might have gone down for a nap had I tried, but I was itching to get out of the house (and she might not have napped anyway).  So I loaded them up in the car. 

I had already decided that today was a good day for a donut, so I was hoping Lorelei would fall asleep in the car on the way to the gym.  If she did fall asleep, my plan was to stop at the donut shop first (they have a drive-thru window), drive to the library so I could return two overdue DVDs, and enjoy a donut with Sydney in the library parking lot, letting Lorelei sleep as long as possible before arriving at the gym.  The reason I was so hellbent on her having a nap is because sometimes she freaks out in the gym daycare when she is super tired, which cuts my workout short.  I did not want that. 

But here's what ended up happening: Lorelei was still not asleep by the time I reached the donut shop, so I bypassed it and drove straight to the library, jumped out of the car to put the DVDs in the outdoor drop box, drove slowly through the streets of Long Beach, Mississippi, thinking she would fall asleep at any second, which would still allow Sydney and me to swing through the donut shop and enjoy our pre-gym donut.  But the longer I drove around the more my plan unraveled, so I finally gave up and drove to the gym, praying that she would be happy enough to let me work out.

I was able to finish my workout (2+ miles on the treadmill...could have been better, could have been worse) without them tracking me down while holding my screaming child.  (Are you wondering why I go to the gym to run on the treadmill when I have a perfectly good double jogging stroller at home?  The reason is, I would certainly pass out from heat exhaustion if I ran outdoors between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.)  The Olympics was on television during my run, specifically men's 200-meter single canoe races.  Wow, it looked tiring.  In fact, I think I started breathing harder than usual during my run because it made me to tired to watch them.

I revised my donut plan (because a donut was still a must on this Friday) and drove to the donut shop after we left the gym.  We even went inside to eat our donut instead of going through the drive thru.  There was an older couple in there, and the man commented, "Wow, that's a chubby little guy" (talking about Lorelei).  His wife hissed at him, "That's a girl!  See, she's wearing pink and yellow!"  He said, "Okay, well she's chubby."  I agreed with him.  He wasn't being rude (although it sounds rude now that I type it out...poor Lorelei, I hope her baby thighs don't create a life-long complex).

We went home after the donut shop.  Chet was home for lunch, so he entertained Syd while I went upstairs to feed Lorelei and put her down for that nap she refused to take earlier.  By this time it was noon.

Syd went down for her nap at 1:15 p.m., at which point Lorelei woke up.  Sometimes I feel like all anyone does is nap around here!

Syd woke up at 3:00 p.m., and Lorelei went down for another nap (just 30 minutes, but see what I mean about someone always sleeping?!)  After Lorelei got up at 3:30 p.m., we left for the Discovery Center.  We arrived a couple of minutes after 4:00 p.m. (they close at 5:00 p.m.) so it was just enough time to play.  I got several (poor quality indoor iPhone) pictures of Syd, none of Lor.

Syd in the really cool climby thing.

Isn't it neat?!

Syd shaking her maracas in "Mexico."

Syd asked Chet, "What's that?"  Chet answered, "A tamale." 

Syd thought it was for brushing her hair.

Syd pretending to eat an empanada.

She loved putting it in her mouth for real when she thought we weren't looking (gross, right?).

She was hiding in the clothes cupboard.  Every time Chet opened the door she would SCREAM.  Yikes.

We headed home for dinner when the Discovery Center closed at 5:00 p.m.  Leftovers for dinner (woo hoo for me!).  After dinner my neighbor Amy and her daughter Maddy invited us out for a walk.  Syd and I left Chet and Lorelei at home.  Here are Sydney and Maddy at the playground.

This picture is blurry, but they had their hands over their hearts (sort of) while evening colors was playing.

At bath time, Sydney put this hat on Lorelei's head.  You're supposed to put it on the bathtub wall (it's sort of a paper doll set, but not paper).  I'm not sure Lorelei even noticed, ha!

Now they're in bed, and I'm still itching to watch that episode of "Army Wives"...

Thursday

Today was a great day, but ended busier than we should have let it end.

This morning the girls and I met my friend Emily and her daughter Maggie at Lynn Meadows Discovery Center for Bear Cub Club at 10:15 a.m.  It was our first time to go to Bear Cub Club, and I think Sydney had fun (there were parts where she seemed a little out of her element, and other parts that she loved).  We ate lunch at a picnic table on the museum grounds after BCC was over (which, in my opinion, was even more fun than BCC itself, because Sydney and Maggie were able to play together and Emily and I were able to chat).  The only negative was that it was raining, so the girls (and the adults) got pretty muddy on the walk to and from the picnic table, and the girls weren't able to play on the outdoor exhibits.

Maggie shared her umbrella with Sydney.  They probably got just as wet had there not been an umbrella at all, because they walked   s   o      s   l   o   w   l   y   (right Emily?).

(It was pretty hard to photograph them while they were walking and I was walking/carrying two bags, Lorelei, and an umbrella myself...pretty umbrella though, right?)

I like spending time with Emily and Maggie...the girls play great together, and that always makes me happy.  :-)

Lorelei fell asleep in the car on the way home, so I left her in there just long enough to unload the car and put Sydney down for a nap.  After I retrieved Lorelei from the car I started to feel super sleepy.  I was hoping she would want to go down for a longer nap so that I could lay down for a few minutes myself, but it didn't look like that was going to happen.  Finally, at 3:00 p.m., just 20 minutes before Sydney needed to get up from her nap, Lorelei started acting tired, so we went to her room so I could nurse her and put her to sleep.  She faked me out; she did not want to go to sleep, but I was so desperate for a short rest that I put her in the crib wide awake.  By this point I had 12 minutes before Sydney needed to get up.  I decided 12 minutes of rest was better than nothing; I just hoped Lorelei would entertain herself for a few minutes and not start screaming.

The master bedroom is right across the hall from the girls' bedrooms, so I could easily hear Lorelei rolling around, and I heard Sydney wake up a few minutes later.  Sydney waking up was a very good thing -- I don't like Sydney to sleep longer than 2 hours at nap time, because I think it interferes with bedtime.  And Sydney is great at entertaining herself in her crib, so her being awake bought me a few more minutes of rest.  And wouldn't you know it...a couple of minutes later, Lorelei fell asleep!  Woo hoo!  I was able to rest (I dozed a little, but never fell into a dead sleep) for 30 minutes, and it made all the difference.  I almost never nap during the day, but there are times when I reach a point where if I don't rest...things might get ugly.  When I find myself desperate for a break, I pray for time to rest...and I simultaneously pray that if rest isn't possible, that God grace me with renewed energy and patience...because I know that I'm out of both at that moment!

After Chet got home from work, we decided cooking dinner and cleaning up the kitchen was not desirable, so we went to Logan's Roadhouse instead (I had a coupon).

I've decided we're never going there again.  There are just too many things that are not desirable about that restaurant (I don't know if it's the whole chain, or just our location).  I'm never very impressed with the menu, the service isn't awesome, the high chairs are always dirty, and the tables are too small.  Why do restaurants put so much STUFF on tables nowadays?  Salt, pepper, sugar/sweeteners, drink menus, dessert menus, giant pail of peanuts (in this particular case).  There's not room for the basket of rolls, the pre-dinner plates, and then the dinner plates!  And Logan's doesn't clear anything from the table throughout the meal.  There were too many times that Lorelei almost got a hold of my dinner knife or swiped the roll basket onto the floor.  Plus, I had to change Lorelei's dirty diaper in the bathroom, and that always puts me in a punchy mood.

Okay, rant over.

It was raining when we left the restaurant, and we got into the car at 7:21 p.m.  Smart parents would have driven straight home, but we were near Dollar Tree, and I needed some sponges.  So we went.  It wasn't pouring down rain, but it wasn't just sprinkling either.  We were in and out of Dollar Tree pretty quick; all I needed were some kitchen sponges, a box of Whoppers (for Chet), and a pink loofah in the shape of a pig (for Syd).

We noticed a rainbow after we left Dollar Tree.

The self-serve yogurt place is just a couple of doors down from Dollar Tree...so that was our next stop (crazy, crazy parents).  Chet and Lorelei sat down at a table while I helped Sydney fix up her yogurt cup.  When we joined Chet and Lorelei at the table, Chet looked at me and said, "We have a problem.  I've been shat on."  He said it exactly like that.  It was a little crude, but he definitely could have been more crude.  And it was hilarious.  And gross.

Thankfully it had stopped raining by this time, so I took Lorelei to the car and cleaned her up.  We went back, finished our frozen yogurt, and headed home. We had the girls bathed and in bed in record time.  After they were in bed we cleaned up the toy/art supply explosion that we had left laying out before we went to the restaurant.  Then we watched the season finale of "Dallas."  And I did not blog, which is why this post is being written right now.

Wednesday

Today was more typical in that we weren't very busy,  yet I have no idea what we did all day.

Our morning was nothing out of the ordinary.  We left for the gym around 9:30 a.m.  I ran a grand total of one mile on the treadmill (my legs were still sore from Monday's run).  We went straight home after the gym.  Chet got home soon after we did for lunch/to change clothes for physical therapy.

We got home from the gym around 11:15 a.m., so from 11:15 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. I did dishes, the girls played, Syd and Lorelei ate lunch, and I cleaned them up.  There really wasn't much idle time in that hour and forty-five minutes...I'm still trying to figure out how the minutes tick away so quickly when you're taking care of two little ones.  I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Both girls went down for naps around 1:00 p.m.  I cleaned up the living room and kitchen as soon as they went down, but Lorelei was up by 2:00 p.m., so she and I played on the floor until it was time to get Sydney up at 3:00 p.m.

Chet arrived home from work at 4:00 p.m.  Lorelei took one more quick nap (30-minutes long), and then it was time to fix dinner.  We ate steak and asparagus.  Last night we ate personal pizzas. 

Chet took Sydney to Auto Zone and CVS while I stayed home with Lorelei and cleaned up the kitchen.  When they got home, we went on a (very) short neighborhood walk.  It was as if we all became cranky at the exact same moment, so we headed home for the girls' bedtime routine.

After the girls went to bed I did some laundry, and Chet and I read a little while before turning in for the night.

Pretty boring day, right?  I'd agree, except that four noteworthy things happened amidst the seemingly mundane:
1. I discovered Lorelei's top left tooth FINALLY cut through!
2. Lorelei proved that she's quite good at waving "hi" and "bye".  She must have been taking mental notes all this time, waiting to put waving into practice until she knew she could do it perfectly.
3. At lunchtime, Sydney seemed a little disinterested in eating, so I said, "Sydney, do you want something else to eat, or just milk?"  (Milk signifying that it is time to go upstairs to take a nap.)  Chet said, "That's an odd choice."  Sydney exclaimed, "I want an odd choice!" 
4. We cracked the code on Sydney's phrase, "I need-a-want why-coffee."  At least, I think we cracked it.  She's saying, "I like to drink coffee."  She's perfectly capable of saying "I like to drink coffee" so that anyone should be able to understand her, but she, over time, warped it into something that sounds like "I need-a-want why-coffee." I think she just likes the way the phrase sounds when she says it.  I also still believe the "why-coffee" comes from a mesh our last name with the word "coffee".  She is so silly.

Tuesday

Wow, it was really hard to make myself sit down and blog right now.  Chet and I just finished putting the girls to bed, cleaning up the kitchen from dinner, putting away the "play mess", and folding a load of whites that I would have gladly left sitting somewhere...but I seriously have nowhere to leave a pile of unfolded laundry.  Perhaps that's a good thing...

Tuesday is dance day.  Syd's dance class is at 1:00 p.m., and today was her third time to go, so by now we have a pretty good Tuesday routine down.

First of all, Lorelei woke up at 4:00 a.m. wanting to eat, so that made it much harder for me to get out of bed at 6:00 a.m.  I pressed snooze several times, and finally got out of bed around 6:30 a.m.  Sydney got up around 8:10 a.m., and Lorelei went down for a (very short) 30-minute nap around 9:00 a.m.  Tuesday mornings our only goals are to get Sydney ready for dance and Lorelei ready for the CDC, and to leave the house by 11:30 a.m.

Chet came home for lunch just before we left the house, and I captured this sweet shot.

Sydney and I dropped Lorelei off at the CDC, and then had to run back home for a copy of L's shot record (I kept forgetting to turn it in to the CDC).  Finally, we were on our way off base.  Last week, and again this week, I took Syd to a coffee shop near her dance school where we have a chance to just spend time together and have a snack/light lunch before class.  I change her into her dance clothes in the parking lot at the coffee house. 

I don't have much to report about dance class, because, like I said before, we are not allowed to watch.  I talked to another mother who used to take classes there herself when she was younger, and learned that we will not see ANYTHING until the May recital.  Eek!  Also, she told me this is the 50th anniversary of the dance school, so this year's recital should be pretty special.

Here is Syd, before class (she doesn't look happy, but she is...she's just tired of me always taking her picture).

Sydney usually goes down for a nap at 1:00 p.m.  Dance class starts at 1:00 p.m., so the ride home is always interesting.  She gets pretty goofy/annoying (sorry, but it's true) when she's tired, so I try to get us home and her into bed as soon as humanly possible.  Today, on the ride home, after I told her we were going home to take a nap, she said, "I can't wait."  Ha!

When I picked Lorelei up at the CDC, she was sitting on the floor with her back to me, playing with something.  I realized it was someone else's pacifier...sheesh.  No wonder she was running a fever last week!  She doesn't nap well at the CDC, so as soon as we got home I put her down for a nap.  She slept until 4:40 p.m.

Chet arrived home from work about 3:15 p.m., at which point I left for the grocery store.  (Apparently my family was expecting to eat dinner tonight...and every other night...  I'm still working on meal planning.)

We ate dinner, and Chet took the girls in the backyard while I cleaned up.  They weren't out there long; it was only 88 degrees, but horribly humid.  Poor things.

We received a HUGE box of baby clothes from my sister-in-law today, passed down to Lorelei.  I thought it would be fun for us to sort through them together since it was too hot to play outside.  It was fun for a while...then the girls decided they needed a change of scenery, so we had to put the clothes sorting on hold.  These pictures were taken AFTER they decided they needed a change of scenery, hence the stressed-out look on Lorelei's face.

Sydney is patting Lorelei's head in an attempt to soothe her.  And Sydney is wearing a size 18-month outfit from the box (somehow it fit her, Jenni!).

By this time is was cool enough outside to take a walk, so we did.  Just a short one, around the neighborhood.  Lorelei rode in the umbrella stroller and Sydney walked/touched everything on the ground.  Then it was back inside for baths and the bedtime routine.  And now here I sit.

Some things I pondered today:
1. It is exhausting to "shush" Sydney every 6 seconds while Lorelei tries to nap upstairs.  (Our house has terrible acoustics, and every little sound travels straight up the stairs.)  I'm not necessarily a proponent of silence while babies sleep, but Lorelei is not the best napper, so I feel like I have to do what I can to "help" her nap as long as possible.  I feel a little sorry for Sydney while Lorelei naps...but it is better to let Sydney be as loud as she wants, which will prevent Lorelei from getting the rest she needs?  Who knows.
2. Sydney recently started saying something that sounds like this: "I need-a-want why-coffee."  We have no idea what she's talking about.  She's been saying it for a couple of weeks now, and Chet and I cannot figure it out.  We think she's asking for coffee...but then we wonder if she's getting confused and meshing our last name with the word "coffee".  We even gave her a taste of (decaf) coffee on Sunday in an attempt to get to her quit asking for it...but it didn't work.

That is all.  My brain is tired, and I should go to bed right this second.  Instead, I will join Chet in the living room and probably turn on "Army Wives"...

Monday

5:30 a.m.: Chet's alarm goes off.  He gets up, gets dressed for work, goes downstairs to eat breakfast, and leaves the house before any of us emerge.
6:00 a.m.: My alarm goes off.  I press the 9-minute snooze button.  (Isn't that a crazy word -- snooze?)
6:05 a.m.: Lorelei wakes up and I drag myself out of bed to feed her.

After Lorelei eats, we retreat to the master bedroom so I can make the bed, put on my contacts, etc.  Lorelei plays on the rug under the windows.  Now that we sold our old living room furniture, there is more "play" room in the master bedroom, what with our coffee table out of the house instead of in our bedroom.

This is what the room looked like in October 2011.  I need to take a more recent picture...of this and of our new living room set up...

We go downstairs so I can make coffee, and Lorelei plays on the floor.  After a while of playing quietly by herself, she starts to squawk, so I sit on the floor with her and we read a book.  She gets even more cranky, so I take her back upstairs to put her back to bed.

7:35 a.m.: Lorelei is asleep.

At this point I should deal with some laundry or dishes or mail or something, but instead I blog, and come up with this brilliant idea.

8:00 a.m.-ish (because I ignore her for a while): Sydney wakes up, but I continue to frantically blog.
8:30 a.m.: I finally get Sydney out of bed.

Sydney and I read a book together before breakfast.  This is new.  As much as I love to read, I feel like we don't do enough structured reading with the girls.  So this is a new goal of mine: to read with Sydney (and Lorelei too, if she's awake) first thing in the morning.

9:00 a.m.: I serve breakfast to Sydney while Lorelei continues to nap.  Sydney scarfs down her leftover oatmeal (yes, leftover), but balks at the turkey sausage links and the strawberries.  Therefore, MY breakfast is two-and-a-half turkey sausage links and strawberries.  And a piece of burnt toast (don't worry, I like it sort of burnt).

9:06 a.m.: Lorelei wakes up (in a good mood -- thank goodness) from her nap, and I bring her downstairs to play for a few minutes while Sydney finishes breakfast.

After Syd and the breakfast dishes are clean, we all head upstairs to get dressed for the gym.  By this time it's about 9:30 a.m.  We finally get out the door just before 10 a.m.  In the car, before we even leave the base (the gym is off base), Sydney gets mad at me because I can't understand what she's saying, and I yank the car off the road to readjust her attitude.  The look on my face must have scared her, because I didn't have to do much "readjusting" in order for her to clean up her act.

10:25 a.m.: We arrive at the gym, where I run three miles on the treadmill.  I need to run WAY more than that WAY more often, because I've for sure decided to run a half marathon this year.  The race is the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
11:25 a.m.: I pick the girls up from the gym daycare and we head to the library.  Lorelei screams for the first two minutes after I strap her into her carseat...every single time.  Usually, thankfully, she snaps out of it.
11:30 a.m.: Arrive at the library.  Sydney insists on me taking her picture with the big bear every time we go.

12:10 p.m.: Leave the library for home.
12:20 p.m.: Lorelei falls asleep in the car.
12:25 p.m.: We arrive home and Sydney and I get out of the car.  Lorelei gets to stay in the car (with the engine running) to finish her nap.  I don't mess with naps.

Sydney acts a little crazy during lunch and nap preparation.  Chet is home for lunch during this time too.  Usually he has physical therapy right after lunch on Mondays, but this week his physical therapy is Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. 

1:20 p.m.: Sydney goes down for a nap.  Blessed silence.
1:25 p.m.: Lorelei is awake from her car nap.  She is in a good mood.
1:35 p.m.: The lady I sold our jogging stroller to stops by to pick up her purchase.  This was a great stroller.  We sold it because we have a double jogging stroller now, and haven't used this one since before Lorelei was born.  (This is a picture of Sydney, by the way.)

After the nice lady leaves, Lorelei plays while I tend to dishes and eat a quick lunch.  She starts squeak-squawking (Chet's phrase), so I sit with her on the floor and we play together.  I am trying to get better at "being present" with the girls, instead of constantly rushing around, doing chores.  It is hard for me to just sit still, especially when I know there's a never-ending list of things that need accomplishing.  So we played, but I still snuck in a little laundry.

Did you notice Lorelei's necklace? It is made of Baltic Amber, and is supposed to help with teething pain. (You can read more about that here.)

3:20 p.m.: Lorelei is acting cranky, so I attempt to put her down for another nap.
3:25 p.m.: Lorelei is rolling around, awake, in her crib.  Chet arrives home.  (Yes, I am fully aware of how blessed we are regarding Chet's work schedule, especially since he is supposed to be on deployment right now.  We do our best to cherish this time together, and to not take advantage of a single minute.)
3:30 p.m.: I (finally) take my post-gym shower.
3:40 p.m.: Chet gets Sydney up from her nap and saves Lorelei from the confines of her crib (she never fell asleep).  Sydney is royally cranky.

Sydney watches "Barney" as she wakes up, and randomness ensues until Lorelei decides she's finally ready for a nap at 4:50 p.m.

Once Lorelei is asleep, I come downstairs and start cleaning up the kitchen/preparing dinner.  Sydney plays on the kitchen floor with her Aquadoodle.  Chet is on eBay, monitoring the watches he put up for sale yesterday.  Sydney gets mad that I am not giving her my undivided attention, so Chet rescues both of us and entertains her until dinner is on the table.

5:30 p.m.: Commence dinner.  I am happy because it is "leftover night", which means very little preparation on my part.  We ate chicken noodle casserole last night and tonight.

5:35 p.m.: Lorelei wakes up from her evening nap.
5:52 p.m.: I abandon Chet to work on this blog post.  Two minutes later I hear Lorelei spew yogurt everywhere, so I should go help him...instead, I blog until 6:21 p.m., while he finishes cleaning up the kids and the kitchen.  What a good man!

Yes, Sydney is in the baby walker.

6:22 p.m.: It is raining outside, and Chet and I know the rest of the evening will not be pretty unless there is a change of scenery, so we pack up and drive to the NEX.  We often go to the NEX when we need something easy to do.
7:15 p.m.: Arrive home.  We checked out the DVD "The Princess and the Frog" at the library, so we decide to start watching that since we can't go on a walk outside or anything.
8:00 p.m.: Sydney has a meltdown because she realizes I'm sitting in her chair.

(This picture was taken at a happier time.  Just wanted you to know which chair I was talking about.)

8:35 p.m.: We head upstairs for bed.
8:45 p.m.: Sydney is in bed.
9:10 p.m.: Lorelei is in bed/asleep.
9:15 p.m.: I sit down at the computer.

Whew!  I'm not sure all seven blog posts this week will be like this.  Perhaps I'll do something a little different, format-wise, each day.  Hopefully this didn't bore anyone to tears--thanks for reading!

Random Things and a Challenge

Here's a quick update on all of the random things that have been going on around here lately, accompanied by random iPhone pictures.

Lorelei likes to watch Sydney play at the splash pad.

And loves using her pointer finger.

We went to Ross the other day, and Chet captured this photo.

Last Friday (7/27), I took Lorelei to her 9-month well-baby checkup.  She weighed 17 lbs 2 oz (18th percentile), and her height and head circumference measurements put her in the 32nd and 93rd percentiles, respectively.  ***Side note: When I scheduled this appointment back in June, I was asked which day she would turn 9-months old.  I replied "July 27th".  That was wrong.  She was 9-months old July 17th...Sydney's day is the 27th...sheesh!***

This past Friday (8/3) I took her back to the doctor, because she started running a fever Thursday afternoon.  I don't take her to the doctor every time she has a fever, unless the fever starts close to the weekend.  I do everything in my power to avoid the ER on a weekend, so back to the doctor we went (she was fine, by the way).  This time she weighed a pound more (18 lbs, 1 oz) than last week.  Perhaps she was just having a light moment last week. 

On July 27th, we took the girls to the local frozen yogurt joint to celebrate Sydney's two-and-a-half birthday.  (In case you haven't noticed, I put bibs on them everywhere we go.  I have no sense of adventure.)

Saturday (7/28) we went to downtown Ocean Springs for the first time.  It was hot, but a really fun trip.  They have adorable shops.  I don't have any pictures that prove we were actually there, just these random pictures of Sydney from the day.

She hugged this decorative (made of tin) outside one of the shops.

Right after I took the previous picture, she wanted me to take a picture of her standing by this random bag that held a tent.

She was pooped.

We went to the NEX Sunday evening (7/28) just to get out of the house (it was raining), and we all had fun in the book/magazine section.  Syd picked out this magazine.

Then she started acting a little bit like a toot, so Chet took her into the giant walk-in beer cooler to snap her out of it.  It worked.

Wow, most of these pictures are of Sydney.  Here are some of Lorelei.

Yesterday, as we were unloading ourselves from the car for church, Chet put Sydney's backpack on Lorelei.  It made us laugh hysterically.  Sydney did not share in our humor. 

Yesterday I was cooking dinner/washing dishes, and looked out the window to see this.  Chet decided getting in the pool himself would make it easier to facilitate backyard water play.

The challenge I mentioned in the title of this post is this: I am going to document what we do each day (on this blog) for an entire week.  Some of you may wonder what the girls and I do on a daily basis.  I wonder the same thing, ha!  This will be quite a challenge, because it will "force" me to blog every day for the next week, as well as make sure I remember or jot down our daily happenings.  Wish me luck!