Picture says 1000 Words...

Like, I am utterly exhausted, drained, tired, too pooped to party, and I even have a balloon tightly clutched in my hand!

This is a picture of Libby from yesterday, after we had finished the yard sale, but let's go back to the beginning. We had gotten most of the stuff down from the attic on Friday night, and the yard almost set up, when it began to sprinkle. Of course the forecast had called for zero percent chance of rain. We moved everything into the garage and set the alarm for 6 AM the next morning. This is unheard of during the week, much less a Saturday. Was a gorgeous day, and we set to work. Leeanne arrived and we continued to get things out in the yard. We had visitors almost right away. One thing about a yard sale is that it will surprise you what will sell, and what will not. I am so thankful Leeanne was a part of the day. Eric would pop off to make sure the signs were still standing, or whatever. Having a nice, steady, and fun presence was huge, given how long the day gets. I have been asked if we will do one again. I have to say, I don't think so. Eric was very gung-ho on this one, until he heard how much we made. Considering all the work that went into it, he did not feel it had paid off. I can understand that feeling, but know if he had not had this strange desire for a sale, our attic would still look the same. It was good to get rid of so much stuff. I think we have one more purge to make this summer, but this time, it will all go straight to Goodwill :)

Libby was quite worn out from the day and could not/would not nap. Eric left to head to a friend's place on a lake for fishing, eating, drinking beer and male bonding. Good thing one of us had a fun afternoon. Crabbypants Roller was in a state. She wanted pizza and after I put it in the oven, I turned around to find she had fallen asleep at 4:45-aaaarrgh! Merlie woke her up with kisses when she came home about a half hour later. I actually, and cannot believe I am admitting this, fed Libby her pizza by hand. She was so tired and loopy, yet hungry, and I just had to help her out. It revived her and I was in for a long night. Moral of the story, never let your husband talk you into a yard sale unless you are the one who then gets to go out for a night of fun on the town with your girlfriends!

Gorgeous weather here, and we hope to get to enjoy some of it this afternoon.

Memorial weekend and heading towards garage sale

The time has just been flying by. Libby and I went to lunch on Friday with a few of my old Valspar co-workers. We went to the new headquarters in downtown Minneapolis. Wow, are they fancy. Nothing like the old digs on Washington Ave. (which I still have a fondness for). They have a cafeteria, and even a store. It was a lot of fun seeing people and catching up.

We met Michelle and Malia at the Children's Museum that evening. We had almost the whole place to ourselves! Libby's favorite place is the store, and both girls could work the register or push a cart around, and there were no other kids in the place! I think it was Libby's idea of heaven :) It was such a nice evening and I am so glad we met there. The top three pics are taken at the Children's Museum. Notice the "Libby Lean" even when no one else is in the pic-sigh.

My brother had his annual bbq on Saturday night. He adores Libby and she adores him. Eric and Libby have this joke about Merlie the Dog not being able to do things, like drive or open doors. When asked "why not" the punch line is: "No thumbs". Keith laughed so hard, he was crying.

We had dinner at India House on Sunday evening with Colleen, Doug and Jai. It was so delicious, we vowed we would all be back. The girls spent most of the time standing at the window waving at people walking by. We were stuffed, but felt obligated to get ice cream at Grand Old Creamery. They are awaiting word on travel to get their little boy, Sheng. He is absolutely adorable.

Have been busy getting ready for our yard sale. I cannot believe how much stuff we have put together from the attic and the garage, and the thing is, there could be more if we had the time. Leeanne, Ron and Ellie stopped by to drop off their things for the sale. We had a nice visit and were fortunate to have a neighbor girl and her friend drop over to play with the girls. The picture at the bottom is Ellie in the swing after a big under push from Eric.

I am trying to get excited for Saturday. Part of me really is, and the other part just wants it over now. I want all of that stuff just gone. I hope we make some nice ching, ching from it-heck, maybe enough to cover our I800A application! If not, it will feel better to have made a dent. Next it will be on to painting and repairing. What have I set us up for?

Help! I am being held hostage by a toddler!

I have a toddler who would rather hang out with me than anything. Sounds good, huh? It might until you start living it. Libby is not doing well at playing by herself. I can only get her to play with things that she loves, if I am also playing. I am not sure how to change this. On one hand, she plays very well with groups or just another child, and that is huge. I am very proud of how well she does in that regard. This big step forward in her development has yet to happen and I need to nudge it along. I still am woefully lacking in me time, and I know that she needs to get there for her own sake. Nothing I have read has really given good suggestions that fit her. If anyone has ideas, please share.

We have had a busy week. Had a great breakfast with Rena and Lexa on Monday morning, aside from two monkeys climbing under the table and staring at other diners trying to eat. Went to Hillcrest to play there for a bit. It has a nice rec center and playground.

There are only two weeks left for tutoring at Longfellow. It has been great to see how far some kids have moved forward, and sad to see how others have not. I had really been looking forward to following them to third grade next year.

Today, we had Tenzing and Annie over for a playdate. I was worried about Annie since Tenzing and Libby are such space invaders, but she held her own. She loves to play with Merlie, and Merlie is happy to have her here. I could tell L & T got a bit too close a few times, but she handled it well. We had a very nice time together. I will be watching her a few more times while her Mom brings her brother to OT.

I don't know how it happened, but it is Memorial weekend. We will be working on getting our garage sale ready and have a bbq at my brother Keith's on Saturday night. A happy and safe Memorial weekend to everyone.

I do have to share that she is sitting on the floor (no nap today-sigh) and singing and making up stories about Tenzing. I know she will be fine, it's just my sanity that needs the reassurance once in a while :)

Short Vent

OK, I am sure it is a guy thing, but does that make it any less annoying or real? We are visiting Eric's family in June. I could tell he wanted me to make all the arrangements. I was not going to do it. I make all arrangements with visits with my family, all plans for trips we have taken just the two of us, and I thought it was time he actually take some responsibility. My mistake. He hemmed and hawed and could not make any commitments. Finally got us booked on flights. I had found a 4 star hotel with an internet deal of $119/night (unbelievable for DC) and told Eric about it. He could not decide how many nights we would be there and delayed doing anything. The deal is now over and the rate is $299/night! No, we will not be staying there. Because the rates are so high for good hotels, he has decided we should stay another night at his parents. Excuse me, where is my vacation in all this? An extra night there and now staying in some dumpy hotel for the last two nights just makes me fume. There, I have vented. I wish I felt better, but I am just dreading my week long "vacation".

Second Mother's Day & Farewell to Naps

We had a lovely Mother's Day this past Sunday. Eric made French toast from scratch, and instead of my healthy version, he made the full fat one, which was delicious. We had a very lovely day together and went to Menard's to pick up more plants for the yard. They were almost cleaned out of everything. It is hard to believe it was my second Mother's Day with Libby, and I pinch myself at how lucky I am to have such a lovely daughter. She is very funny and quick witted (yes, I am prejudiced). I told her that she has a cute little nose. I asked her if mama had a cute little nose. I was told, "No, mama has a BIG nose", and she laughed and laughed. She put her thumb out and her index finger up, just to show me how big.

Monday, we had several of the mom's from the St. Paul Mom's group over for a play date. It went really well. All of the moms are so nice and the kids are just great. Aidan loved playing Frisbee with Merlie and Merlie loved every minute of it. Poor Chloe is afraid of dogs, but was okay by the end of the time here. Libby and Lexa were there usual nutty selves, running all over the house together. It was good for Libby to share with more than one child at a time-she could not focus on which one playing with her things was upsetting her the most :)

Music Together is winding to a close in a few weeks. It is probably a good thing. Libby and Tenzing make quite a show of themselves and are disruptive. Both had to be brought out of the room to have a timeout. They jump up and down and scream at the top of their lungs. The singing and dancing part is lost on them. However, this made me laugh until I had tears in my eyes. One of them pulled up their shirt, and then the other one did and then they belly bumped. It was cute, but I bet the teacher will be relieved not to have to "teach" these two again!

We did not have any afternoon naps this week, which made for horrible afternoons for me. Libby was super crabby and a tyrant. Today, we watched my friend Brenda's little girl, Annie. They played hard, so Libby is napping, but I fear the days of two hour naps are coming to an end. Libby is not at a point where she plays by herself, however, so this really takes its toll on me getting my work done. OK, and having a chance to blog!

I had told Eric I wanted a covered sandbox for the yard. Was going to see if we could find one at a yard sale. He called to say that he found one at the curb. Went up and asked if it was okay to take, and the woman said she was sick of sand in her yard?! It is the Little Tykes Step Two crab and I love it. It is not too small or too big and it has a cover and is in great condition. Yeah, Eric! We are going to take her little sandbox and turn it into a water table. Our yard looks like a plastic factory.

All in all, life is good and I can hardly wait to see the fruits of our labor with our veggies and flowers. We really want to involve Libby in the experience this summer.

As for the picture of Libby in her jean skirt-she looks like half the teen girls in my neighborhood with her flip flops and cell phone in her pocket. Yikes!

Happy Month of May

Just a quick note here. Libby is not willing to take her nap and is being very vocal in the background. We had a very nice morning with Tenzing and Heather. We went to the campus of St. Kate's and fed the ducks at the pond. It was a lot of fun. They baby ducks should be here soon, so we will have to go back and do it again.

Still dealing with a few behavioral issues with Libby-mostly hitting. She hit Tenzing twice today when we were out. She did apologize both times, but it is really bothering me that it is how she is resolving things, no matter how many times we tell her to "use her words" (I used to hate when parents said that, but now get it). She is also very openly defiant when told to put something down or give something back. This is relatively new, but much more pronounced this past week.

On the plus side, she is doing super well and it almost completely potty trained, her sense of humor continues to amaze and amuse us, and she is becoming a climbing toddler. We are probably still a bit overprotective, but she is doing great at the park on the equipment. Last year, even by the end of summer, I could barely get Libby to put her feet in sand. Now, with no encouragement, she does it as if she always has been doing it. She loves being barefoot-who would have thought?

In me news, I got to go out with college friends on Saturday night. Our friend Steph lives in Mound, and the big Catholic church there was having a fundraiser with the Honeydogs and Soul Asylum playing. Had fun at Steph's house first and then just a great time at the concert. It was a nice evening and the church is located on a small lake. The tent was nice and roomy and both bands were a lot of fun. Dave Pirner can still swivel those hips after all these years! :) It was very nice to catch up with old friends. Of course I did not bring my camera, so there are no pics, darn it.

It is supposed to be a rainy week. We are going to meet Brenda and kids, Annie and Nick, at the MN Children's Museum tomorrow. We have been there a lot lately, but Libby loves it and we have not seen this crew in too long a time.

That's about it for now.