Get your fresh....leomande?!

Today as Baby Sister and I were on the way home from getting groceries I got a call from the Girl requesting that I bring home lemons so that we could make some lemonade. This is what I saw when I pulled into the driveway, J and the Girl hard at work building a lemonade stand with scrap wood leftover from various home improvement projects.

While J was finishing up the Girl had her Crayola markers out and was hard at work on the signage.

J is either not a multi-tasker or he is dyslexic. With his guidance the Girl wrote 'LEOMANDE' on her sign (Can you see it third row down L-E-O-M-A, then next line N-d-E?) amidst an array of other letters. Of course, being the loving wife that I am I just had to point it out and give him a hard time. To which he replied that it was French and we both had a good laugh.

She could barely contain her excitement over the thought of her own lemonade stand. On several occasions last summer we saw lemonade stands in adjacent neighborhoods and the Girl thought it was the coolest thing.
Here we are "making" lemonade. It was hard work, I could barely twist the cap off of the bottle of Organic Santa Cruz lemonade and pour it in the picture. A few fresh lemon slices cut by me and tossed in by the girl and Voila - Leomande!!

The Girl has her lemonade stand curbside and is ready for business.

Now all she needs is some business.

Scanning up the hill for potential customers.

And then down the hill. She informed me that it was my job to flag people down in cars.

Pouring some lemonade....

for herself. It is, after all, hard work manning a lemonade stand.

And of course there was some spillage involved. At the end of the day (hour) we managed to give away one glass of lemonade to a man walking his dog. He walked by the stand and apologized for not having his wallet to which the Girl responded that it was free lemonade anyway. Before bed she was talking about how she was going to sell lemonade tomorrow before school and afterwards as well. I predict many days of selling 'Leomande' in our future.

Swinging Sweetie

Does this look like the face of a wee one with a lingering double ear infection and a mouthful of teeth just waiting to bust through puffy, swollen gums? One would think not. But alas, it is. Baby Sister and I headed back to the pediatrician's office today for another check on her ears. I have to admit that I was not surprised to hear that they haven't cleared up yet. Maybe I've grown accustomed to the routine. We have, after

all been on this road since January 5th. But today we decided to take a different approach. Although we left the office with prescription orders in hand for round 5 of antibiotics, it will be left unfilled for the time being. The nurse practitioner wrote the prescription but suggested that maybe we should wait a few days and see what happens. Neither of us really wanting to subject Baby Sister to yet another

round of antibiotics, which up to this point have proved to be futile anyway. Now we are leaving it up to her little body to do the job. Of course if it seems as though she is in pain or if we experience sleepless nights we will get the prescription filled. Besides, who's to say that the crankiness that Baby Sister has been displaying in the past two months isn't partly or even mostly due to the fact that she is teething

in a major way. The nurse practitioner pointed out that her tugging on her ears could also be a by-product of teething as the pain shoots up the jawline and to the base of the ears. So for now we'll just hang tight and keep on swinging!!

Make new friends but keep the old....

....one is silver and the other gold. Isn't that a song or something? Anyhow this is the Girl's newest little friend, Miss A.

They go to the same preschool but are in different classes. They first met at Kids Club which is a children's program at our church that meets

on Wednesday nights. And even better, Miss A and her family live just down the hill from us. It's a five-minute walk tops to their house. Last week we went to Miss A's house to play and today she came to ours. She is a bit tomboy and very dare-devilish. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't nervous about her coming to our house. Thoughts kept running through my head of all the ways she might get hurt at our house and

how I would explain it to her Mom. Luckily there was only one incident, where she smacked the side of her cheek into our dining

room table. Later I noticed what appeared to be a huge red scrape on her cheek but upon closer inspection discovered that it was

only a smear of strawberry jelly leftover from lunch. Whew!! As you can see, the majority of our afternoon was spent outside

swinging. Even Baby Sister got in on the action after her nap.

More Park Play

Yep, those moviestar-sized glasses (from an earlier post) made it home with us the other day.

Here are the Girlies on Monday traipsing through a little garden area at our favorite local park.

They were on the hunt for a few early blooms.

Love how something has caught Baby Sister's eye and she's pointing it out.

Ah....she's getting so big.

When it rains....

it pours!! Baby Sister cut her top two front teeth in today. She may have helped the process along yesterday evening when she bonked her mouth on the coffee table. I was at the movies with a friend when it happened but according to J it was a doosey of a hit that involved wailing and blood. He even pointed out a mark on the coffee table that he swears is in the shape of one of Baby Sister's newly emerged teeth.

This and that

The Girl enjoying some snacks at Aunt Ashley's 25th birthday party on Saturday.

Teething can really wear a girl out. Baby Sister has never been tired enough before to conk out on the couch.

Yet another park trip....

....and the Girl at the park with a genuine smile on her face.

Friday morning started out with some jumpin' on the bed.

I heart this picture of my Girls!! We may have a lefty in the family.

Cool cats....

....with moviestar-sized glasses on.

Toothless no more!!!!!!

Today while in the car on our way to Aunt A's birthday party, Baby Sister grabbed my finger (I was sitting in the back with the girls) and started gnawing on it. Right away I felt it. Yea!! One tooth through, nine to go. And even if she weren't puckered up ready for a kiss in this photo and smiling instead, you'd still not be able to see the ridges just barely above the gums of her front tooth on the bottom left-hand side. We love you so much little miss Baby Sister and can't wait to see you with a toothy grin!

Playground play?

While there was a bit of this....

the majority of our time at the playground two days ago was spent doing this. Following Baby Sister around. And around. And around. She just wanted to walk. And walk. And walk. On the grass, through the dirt, over the asphalt and into the beauty bark.
I'm afraid it wasn't too awfully fun for the Girl and I quickly realized that I now have my work cut out for me when it comes to our park outings. Having two mobile children that are likely to head in different directions will certainly pose a challenge when it comes to keeping up with them.

Pesky and Tenacious

Pesky and tenacious. Words to describe the ear infections that Baby Sister still hasn't been able to get rid of. We visited our pediatrician again yesterday to check her ears after finishing up the latest round of antibiotics. Although her ears did look better, the pediatrician wasn't confident that her body would be able to clear out the remaining fluid so we're on to our fourth and even stronger round of antibiotics, azithromycin. She will take this for five days but it continues to work for another five after that. Hopefully by then her ears will be completely clear. And if that weren't enough to make her cranky, the pediatrician also took a peek at her gums and declared that she's trying to cut no less than 10 teeth - six on top, four on bottom!!

Our Little Valentine Sweeties

How sweet are they in their little matching outfits (Thanks Aunt B!!)?! These are our two favorite little Valentine sweeties yesterday. Valentine's day holds special significance regarding our wee ones. We announced the Girl's imminent arrival to our families and close friends via a handmade Valentine card declaring "a sweet surprise" on the outside with an ultrasound picture inside and our due date. As for Baby Sister, it was on Valentine's Day two years ago that we discovered we were pregnant with her. It is a sweet holiday indeed!

Impossibly Cute Cookies

How cute are these?! Quite possibly my new favorite cookie. At least based on appearance as I've yet to taste one. I came across this recipe at Sprinkle Bakes and thought that it would be the perfect Valentine treat to send to work with J for his co-workers to enjoy. I'm already dreaming up all sorts of color combinations....green for Saint Patrick's Day, yellow and pink for spring, blue and red for the 4th of July. The possibilities are endless!!

Babies in the kitchen with the pots and pans!

Today Baby Sister opened the drawer beneath our stove and climbed right in with the pots and pans. I couldn't help but think of a book that the girls and I checked out recently from the library and this was one of the lines, Baby's in the kitchen with the pots and pans.

Baby Sister thought it was a pretty great spot to sit and spent quite a bit of time there.

Here is the Girl hanging out in a drawer next to the stove. She never discovered the drawer under the stove, at least not for sitting. Instead she would always empty out this drawer. In this picture, the Girl is 14 months, two months younger than what Baby Sister is now. I love how Baby Sister's discovery paralleled the Girl's at right around the same age. And we still have the exact same pot and it just happened to be on

the stovetop in both pictures. Despite my past tendencies of staging pictures, this was purely coincidental.

Oh sunny day!

We have been blessed with an unusual amount of warm, sunny and dry days this winter. Today was one of those days. So we piled into the car and headed out to meet some friends at one of our favorite local parks.

Here is the Girl giving Baby Sister a push.

And Baby Sister's resultant smile.

Here is our little friend, Miss A. She is three months older than Baby Sister and an itty-bitty too.

Miss A's big brother, D, and the Girl climbing and in matching sweaters no less.

The itty-bitties enjoying a bit of synchronized swinging.

A rare group shot in which everyone is looking in the general direction of the camera.