Cupcake has discovered climbing, and she's pretty good at getting herself into awkward positions, but not so great yet about getting out of them. I had to snap this picture before I got her out of her predicament.
T is home sick, so I decided to get the kids out of the house so he could rest. We went to the Rose Garden. It was my first time there, even though I've lived in the area for six years. It was beautiful, but crowded, and there were so many stairs! Cupcake was in the stoller, so I had to carry the stroller up and down many different sections of stairs. I think there was supposed to be a ramp somewhere, but I never found it. D.L.F. did a great job of climbing all the stairs by himself. I didn't get many pictures, because it's hard to push a stroller and take care of two little kids and take pictures at the same time, but here are a few:
I was in another room and overheard D.L.F. saying, "I am pulling your hair! Can you say, 'Ow!'?"
I thought he was talking to Cupcake, so I hurried in and was relieved to find that he was only pulling on the yellow yarn hair of Rosie, Cupcake's lovey (the feminine equivalent of Baseball Guy).
Today D.L.F. was looking at the book Go Dog Go and saw a picture of a dog wearing roller skates. He said, "That dog has car sandals!"
With the hot, muggy weather we've been experiencing, we've been itching to visit the beach for quite a while, and today we got our chance. D.L.F. remembered the beach from last year, and he was so excited when he figured out that's where we were going. It was such fun to get our city children out into God's creation where they could move and explore to their hearts' content.
When we got to the beach, I set Cupcake in the sand, and she was off! She practiced her gymnastics moves...
and checked out a big stick...
ate some sand...
and liked it so much she attempted to cover every square inch of her body with it.
D.L.F., on the other hand, mostly wanted to hang out with Papa...
and everyone played in the water.
-T accidentally reformatted a hard drive with ALL our pictures on it--wedding pictures, baby pictures, everything. But he found some software to reverse the damage. It cost $40 (grrrrr), but it's worth it to have all those pictures back.
-We have a new church. Have I mentioned that? We used to be part of a house church, but God led people in different directions, and so that house church is no more. Our new congregation has about 150 people, and it's within walking distance of our house.
-This past weekend was the church women's retreat. Cupcake is eating solids so well now (she literally will eat anything and everything you put on her tray), and she'll be a year old in two weeks, so I decided she could live without me for a couple of days. T said she did great, and other than looking around and saying "Mamamamama" sometimes, she didn't seem to miss me too much. There were about 40 women at the retreat, and I learned almost everyone's name. I felt blessed that so many welcomed me, talked with me, and even wrote me notes! I did nurse Cupcake when I got home, but she just doesn't seem all that interested any more (and hasn't for a month or two), so I don't know how much longer I'll keep it up. I'm kind of looking forward to being done with nursing (until the next baby), as I've been either pregnant and/or nursing for the past 3 1/2 years.
-D.L.F. has, of his own volition, started walking everywhere lately! This is good because 1) the umbrella stroller (for Cupcake) is WAAAY easier to haul down and up the stairs than the double stroller, and 2) walking wears D.L.F. out, thus he takes really long naps!
Yesterday while we were eating dinner, a car honked loudly outside, and D.L.F. imitated the sound perfectly.
"He was right on pitch," I said to T.
D.L.F. giggled and said "ARMPITS!" and started flapping his arms like a bird.
I took the kids to my parents' house for Easter, and T stayed home to work on some projects around the house. I really enjoyed going to the church I grew up in and seeing lots of folks I hadn't seen for a while. We went to the early service, and then went down to the fellowship hall for brunch. As we were almost ready to leave, my mom started coughing and choked out a request for something to drink. My dad got her some juice, and by that time, I was coughing, too, with a horrible irritation in my throat (three hours later, my throat is still bothering me a bit). We looked around and realized that everyone around us was coughing, too. So what was the deal? Apparently someone had sprayed pepper spray (or something like it) in the men's restroom, I guess as a prank, and it just filtered out all through the church. So that's a little Easter adventure I won't be forgetting any time soon. My mom got Easter outfits for Cupcake and D.L.F. Here are a few pics:
