At the Dentist

Penelope was very excited to go to the Children's Dentist

Weekend at the Cabin

Blocks: Best 3$ spent at a thrift shop.

Moose droppings!!! Right?

Planting flowers with dad.

Moose Tracks?? I'm not sure, but they were big and I'm pretty sure no one has any pet ox in the area.

No day is complete with out paint. And a bath.

Swimming Pictures

Mini Audrey Hepburn

Get away paparazzi! She actually yelled, "Stop! No pictures!" at me.

If there are big girls around, Penelope loves them.

The Triathlon: A Play By Play

Last Friday we traveled to Las Vegas to attend Wayne's olympic distance triathlon and spend a few days relaxing. It's hard to put such a eventful day into words, so let me just give you the details chronologically.

Lets start with the night before:

10PM We arrive at the hotel, get unloaded, and go to bed. We notice that Peneope's whole body feels like a furnace.

11PM and every hour until 6AM Penelope wakes up moaning and crying and her skin is hot to the touch. I put a cool cloth on her head and blow on her until she falls asleep again. I consider finding a 24 hour pharmacy, use Google to research the worst case scenario diseases she could have contracted, and consider zipping my head inside of the suitcase for not packing Tylenol.

6AM We are all up after very little sleep. Wayne gets ready and I hold a sick and shaky Penelope. Wayne leaves with our friends, Todd & Dini, who we are staying with. I tell them I will try to come later when the race actually starts.

745AM Penelope vomits, I clean up and then she soon falls asleep. I decide we will come to the race for the end.

930AM Penelope wakes up, and I decide it's now or never for trying to go support our dear daddy. Penelope seems able to breathe without either acting like she is going to vomit or pass out.

950AM After carrying Penelope and the Karate Kid around the parking garages for 20 minutes, I cannot seem to locate our car. I decide that Wayne would be done by the time we got there anyway, and head back to the room.

Meanwhile....at the race

Around 930AM All is going well until after Wayne's second flat tire, he has to push the bike for the final two miles of the race. Todd also has bad luck, break's his chain, and has to push his bike nearly 6 miles.

Around 11AM (They were expecting to be done with the entire race at 1030) Wayne and Todd start the running part of the race, and the temperature has risen to over 90 degrees. They have been training all winter in 30-50 degree weather. The six mile run takes them almost twice as long to complete due to the hot desert heat.

I expected them back at the hotel any time after 11, but finally Penelope and I took a long nap and they got back after 1PM. Surprisingly, neither of the guys dropped out of the race. I keep laughing picturing Todd pushing his bike for six miles. It's really not that funny, but because the chain was broken, Todd could push the bike on the flat and up the hills, and jump on and coast down the hills. The funny part is that when he would coast down a hill and jump off to push, people thought he was an amateur and just couldn't make it up the hill so he had to jump off and push. So they would encourage him and cheer, "You're doing great! You can bike up the hill!" etc.

On the down side I have no pictures and wasn't there to support my husband while he tried to run and push his bike through the hot desert. On the bright side, I didn't drag a sick kid along to wait for HOURS in the shadeless Lake Meade gravel.

Penelope has been improving, I bought some medicine, and we are all happily relaxing and enjoying swimming.

The Wild, Wild West

A newsworthy note:

Wait a second... this weird news didn't happen in Nevada!! (Just somewhere close)

Sledding

We had great fun sledding with friends! Penelope only liked to sled if she was carried from the dry ground to the sled and back. She still despises actually touching or walking on the snow.

Winter biking and egg dipping

Pippy and Daddy love biking

Pippy is obsessed with eggs... good thing it's egg dipping season

My sophisticated husband. We made a crab and lobster dinner.

Why, Yes, She is a genius

She likes to organize and putting the little magnets in rows like this she calls "stacking."

She likes to take my grocery list paper and draw on it....recently I realized how intricate her 'coloring' is.

She shades in each checkmark box here

And draws super straight lines across the page here

Mud Puddles

 If it were up to this girl, she would get her 3 hours or Spock-Approved outdoor time, rain or shine.

Chasing the cats - she would get close and lift the front tire then 'I squish Orangie mommy!'

She loves the bike. Oh, and look close. Closer! That's a ponytail! Finally hair is long enough.

Some sort of organization going on here.

February Pics and a Romantic Valentine's Day

"Look, I sit up here! I crazy!" She loves emptying the pantry. No wonder why I'm always out of mac and cheese.

Eating a red orange. I think she learned this from the boys.

Valentine's Day party. Good luck getting one kid to look at the camera!

Here's a little Valentine's Day gem for you. Wayne's parents came to visit for the weekend. I made biscuits and gravy for breakfast, and although I don't usually get into holidays, I went all out and made heart shaped biscuits. We commented on them during breakfast and Geri talked of all of her past Valentine's Day being completely void of any flowers, chocolates or dates. Everyone was also aware that Penelope was invited to a Valentine's Day party later in the morning. Later, in the living room Wayne says, "OH, you mean TODAY is Valentine's Day?" His equally romantic father, "Oh....It's TODAY?" Wayne got this confused look, "I thought it was always on a Saturday."

She fell asleep playing with daddy's phone

Pippy and Grammie - She still loves the flip flops she has outgrown.

Pippy really liked snuggling with Grandpa this time.

The two nicest goons.

Oh, and we are expecting again! Sorry I don't have any cutsie creative 'baby reveal.' But here is the proof. The newbie has been named 'The Karate Kid.' If you turn the picture 45 degrees to the left, the baby is squatting with the hand in a fist to our left punching me. No joke. If this were a video you would see the fist punching back and forth between it's chin and the edge of the sack or whatever it is sitting in. I bet this baby will be calm and sleep all day.