Spelling Tuesday

Today was declared "Lenz Family Togetherness Day"! We have both been so busy with work lately, and it seems when we do both have a day off, we are still passing Loralie off so we can get our various projects done, so today we banned phones and computers and vowed to do EVERYTHING together, as a family. First item on the agenda was a little trip to Penguin Park. I hadn't been there since I was a teenager, and Loralie had never been. She LOVED it, of course, as she is a "Slide and Swing" Fanatic! She also kept exclaiming "Penguin!" whenever she would look up and see the ginormous Penguin for which the park is named. There are all theses really cool things for kids to play on, but what did Loralie want to do the most??? SWING. Dang, we could have done that in our backyard! After all the park excitement, Loralie took a nap, and Mommy and Daddy worked on her swing set TOGETHER. I found out I am really good at working the power tools, and Caleb ...

Last night was my 30th birthday party bash! I started off my day at the spa. It was Caleb's treat, but totally my idea. I had a hot stone masssage, manicure, pedicure, hair and make up done. Apparently I am really bad at relaxing, cause after the first treatment I was pretty much bored and missing Caleb and Loralie! So for future reference, I am only good for a pedicure OR massage, and WAY too hyper for both! After my day of boring luxury it was time to get dressed up and party. I must say, I looked pretty good for a 30 year old! I had a great group of people come out to celebrate with me! I am a lucky girl to have so many great friends! The hit of the party was the photobooth that Caleb made for me. People got a little crazy with the props! So, Happy Birthday to Me! Won't really need to be throwing myself any more birthday parties for another ten years or so...

Loralie loves her new baby cousin! She talks about Ada all the time now! Here she is just before she poked her in the ear :) Here she is helping Ada accesorize her outfit with a much too big hair bow...

Today was a very exciting day for a toddler! First of all, Loralie finally got to meet her new baby cousin Ada. Matt took some cute pictures of them together, but I don't have those yet, so here is a pic of Ada with her Daddy. Loralie petted her little head and kissed her on the head and then tried to poke her eyes, nose and ears! She also tried to put a hair bow on her (but her head was too tiny!). She was also running around Uncle Matt and Aunt Andie's house getting into stuff, so we didn't stay too terribly long. So glad Ada is here! She is so precious! Next, Daddy and Grampy got to work on Loralie's " Fwide and Fwing !" What's Grampa doing? READING DIRECTIONS??? That doesn't seem right... Scooter had the right idea! It is HOT out here! But Loralie didn't want to miss out on any of the action. I think she knew EXACTLY what those guys were up to! She threw a huge fit when I had to put her down for her nap! When she finally woke ...

Happy Birthday to me! I am 30 years old today. The big three-oh. I awoke this morning to a sweet card and chocolate from Caleb. He got Loralie up and dressed and made us all breakfast. Then I had to go to work for a little while, but we all got to go out to lunch. I have to work again tonight, and so does Caleb, but my birthday PARTY is next weekend, so I guess I don't care that much! Here is the rundown of me at age 30: I still love to read, and generally read about a novel a week. My very favorites are the Twilight series (teenage vampire romance, I know it is lame, but I love it). I love to travel and always have big plans for some trip or another (can't really afford to actually go on all them though). I try to exercise but I hate it. Lately the torture of choice has been taking Loralie on long jogs through our neighborhood. My best friend is Heather Langdon , whom I have know since Junior high. We get together about once a week and watch chick flicks and do crafty projects...

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We have had three sucessful potty trips in the last two days! It is kind of funny how it has come about, as it has kind of been Loralie's idea more than ours. She actually says "potty" or "poo" and grabs her diaper, and we have managed to get her there on time a few times as of late. Or when I am going, she will say "me potty too!" As an added incentive I bought her a gumball machine at a garage sale and filled it with "cay key" (candy), and she was SUPER excited about that. But I am sure that the most exciting (and baffling) part of the process is to see your mother go absolutely balistic after a sucessful pee. I am jumping up and down and singing "pee pee on the pot-tay! Pee pee on the pot-tay!" I am clapping my hands and giving her hugs! I am whisking her (pantsless) in to tell Daddy about her exciting acomplishment. All the while she is looking at me like she is not quite sure what is going on here...

This chilly May weather is making my baby girl very unhappy. The first thing she says when she wakes up in the morning is "Outside? Swide ? Swing?" She also loves to go for " yocks ". But lately it has been raining and darn right COLD. So today, I decided we would go to a swide no matter what mother nature had in mind, so we headed off to the Zona Rosa indoor play area. Man, I would totally love that place if we had it all to ourselves. :) All those other screaming, snot nose babies kind of put me on edge. I feel like a momma bear protecting her little cub! This one little boy pushed Loralie (just barely, and he was probably her same age) and I wanted to kick his hi ney . It also makes me almost nervous to see her venture up to other kids, with that hopeful look on her face that says "Wanna Play? Wanna be my friend?" I don't want anyone to ever hurt her feelings- EVER! Is that too much to ask? :) She was way more into playing on the equipment t...

Tell her that I dearly love her! Mother's day has come and gone. We had a delightful Mock Mom's Day BBQ at our house on Saturday night, as me and mom had to work the mother's day brunch on Sunday. It was fun to get together! Andrea is expecting little Ava any day now, so we are all excited! Just hope she doesn't make her appearance on an event day! Yikes! Caleb and Loralie got me two gift certificates and a sweet card so I am looking forward to SHOPPING! The Mother's Day Brunch went basically OK. We had about 150 people come out, so that was pretty good. But the country club event are pretty stressful for us. The Jerkface who yelled at me last year struck again. Man! What is that guys problem? I felt like saying "wow. you must be SOOOO important to go around treating everyone like dirt! Let me just kiss your feet there Oh super important guy..." Blah! Someday we will own that building, and country club events will be a thing of the past! Woo...

So in the last week, Loralie has been "reading" books to herself. It is really cute to watch. The three books that I have seen her read are : Hop on Pop, Counting Kisses, and Cookie's Week. Hop on Pop is by far her favorite book right now (we read it SEVERAL times a day), but it is really cute to watch her imitate our tone and even recite some of the words! Her favorite part is "STOP! No hop on pop!" and "I see three bee! Un , two, free!" In the book counting kisses, she says "baby kwying . She seepy . Muh !" She kisses every page of the book. :) And in the book "Cookies Week" (a story about a naughty little kitten who makes lots of messes) she says "Oh No!" on every page. As a former kindergarten teacher I am very pleased that she holds the book like a grown up lady and turns the pages ever so carefully and in the right direction! And at the end of the book she either says "The End", "Bye Book" or ...

Most days I wish that I could clone myself- twice. Then there would be three of me running around, and I could actually get some stuff done! First, there would of course be "Work Me". Work Me would work about 60 hours a week, getting done everything that needs to be done without error or distraction. Work me would not feel guilty about leaving Loralie at home because she would be in the care of... "Mommy/ Wifey Me" Who would take Loralie on fun outings and plan exciting crafts and activities each and every day. She would keep up with the family blog and scrapbooks. She would keep the house clean, baby proof, and smelling like freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. And she could eat as many of them as she wanted, because work outs would be done by... "Leisure Me"! Leisure me is in charge of keeping ME in good working order (eating healthy, working out, getting hair and nails done.) She also has plenty of time for shopping and reading fun novels. Sh...