{lazy days}

We're alive!!! Yes, we're still here, even though I haven't posted in FOREVER. We've just been busy and I've been tired. I have barely taken any pictures either, which is so unlike me!

Here's what's been going on....

*** Gerard had a Valentine's Day party at school and enjoyed getting all his Valentines.


As part of the Valentine's Day party-planning committee, I made these cute little gifts for the kids which included Hershey bars that I made custom wrappers for like last year. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the candy bars.



*** Gerard had his first "drop-off" playdate, which meant that I just dropped him off at his friends' Emma and Andrew's house and picked him up a few hours later. It was nice to have some time alone with Morgan and Gerard loved playing at their house without me there. I highly recommend this for all moms!


*** We read Patricia Polacco's Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare and went to see our symphony orchestra perform it along with a small little ballet company. The orchestra put on an "instrument petting zoo" where the kids could play all the instruments. Gerard had a ball playing ALL the instruments. Darci and Luke came too, which made it even more exciting for Gerard.


*** We went back to Buffalo to see my parents' house one last time before they move. It was funny to think that that would be my last time sleeping in my bedroom! Weird...

We celebrated my birthday and Grandpa's birthday while we were there. Morgan had her first taste of birthday cake. Not surprisingly, she liked it!




We also had to give Morgan some of the same opportunities that Gerard had in that house: playing "rollie-ball", playing with the gigantic crayon pillows, etc. Here's a sampling:









And just as a comparison, here are some old scrapbook pages of Gerard when he was just a little older than Morgan is now:




And here we are, one last time in the (in)famous yellow-and-green kitchen:




*** Just a few days before we went to Buffalo, Morgan gave us a little scare when she swallowed one of her barrettes. It went down with little trouble and then I spent the next 5 days rummaging through poopy diapers. Ah, motherhood. Well, I never did find that barrette. When we got back from Buffalo I had to take Morgan to the doctor for a lead test and an x-ray. Not that we'd expect there to be lead in a child's barrette, but you never know these days. We haven't gotten those results back yet (it takes a few weeks). We saw the x-rays immediately, and NO BARRETTE. So, either I missed it coming out, or it never actually went in. I guess we'll never really know for sure.


*** Morgan is a real dare-devil these days. She pulls herself up on everything and is getting pretty close to walking. She's even stood a few times without holding on to anything. She also does the hand motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider". It's particularly cute when Gerard sings and she does the motions. I'll try to get it on video one of these days.


*** I'm almost embarrassed to admit that this year I've become an American Idol fan and I have a definite favorite (even though he's a bit goofy). I particularly like his rendition of Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah:

I can't put Jeff Buckley's version on my blog, but check it out HERE. It's beautiful.

*** And finally, we found a babysitter!!! Stephanie came HIGHLY recommended from a neighbor and she babysatlast night. Both kids were great and Stephanie is very sweet. We were worried about how Morgan would do with a stranger, and although she wouldn't take her bottle she went to sleep without a problem. Hallelujah! Gerard and I are SO excited to be able to get out every now and then!


Well, I think that wraps it up for now. Now that I'm all caught up, you can expect more regular posting once again. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!