First trip to the pool - 2011 & More updates

Last Saturday we ventured over to the community pool for our first swim of the year. It was hot out, but the water was still pretty cold. We only stayed about an hour and we had had enough.

My attempt to try and get Avery's behavior under control........daily activities. Right now I'm introducing a new nursery rhyme each day with a craft and a few other activities whether it's going over colors, counting, matching etc. We also try to act it out and other things to help memorize the rhyme. It seems to be working a little bit. They both really enjoy the activities and look forward to them each day. If Avery's routine gets messed up to where she doesn't get a nap during the day though then she is a mess and you definitely don't want to be around her!

Avery had her first play date yesterday without her sister to hang on to. Just her and her little friends that are her age. At first she didn't want to go. But then when we were in the car she kept asking if we were there. She had SO much fun with her little friends Emma, Reese, Mia and Vivica!!

I'm learning that it's nearly impossible to make any plans with Derek's schedule. For the past two weeks we've made plans to go to Dave & Busters on their 1/2 price game day so we could add more tickets to our total and finally let the girls pick out a prize. Well, last week he didn't end up getting home until 8pm and so we decided not to do it. This week was just about the same. He even worked late Tuesday night to allow for us to do this, but it didn't matter. He finally called at 7 to say he was just leaving. The girls were starving by this point. I made the decision that he could come home and fix him and Avery something........she didn't get her nap yesterday b/c of the play date so she was exhausted........and hungry --- not a good combination. As soon as he got home Allie and I hopped in the car and went through the McDonalds drive thru and then went on to D&B's. We had a lot of fun. She was so sweet. For every prize she got she would get something for Avery as well. 2400 tickets got us the 2 balls and the two laser pointer/candy. I won the two large stuffed animals at the claw drop game. Allie saw someone else win and wanted me to do it for her. I tried 3 times and didn't get anything so we left and went to play more games. People were watching me.....too much pressure! She kept saying she wanted me to try it one more time. We went back and I tried 3 more times with no luck BUT on that third time I figured out what I need to do. The next two times I was able to snag up those darn animals. Like we need anymore.......BUT the excitement and awe on her face was SO worth the effort! I felt like a Super Mom. :0)

This is disgusting, but we have been catching a mouse about every day for the past week! There is obviously a nest in here somewhere. We think they've been living with us since about October or November. That's when we spotted the first one. That's also when they started clearing the field across the street to build the new church. So we think they congregated over this way and somehow found their way inside....and keep making babies. We have searched and searched and can't find where/how they are getting in or where they are nesting. But the old fashioned mouse trap has been working, thankfully. I'm going to go get some more today and put them throughout the house so we can hopefully get them all. UGH!!