MOA

Today we took the girls to the Mall of America to get them out of the house a little during this cold weather! We decided to head to Underwater Adventures again, though I think next time we're going to have to plan either an American Girl day or Build-A-Bear-Workshop day, like Macey would have preferred! As always, the fish were fun to see, and both girls enjoyed going there. Lilly was a little hesistant this time and was getting a little scared at times, though she'd always look at us and say, "I'm not scared!" The kids were starving when we were done so we thought we'd try the Rainforest Cafe. It was a bit of a wait and absolutely packed, but it was well worth it! The food was great (or maybe it was that everyone was starving by this time??!) Lilly got a kick out of the person dressed up like a frog walking around...until he wanted to give her a hug! She backed up right into Macey and high-fived him instead! She was a little scared at the rumbling noise that came about once in a while as well. The girls spotted The Chocolate Factory as we were leaving so each got a little chocolate to go, and Mike got ice cream on the way out, so I'd say everyone was pretty happy about that! I think Lilly was sleeping about 3 minutes after we left...and slept the entire way home. She still keeps talking about the frog man!

1/4/09-1/11/09

Not a very exciting week or too much to report on. Saturday Macey started her basketball camp which will go for four weeks. They basically do different drills and then at the end play a little bit of a game. She did this last year and really liked it. Mike took her, but didn't remember that I had sent the camera along so hopefully one of these weeks we will get a picture of her in action. Mike and Macey also did a little bit of snowmobiling on Sunday and had a lot of fun. A little over an hour of riding was about enough for Macey though; she had Mike bring her home because she was cold! Of course that wasn't enough for Mike, and he headed out for another hour or so.

As far as Lilly, her potty training is going great. We are down to just an occasional accident, so that is good. But, she is now waking up almost every single in the middle of the night to go so that part is no fun! Her phrase of the week is "Oh my gosh!" whenever she's excited about something! Not sure where she got that one from, maybe us I guess???

That's about it for this week; I told you...not much to report on! Some new pics of Lilly will be added; Macey ran from the camera this week for some reason!

Happy New Year!

The girls and I before the surprise party Mike and I were going to...I was going for a nice picture, but Macey was apparently in a goofy mood!

The girls with Lindsay, their sitter.

The girls with Jack, Macey's friend.

Things are finally settling down a bit here after the busy holidays. We stayed in New Year's Eve this year, like almost all others, because I had to work on New Year's day and because we don't really enjoy the New Year's Eve crowds anyway!

Macey has been enjoying her break from school, and I'm sure it's going to take a few days to get her back in her routine because she has been staying up WAY past her bedtime! I have a feeling tonight might be a little rough when bedtime comes. During her break she got to do a few fun things like go ice skating with Mike, have her friend Jack over for some snowmobiling and go to an indoor play area.

Lilly has been doing great with potty training still. She still has an occasional accident, as expected, but a lot of times will even go on her own without us asking. She has gotten a bit out of her routine since Macey has been home as well, including no naps several days, which was NOT a good thing and has been going to bed a little later as well. She still makes us laugh each and every day with the things she says. The other day she was touching my face and said, "Oh, you're so sweet!"

Mike and I were able to enjoy a few hours out last night and had our first non-relative babysitter! We had a surprise 40th birthday party for Mike's supervisor, who lives just a few miles away, so we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try a sitter since we'd be so close. We actually got Lilly's daycare lady's daughter, Lindsay, and she did a great job with the kids. They played games, read stories, did races in the basement and watched some TV. I think the girls both liked having her and would love to have her again!