Half-Cracked

Chiro update: I didn't *quite* get the relief I was seeking. After ooh-ing and aah-ing over how tight my upper-back and neck muscles were, she was able to adjust my neck nicely, but my spine wouldn't cooperate. I'm scheduled out for 4 more appointments during the next couple of weeks. I spent most of the weekend mighty sore, but by Sunday was feeling quite a bit better.

Otherwise, not much for news. Sometimes I feel like all I write about is the stressful, "bad" stuff that happens to us. Really, that "stuff" is only about 2% of our daily lives. The rest is quite mundane. But fun.

We took the girls to Como Town and the Zoo yesterday morning. The weather was perfect, it wasn't crowded, we got a great parking spot, and we had a coupon (of course! I am married to Captain Coupon, after all...) for buy ten ride tickets, get ten free - which is a crazy amount of tickets for a two and a-half-year old considering that the rides that interest her are one or two tickets - AND not to mention that we just absolutely LOVE that place. As far as I'm concerned, it beats the Minnesota Zoo a hundred times over. Anyway - we have lots of leftover tickets for Como Town rides if anyone is interested in going with us again by the end of the season. Super-cute side note: Josie takes her baby with us everywhere now. Including the zoo. She would sit in front of each exhibit and make sure her baby could see the animals. If you go and the animals seem a little disturbed, it's probably residual stress leftover from our visit and Eve shrieking with excitement at the top of her lungs when she'd spot the animals. Some of the monkeys seemed equally as interested in her as she was in them. Or they high-tailed it for safety.

Toddlers are funny. I went to get groceries yesterday afternoon after naps while Pat took the girls and dog over to his parents' house for a quick visit. We all arrived back home at about the same time, and commenced turning the house upside down in an attempt to put away all $150 worth of groceries and get supper started. Josie and Eve were "helping" me put away groceries. Jo actually is a pretty good helper, while Eve just likes to take things out of the bags and set them wily-nily all over the floor. So while simultaneously trying to grab jars of spaghetti sauce from Jo before they got dropped on the floor and keep Eve from opening and eating the container of mystery corn meal in our pantry - a collection of empty paper bags started to gather near the stove. We finally got everything put away and washed and prepared, and I turned to fold up the aforementioned empty bags. Only to find all of the letters and refrigerator magnets in one. And my shoes in another. And the remotes, and remote basket and baby monitors scattered in others. I turned to look for the culprit, and there is Jo, sitting sweetly in her chair at the table, smirking at me.

We bravely attempted a family dinner outing on Saturday night. After taking the girls to a park in West St. Paul, we went to Chula Vista on Robert Street. That's right - you guessed it, with a coupon. It went well. Josie is a piece of cake, it's Eve that is the questionable factor in the equation right now. Not because she's Eve, but because she's 13 months old. And doesn't like to sit still. But we came prepared with an arsenal of toys and books, and made it through the meal without any major embarrassing incidents. We were seated next to a wishing well, which Josie told me she'd like to go in. While Pat was wrangling Eve, who at this point was free from her highchair and was stubbornly attempting to go into the kitchen, I convinced Jo that the wishing well was only for coins to go in, and then she delightedly cleaned me out of pennies.

We got home after dinner, only to discover that Brewster had eaten all the cherry tay-moes (that's tomatoes, in case you didn't know) we had picked and put in a bowl on the counter. Jerk-ass dog. I was really looking forward to enjoying our bounty - considering that I've only consumed about 4 since the crop started. Somehow - when Pat and Jo go outside to gather them... not many make it into the house. Needless to say, this tragedy was the subject of most of our conversation for the remainder of the night.

Let's see, what else... um, Josie can count up to six now. And is very interested in writing her name. And Eve's name, and mommy, and daddy... with help, of course. It's so fun to see her desire to learn and soak up everything. And she amazes us every day with her manners. And when she gets up in the morning or when we pick her up after work, she tells us how much she misses us, and asks us if we missed her. We're bursting with pride, if you couldn't tell. She's such a doll.

And I've failed to mention, partly because I'm afraid of "jinxing" it - but Eve is sleeping like an absolute dream now. She has taken a total 180-degree turn, and is a breeze to put to bed. She still gets a nighttime bottle, we read about 3 books while she sits on my lap in the chair in her room, we sing a lullaby and she's practically diving head-first into her crib on her own. She buries her face in her blankie, turns to grab her other blankie, smiles and... that's it. I exit her room and she babbles contentedly for a bit before drifting off. To most of you this probably seems pretty routine - but for us, it's a dream-come-true. Which is why we're going to stinkin' enjoy every second of it while we can!

I'm sure part of the reason why she's sleeping so well now is because she is so active - what with walking, and running, and climbing and falling all over the place. The joy she takes in all of her new tricks can't even begin to match her parents'...

Big kudos to Patrick for cleaning out and organizing the garage on Saturday. It was bad. Real bad. I think he likes to let it get that bad just because I'm SO excited then when he does clean it. Well, I'm on to your shenanigans, mister.

Oh - and we just spent an insane amount of money on Van Halen tickets. I don't really know why I mention this. Perhaps to justify our equally insane over-usage of coupons. :)