"HI"

And here we thought that Jilly was a quick study, but it seems that Cooper just might have beaten Jilly to the "mimicking" stage. I was feeding Cooper the other day, and I was saying "hi" to her and waving, and now she will say hi (even though it sounds more like just 'I') and wave her little hand. If this is any indication of her learning speed, she and Jilly just might be graduating together!

Warm weather fun

The weather was just too beautiful to stay inside. We hit the playground at Ida Lee. It's great because we get to park at Gran-ma and Pop-pop's house, hit the bathroom, and walk to the swings. That is after all THE only reason to go...if you ask Jilly. We must have sat on the swings for a good 45 minutes. The different slides only interested us for

maybe 5 minutes, and then it was back to Gran-ma's for a

quick snack, and back home for some home-made "tac-tos" according to Jilly that's how you say tacos. It was a great afternoon, the girls had fun, got rid of some energy, and Jeff and I had a few minutes to catch up without being interrupted.

Bartell Curse

As most of you already know, my maiden name is Bartell, my Daddy is Ray Bartell...but there is not a drop of Bartell blood in my veins. This is the biggest support for nurture vs. nature. There are some things that we consider "Bartell family traits". When we eat cereal, we pour the cereal in the bowl, then pour lots of milk, and once the cereal is gone you keep pouring more until you have used up all the milk. Another trait is when we are concentrating we stick out tongue out one side of our mouth. This is something I picked up years ago from my daddy, Bug has done it for ever, Jilly does it from time to time, and now Cooper is carrying on the tradition.

Girly time!

Today, we went up to Chantilly and met Gran-ma and Aunt Amber for lunch at Red Robin. When Jilly found out we were going to Gran-ma's work for lunch, she about jumped out of her skin! The food was great, all 3 girls were well behaved (Jilly had a few "not listening" moments while waiting for her food, but nothing major), and everybody had a wonderful time. I have to say, I love my family...all of them, but sometimes it's nice to be "just the girls"! :o)

Results of the horse show

Courtney and Moose had a fantastic day at Sandstone on Sunday. In the short stirrup division (jumping over fences) she placed 2nd, 2nd and 1st, and won Reserve Champion. In the pleasure division, she placed 1st, 1st and 2nd, and won Champion. She was only in 6 classes, and placed in all six (the smallest class was 13 riders) and of those she placed no lower than 2nd. Courtney, Moose, and Fay make a great team, and I think the three of them have a bright future ahead of them.

Baking with the girls

I just love spending time in the kitchen with my girls. Yesterday we made "just because" cupcakes (Jilly even got to dip some in sprinkles!). Two weeks ago we made "Daddy's happy birthday cake" and, yep, you guessed it...Jilly added sprinkles to it. Jilly even took a stab at spreading the icing on the cupcakes, but she found that she preferred scooping and plopping the icing and left the spreading to Courtney and me.

Courtney is a great little chef. She can chop, dice, saute, and bake on her own. She never hesitates to ask a question, and she is just like a sponge when it comes to soaking up new info and techniques.

Happy (early) birthday

Aunt Sara, Uncle Billy, and Blake took Jilly with them to see Dora Live in DC today (it was for their birthdays). I was very happy that Jilly and Blake had a great time, and didn't have any melt-downs, but I think I'm happiest about Jilly actually GETTING to go. The poor kid has been so miserable with just getting over the flu, and I was worried that she was going to be a handful. But it sounds like everyone had a wonderful time.

Instead of getting t-shirts as souvenirs, Aunt Sara let the kids get "Rescue Pack". Jilly loves hers so much it was hard to get it off of her to take a nap, and as soon as she got up, she put it back on.

Jilly cracks me up! If you straight out ask her what she did today, or even start to ask more in depth questions, Jilly replies "I don't know." and then 2 minutes later she'll blurt out something like "I saw Swiper today with Blakey" or "Baby Jaguar says 'meow-meow' with Dora". I sometimes wonder how her little mind works!

Happiest housewife EVER!

With all the sheets, blankets and clothes we've been through in the last 2 weeks with being sick, it figures that my washing machine crapped out on me. And when I was trying to vacuum yesterday, it totally died on me...I mean absolutely stopped while I was in the middle of trying to get the first pass done on the living room so I could clean the carpet. As of last night, I was the most miserable housewife in America!

Ahhh, but when you wake up and start a brand new day, things can change drastically. Russell came by this morning and fixed my washer (damned thing came unplugged...I know, how stupid do I feel?!?) Then after using my Mom's vacuum last night, Jeff gave me clearance to go buy a new one. So now I have a new toy, and a TON of laundry to catch up on. But I'm not complaining, I'm just happy that everybody is feeling better, and I have the necessary tools to do the cleaning that I haven't had time to do with caring for all the sickos around here! :o)

recap

So, we have spent the better part of the last 2 weeks sick...and I mean sick as dogs! I realised why I could never be a nurse...bring on the broken bones, the guts, the blood...but for the love if I ever have to hold hair back while someone gets sick again it will be too soon!!!

Everyone is feeling better, although Cooper does have a bit of a runny nose. We have just passed 24 hours of Jilly not getting sick and we are hoping to get her all better for Sunday. Her Aunt Sara and Uncle Billy are taking her and Blake to see Dora Live in DC. All I can hope for is no reports of projectile vomit from my kid.

Poor girl asked Jeff last night (Bug and I were at the barn to get ready for the show this weekend) if she could go to bed at 6:30, and he put her to bed. We didn't hear from her until 5:45 this morning. She got some much needed sleep that she had missed since Monday.

As for me, all I need is a 3 day nap and a visit from the cleaning fairy...wish me luck on those ever happening!

consent

Well, after some questions (which I must say did make sense) Bug's biological father has decided to sign off on Jeff adopting Courtney. Now all we have to is wait for the paperwork. With the consent of the biological father, it is now just a matter of dotting i's and crossing t's.