I mentioned earlier that Vaughn is close to taking her first steps and that I've been following her relentlessly with the camera so I can record them, right? 

Well, it happened last night and I didn't even see it. I didn't even see it the second time it happened. 

My parents were in the neighborhood and stopped by for an impromptu dinner. I was in the bathroom and Vaughn took her first steps in the kitchen in front of my mom and dad. The second time was at the restaurant and I missed those too. By the time we got home she was too tired to try again. Today is the day! Will get steps on video! (Hopefully...)

Because, remember these? I'd love to have a video for Vaughnie too!

I see that the Six Flags commercials have taken on a whole new level of annoyance. 

I could take the dancing. Weird, but whatever. But now he has a voice and it's awful.

Since we're talking about annoying things...

How annoying  is Kelly on Housewives? Watching her drives me nuts. However, I can't turn the channel when she's on. I can turn the channel on the Six Flags guy. Hmmm...

Here's the Vaughnster and her denim skirt that I mentioned the other day. 

She's so close to taking her first steps. I keep following her around with the camera. I'm sure she's loving that.

I woke up early on Sunday morning, showered, and got ready for the day before the kids got up. Figured I'd be ready for whatever we'd plan to do. 

I did not know we were going to do yard work. A man dropped off 6.5 yards of mulch and 2.5 hours later it was gone. It's amazing what fresh mulch can do. 

We were going to re-do everything in the existing front landscaping, but decided not to. It's not our taste, but it looks decent. Now, we just need to add some plants in the front and in the back and landscaping should be done for the summer. And we need to do something around the play set. Rubber mulch? We're still thinking. And the deck will need to be power washed and re-stained. For the past 3 years landscaping projects have taken over our summers and we're tired of it. Last summer was tough because of Vaughn and The Move, so we're not letting anything take control of this summer.   

The day ended with another shower. We all still have mulch dust in our ears and in our nose. (Except Vaughn. She was excellent and napped through the mulching.)

Baby Birds

If you look closely you can see the beaks of the baby birds living in our tree. 

Last night we had BLT Pasta. Charity first told me about the recipe and I've made it twice since then. I use turkey bacon and more than what they call for. Vance actually ate the noodles, but left everything else in the bottom of his bowl. Vaughn inhaled two helpings. 

I'm proud to say that Vaughn is wearing her first piece of denim today. Jeans are not big-baby friendly, but skirts are! It's a size 3T but who cares! She looks too cute!

We have swimming lessons today, hopefully Vance doesn't cry the whole time. Since Vaughn didn't do well in the Nursery last time I'm going to bring her in with me to watch. Fun city. All aboard!

We're gearing up for Vaughn's first birthday party. I think she may need a cute birthday shirt. I've seen the ones with the numbers on it, but I've also seen one that says, "Birthday Girl" on it. The letters are individually sewn on and are different colors. Anyone seen it? 

I'm revamping the Birthday Banner, so that's what I've been up to. I made new letters and am working on the stencil. Hopefully this will make it easier for me when making them. Next step is mass production!

We spent Earth Day at the Botanical Gardens with Sarah and Samuel, and a few other Mommies. Vance took this picture, which happens to be the only one from the trip.

Here's a couple from playing outside after dinner last night. That was Vaughn's first official slide. 

Since I don't have time to post anything this morning, 

Charity updated her blog. Everyone go see! 

These tulips are making me happy right now. 

Vance did great at the dentist. In fact, I'd say he had a really good time. He let them clean and walked away with some toys. Easy! Turns out Vaughn's teeth are fine, so no worries there either. A good morning! 

(Do you see it coming?)

From there we ran to the store to buy Vaughn's last container of formula. Yes! Huge celebration! Still a good day! 

(We're almost there.)

Ate lunch. Everyone happy!

(Here it comes)

I'll save the details, but at least we made it home before Vance puked everywhere. It was a close call, got him in the house and told him to stay in the bathroom, ran back to the car to grab Vaughn, came back in the house and, well, Vance did not stay in the bathroom. I have everything cleaned and Lysoled except for a sisal rug. Not sure of the best way to clean that. Hose and a brush? He's not sick, just another random case of car sickness. 

Vaughn didn't want to be left out, so she's had two diaper leaks. Which also means she's on her third pair of pants today.

Daisy hasn't done anything in the house today, but I'll keep it posted if she does.  

Here's hoping that tomorrow has less bodily fluids to deal with.

Vance had his first swim lesson last Friday. He participated with everything, but cried the whole way through. When he got out of the pool he said, "Can we go swimming again? I had fun!" 

I'm always amazed at other parent's actions at these things. First and last days of activities bring out cameras and video cameras. I'm more of a "living in the moment" person. I'd rather experience Vance doing things in Real Time, not watching through a viewfinder. And really who is going to watch the last day of Little Gym for a 3 year old from start to finish? Maybe a clip of her walking the beam, but the whole session? The parent and baby swim class was going on at the other end of the pool during Vance's class and Dad's were there filming the whole thing. Even the mom sitting next to me took a million pictures. Even was calling out her kids names to stop what they were doing, look at her, and smile. It's crazy!  

Vaughn, who was in the Y's nursery during the swimming lesson, also cried the entire time. The last two times she's been there she's cried the entire time. She's really throwing a wrench in my plans there. Not sure what to do. 

Vance and I played outside the entire duration of Vaughn's nap on Friday afternoon. It was great. We swung, we laid out, drank juice boxes, listened and downloaded music, colored. We need more days of doing that.

The kids both have dentist appointments today. Vance has seen the dentist before, but this will be his first cleaning. Vaughn's two upper middle teeth look discolored, so the dentist will check that out for her. 

Jeffanie

Here is my brother and his fiancee, Stephanie. Together, we refer to them as Jeffanie and they are always this cute. They recently got their engagement pictures and I was too excited not to share them. Don't you just want to pinch them?

Jun- 1998

One year ago today I found this in my parent's freezer. In my mom's defense, this was in the highest compartment on the door side and it could not be seen. I found it by reaching up and down in. Obviously, a risky move.

If memory serves, I think these were chopped pine nuts. 

Swinger

Vaughn likes to swing. She kicks her legs out of excitement and it's cute. Not sure if you can see the big bruise in the middle of her forehead. We have no idea how that happened. I mean, she falls 10 times a day, but we can't pinpoint the actual accident that caused it. Her paleness accentuates it. Everyone in this house needs a tan...

Vance likes that Vaughn can swing. He likes to push her then run to his swing so they can swing at the same time. 

Camera battery ran out after this pic. 

3 randoms

Vance has been waking up Vaughn when he gets up in the morning. This makes "easing into the morning" impossible. 

The playground is a hit with Vance. Too bad our backyard is soupy because of all the rain we've gotten. A little muddy out there. It's going to take Justin and I some time getting used to the largeness of it.    

The bad thing about having extra refrigerators in the house is that you never think you're out of anything. Time for grocery shopping!

Yoga last night. During the relaxation time a man sat with his blanket over his head, while the rest of us were lying down. Interesting. 

The playground is coming today. The installers are on their way right now. Vance is super excited. Need to buy Vaughn a baby swing. Two swings come with the play set. We were going to have one switched to a baby swing, but it costs extra, and the lady said we could find one cheaper somewhere else. So, this way we'll have the second swing for when she's ready for it.

Happy Taco Tuesday. 

Easter 2009

This was the best family picture we were able to capture on Easter. I had a green shirt on. Use your imagination.  

Easter was great. We spent the weekend with family and it was great seeing everyone. The kids were spoiled rotten for the occasion and scored 6 Easter baskets each. Insane! We now have more candy than what we had after Halloween. And the majority of it is of the Reese's Peanut Butter Egg family, which means Mommy's willpower is under a huge test right now. If grades were being given tonight, I'd be failing. 

Vaughnie spent the majority of the morning in a funk. She missed her nap. No good for anyone. 

Tired man. (Actually taken on the way this morning, but I needed a closer. Points given to those who noticed Vance's wardrobe change.)

Our own personal Max Headroom is coming back home today. 

Just got word that he landed, but later than expected. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he can clear customs and make his connecting flight. 

The C word

Vance has started using the C word. 

As in Chuck E. Cheese's. (Not sure which one I find more offensive.) I don't know if he's seen a commercial for it or if kids from school are talking about it, but it's not happening. 

In other C word news, I had my first Cadbury egg of the Easter season today and now I feel like crap. Are the two correlated? I'm thinking yes.