Really?

Ellen has a penchant for saying "Really?" after almost everything Phillip or I say (kind of like in that one Arby's commercial).  And it's very annoying.  We had an intervention (one of several) on the way home from church Sunday night and although she hasn't kicked the habit altogether, it has gotten better.  One downside to hearing someone else's catch phrase, or whatever you want to call it, over and over again, annoying or otherwise, is the possibility that you will start saying the exact same thing yourself.  Which reminds me of a time a few years ago when Phillip was big into saying "Are you kidding me?!"  Our church secretary was not impressed when that was my response/reaction to her letting me know about an issue with the copier.

I have to remind myself to breathe these days.  Work is stressful.  Home can be too.  Even Lucy is feeling it.  She peed in the living room last night (we have had several pee incidents this week, mostly involving Lilly).  Life's little challenges feel awfully big sometimes.

"Sometimes fun comes first."
Ellen's response to "safety first" - she was jumping on the couch at the time

I sat with a group of older women at the Ladies Brunch I attended at our church a few weeks ago.  Someone commented on how young Phillip looks and the others all agreed.  Not one of them said anything about my youthful appearance, not even as a courtesy.  And just yesterday one of the directors at our daycare told Phillip that he looks younger and younger every time she sees him.  Come on, really?

While watching Olympic ice dancing one night this week (or was it over the weekend?) Ellen posed a Barbie similar to what she saw on TV and began to dance her around the living room.  In a matter of moments Lilly had an ice-dancing Barbie of her own.  Both girls ran into the kitchen, dolls in hand, to show me their Barbie's moves.  Have I mentioned I love the Olympics?  I really, really do.

"He's always had a late sleep schedule."
Regarding Phillip - we let him sleep-in a little on Saturday :)

Lilly's teacher told me that several parents have come in asking her to point Lilly out to them because her name comes up a lot when their child talks about school.  Ha!  For better or worse, Lilly is one popular kid.

Ellen had a snow day Wednesday (church was also cancelled) and a 2 hour delay yesterday morning.  We had a dusting (the wet kind), nothing compared to states near Tennessee like Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, but the threat was enough to give some of the kids in our area a mid-week break (Metro schools did not close but most of the surrounding counties did).  I was hoping to get at least a few inches of snow this winter :(

Ellen's valentines are ready for delivery, all 21 of them.  We bought blank cards (red with scalloped edges, white envelopes) from the Target dollar spot again this year and she used various shades of pink, purple and red markers to personalize them for her classmates (she made one for Ms. Gildemeister too).  We slipped a pack of heart-shaped fruit snacks inside each envelope and sealed it with a sticker.  Sweet and simple.

I was having trouble getting into the Valentine's Day spirit, spent a lot of my drive venting to my sister (feeling complainy), but coming home to not one, but two packages helped soften my heart.  Nancy and Russ sent the girls cards, sweets, stickers and cute stuffed monkeys (Ellen chose the pink one but slept with both of them last night).  Andrea and Caleb sent us a card, fancy chocolates, Goobers, Jelly Belly Dips (strawberry jelly beans dipped in chocolate) and pink socks for the girls.  So thoughtful.  Thank you!