Time for another post!!

Happy Valentine's Day (tomorrow)!!

We love V-Day here, because we can really let our true colors shine (pink and purple). We've got hearts on the walls, and pink & purple cupcakes on the counter, and flowers, both real and fake, everywhere. It's a lovely time, isn't it? :)

Here is Lara in time-out. I didn't tell her to stick her nose in the corner; apparently she felt she deserved the consequence.

Now that Lara is old enough, I will begin my family's V-day tradition with her. I actually am not sure if it was a tradition, nor am I sure we did it over V-Day, but I do remember doing it once or twice...and apparently loved it enough that I remembered that one special year. We always buy a small valentine present for the girl(s), and tomorrow Lara will have to search the house through to find her's. There's a Tinkerbell involved, and some candy involved, so I think she will like it. We also got a little something for Claire, so I can at least take her picture, and she won't feel left out in 15 years when it really matters. She will probably not like it, because it is neither A) plastic wrapping nor B) has buttons that control the TV. But the point is that I can feel a little better about myself as a mommy. :)

Dustin and I will be taking a belated date. We are going to see Gaelic Storm on Friday, and I am looking forward to it. I was at this appointment one day, waiting patiently, and my customer service person threw a magazine at me because apparently she needed to see me doing something, so I flipped through it to appease her, and what to my wondering eyes did appear, but this band I never heard of coming to this place in Blm I have never been too, and I thought, "I want to go to that!" It should be fun, so thanks, customer service lady.

(Gaelic Storm is an Irish band who performed in the Titanic scene where the couple danced down in the steering section.)

In other news, I'm on my way to becoming spoiled, because we are about to book a cruise (no, really, we are. This time I mean it! We really are! Shh, I am really serious this time!). Dustin had one planned for Mid-March, but I said no, 'cause I can't be away from my bottle-rejecting, only-takes-little-sips-from-a-sippy-cup baby. So we have one picked out for October, and we are going to book it NOW, otherwise we know it won't happen. We'll just blow all the money on lollipops and gum balls. It's a cruise to Mexico. We've chosen Mexico, because we want to help with the swine flu epidemic, so we figure we'll spend our money on nice restaurants down there because otherwise, how will the Mexicans survive? (Please click on that link in case you think that sentence was real.) Judgmental, I know. :( In fact, we didn't choose Mexico, we just chose the cruise with good rates and that's where it's taking us. I am scared of water, but cannot wait to be on the sea! Such a wide open space!

Speaking of being scared, Lara has definitely inherited more than just my smile. She has also inherited my shy and fearful nature. Of course, I've outgrown a lot of that, but poor Lara. Today she wanted to ride the Dumbo at Wal-Mart, so I stick a couple quarters in, and the Dumbo moves a millimeter forward, then back, then forward, and Lara is just freaking out. "Get me off! Get me off!" And I am thinking, "Girl, I just stuck 50 cents in that thing, you are riding it!" So later she wants to sit on the horse, but, "Don't put any money in, Mommy! I just want to sit on it, I don't want it to move."

My girls are great. Lara is my sugar and Claire is my spice. I would not at all be surprised if Claire grew up to be like daddy; she is very even-tempered. You know how some babies are so chubby, they do not even have wrists? How is it that Claire can weigh the same amount as a baby of the same age who does not have wrists, but Claire doesn't have that chubbiness? She wonders about it too.

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