The Watermelon Crawl

Well we have been trying to keep busy enjoying the summer weather here in between Mom and Heather's visits. My trips in the car sure aren't as easy because I no longer have Grandma in the back to help entertain!

Tuesday - Lorelei and I stuck around the apt complex but always have to get out of the house otherwise go crazy. We took a walk around the pond twice where we enjoyed watching the ducks. Then we sat under a tree a while until the "durkeys" (they are really huge ugly scary looking ducks that have red stuff on them like a turkey...there is also one I call the Darth Vader duck who's normally red ugly stuff is black! talk about scary... maybe I'll get a picture of him sometime)came after us and we made a dash to get away, although Lorelei was ready to go up and be their friend. Then that afternoon we took a dip in the pool.

Wednesday - Park day with MOMS Club. We had fun playing in the shade with our friends and chasing bubbles. Lorelei will like it much better when she can run with the rest of them. This time we just walked around with me hunched over holding her hands...great practice though!

Thursday - Our friends Sara and Lily came over for a visit! The girls enjoyed playing with each other for a bit and of course the toys are always more fun at some one else's house, or when another child is playing with yours. :) Then we all went to the pool and stayed for about an hour! It was so nice for both of us to have company and makes our day go so much faster.

Friday - The dreaded trip to Walmart. The store was not so bad but the drive home was horrible. I got to sing for at least a full 30 minutes trying to keep her entertained...SO ready to get a portable DVD player we can strap on the head rests and hoping that will make our trips much better. We went for another swim that afternoon. That's three days this week! A record for us.

Saturday - Love having Brad home with us! We took a trip out to Sandbridge beach hoping to avoid the tourists. It was a lot better but still pretty crowded. On the way home we stopped at a fresh produce stand and got some corn (missing it from Nebraska but this will have to do) and also a watermelon. Lorelei had a lot of fun with it when we got home and was rolling all over it. Must be her own version of "The Watermelon Crawl". For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, feel free to watch this skinny cowboy show you the real thing. ;)

http://www.videojug.com/webvideo/how-to-do-the-watermelon-crawl-line-dance

Oh and we are enjoying so many things Lorelei is doing lately. Took a little video clip to show you a couple of them. We are pretty convinced she is now officially saying "hi" when she waves (some of the time) even though our friends have been telling us this for a month or more now. Enjoy!



Lows: Lorelei still not embracing the fact that we must ride in the car and sit in a car seat!; Finding out we are missing a DVD from our Friend's episodes so now we can't watch Ross say "PIVOT!"

Highs: Heather coming in a couple of days!; 4th of July a week away!; Lorelei taking a 2 hr nap in the afternoon TWICE this week!

Grandma Bohlmann's Visit

We had a wonderful visit from my mom, aka now Grandma Bohlmann. :) We were sad she had to leave so soon, but she had to make sure and get back to help during harvest at home. Just going to go day by day through the visit.

Thursday: Waiting for her arrival! We were excited all day and had to wait until about 6:30 pm for her to get here. She had a long layover, but thankfully was traveling with a friend so that made it much better. A good friend of hers from our church was coming to visit her daughter and grandson, so they decided to make the trip together. She also was renting a car so we didn't need to pick them up at the airport. This also became Lorelei's big pigtail debut as you can see! Had to be all dressed up for the arrival. :)

Friday: After the usual morning nap, we headed into Norfolk so that Mom could see where Brad worked. We enjoyed some time at the nearby mall looking through some fun stores I usually don't get to venture into. We had lunch with Brad as well. Later in the afternoon we headed to the beach. We had fun playing in the water and sand.

Saturday: We went to the zoo! Somehow we managed to pick the hottest day to go, but had a good time nonetheless. We enjoyed seeing the giraffes, who were still inside the building, so we got a very close up view of them. We also got to see them feed a zebra and rhino. Even though we have about a million prairie dogs in our pasture back in Oklahoma, we enjoyed that exhibit as well. There were domes you can stick your head into (which were also a sauna!) and be face to face with a prairie dog. We had to make sure to take some of these for Grandpa who can't believe that they are on display in every zoo we go to...maybe they would like to come take some from our pasture? After that we enjoyed the cows and goats, and especially the monkeys! They were as lively as Lorelei. :) Oh and I cant forget to mention that Lorelei screamed at every animal she saw...imagine that right?



After the zoo we had to recouporate of course. First we sent Brad to get to watch his Father's Day movie a day early. Then Brad was left in charge of Lorelei while Mom and I went in search of a toy! This was supposed to be a quick and easy trip, but you know that never works out. We checked the time for the consignment shop to close (there is no reason to buy new toys for this girl, they don't keep her entertained long enough!) and it was supposed to be 6, no problem. Then we drove all the way there and there was a little sign that said "Closing at 5 pm Saturday June 20th" Well it was 5:04 naturally. Then I knew about another shop but wasn't sure how to get there from this location, eventually got that info from Brad (what would we do without cell phones and the internet?) and headed to the next store, where we naturally found the road blocked off for an accident. Then we decided to follow the majority of the traffic going left...big mistake, nobody knew where they were going and everyone was driving around like crazy in a huge subdivision! After probably a good 30 minutes of driving around we were back at the road block and tried right instead of left. We got to the store about 2 minutes after that...thankfully they were still OPEN and we found a wonderful little play kitchen which Lorelei loves! After all of this we quickly ate supper and then Mom and I went to see "The Proposal." What a day!

Sunday: Fathers Day! Brad started out his day going golfing...I might mention he woke up at 4:30 AM and left the house around 5 to do this, so there are definitely no pictures. He enjoyed his early morning trip and the weather was SO much better this time of day. After he got home we did breakfast and all the usual morning things. Church went well since we had Grandma there to help entertain. We enjoyed lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Lorelei even got her own complimentary baby plate with sourdough bread and bananas! She also loved Dad's mashed potatoes. There was a lot to keep her occupied watching all of the people. On the way back to the car she had some fun at the fountain...she kept trying to put her foot on the water that was shooting up. It was hilarious! Brad and I later attempted a little afternoon date of mini golf, but soon remembered all too well what tourist season does to the oceanfront! We did get in a little time in the hot tub at our apt complex though. We all later enjoyed some wonderful weather out on the balcony.

Monday: Brad was sad to go back to work and we were sad Mom was leaving that afternoon. However, we still had to do some shopping! The highlight was a trip to Carter's where we got some outfits for summer and fall. Then we just had some time to hang out before Mom had to head to the airport. We were sad to see her go but were so glad for the time we were able to spend together!



Lows: Mom leaving, Lorelei thinking she needed to be up for 2-3 hrs in the middle of the night

Highs: Lorelei singing and dancing so much!, Lorelei making her panting sound and thinking we are all hilarious doing it with her, Grandma time

Happy Father's Day

We had a wonderful Father's Day this Sunday. Put together a little movie for Brad and thought you might enjoy it as well.

Upgrading To First Class In Carseat World

Well this weekend we had to buy Lorelei a new carseat! She is two pounds from growing out of the baby one, but is already too LONG! This means an upgrade of sorts, but still have to be rear facing so not nearly as fun as Miss Lorelei would like. Hopefully only a few more months until that, although I've heard it has been pushed back further than 1 year! Guess we'll find out soon. We decided on this one because it had nice cup holders...yes I know that should not be key but they ALL have good safety features! :) She does seem to enjoy it because you can see out the window better. Of course as Brad was getting it all set up she was right in there on the action.

Sorry I keep forgetting to do this part for some reason!

High: Finding out more and more words that Lorelei understands; My mom coming in just a couple of days; Mom's night out tonight with margaritas!

Low: Hunting for Father's Day gifts and thinking they won't get there in time!

Quote: Okay have to have a set up on this one...was shopping in JcPenney and this lady was looking at a top and had her teenage daughters with her..."Mom what are you trying to like, get in style or something?" It cracked me up!

Chocolate Party

We enjoyed having a chocolate party with the MOMS group we are part of. My mom does pudding painting with her preschoolers and I have enjoyed doing it with our niece and nephew and a few other children as well, so thought it might be a fun activity to try with this group. Surprisingly they said SURE LETS DO IT! :)

Lorelei was squirming like crazy to get down and get into that pudding. She had no trouble digging in and making a huge mess and eating some on the way. I got a few pictures when she first started, but was not able to get one of her in all her chocolate covered glory! My hands ended up being covered just trying keep her from the other kid's papers. :) The camera ended up with some pudding on it as well, despite my best efforts.

After hosing her down and getting her changed, she enjoyed crawling around in the dirt and mud, and decided to eat some of that as well. Apparently this wore her out and she fell asleep quickly on the way home. Then of course after lunch and mid day bath she didn't think she needed another nap, but fell asleep eventually. :)

I think we will do it again sometime!

Our Girl

I can't seem to upload pictures often enough to write this every day, but we'll still keep it for a few memories and to share some stories with our readers. ;)

Lorelei is such and active baby we have trouble keeping up. I thought I would show you the latest video of some of what she likes to do all day. Right now she is gliding?, I think that is what you call it, walking around with furniture. She can stand for an average of 5 sec but has also gone to 10 so we are getting there! Not too anxious for the walking, although it will be nice when we take her to the park because crawling in wood chips and dirt just isn't high on my list. :) Lorelei doesn't seem to mind though.

The latest thing Lorelei is also doing is pointing at different objects. She even did this for you in the video! I have been trying to get a picture with no success. Yesterday she was enjoying looking at our family pictures and pointing to the different people so we could name them. She likes to point at the fan and other objects and thinks its hilarious when we point back to her as well.

She is really starting to understand more and more words. She seems to understand kiss, bottle, something in relation to food because then she crawls to the kitchen, and dance (which she loves to do to any music and sings as well) of course our favorite is "Daddy's home" and then she goes crawling towards the door to greet him.

It's so exciting to see her learning so many new things and we are trying to cherish each moment.

Low: Walmart trip

High: Lorelei banging on the folding chair with every object in sight

"One day they can't walk, the next day they're running. One day they can't talk, the next day they won't stop. Everything they see, smell, hear and do is a new miracle - enjoy the ride, even though the house isn't perfect and your neighbor has more jewelry." In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms by Dr Laura Schlessinger

Yes I'm Going Post Crazy

Well I wanted to do a few things with each blog, but the other one seemed a bit long, so I decided to make this its own post.

Most days (as long as we remember) Brad and I do High/Low at the end of the night. I am going to put this in some of the blogs (and yes my sister does something much like this in hers too, want to give her credit. :)). We try to make sure not to have way more lows than highs. Hopefully that will work out here too!

Lows: of course, the spaghetti mess!; seeing it is supposed to rain all of next week; having a ton to get done and no idea when we will do it

Highs: finding a few fun things for Brad's bday; trying to teach Lorelei how to roll a ball; having a mostly tidyed up house thanks to our teamwork last night; planning fun stuff to do when my sister visits; Lorelei sitting on my lap watching classic Sesame Street quietly; ITS FRIDAY!

I also wanted to do a quote on each one. Whether it be a Bible verse, from a book, or from us!This is one I was thinking of putting on my status but there was too much to write. It just reminds me of how wonderful my husband is and why I love having someone with a sense of humor. :)

Elizabeth: "I cant find the sticky notes to make a list of the things we need to do today."
Brad: "Well I guess we just won't be able to do anything then."

Spaghetti Mess

Well first of all for those of you reading this, I know you are quite shocked. I kept saying I do not have time for a blog....and I really don't because right now I should be cleaning up dishes, starting laundry...you know the drill. But just as I thought I would never understand football, join facebook or move to the East coast instead of the West, I am now BLOGGING!

I must also apologize in advance, because I already discovered that the spell check does not check the title of these posts, so just realize they will probably be misspelled about half the time. :)

So the reason for this transformation into bloghood is that I was taking pictures of my daughter and realized that the caption would have to be huge to tell this story. I also have a friend who started a blog and my sister who apparently has had one and I finally realized it TODAY. It was on my mind so here we go.

I realize as I'm typing this that it really can't sound as frustrating as it was in person...the short version is that apparently I need to not let Lorelei eat two graham crackers in the store just to keep her from screaming. :) Although it was two hrs later, she did not seem to want to eat her lunch AT ALL.

It was spaghetti (the kind in the baby food jar of course) which she usually LOVES to eat. I also realize now that I should not pat myself on the back for having such an unpicky daughter after reading "what to expect the first year" and hearing all of the moms groaning about how their babies wont eat any food they give them. Anyway, she was refusing to eat this, spitting it out, wiping it all over her face, you get the idea. So I had just read some papers from the pediatrician saying that "at this age your child may want to grab the spoon and feed herself. Allowing a child to use a spoon is also appropriate at this age. children at this age should be allowed to feed themselves..." Well first of all Lorelei has been grabbing for the spoon since the first bit of cereal at 4 months, so this independent streak is nothing new to us, however I decided to give it a try...after all the pediatricians say... well the spaghetti was then used as finger paint to smear all over the tray, arms, legs, face, you name it. Oh and lets not forget throwing the spoon on my semi-recently mopped kitchen floor three times! Then she proceeded to scream with unhappiness at the mess and refused to let me feed her.

On the bright side, she later sat on my lap happily watching Sesame Street songs on the computer until her nap time. Somehow no matter how frustrating she can be, she just reminds you how much you lover her anyway.

Oh and now I know how to spell spaghetti...think I'll remember tomorrow?

To explain the title of this blog...

My Many Colored Days is a wonderful children's book by Dr. Seuss. I love reading it to Lorelei and it describes our life beautifully because each day is so different but still wonderful at the same time. Here are the words to the book: (which i hoped would be available to copy and paste but NO now I get to type them out. ;))

Some days are yellow. Some are blue. On different days I'm different too.
You'd be surprised how many ways I change on different colored days.
On bright red days how good it feels to be a horse and kick my heels!
On other days I'm other things. On bright blue days I flap my wings.
Some days, of course, feel sort of brown. Then I feel slow and low, low down.
Then comes a yellow day. And wheeeeee I am a busy, buzzy bee.
Gray day...everything is gray. I watch. But nothing moves today.
Then all of a sudden I'm a circus seal! On my orange days that's how I feel.
Green days. Deep deep in the sea. Cool and quiet fish. That's me.
On purple days I'm sad. I groan. I drag my tail. I walk alone.
But when my days are happy pink its great to jump and just not think.
Then come my black days. Mad. And loud. I howl. I growl at every cloud.
Then comes a mixed-up day. And WHAM! I don't know who or what I am!
But it all turns out all right, you see. And I go back to being...me.

The illustrations are beautiful too, if you are interested. :) Most of our days seem to be "mixed-up days" right now...but we enjoy them anyway.