Disneyland

After returning from the coast, the girls and I hopped in Mom’s motorhome and left for California. We arrived late Sunday night, and hit Disneyland first thing Monday morning. Ali is an old pro now, so she had it all planned out... which rides she wanted to go on, and where we would go next... We took Merilyn on all of the rides that we could; including Small World and Dumbo... and even Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion! She LOVED it!! She cracked up and clapped the entire way through the rides. Daddy will be so proud!

Family Reunion

We had a fun few days in Tillamook. It’s always nice to see family - especially when we get to see them so infrequently. We spent a few hours on the beach playing in the sand. It was a beautiful day!

Family

Yesterday we came down to Tillamook for Trav's family reunion. Merilyn got to meet Great-Grandma Dorothy and Grandpa Ken for the first time. Grandma kept saying how delighted she was that the girls were here. Merilyn has caught a little cold and isn't her usual laid-back self. That, and being in a new place and off-schedule has gotten her a bit off kilter. But, she's taking a nap now and Daddy's off to get some baby cold medicine. Hopefully all will be well soon!

Love these girls

I had dinner at Henry's last night with my best friends from college. We try to get together once a month for dinner and shopping, and just catching up on our every day lives. When we lived in the sorority it seems like we did everything together. We were always together... parties, classes, road trips... we helped each other through so many of the highs and lows during our college time. It was such a bittersweet feeling when it was time to leave Corvallis and move on after graduation! Today we all have kids of our own, jobs, and busy lives. But I cherish the time I get to spend with my friends - there is still nothing that can make me laugh as hard!! I heard someone say recently that "time is too precious. Spend it on things that you value." I would add "spend it on things and people that you value." This is what makes my life so blessed.

No Baby Food!

Merilyn has started to refuse to eat baby food - she pitches a fit when I try to feed her sweet potatoes {or anything else, for that matter} from a jar! However, if I give her bites of what we're eating, she hums all through the meal! Her favorites right now are turkey and cheese. {But, she'll try anything that her big sister is eating!!} Now, what to do with all of the baby food that I got such a great deal on...

Big News!

Merilyn is sleeping through the night! {Now that I've said it out loud will I jinx myself?!} She had been only waking up once or twice a night - usually due to a lost binky... and then again at 5 or 6am for her bottle. The last two or three nights I've put her to bed at 8:30 at night and she's woken up at 7:00am!! Yea!! And the beautiful thing is she wakes up so happy! It's so sweet to see her big grin when I go get her.

Independence

There are some days {more and more it seems!} that Ali does not want any of my help. She is becoming so independent! It's nice when I'm chasing Merilyn all over, but on the other hand... she's growing up so fast! On this day she wanted to make her own sandwich and wanted to do it all by herself. "I don't need you, Mommy. I'm going to do everything." Although, after she thought about it for a minute, she asked, "Could you get me the bread, the mustard, the cheese, the turkey, a knife... and then I don't need you."