Fun days...

I hate hearing the cell ring and then seeing the ID read "La Petite." It's never a good thing. Not once have they called to say something like "Ellie took a great nap today" or "Maggie made a happy plate at lunch today." No it's always something like, "Maggie banged her head on slide" or Ellie woke up from nap with a 102 fever." As was the case yesterday. I was five minutes from picking up the kids to take them on a impromptu trip to the zoo, when the cell rings and I learn that Ellie has a fever. Can we say bummer?

I know it's bad when Ellie says, "I want to go lay in my bed." I get them loaded in the car and Ellie informs me that she needs to burp (aka puke). I run inside to get a handy dandy bag---which we do end up using on the car ride home. Poor thing!

It amazing how fast kids rebound though---I gave her Motrin and in an hour's time she was playing babies with Maggie. Nuts huh? We even Georgia on a evening walk--where Ellie balanced on the curbs while Maggie jumped over every sidewalk seam and crack.

Seeing Ellie rebound that fast--makes me envious but also makes me hate the "24 hour fever free" rule at daycare. Guess we will be enjoying a day at home tomorrow....just the two of us!

PJs or Not

Who wouldn't want to spend the day in PJs? Ellie attempted to convince us that today was PJ at school. She insisted that Ms. Shante told her to wear them--so that is what she was going to do. We were 95% sure that today was not PJ day, JT called the school to even check. Nowhere on the calendar did it say anything about PJ day.

Wearing PJs is not something I want to argue about--so we asked her, "Ellie, if no one else is wearing PJs at school, are you okay with that?" She said, "Yes."

So....she was the only one in PJs today---for the entire day (We did pack spare clothes.)

By the way, PJ day is October 3rd:)

The Craziest Things Seem to Happen to Us!

The last few days have been completely nuts---the loss of Maggie's Elmo, the breaking of our double stroller, the busting down of our front door (long story which does not include robbers or murderers), and the loss of Ellie's beloved blanket aka "manklet".

It's been sad times in the Paulk household--which has Maggie now clinging to a stuffed pig and Ellie picking a new substandard lovie. That is until this morning.

Georgia, our annoying, yet lovable dog, begged nonstop for walk which usually I take her on. This morning, I wanted a quick walk and not our usual 2 mile course, but i gave in and we took the 2 mile route. As we were taking our stroll, I said a little prayer that we migtt find the "mankel" (another nickname for the blanket). As as we were rounding the home stretch, I stopped to look at a neighbor's really beautiful flowers, when out of the corner of my eye, I see it....MANKELT! Someone had neatly folded this dirty, ragged blanket (it is always dirty by the way) and hung it neatly across someone's front gate. WOW!

I CAN'T WAIT to see the joy in Ellie's eye when I show her MANKEL and to share with her the random kind act that a stranger did...just for her.

Nicknames

It's amazing how kids get the most random of nicknames and how they stick.

We started calling Ellie "Boo Boo" when she was only a few weeks old because of the number of injuries her parents (us) had inflicted upon her. From a small bottle of lotion falling on her, to rolling off the couch, to one of us sliding down the stairs while carrying her---she went through a lot. Oh and it continued. As a 9 month old walker, she had lots of bumps and bruises and almost knocked a tooth out. Not to mention her early obsession with band aids which made it appear that she had a zillion boo boos when in reality she probably had none.

Maggie Moo or "Moo Moo" got her name early on. It seemed like a easy progression to go from Boo Boo to something else that rhymed. Maggie was quite the eater, she started grabbing for table food when she was 5 months old and never stopped. She use to mooch food from her daycare providers--after she ate her breakfast. She is the kid who will reach over the dinner table and take food off your plate, especially if it is green. What is quite funny--at least for now--is that she identifies herself as "Moo Moo." She says, "That's Moo Moo's" or points to picture of herself and says "Moo Moo."

I do wonder, when will my kids start hating us for the ridiculous nicknames we gave them?

Kids say the most random things...

Today Ellie asked, "How did I gt out of your tummy?" That was after she informed us that she likes Daddy because he snuggles with her and giver her kisses and likes Mommy because she runs with her. Kids are quite random, aren't they?

It was a really great day--we spent the afternoon riding bikes in our backyard on new brick parking pad. SWEET! We even got a thumbs up from our neighbors about it...go us!! In a few more weeks, the backyard will finally be complete. I should have known that something that people said would take 3 weeks would take 3 months!! Well worth the wait.....

it's been a busy few weeks

The last few weeks were quite bust for the Paulk family. Though, I have to admit last week was the best week in quite a few months:) We spent the week at the Jersey shore with a few great friends of mine and their kids/significant others. Quite a lot of fun was had by all.

I hope to get some pictures up here from the weekend adn also a few pictures from Maggie's birthday which was Monday. I still can"t believe she is two already.

Our backyard si slowly coming along. The fence is done, teh posts for the gate are in, and the bricks are in the preocess of being laid. All that is left is: the gate itself, lighting, and the lanscaping.

The project is costing a bit more than we estimated--so it looks like the deck furniture isn't going to happen--unless a tree we plant produces dollar bills.

Maggie's Birthday

Maggie wasn't much into the party hat!

Ellie and I made the ice cream birthday cake!!Maggie did a good job of blowing out the candles
And the girls both went for the pink letters!

Maggie got a Baby Activity Center. And as you can see Elmo fits nicely.