Adventures in La La Land

1. We had our house appraised last week and got the results this week. It appraised for $1,000 over what we needed it to in order to refinance! Woohoo! Thanks for the prayers. 2. So we started potty training this week. Oh boy. If you're looking to develop patience, try potty training a 2 year old. Haha. Really, she's done pretty well. She goes every time I put her on the toilet, but it's just a tedious process. I try to take her in every half an hour. And she insists on putting the ring on the toilet by herself and pulling her shorts and undies down by herself. It takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r! Even with taking her in every half hour, she's still had her fair share of accidents. Fortunately, she hasn't made any huge messes. Most of the time, she just goes a tiny bit and catches herself. One time she started yelling "floor!" I looked over and there was a tiny puddle on the floor. We're just going to keep at it and hope it starts to click in her brain soon! 3....

Favorite Colors: Purple and orange Favorite Food: Macaroni and Cheese Favorite Song: "Wheels on the Bus" Favorite Book: Elmo's Potty Book Favorite Movie: Elmo's Sing-A-Long Favorite Animal: Kitty Favorite Game:  Chase Lola Favorite Snack: Cheese Favorite Fruit: Raspberries Favorite Drink: Milk Favorite PJs: Elmo Favorite Toy: Dora dollhouse Favorite Outside Activity: Slide and swing Inspiration:  http://www.photogmommie.com/birthday-interview

1. Lucy had her 2 year well child check up yesterday. She weighs 25 lbs (32%) and is 35 inches tall (83%). It's so crazy that she has consistently been tall for her age! I don't know where she gets that from! She had 3 shots. When they put the first one in, she just yelled "owie!" When the second two went in though, she really cried. :-( She recovered quickly though thanks to a sucker and some Elmo stickers. :-) The doctor is referring us to a pediatric podiatrist because her left foot points in so much when she walks. I'm glad she's being proactive about it. Hopefully at this age it will be easily correctable. 2. I made a couple new winning recipes this week. Chicken Tortilla Bake and Cream Cheese Spaghetti Casserole. The spaghetti was my favorite, so I'll share that recipe here. I linked to the other one if you want to look it up. Cream Cheese Spaghetti Casserole  (from Plainchicken.com) 12 oz spaghetti 1 (28 ounce) jar prepared spaghetti sauce ...

Sorry this is so late! We've had a crazy weekend/day. I kind of forgot about it! 1. We were supposed to have the appraisal on our house for the refinancing this week. The appraiser called and cancelled 5 minutes after he was supposed to be to our house. Bummer. Rescheduled for Wednesday. Please pray that it appraises high enough! 2. I realized this week that I literally spend 1/3 of my paycheck on gas every week. That's just my gas - not even Justin's! How depressing . . . 3. I made this baked French toast for dinner on Wednesday. It was delicious! And very bad for us. Haha. Maybe next time I'll throw in some cauliflower puree or something. :-) 4. My brother, Luke, is home from Florida for the weekend! It was so great to see him again. And I love that Lucy knows just who he is even though she only sees him about twice a year. Hopefully he'll be able to move closer to home soon . . . We had siblings' lunch on Friday - something we used to do fairly often ...

1. Even 3.5 year olds still think it's cool to color on walls. 2. Something has been tromping through my garden. I'm pretty sure it's a bear. 3. If you start bragging about how your daughter sleeps in until 9:00, she'll inevitably start waking up 2 hours earlier! 4. I can fall asleep in 5 seconds sitting in a chair at work (at naptime - relax), but it takes me half an hour of tossing and turning to fall asleep in my bed at night. 5. It's been 2 years and my stomach still looks like the last picture in this post. I think it's time to abandon hope that it will ever go back to normal. 6. Reading a whole bunch of books by the same author in a row really makes you realize how often she uses certain words/phrases. For instance, Colleen Coble uses the word " macadam " in every single book. 7. All the recent debates about gay marriage make my blood boil. I think I have an anger problem. 8. Jumping on a trampoline is different after having a baby.

1. I planted some stuff in my garden this week! (With my dad's help.) Potatoes, strawberries, and flowers. Dad says we have to wait to plant the zucchini, melon, and squash. I loved digging my hands in the dirt. And Lucy has loved helping me water the garden. 2. Wednesday was a beautiful warm, sunny day. After dinner, Justin, Lucy and I went to Morley Park in Cedar. We've lived here for 3 years and have never been there. It was so nice! They had 3 or 4 different play structures, swings, a merry go round, even some bongo drums! Lucy was in her glories. Except that all the play structures are on sand and she was wearing sandals. She was not a fan. Haha. Note to self: next time, put her in tennis shoes. She found a set of little slides with a short set of steps. Justin and I sat on the grass and watched her go up the stairs, down the slide, up the stairs, down the slide . . . over and over and over. I can't wait for her to get a slide for her birthday! Hours of entertainment...