Yesterday, Lily went to two back-to-back birthday parties. Thankfully she played so hard, even the 42 pounds of sugar she ingested wasn’t enough to keep her awake at bedtime. Not having a nap helped as well.
Watching her at Romp n’ Roll yesterday was so much fun. Now that she’s comfortable there, and knows the drill, she goes nuts. She dances like a maniac, she answers questions, she swings from the trapeze, slides, and generally acts like a nut. Her face was bright red (just like mine when I work out) within a few minutes of the party starting.
Mike took her to the earlier party at the Children’s Museum. He was tired and quiet yesterday so I didn’t get many details about it other than what flavor cake they served (I love a man with my priorities).
Saturday we looked at a house that is for sale in Oak Park. We didn’t like it. It had an even worse floor plan than our existing house and was decorated in what I like to call Southern Living at Home meets Flea Market style. Frankly I’m not much for southern decorating. All those fabrics and patterns competing for your attention - good lord, it stressed me out. Not to mention the 5 foot “antiqued” white bunny that was carved from wood and displayed prominently in their parlor. The wallpaper was equally heinous - huge bright tulips in a strange, frantic pattern - all over the bathroom. There were a lot of “Bless This Mess” signs country wood furniture mixed with chintz, toile, and possibly some other floral prints. My mind started to block it out after a while.
After exiting the house, we wandered around the neighborhood trying to find ways into the model homes, as well as the homes that hadn’t been finished yet. We weren’t very successful but managed to look in a lot of windows and annoy the neighbors. The girls ran around and sometimes rested in the stroller for a bit. Sara and Tim were with us and taught Lily about pinecones - she made us go straight home to put peanut butter and bird seed on one of the pinecones she picked up at the lot we are considering buying. It was nice to be there during the day and also to have some input from my parents, who have built homes. They looked at the plans and gave us some feedback.
Saturday night we had dinner with mom and dad and Steve and Vicki at Bonefish Grill, which was delicious. I ate too much but whatever. I even drank a daiquiri. It was wonderful being without the girls for a few hours at a nice restaurant. Vicki looked at the plans - she didn’t say anything, so I’m assuming that means she doesn’t care for it. Not that I am surprised - they go for very contemporary homes, and this one is patterned after a home that would have been built in the 1920’s or 30’s. I’m sure many people, not just them, think we’re nuts - why build this house when we could get 4000 square feet in a subdivision? To which my response is, I’ve been living in a production house for three years and they are crappy homes. We’ve put as much personality as we can into our house, but that ain’t saying much. It’s hard to give a rock a personality, you know?
Anyway, it was a good weekend and the girls had a good time as well playing with Katie Brown and blowing bubbles. I have lots of other things to post on, but I must get some work done now.
