more random tidbits...

Today was a pretty great day. It's the first Saturday that Marc has not had to work in as long as I can remember -- at least since before Christmas. Since he finished grading his finals and turned in his grades for the semester, he can finally limit his work time to normal working hours!

We both worked in the yard today. I literally cannot remember the last time that happened. I finished pruning my roses. Marc pruned the row of bushes in front of our house that were getting out of control. That enabled me to cross off an item on my to-do list without even doing anything! I also mowed the lawn. I love that just-mowed look. But allergens must be running rampant because just during the mowing I got all stuffed up and sneezy. weird.

Our whole family went out to look for birthday gifts for Eva. I also can't remember the last time we all went anywhere together (besides church). It was so fun. Everyone's excited about her birthday, and the boys didn't even complain that we weren't looking for toys that they like. It's like they didn't even think about it because they are so excited for her! Kinda warms my heart.

We didn't actually find any presents for her! She doesn't really need anything, you know? She's got lots of cute clothes, lots of books, lots of toys. Everything that we looked at that we liked, we already have something similar. So you know what? I'm going to go out to the garage and get some more of the boy's baby toys, clean them up, and give them to her tomorrow. (I was interested in getting her a swing that you attach to a tree or something, but we're not sure we have a good place to put it in our yard.) We did want to get her a purse or a lunch box of some kind since she loves them so much. The ones at ToysRUs were completely hideous and expensive to boot. We found a cute little blue metallic one at Target that was on clearance for $2.50! You gotta love a good deal.

We also went to Wendy's and Eva had her first kid's meal. Too funny. Is it sad that today was only the second time she's been out to eat and sat in a high chair? We never go out to eat. When I put her fries and hamburger in front of her, she got so excited. When I gave her a sip of her fruit punch, she was over the moon. I don't think she'll be getting another kid's meal anytime soon, since she ate so little of it, but it sure was fun to see.


Then we came home and I looked online for kids' chairs, since that was the one idea we had of what to get Eva from my parents (they sent money for us to shop with). We had checked Down East Home and found a pretty cute pink stuffed chair, but it had someone else's name embroidered on it. (I toyed with the idea of covering it up somehow because it was a really good deal, but couldn't decide, so we left it there.) Anyway, my point is, I found a website that has really cute upholstered toddler rockers for really reasonable prices! (And I mean reasonable prices by my standards, not my mom's...) So I think we're going to order her one from my parents.

I made the birthday cake and the boys jumped on the trampoline until it was dark. We're having all our local family over for a party tomorrow and a simple supper, so I don't even have to worry about major preparations. I love that.






One more thing: what's the deal with trick mirrors? I went shopping at Lane Bryant on Thursday, and was surprised that almost everything I tried on seemed to look pretty good. I even came this close to buying a pair of white pants! What's up with that? I tell you that only to prove my point: I think they have skinny mirrors there! Because today I put on one of the pairs of pants that I bought that looked surprisingly good, and guess what? They don't look surprisingly good anymore. They don't even look good at all. In fact, they kind of sick me out. What gives, Lane Bryant? Who told you you could trick fat girls like that?