Labor Day Weekend Rocked!!!

I love three day weekends that turn into 4 days of fun. We jumped into the car Friday night to visit Grammie. We always say we are going to Grammie's house but it is really Grammie & Papa's house. Liv came up with that so it just kinda stuck. Anyway, all day Friday we talked about how after our nap we would be heading to Grammies. When Livy woke up she was pumped up and ready to put on her shoes. On small glitch...Dave was not home from work yet. She did not seem to care. We were going to Grammies and that was final. Whew. Shortly thereafter Dave arrived and we high-tailed it to the car, buckled up, started our movie, and buckled the dog in too.

Livy was so excited. She knew she was going to go swimming at Grammies and had a baby and stroller waiting there for her. We were excited because we had a full-time babysitter, free food, a hot-tub and pool, and all the liquor we could swallow. Actually I was really excited because we were getting Olivia's big girl bed to bring back with us. This was also going to be the first time Livy would be sleeping at Grammies and it was not in a toddler bed but a real big girl queen size bed.

We arrive a few hours later and the girls were so happy to see my parents. They showed off their talents...Ava using the potty and Olivia riding the scooter. Amazingly enough both girls went to bed without any hesitation. Ava always does so that really wasn't a surprise but I didn't know what Olivia would think about this big bed. She seemed to like it at first but then wanted Dave to lay with her until she went to sleep. Mission accomplished.

My mom had bought a bunch of gifts for the girls so they spent the rest of the weekend playing in the pool, running crazy throughout the house, pushing the strollers, lugging around their dollies, eating, eating, eating, bowling using the Wii, and making and playing with peanut butter playdoh. Olivia ate most of it within the first half an hour and she had a great time "baking" with her dad. Dave likes to do one-on-one activities with the girls to spend quality time with them and it's also nice that they focus on him and forget about me for a little while.

Grammie also went crazy in the clothing department. Oivia now has a well stocked winter wardrobe. Ava has all the old stuff from Olivia so they are complete in wardrobes for the winter. She also bought Livy some monkey sheets and a quilt for her bed. Ok ok she bought me some clothes too. Grammie still loves me.

On our last night we had a bowling challenge. Somehow, some freakish way, my mom is holding the highest score in bowling. No one can understand this phenomenon but earlier in the day she and I started playing, while Dave was being our bartender. She racked up this really high score and then the rest of the night the three of us literally killed ourselves trying to beat her. The next morning I woke up and moved my arm...omg...the pain. Dave and my mom were all ready up and voicing their complaints of all over body pain. My mom chimes in with, "I guess 5 hours of bowling will do that to you." Um, where were your words of wisdom last night? I remember last night's words were something in the way of... keep the wine coming... no where in there does she say," and oh BTW you'll be screwed tomorrow." Thanks Grammie. We all left Tuesday with our battle scars. Ava got a huge bruise on her chin from falling down in the living room, and Dave, Olivia, and I are suffering from Wii's version of carpal tunnel. It was fantastic. We had fun, we played, we relaxed, we ate, and we slept. This was everything I could have asked for in a vacation.

When we got home a neighbor happened to be outside so he offered to help Dave set up the new bed and break down the toddler bed. He was such a great help. I spent the hour putting away Olivia's closet and then Dave went to work. He started teaching again...

Night came around and it was time for Olivia to get into her big girl bed. She was sooo excited. She looked at those monkey sheets and climbed right in. I kissed her good night and closed the door. Then she cried, "no big girl bed, no monkey sheets, old bed." Huh. We can't exactly bring back the other bed just like that. So I told her it was ok and that I'd come back in 10 minutes to check on her. She was ok with that so I left. About 8 minutes later she cried again. I explained that it had not been 10 minutes yet and that I would be back in 5 minutes. Again she said ok. So in about 15 minutes I went back in, her eyes were sleepy and her head was turned to the side. I told her I was there to check on her and I would be back in 10 more minutes.

7 am Olivia proudly exclaimed that she slept in her big girl bed and that she is a big girl. My little baby has become my little girl. Makes me happy and sad all at the same time. Ava is drifting farther and farther away from babyhood too. She wants to be like Olivia so badly, she's growing up way too fast too. Her little smooshy face is starting to lose it's round baby like exterior and becoming a little girlie face. I take a lot of photos and movies to capture every moment I can.