Ring pops and new clothes

Today I spoiled my kids. From the title, I'm sure you know what they received. I'm in love with Target. Target has these great sales where all the little girl stuff is 75% off. That makes everything between $1-3 and that's amazing!!! If you know me, you know that nothing is a good deal until it is priced under 3 dollars. So, every now and then, during life changing sales, I stock up. Olivia's long and lean bod has made it more difficult to squeeze her into anything with a T after it and Sophie, ever growing, can fit into anything Olivia wears, except pants of course. That's a real bonus when clothes shopping. Each thing I buy is for both of them! So, they were spoiled today. Cheap or not, they were happy!

Last night, we went to dinner with Steve's parents, Larry and Diana, and his sister Carmen. We went to this little restaurant in Grimes called The Radish. I still hate that there is a town called Grimes, but I deal with it on a day to day basis. It was nice and the food was good. Sophie likes to order corndogs from the kids menu and then peel all the breading off and just eat the hot dogs. When asked if she would like to just order the hot dogs next time, she adamantly disagrees. But, a change of heart took place last night as we sampled the best kid meal corndogs ever! Breading and all. Her belly was full. And we always know when Sophie's belly is full. She'll pull her shirt up over her head to show you every time, and it's true, potbellied baby. It was good to catch up with Steve's family too!

We will be traveling to Hinton this weekend for an all school reunion. It will be fun to meet all of Steve's old classmates. Diana said she wants to take the girls for a week this summer too! That's GREAT news for me! Whenever the girls go for a while, Steve and I remember why we liked each other once upon that autumn night at ISU Homecoming. We go to movies, and hang out on our deck, and even talk! It's crazy! Plus, Grandma Diana has little kittens courtesy of a stray who decided not to stray anymore and stay at their house to start her family. Last time we were there, the girls wanted to name some of them. Their cousin Gabe had already named a few, but the girls got their word in too. Valentine's Day. The kitten's name is Valentine's Day. Why wouldn't it be?

Steve and I are really spoiled this summer because my sister Lianna and her new hubby Shawn are also taking the girls for a few days! They like to take them to Solon Beef Days parade. It is known as being the "candiest" parade in Iowa. According to Lianna, that's true. Last year, she bought the girls little purses to stash some candy, but they left with a HUGE grocery sack full of candy and they refused even more than that. Olivia also caught an orange tie dyed t-shirt that says SOLON BEEF DAYS. She loves it. Recently, Olivia caught another t-shirt at an ICubs game! It was one of those shot out of the t-shirt gun. Happiest kid in the land. She might be good luck. We'll keep her a while. They also shoot hotdogs out of a hotdog gun. How cool is that?

The girls' new school seems to be going well. Olivia's in a "school aged" group that ranges in age from 5-11. This has got me in a panic. What are the big kids teaching her? Today, she told me she gave the pinky finger to another kid and lost two stars. I didn't know what that meant, but I had a good idea. But, just when I thought I had it figured out, Olivia told me it is from Kung Fu Panda and it's something where you trick another person into putting their finger into your hand and you slap it down, or pinch it, or something not good. She reported that it didn't hurt the girl, not really. Hmmm. Then she lost another star for filling up another girls' shoes with sand at the beach. Apparently that was an unfortunate accident where Olivia's pile just happened to happen upon the girl's shoes. I'm SURE it wasn't on purpose.

Sophie's room seems great. Her teachers have her doing some really cool projects with the alphabet and she seems more content than ever. I think Sophie might be running the show in her classroom though. The other kids are half her size and she rules with pleasure as queen of the 3's. Ruling over the underclassmen. Yesterday though, Sophie "sweated" in her pants. AKA she peed her pants and won't admit it could be true. When she wakes up from a nap and an accident has occurred, she'll swear up and down that she is sweaty. Even as the perfect silhouette of wetness is in just the right tell tale location. It's sweat. Just ask her. We took her "sweaty" clothes home and replaced them with some fresh ones. Must have been quite the workout.

Well, this marks the last week of this rotation for me. 5 more weeks to go! I got an interview today too, which is great. I placed an IV with ease today. Well, maybe my friend Shawna was there to support me, but we did a very fine job indeed. I have to finish all the paperwork now for tomorrow, but thanks for reading, and have a great night! We miss you Bam!

Mel et al.