Planting time!

Lulu and her daddy planted some watermelon seeds this weekend. We planted five of them to see if they would grow (they are from an old seed packet, so their germination isn't guaranteed). We decided that a sunny spot on the dresser in her room would be a good place to put them while we waited.

Apologies for the video--you'll just have to cock your head sideways to watch it!

Filling up her pot with some assistance from Daddy

Moon and Stars heirloom watermelon

I'm not sure what we'll do if those seeds actually take off--I guess we'll end up planting them in the garden?

A Mother's Revenge...

...is forcing her husband to translate a French book into German to read out loud for his toddler....on a nightly basis.  Lulu's current favorite is Madeleine (or Madeline auf Deutsch), but the only copy I have is the paperback version in French.  :)

Yes, I think I am truly evil!

New Sweater.

Our wonderful neighbor, Auntie Kate, decided earlier this winter that she wanted to branch out from making beautiful afghans and scarves to making beautiful sweaters. Her incredibly smart husband, David, suggested that Lulu would be a good recipient because her size means that a sweater would be small. :)

Kate found a beautiful sweater pattern that she wanted to try. So, we visited Rumpelstiltzkin and picked out some yarn in Lulu's favorite color: PURPLE! Sidenote: I am NOT visiting that store again until *after* my tenure file is closed b/c I could SO see myself getting sucked into the world of knitting!

After keeping me updated on her progress, Kate brought over the finished sweater late last week and we snapped a couple of really cute photos of Kate and Lulu together.

Isn't that a beautiful sweater?  I'm so impressed!

Games.

One of my favorite things that Lulu currently says is "peek-a-you!" rather than "peek-a-boo." I'm going to be very sad when she realizes the "right" way to say it.

Miss you, Nanny!

Weekend-o-Fun

Mau-Mau and Nanny arrived earlier this week and our first stop (after Merryhill to pick up Lulu and Dairy Queen to get some ice cream) was Toys-R-Us.  Nanny in particular took great delight in buying Lulu her very own baby doll and a baby doll-sized stroller:

Daddy wanted to know if they were selling Autism at Toys-R-Us when he saw this photo...?

Yesterday, I busted out the Rice Krispies and Christmas sprinkles for some Rice Krispies Treats fun!

Look, Mom!  Jazz Hands!

Notice the red sprinkles already turned EVERYTHING red??

And we capped off a weekend of fun by taking Lulu to get her very first pedicure. Mau-Mau and Nanny brought their *own* nail polish, but Lulu and I took our chances with the selection at the nail salon. (Of course, she choose purple!) She sat on Mau-Mau's lap for most of the time until it was her turn...

Someone was VERY interested in the bubbles and swirling water

To be perfectly honest, she's just *barely* old enough to really get a pedicure and she definitely didn't understand the concept of waiting for polish to dry. But, she certainly enjoyed seeing the purple!

Someone is getting the hang of this!

Waiting (im)patiently for the nail polish to dry...

Sweet smell of success!

This afternoon, Lulu pooped in her potty!  (not *the* potty, mind you, but her little one on the floor)

She was so excited--almost as much as I was!  We exchanged high fives...should be interesting to see if this trend continues...?

Yes, I took a picture, but no, I'm not putting it up on the blog--you can all breathe a sigh of relief now.

We went to the Sacramento Zoo on Sunday afternoon with the Kaplanescu family.  The weather turned out to be perfect--it was cloudy and cool but not raining, so the animals were out in full force!  The zoo is on the small side, but it's the perfect size for children.  Lulu and Max ran and played and stared at the exotic animals.  Lulu's favorite was probably the giraffe, but she also enjoyed the anteater and the orangutan.

I took too many pictures to upload them all at once, so here's a slideshow.

Baby needs new shoes...

...because she keeps stealing mine!  :)

Weekend Breakfasts

We have enjoyed tasty breakfasts this weekend.  I think the extra time in the morning is something we all enjoy for different reasons--Walter can linger over his paper, I can putz around and bake something and Lulu can enjoy watching cartoons.  Win-win-win!

Anyway, our breakfast champion this past weekend was a chocolate hazelnut tart that we made on Friday night.  I found a block of hazelnut chocolate at the grocery store and subb'd 1/2 c of ground hazelnuts for the flour in the tart crust recipe.  Lulu certainly enjoyed the results!

The smudge would be three small fingerprints b/c the tart was too irresistible!

Notice the Micky Maus Wunderhaus on the computer??

My favorite:  complete concentration on cartoons and chocolate

Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Lulu has been singing songs from school lately and I wanted to share her latest, The Itsy Bitsy Spider. She also does an interesting addition to Pat-a-Cake that I'll try to get on another video soon.

Private Dancer...

...no offense meant to Tina Turner, but Lulu has become our Private Dancer lately. This morning, she dug out an old baby monitor and we danced to the "music" it was playing. Her use of imagination was really sweet and I wanted to share it with you.

Lulu's latest obsession

Lulu LOVES watching an animated series called "Pocoyo" on YouTube lately.  We are lucky that Pocoyo is in a LOT of languages, including German!  For those of you interested in what's popular among the pre-3 set, here's a taste:

Best of all, if she gets tired of German, there's always Spanish, Italian, Croatian, etc. for her to learn....

photos from Merryhill

Just a few recent photos snapped at Merryhill recently for your enjoyment.

Lulu's board (with photos provided by Mom)

Lulu and her friends Nate and Emma at afternoon snack time!

Lulu with Maddie
(and a little boy whose name I don't know)
It was supposed to be picture day but the photograph was sick!