Wednesday, the 14th

Lily stayed in the action throughout the entire moving process. Here, she is at the Title Company signing some paperwork. She took her job very seriously.

A Fun Day with Friends

Rachel and Lily jam on the 'gater

Movin' on to make more music

Playing more tunes

Ride 'em cowgirls!

Cutie pies Ellie and Henry


We had loads of fun with Rachel, Ellie, and Henry at Annie's Playground before the big move. We miss all our Baltimore buds so much!

Mother's Day Fun

Entrance to the Water Play Area - a little too chilly to ride the waves just yet

Lily and I enjoyed looking at the sparking water though

Abby Cadabby's Treasure Hunt Show

Lily was loving it!

Getting an up-close view at Burt's Beach Party Show

Checking out the produce at the Sesame Street Market

Weighing in

Operating the crane down by the dock

Cutest machine operator ever

Climbing to the top of Cookie Monster Mountain, probably her favorite activity of the day

Lily and daddy riding the flying fish

I think Carl enjoyed the ride more than the kids did!

Saying bye-bye to her Sesame Street Pals

We spent Mother's Day at Sesame Street Place in Pennsylvania. We all had the best time. Lily was so excited the entire day. She loved the rides, the shows, the sites - she truly loved it all! Overall, it was just a great family day. This is probably the last time that we will visit Sesame Place due to our move back to the midwest, so I was so happy to be able to go there one last time.

We've been doing a lot of "lasts" recently to fulfill *my* need to go to our favorite places here just one last time. Today Carl and I had lunch at our favorite Thai restaurant which holds many wonderful memories for us. The food there is so delicious, or as my counterpart stated as we were finishing our meal, "If it wasn't socially inappropriate, I'd lick the plate right now." I think that we have hit most of the places on my mental "to do" list before we leave. Now, we are just trying to enjoy our last days in Maryland while finishing up any things we have to do before the big move.

Below is a video of Lily on Cookie Monster's Mountain. It is short, but I thought that it was cute because although it is hard to hear, she is saying, "It's fun, mommy! It's fun!" That's really the best mother's day present ever.

Carl's last day - Hip hip hooray!

Vietnamese celebration dinner provided by Aunt Ingrid

Carl's last day of medical school was yesterday. Awhile ago, when one of the neighborhood children discovered that Carl was still in school, the child asked in amazement what grade Carl was in. It turns out that Carl is in the 23rd grade. That means, including Kindergarten, Carl has been in school for 24 years - and it is all over as of yesterday. So where do we stand after all of this education, including a Masters Degree (me) and two Doctorate Degrees (Carl)? Well, we are both currently unemployed and in a matter of days, we will be homeless as well. Even if it is only for a few days, it's still kind of funny!

Let me tell ya 'bout the birds and the bees

Conversations with Lily are never dull. My latest favorite thing that she says is when either Carl or I are doing something that she does not want us to do, she says, "Honey, honey, honey..." and then proceeds to tell us what we should or should not be doing according to her. She has also taken to telling Carl and I to "stop talking" anytime we have a conversation between the two of us that she is not quite following. I actually heed her warning on this one and try to include her in the conversation because Carl stopped talking for a period of time when he was two-years-old, and I don't think anyone knows why to this day, but knowing that has made me hyper-aware of anything that might trigger the same reaction in her.

But, one of my favorite conversations to date happened tonight when we were reading books before bed. She picked out one of her "baby" books to read, First Words. In it, there is a picture of a girl and boy.
Lily said with a smile, "Boys have a 'gina?" (I'm not sure if the smile indicated that she actually knew the right association and was testing me (happens very often) or if she knew that she was getting into some tricky dialogue.)
I responded, "No, girls have a 'gina'."
"Oh. Boys have penises?"
"That's right."
"Why do boys have penises, mommy?"
"Well..."
"That's so silly, mommy. Boys should have 'ginas. They're silly."
"You're right, honey. Boys are silly." :)

I should mention that the entire reason that she knows about male and female body parts is because the bathrooms at her school are open and boys and girls use them together. So, when they naturally ask about the differences in anatomy, the teachers give them the vocabulary for them, like anything else. I really like this approach because it makes everything very natural and gives no cause to treat body parts as a taboo subject. It can catch you off guard though. :)

A Perfect Day at Port Discovery

Choo-choo!

Nathan & Lily LOVED the shape sorter game.

Neither Nathan nor Lily were as concerned about three-story-high rope bridge as their mothers were; they were more interested in pushing all the buttons and seeing the results.

Painting rocks with water

Winding down with a shared reading of The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Hangin' with Nathan at the Inner Harbor

A beautiful day to hang out at the Inner Harbor

Playing in front of the Water Taxi

Anchors away!

Snoozin' after a fun day with friends

Scenes from the weekend

Visiting the playground across the street from Aunt Ingrid's new place

Harder than it looks!

Enough pictures camera-crazy mom!

Lily's showing her dedication to cleaning by moving her potty chair over so that she can reach the sink to wash one of her hand-wash only outfits. (Good to know that the potty chair is being used for something!)

Showing dedication of another kind, namely to Cool-Whip - a Grandma Meyer trait for sure!

Caught! :)

Enjoying a pear while visiting the farm and produce stand only 10 minutes from our house. We sure will miss this place when we move.