I Think Alice Needs a Sandbox (89/365)

It's days like today that make me wish we had a house.

It was a gorgeous day, and tomorrow is supposed to be even better. We
made mud castles, looked for bugs, and ran amuck. Needless to say both
girls went to bed early tonight!

If You Don't Find Yourself on Here (88/365)

I appologize as my little artist couldn't be bothered to draw anymore.
However, she did find it necessary to draw two Izzys. Oh wait, one is
Izzy and the other is Izzy in octopus form.

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

Arrrrrrr, Me Matey (87/365)

This is the closest thing Izzy will get to having her ears pierced
before the age of 13. Who knew that fruity Cheerios (bet you didn't
know they existed, didya?) could be so stylish?

Lesson #437 I Should Have Learned the First Time Around (86/365)

Never turn your back on an almost 1 year old.

And when you find them climbing on things,

grab the camera before rescuing them.

Ok, maybe NOT the last part.

Guess What Day it is (85/365)

Izzy is finally getting the chance to enjoy pancake and popcorn night. And now that we have Netflix streaming on the Wii, we're adding movies to our Friday nights. Speaking of Pancakes, I made ours (well, the batter anyway) in the blender tonight, it's quickly becoming my favorite appliance. We've had one for years, but I never used it until recently. Now it has a permanent place on my counter and I use it every day. I think it's actually replaced my stand mixer as my favorite!

Izzy approves.

She Likes to Keep Us on Our Toes (84/365)

Turns out, Izzy just wanted to make sure we were paying attention to her - her EEG was completely normal!

Guess it was just spastic Bathje genes after all.

Izzy the Chef (83/365)

Come and visit us and she just might share her creation with you too.
Oh, and I can't help but be reminded of her Great Grandpa Rice when
she smacks her mouth and it comes out sounding like a tongue click
like he used to do.

Somewhere in there she's a Rice.

Ten on Tuesday (82/365)

1. Since starting our Weightloss Challenge in January, Matt has lost 32.5 lbs and I've lost 17. He's been on the ball with this change of lifestyle, but I haven't really been until recently. Hopefully I can keep it up!
2. Tori has been doing great too - in fact she's been leading the pack nearly every week! She and Matt are neck and neck now, but there is still time left!
3. Izzy has been cracking us up lately. We were watching The Princess and the Frog tonight after dinner and she started singing along with the music. I will have to get it on video, it is too cute.
4. Then she outdid herself and started drying the dishes. No I'm not a slave-driver, but she did steal a clean sock when I was folding laundry and proceeded to "dry" a bowl.
5. I actually got this one on film. I didn't catch her the other day when she had a bowl and spoon and was mixing up a storm.
6. The weather has been beautiful! It's been so nice to get out of the house and get some fresh air and sunshine. We even met Daddy when he came home today and made some mud pies.
7. We're gearing up for a lot of events. Annie and I are planning Kathy's bridal shower, Izzy's birthday party (finally sent the invite off to the printer), we're going to Indianapolis on Izzy's actual birthday to do Race for the Cure with a bunch of my MoGo mommies, and of course Easter.
8. Don't know what MoGo is? It's a group of women I met online when we were all pregnant with our October 2006 babies. We're a tight knit group of women and I can't wait to meet up with them for a good cause!
9. I've discovered the best cure for chapped lips. We have a huge bottle of Aquaphor for Izzy for when her face gets chapped, and out of the blue I decided to try it on my lips when my Softlips wasn't cutting it (and I loathe ChapStick) and I was elated to find out that it works so well!
10. I should head off to bed. I'm trying to get my butt to bed before 11pm these days and if I don't go to bed when Matt does I tend to stay up way too late.

Night all!

It's Been a LOOOOONG Day (81/365)

As someone who loves her sleep, today's 4am wake-up call was not a good start to my day. Today was EEG day for Izzy, which meant that she needed to be sleep deprived before her 8am appointment time, which meant that I had to pry my butt out of bed well before I wanted to. The test went well, she fell asleep about 5 minutes after the nurse left her room and she slept as long as she was supposed to. She did wake up for the strobe portion of the test, but really, who wouldn't?! She even came home with a special lap blanket from Project Linus that I know we'll put to good use in the car next winter. Our schedule was off all day long so hopefully tomorrow things will be back to business as usual. I'll be sure to let you all know when we find out the results!

Practicing For Her Birthday Party (80/365)

I have a feeling she'll do just fine come April 24th!
(invites are coming, they aren't quite finished yet, but they will be soon!)

Daddy Love Baby (79/365)

Baby love Daddy

Like Yummy Golden Pillows From Heaven (78/365)

I made the most killer pancakes for dinner tonight. We seem to have started this tradition of having pancakes and popcorn for dinner on Friday nights, and tonight I decided we needed a change from the usual Bisquick blandness. I did some digging on the internet I found a recipe that looked like it had potential, and boy am I glad I tried it (even though we didn't have buttermilk and I had to resort to "making it" with milk and lemon juice) ! I even convinced my darling husband that not all pancakes have to taste like blah biscuits!

If you aren't convinced maybe this will help, Alice ate 4 of them and we didn't have to keep reminding her to take bites!

We Have VEESETORS! (77/365)

Ok, so we have a visitor. Uncle Chuck is staying with us for the night on his way to Michigan for some geeky stuff, I'm sure. Alice was more than happy to humor him and play farmer for a good half hour before she decided she had better go to bed. He'll be on his way in the morning, but it will sure be nice to have him, even if just for a short while. Come crash at the Bathje pad, we always have room for a few more!

Too Much of a Good Thing (76/365)

I have a feeling that this is how I'm going to feel about the latest Disney DVD that was released, The Princess and the Frog. Alice and I saw it in the theater with Grandma Cindy and Auntie Tori and immideately fell in love with it and rushed right out to buy the soundtrack. It came out yesterday on DVD so I made sure Matt picked up a copy on his way home from work. Alice has already watched it three times in less than 24 hours and it's just starting to overstay it's welcome, in my book. Hopefully tomorrow will bring nice weather (and my daughter will wake up with a good attitude) so we can go out and play all day and I won't have to put it on for her again tomorrow.

Knowing my luck, the weather men will be dead wrong and it will be rainy with a high of 40°F.

It's a Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood (75/365)

Being that it was a mild spring day, the girls and I ventured outside.

Izzy was mesmerized by everything, especially the other kids.

She also tried to eat this piece of chalk about 100 times.

(Notice Izzy's feet and knees, needless to say she got changed as soon as we got inside.)

Do you think this kid needs an actual bike?

I have a feeling I may have to convince Daddy to go pick one out this weekend.

We had a glorious day being outside for the first time in a LONG time.

I sure hope Mother Nature is kind again tomorrow!