Busy busy busy

So much to share; let's get to it.

First, Steve and Angel were in town for Labor Day weekend. It was so, so wonderful to see and spend time with them. Romelie took about an hour to warm up to everyone, but then she was pretty much good to go. She's definitely more comfortable with "new" people and is starting to remember the people she doesn't see as often. And she picked up their names (Nanny and Papa) almost immediately! She kept naming everyone in the room. See Mama. See Dada. See Nanny. See Papa. Repeat.

We had gorgeous weekend weather, too, so we got to spend lots of time chilling in the backyard. Angel, Romelie and I went to baby storytime at the library on Saturday morning. It's for 0-2 year olds, and Romelie's been going since she was just a few months old. It was crazy to watch her walking around, putting away toys, talking, and I'm sitting there slowly realizing she's the oldest kid in the group. I had my first "They grow up so fast" moment. Meanwhile, the men-folk fixed our clogged bathtub. I'm a little embarrassed but incredibly grateful.

We grilled out Saturday night and then went to the Minnesota Zoo on Sunday. We got to check out their new (temporary) Africa exhibit, and Romelie spent about 15 minutes playing near, though never quite in, the water fountain splash area, or whatever it was called. She was soaked, but she seemed to have fun.

Monday we went to the nature reserve near our house to walk around, and then they had to leave, boo. But we are planning one more trip to Houston with Romelie before she turns 2, so we'll see them again November 5-10, so yay! See you guys again soon!

To update you on my everlasting search for free crap and great deals...I recently redeemed some rewards I earned from filling out online surveys for $15 in "Borders bucks." Basically, it's just a $15 credit at Borders books. Romelie and I went with the intention of buying a Winnie-the-Pooh book for her and "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman for me. Unfortunately, they didn't have any Winnie-the-Pooh books and "The Graveyard Book" was only in hardcover. So we just played around and explored for an hour, and Romelie had a great time. We ended up buying a Yo Gabba Gabba coloring book for 30% off. Since that only cost about $4, we went back the following week. This time they had an awesome Winnie-the-Pooh book on clearance, which I also saved on with a different 30% off coupon, which made the $25 book cost $4.50 - but of course it was actually free with my Borders bucks. Who's a smart shopper? I am! And I still have about $6 left. I'm going to see if I can stretch it out for the rest of the month and make it a weekly outing :)

THURSDAY...Romelie and I went to see "Bert and Ernie Goodnight!" at The Children's Theatre. Other than forgetting my purse (and thus, the tickets) at home, it went quite smoothly. I had a booster seat for Romelie so she could see the stage, though she also sat in my lap for parts of the show. We only had to step out one time for a couple of minutes when she was on the verge of throwing a fit. We just went in the crying room so she could take a break, then went back to our seats, no problem. She seemed to really enjoy the show, which was pretty fantastic. She danced along to some of the songs, laughed at the characters, pointed out things like the duckie, the sheep (which she mooed at), and the blankets. I would have been embarrassed that she was talking at normal volume, but the theater was filled with tiny kids who were all doing the same thing. I think the actors pretty much expect it with this sort of show. And I did, of course, encourage her to whisper. The highlight of the show was definitely when thousands of bubbles fell from the ceiling over the audience. I have never seen such excitement from a room full of people. All the kids are freaking out, "Bubbles!! Bubbles!!!!" and the parents are like "Yeah, bubbles! Do you see the bubbles?" They're holding their kids up over their heads to touch the bubbles. Hysteria. Meanwhile, the actors playing Bert and Ernie are just sitting on stage, happily watching the bubbles. Romelie just turns to me. Bubbles! Yup. Bubbles. Good times.

Finally, this past weekend I went out to visit my brother and his girlfriend Carrie in Spring Green, WI. My dad was already out there, and my mom, Romelie and I came out Saturday morning. Romelie was really well behaved on the 4-1/2 hour drive out there. This lovely picture shows her eating Cheerios with her toes. Classy. When we arrived, Paul and Carrie were doing a workout video, and Romelie was fascinated...so fascinated that she joined in. I got about 6 or 7 videos of this, but this one is my favorite:

Saturday night we went to see their show, "King Henry V." I saw Paul do this play in Delaware a couple of years ago and it's one of my favorites, so it was fun to watch. I was nervous about taking time off of work (I'm short hours because of volleyball some weeks, and I don’t want to use up all my vacation time!), so I rode back with my dad yesterday and Romelie stayed behind with my mom to spend an extra day with her uncle Paul. Upon realizing that we had a night alone with no kid, Chason and I partied like rock stars -in other words, we ate hot dogs and watched "Jurassic Park." Oh yeah...we be crazy (though actually, it was great and just what I wanted to do...so a happy and rejuvenated mom awaits Romelie's return tonight).

My volleyball team won their first game of the season...Vikings won their first game of the season...and I'm making homemade pizza tonight for dinner. Life is good.