It's amazing...

JoElle is asleep by 8:30 p.m. I can't believe! This is very rare... since I have been staying at home with the girls, JoElle might be asleep by 10-:30-11:30 p.m. Before, when she woke up early for daycare, she would be asleep around 9:30. But she was so tired from being busy today that she was asleep at 8:30!!!

Wow, it's amazing :)

Some things we did today:

up around 8:00, fed Alexa and played a bit, left the house around 9:00, tried to find the brand new Dunkin' Donuts in "Ft Worth", not listed on the Dunkin' Donut site for any in the DFW area, found on Yahoo! Yellow Pages one on Eastchase, in Ft. Worth, so figured it must be it, ok wrong, got there, not the right place, called 1411 on my cell, it's actually in WHITE SETTLEMENT, which is obviously NOT Ft. Worth, close to Ft. Worth yeah but not the same thing. I grew up within blocks of White Settlement but I grew up in FT WORTH not WHITE SETTLEMENT, argh !

Anyways, we then had to decide on another breakfast joint, we were close to N. Arlington, drove back towards our house and JoElle went back and forth, I-Hop, Mimi's, I-Hop, Mimi's, ok finally after being "threatened" by me to pick for her, stuck with Mimi's. It was great food as always, we were there forever, our waiter was very nice, found out he is from Serbia, his accent was familiar to me, I told him that one of my fave Italian places in Irving, the cook was from Serbia as well and had a similar accent. Alexa ate the ENTIRE time we were there (about an hour and a half), she at cheerios, crackers, and orange, my scrambled eggs, a piece of JoElle Mimi's Mouse pancakes (since their is regular milk and she is slightly lactose intolerant), one of my bfast potatoes which she then spit out into her cup of water, and countles bites of pot roast, oooh so good pot roast.

Alexa loved to stare at the host as he walked people to their tables, one time she fell backwards in her highchair b/c she followed him with her eyes and head until she rolled back :) She also giggled at the cool lights and the fan in the mirror.

Several patrons of Mimi's approached as to fawn over Alexa and JoElle, one very nice lady encouraged me with sweet words, telling me to hang in their and God is with me, I almost cried. It's funny how God likes to talk to us, really talk out loud to us, through complete strangers. Love it. Alexa also loved this person, she liked touching her shirt and smiling at her. Other complete strangers also talked to Alexa and she grinned at them.

We thought about walking around the pond, no stroller in the car, oops I told Tim to leave it in the garage rather than put it back in my trunk, my bad. So, we went to JoAnn's instead. Did you ever think about JoAnn's starts the same as JoElle? Well, we did.

It was ok for a few minutes, until Alexa started swinging her legs in the shopping cart and bonking her head behind her. So I carried her. She is really heavy. She is extremely heavy walking around JoAnn's while JoElle exclaims "LOOK MOMMY! ________ (fill in the blank as everything is exciting to her, especially arts and crafts items). I could see the turning in her brain as she considered all the possibilities. Her Christmas list just increased exponentially...

We finally found ABC cookie cutter. I say finally, I never actually looked for them, but I wanted them months ago. Oh well, I guess God knows how lazy I am, b/c He put them right in front of me, couldn't miss them, so we bought them. JoElle reminded me we weren't going to buy anything today. I informed her "guess I changed my mind huh?"

Alexa is almost screaming, her teeth are killing her, she has 3 coming in at the same time, 5 already. She is gnawing on the baby doll I am holding for her. Poor nose. The line is crazy long, I have never seen such a long line for JoAnn's? I don't go that often. Some lady asked me if I was in line, well duh, why else would I be standing in line? Did I mention the million questions all morning long in the car from JoElle? By this point, I had institued a "no more question right now" rule. Wasn't going so well, she kept asking and I kept answering.

Almost as soon as we leave JoAnn's, Alexa is knocked out in her car seat. So, I start to drive home, tell JoElle "ok no more talking! time to rest and listen to music" that lasted for 3 minutes before JoElle reminded me that we were supposed to go to a car wash after Mimi's. Oh yeah, I forgot, what else is knew? So we tried to, but the place told me their internet was down, did I have any cash? Nope, just used it up at JoAnn's. Didn't offer me a free one, just looked at me like I was lying. So, I asked, how do I get out of here? I told the dude I can't really back up that far..., he finally lets me out, what no free car wash? I am not going back there. So I tell JoElle, I think I know where another one is, let's go. We found it after JoElle pointed out each and every car wash at each and every gas station. I liked this one better anyways, they actually wipe your car down with towels afterwards. Oh yeah, we also went to the bank before Mimi's, forgot about that till now, thought about it b/c I gave JoElle her allowance plus an extra dollar, had to borrow a dollar from JoElle to tip the guy wiping my car down. Alexa woke up during the car wash and screamed the rest of the time, she was really scared :( poor baby.

I think we went home afterwards, we watered plants, guess what? Two of our pumpkin seeds sprouted today! How great!!! We also watered the back and rearranged the furniture in the back, not sure why, just felt like it.

Alexa is crawling like crazy, she crawled all the way from the t.v. in the living room, across the living room, into the kitchen to come to me!!! I love it!

We did some more playing, JoElle ran around the yard countless times while Alexa watched, laughed, did some more eating, JoElle took 2 baths or so today, rode her bike around the block while I pushed Alexa, racing most of the way, we also played in her room, JoElle learned to read the word "Avenues" which is on a book I have left from when I taught 1st grade, also read some more words and read about different types of homes like apartments, adobe home, mobile home, etc etc. JoElle was yawning like crazy, time to go to bed!
Whew. Free! I went to Target for diapers. I can't remember the last time I went to the store by myself? It was so nice!!!