Emma had her preschool graduation ceremony last night, which included receiving a diploma and singing a darling song about summer helping to recharge her batteries and getting a little "R and R". When my brother asked her what R and R meant, she said it means "when you go to sleep, in the night time". Personally, I am looking forward to sleeping in somewhat during the next few months. Hopefully my children will cooperate.

We've been staying home a lot lately, mostly because I've been trying (somewhat successfully - finally!) to get Noah to be a little more reasonable about nap time. I've also realized that staying home more has helped us settle into a comfortable routine and I think those relaxed, pleasant days at home are more enjoyable for everyone than rushing around to a bunch of activities. Anyway, now that Emma is going to be home every day, we will probably have to start getting out more again so she isn't bored silly this summer. When I asked her what she wants to do this summer, she said, "play school and learn gymnastics". I think we can handle that!

Today I realized that I haven't written anything about Allie in awhile, which doesn't seem quite right because she has actually been very busy learning new things. She has been sprouting teeth, crawling all over the house, and - as of yesterday - pulling herself up.
She isn't eating any solid food yet. I've offered her a few things in the past month - banana, pear, sweet potato, and kiwi - but every time she has thrown her head back and grimaced as though she thinks I'm trying to poison her. She will gag and spit until the food comes back out, and since she seems to dislike it so much, I'm not going to force the issue. I'll keep offering occasionally and eventually she'll probably be a little more into it. For now, I'm certainly not complaining because nursing is so much simpler than dealing with solid food anyway.My mom was here two weeks ago and at one point she watched the kids while I went to Target by myself for an hour or so. That was my first time away from Allie since her birth so kind of a big deal, but she handled it like a champ. Then the very next weekend Steve watched the kids (meaning he drove around with them) for two hours while I got a much needed haircut. So, that means that I had three hours all to myself in one week, which sort of makes me feel like I'm moving out of the stage of being needed by babies all the time and into a stage of having a small amount of personal freedom. Woo!

This stuff is taking over my brain. I've had Nutella before, but I never actually bought it until last week. Oh. My. It is so amazingly delicious and creamy and fabulous and I can't stop eating it. At first I was trying to eat it a bunch of different ways - on bagels, on toast, on pancakes, on pretzels, on any kind of fruit - but then I said to heck with that and I just started eating spoonfuls right out of the jar. When our little regular sized jar was gone, I decided to stop messing around and go for the giant Costco-sized two-pack.
The other night we were walking out the door to go to Cinzetti's and I actually debated stuffing the Nutella in my purse because there was bound to be something there that was just begging to be smeared with it's chocolate-y, hazelnut-y goodness. In the end I decided I needed to get a grip and left the Nutella at home.This morning it became apparent that the kids have picked up on my obsession. Emma woke up, immediately walked into the kitchen, and said, "So do you think we should just have Nutella for breakfast?" Upon hearing her suggestion, Noah actually pumped his fist in the air and shouted, "'Tella!" Hey, at least they have good taste. (As evinced by Noah's trying to steal it before I could take a picture.)

Yesterday I turned 30 years old. My family - mainly Steve and Emma - made sure that it was a really great day. We did fun stuff all day and I also got flowers and many lovely presents.Thirty seems like kind of an important birthday, and I sort of feel like I'm leaving my youth behind and entering a new period of greater wisdom and maturity. I guess we'll see if that part actually comes true, but for now it's making me look around and evaluate my life a little bit. If someone had asked me when I was twenty what I expected to accomplish in the next ten years, I know my answer would have included getting my degree, getting married, having some kids, and staying home to raise those kids. So now, looking back, I can say with absolute certainly that I'm doing exactly what I always wanted to do. And seriously, I couldn't be happier.