Good Intentions

This past Thursday and Friday were going to be fantastic. Jana and her girls were coming into town and while Ella Ann was oblivious to this at school I went to Andria's house with Rane because our group of friends were getting together. We had a wonderful time chatting and letting the kids play. Ella Ann would have been devastated had she known I was going to be with all of her friends while she was at school but Jana and I had a big surprise up our sleeves for her. Jana came over to my house after Andria's so that I could take Mara Kate with me to the bus stop. I really thought Mara Kate was going to jump out of her skin while we waited because she was so excited to see Ella Ann! As soon as Ella Ann saw her best friend in ALL the world she didn't know what to do with herself! I snapped a picture of her getting off the bus when she spotted Mara Kate....

Immediately they embraced and I managed to get a fantastic picture of them....

They held hands after several hugs and skipped together all the way back to our house......
When I say these two girls love each other it is not enough. Ella Ann talks about Mara Kate every single day. They have known each other since birth and we used to see her and Jana 3+ times a week before they moved last August. Moving has not diminished their relationship whatsoever. They want to be left alone in their own little world when they are together and Jana and I do not disturb them. In order to maximize their time together I decided to keep Mara Kate for two nights (Ella Ann didn't have school on Friday), which meant I would meet Jana halfway on Saturday morning. When I told Ella Ann of these plans she nearly shot to the moon! I was so happy to do it for her because Ella Ann would always choose her best friend over anything...any toy, any place, anything new. She always just wants to be with Mara Kate. Before Jana left Ella Ann got to hold Evelyn.....

No matter what, if there is a baby around Ella Ann will stop whatever she is doing to hold him/her. She loves babies!

So the girls played until their hearts content after Jana headed home that afternoon. Spencer and I only saw them a few times, mainly at dinner and at bed time. Friday morning while the girls were eating breakfast Mara Kate put her head down on our kitchen table and said she felt like throwing up. I didn't think much of it because she told me that she has felt this way before and it went away in the morning. So 20 minutes later when her head was still down I figured she was going to toss her cookies, which she did...all over the table. Bless her heart. Spencer gave her a bath while I cleaned up before Rane decided to play in it. Unfortunately this meant that Mara Kate was headed home that morning. Ella Ann was so upset. She cried and cried. After talking to Jana and watching Mara Kate play after she threw up I didn't think she was really sick. Jana said that Mara Kate has a weak stomach and that looking at food can often trigger her gag reflex, causing her to vomit. I think she just stared at her cereal for so long and thinking about having to eat it made her sick.

We met Jana and Ella Ann cried a lot of the way home. I swung by a bagel shop once we got back to Atlanta to get Spencer a bagel and I bought Ella Ann a gigantic cookie with icing and sprinkles to cheer her. I know I am teaching the wrong thing by giving my little girl food to make her happy but really nothing could bring her out of her sadness! So while Rane was at his PMO that morning the two of us went to Nordstrom to do a little shopping. I promised her that we would do something super fun on Saturday to somewhat make up for the time lost with Mara Kate. So Saturday morning (Spencer was in Toccoa all weekend) I took the kids to the zoo. It was the absolute perfect morning to take them. The weather was spectacular and my children were little angels. We got to see everything, including the new tiger and bear exhibit that recently opened....it was very neat! We had a picnic lunch, rode the train, rode the carousel, played on the playground and headed home after we exhausted all the sights and activities.

My favorite exhibit is the naked mole rat. They are the strangest looking creatures and their habitat is like a real house....each "room" has a designated purpose, i.e., kitchen, bedroom, play, worker room, etc. Rane enjoyed it too because several of their holes were at his eye level.

Our little Meerkats!

The parakeet exhibit is really neat too and this time I bought Ella Ann a seed stick so she could feed the birds.

Rane was saying "choo choo!!!"

On Sunday we went to church and baked chocolate chip cookies. For the first time I allowed Rane to stand on a chair and "help." Unfortunately his idea of helping is tossing everything on the floor, smearing flour all over the counter, sucking on the measuring spoons and trying to stick his hands in the mixer while it is going full speed. Quite fun, quite fun. I promised Ella Ann she could eat a cookie while they were still warm and gooey. I didn't get finished with baking until right before the dinner hour, which meant I spoiled their dinner with ohhh sooooo yummy cookies. What the hey, it was a Saturday night! I like to live life on the edge that way!