She stands.

Friday, Tom took a personal day. We hit some yard sales on our block, and Tom's parents came over shortly after lunch. The original plan was to hit the local musuem, and do the Jelly Belly tour. But Tom ran over to a bar where he was going to find out about a possible pt job, and they interviewed him, trained him, and put him to work stocking a liquor store. He's going to work a few nights a week, and keep looking for a more "lucrative" pt job in the meantime. When he got home a few hours later, we took his parents to the public museum and then they took us out for dinner. All 5 of us. Our first family dining experience in a full service restaurant. It was a disaster! I specifically told the waitress that I wanted to order for the kids first, so that their food would come out first for cooling and cutting purposes. Not only did it take forever, but of course it all came out at the same time (and the adults' food was cold). I had Take N Toss sippies with me. The girls refused to drink out of them, and screamed because the milk was ice cold. As I was trying to cut their food, they worked together against me. Cailey would sneak in on my left and grab a sausage link, while Cate would grab a slice of french toast as I wrestled sausage away from her sister. I had the waitress wrap my food up (as it was pointless to try to eat). Cate bellowed and scarfed down everything put in front of her, and then started grabbing everything else in her reach. She likes coleslaw, by the way. The icing on the cake, was that Cate grabbed my diet coke and spilled it all over both of us on our way out.

Saturday was busy as well. The big surprise of the day was when I went upstairs at 6:30am to find Cate STANDING in her crib!...And of course, was crying because she couldn't get herself down. Brodie and I ran errands while the girls napped, and then we all went to the mall for our "exercise." We had lunch at the food court (much smoother than the night before, I might add), Brodie looked at the fish at Bass Pro, and we mall walked. We stopped at Jelly Belly on the way home. Tom and Brodie did the tour, while the ladies and I shopped for some treats to send to a friend in Canada. Brodie had "the best trip to Jelly Belly, EVER," he said.

We got home, got ready, fed everyone, and then my sister and brother-in-law came over to babysit. Tom and I went to dinner with Cheryl and Mike at the Taqueria Azteca in Milwaukee. It was SO wonderful. Chips, guacamole, and a pitcher of margaritas started off the dinner. Cheryl and I got the crab cakes with a chipotle sauce, and Tom and Mike both got the skirt steak in a spicy sauce. After stuffing ourselves, we went downtown to Taylor's for martinis, and stopped at the Why Not? (formerly known as The Sanctuary). We felt pretty old in there!

Today, we lounged around all morning. I was afforded the luxury of a much needed nap while the girls napped and Tom supervised Brodie (I napped in sensory-deprivation-mode...sleep mask and ear plugs). After lunch we again loaded everyone up...we're professionals at it now...and went to Kohl's. I found a cute skirt, sweater, and blouse in case I decide to go to my 15 year H.S. reunion next month. With sales and coupons I got nearly 50% off of everything!

I'm pooped!