grandma z. visit

we have been busy entertaining grandma z. since she arrived on friday morning. she would say that mainly we have been eating. a lot. and maybe we have, but no more than the normal three meals a day. madelyn hadn't been eating very much over the past few weeks, but right before grandma got here her appetite returned with a vengeance! this has meant lots and lots of snacks are brought on all outings and that meals can take a while because she never seems to actually be full.

i have been working with maddie all week on saying "grandma" so that grandma can have a maddie assigned name, but all see says back is "buddy". this would work except that she wanders around and says it to herself and it seems to have no real meaning to her even though it is a real word. if you ask her to say "grandma", she will reply "buddy". it has been very funny to us all.

madelyn has enjoyed eating out because it is not something she does on a regular basis and even when we do it is just somewhere quick not where there is a waiter and utensils on the table. she has enjoyed having her own full-sized fork. here she is enjoying her macaroni and cheese on friday night while the rest of us ate some yummy bar-b-que. she was so silly with excitement over her meal and the special cup that was just for her.

besides eating (and eating) we have played, read books, gone shopping, gone to the zoo, and gone to stonefire pizza company for "mommy and me" breakfast.

we went to the zoo yesterday and it was about 33 degrees out, overcast, and sleeting/snowing off and on. needless to say, we were almost the only people there besides employees. luckily, our zoo is open 365 days a year and is therefore set up for not the most ideal outdoor weather. a lot of the exhibits are indoors year round, but now that it is cold out we got to see some indoor exhibits that we have never gone in before.

one of these exhibits was where they keep the giraffes when the temperature gets below 40. we did learn that the giraffes are given the option to go outside at least once a day because the indoor space is only a fraction of their outdoor exhibit. the neatest part was how much closer you could get to them! i don't think that i have ever seen a giraffe so closely before. it was neat and maddie enjoyed watching them eat. not to mention that it was very warm in that building which was nice too since the temperature felt like it was dropping outside.

grandma is on babysitting duty tonight so that matt and i can go out to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary! we are both exhausted and thought about just going to bed early, but we are going to drag ourselves out for dinner and a movie instead. i couldn't even tell you the last movie i saw in the theater - it has been well over a year (or two) - and i am looking forward to some popcorn. it is going to be so nice to have some uninterrupted time with matt. we haven't had time to ourselves in at least two months. he spends his evenings working on his computer, or most recently working in the basement until after midnight. and i work on the computer after maddie goes down, clean-up, and make preparations for the next day before collapsing in bed. needless to say, i am glad that we are pushing ourselves to take this night out.

more on grandma's visit tomorrow. love.