A Great Weekend!

(Note to my readers: I echo what my friend Holly says on her blog....my sole reason for blogging is for myself, to keep up with the ages and stages of my children...their interests, accomplishments, and our daily life...details that I would otherwise forget, since I never seem to scrapbook or journal, like many of my friends! So, I know the blogs may be boring and bogged down in detail to anyone who doesn't love these two children like I do! This is another great example of "one of those kind" of blogs....)

I think this weekend was a turning-over-a-new-leaf kind of a weekend. Maybe Carlie read my blog and realized how often I have used the word "crazy" to describe her. Or, maybe those four teeth she's been gnawing on have finally broken through. Or, maybe she is in a weird funk that will change before Monday arrives. But, hopefully, she is just growing up and we're hitting a new stage. I think she may have realized that it's alot easier to be calm and quiet than to use all her energy on being "crazy"!

Yesterday, we went to deliver donated toys from church, and she was AMAZINGLY cooperative throughout the freezing cold experience. She even waved at the kids and smiled her million dollar smile for them all, despite the fact that her hands were about to fall off from frostbite, and her head was a large icicle. (It was REALLY cold out there, can you tell?). Then, we dared to continue our outing and take her to the mall for a while. She LOVED it! She rode in her stroller so sweetly, was patient in the stores (not a common occurence), ate a good lunch, played nicely on the playground (without doing anything too dangerous for her age), and even sang songs on the way home!! This all happened two hours after her normal nap time and I was so proud of my big girl. The only thing she did NOT like about our trip to the mall, was her Santa visit.

Our girl, who is not scared of anything, was scared to death of Santa. We couldn't even get her bent enough at the waist to sit for a second. She was stiff as a board, screaming as loud as she could, and had a death grip on both of my arms. Now, this was something I did not expect! I didn't even prepare her while we stood in line, because I just knew she would be fine. The only thing I had worried about was her being too rough with Santa's real beard. Shows how much I know!

To continue our unusual weekend, Carlie had a great accomplishment this morning at church. She sat with us through the entire service! I know many of you do this every Sunday...but not Carlie! She's usually too loud. This morning she sat and played quietly and sweetly in Mark's lap the entire time. Mark said a couple of different times, "This is unbelievable!" "Who is this child?" A great surprise for us! We enjoyed having her with us. And, nothing is sweeter than hearing your 16 month old "sing" church songs with the congregation.

Okay, so this keeps going. After church, I had to run an errand (My errand----getting my NEW ARTIFICIAL CHRISTMAS TREE FOR NEXT YEAR at 60% off!!!!! Woo hoo!!!!) which took a little bit of time. Never a peep from patient Carlie except to sing a little and laugh at her sister alot. Then, we STILL kept going and actually went out for lunch! This was a small feat for us, since she is usually already home and in bed. All through lunch, I just kept waiting for the explosion...but it never came. She cackled, hugged and kissed Kendyll all through lunch and all the way home. And, now is sleeping peacefully in her bed.

So, I'm knocking on wood, crossing my fingers, and saying little prayers that this new Carlie will stick around. Don't get me wrong, I love either Carlie, and even the "crazy Carlie" is sweeter and more adorable than I could ever describe. But this new level of sweetness has sure been nice!