I explained to eppie last night that the reason why Lizzie said “Dora backpack” to him was because I promised the kiddos to take them hiking on the trails behind the Hotel Hershey. I decided to bring my camera along so I could take a picture of Lizzie with her/Daniel’s backpack…and it’s not even a Dora backpack. It’s Diego. I think Lizzie thinks it’s Dora dressed in boys clothes. Then again, I don’t even know how she knows about Dora. We never watch it. So anyway, two pictures from the “fit-trail”…and boy did we get fit! Can’t you tell…

Then we decided to go into the Hotel to reward ourselves with free Hershey Kisses, when we ran into this little guy…

Apparently, Lizzie doesn’t quite yet know that there is absolutely nothing frightening about a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Yum, yum.

My Little Lizzie-Lou turns two in three days. How we LOVE this girl!!!

I write this now because we will be en route to Hilton Head Island on her birthday (Hurrah!!!!) We’ll probably be in North Carolina at some Motel - So I’m not too sure how we’re going to keep our Vojt tradition of eating birthday cake for breakfast. I’m thinking maybe just putting two candles on a blueberry muffin from the free continental breakfast thing - and maybe even encouraging some of the guests to sing Happy Birthday to my daughter. How awesome would that be?

(eppie has taken over writing now) - Lizzie’s first two years have been quite fun for us - especially lately.  Even before she started talking, Lizzie was quite the comedian, but now that she speaks more, she’s become exponentially funnier.  She has some very interesting mannerisms (that probably don’t translate all that well into writing) that just crack me up.  The first, is that whenever you explain something to Lizzie, she responds with a drawn out “Ohhhhhhh!” as if suddenly everything in the world makes sense to her… even if she clearly didn’t comprehend what was being explained.  Always cracks me up.

I also find myself frequently laughing at the extremely random collection of words that comprise Lizzie’s lexicon (her lizicon, if you will).  Example (50 cents - I know, you don’t get it… long story… perhaps it will be blogged about soon):

Tonight, Lizzie climbed out of her crib and was calling for mom.  I came up the stairs instead (not usually a happy moment for her when she realizes the footsteps are not moms), but tonight, she was kind of cool about it (since I did carry up her beloved pacifier).  I gave her the passy, put her in the crib, and told her I loved her.  She said “atch you dad” which naturally means “thank you dad” and I started to make my way out of the room.  As I’m closing the door, she inexplicably says “dora backpack.”  She didn’t fuss as if she wanted the Dora backpack before she would go to bed or anything.  She just felt like saying it… almost as if it was some new, hip way to say goodnight (because our kids are like that - always making up their own words or shortening things… Daniel drinking some g’ade).  So, yeah… Dora backpack to you too, little Lizzie.

The original plan was to take individual pictures of everyone in their “Armor of God.” But we got a little carried away, didn’t we guys?

(You can click on them to make them bigger)

I read a magazine article titled “63 Things to Do With Your Kids Before They Grow Up”

First Thing: “Run a marathon. But not all at once. Set a goal with your kids to run a full 26.2 miles over the course of a year….”

Great idea! But not with my kids - That would be not so fun.

So my goal: Run a marathon (104 times around the track) by Labor Day weekend.

I started today and, pathetically, I could only run one time around the track. (Granted, I did just finish up an hour of playing tennis, so I was already feeling it in the legs).

I’m so excited about this! Sometimes you just need a good push!

If I had been on top of my game here, I would have remembered to get Eppie what he wanted for Father’s Day - A witty T-shirt.

Last night, Eppie was online and wanted to show me the funniest shirt he had ever seen (from threadless). That’s when it hit me that I forgot to get him his shirt. When I checked out this shirt, at first I was like, “huh?” But two seconds later I could not stop laughing. He is totally getting this shirt if it’s the last thing I do:

And then Eppie and I found the perfect one for my dad:

I guess being a doctor, my dad is pretty morbid and will totally dig this shirt. He still wears the one I gave him 15 years ago that says, “Eat Right. Exercise. Die Anyway.”

For fun, here are some of the other shirts that Eppie and I love (these are from Busted Tees):

Here are some of my favorite Daniel quotes from the last two weeks or so:

-Because I had been spending so much time doing stage rehearsals and shows last week, Daniel told my sister Katie, “I just want Uncle Dan to fire my mom!!!”

-Daniel’s prayers often turn into church sermons. Last week as Daniel was closing his prayer, he said, “In the name of Jesus Christ…who loves our environment because heaven is a lot like earth, except they don’t have bodies there. Amen.”

-Driving home from church last week, we asked Daniel what his primary lesson was about. He told us this story: “Once there was a little boy who’s daddy died, so the mom had to get a job. The little boy decided to help his mom, so he got a job too. Now, Sister Hansen didn’t tell us if the boy had to have a job interview or not, but I’m guessing he did…

-”Mom, is Lizzie asleep yet?”

“I don’t know. I can’t see her.”

“Is she camouflaging herself again?”

-Daniel made a rocket out of Legos that he called “spacey.” He loved spacey dearly for about three days, until he broke. After he broke, Daniel sang made-up songs to spacey. I really got a kick out of the some of the lyrics, and Daniel’s acting was worthy of an Oscar. But what really got me going was when Daniel broke out into a Britney Spears song:

“Oh Spacey, Spacey,
How was I supposed to know
That something wasn’t right?”

- Today, we were planning on splitting up the kids and doing a “boys date” and “girls date,” where ep and Daniel would go to the movies while Holly and Lizzie played together.  The discussion surrounding the subject led to these 2 gems from Daniel:

Dad: Daniel, do you want to go see Kung Fu Panda with me?
Daniel:  Well, is it level 1 Kung Fu Panda or level 2 Kung Fu Panda?
Dad: Daniel, there are no levels, it’s just a movie.
Daniel: No Dad.  There are levels.  Is it level 1 or level 2?
Dad: Ummm… I think it’s level 2…
Daniel: Ok, then let’s go… I think there’s a level 3…

Later, Daniel recanted on his desire to go see the movie.  The conversation with Holly was as follows:

Daniel: I don’t want to go the movie with Dad.  I want you to come.
Mom: But Daniel, you and Dad are going to have a boy date, and Mom and Lizzie are going to have a girl date.
Daniel: Boy dates aren’t any fun when there are no girls.

After cutting my wig Katie Holmes’ style for the dance show, I couldn’t resist turning my kids into little Suri Cruises.