We had a fun, long weekend as it was President's Day on Monday and Joe had a day off. We went to Lucy's friend Sylvia's 3rd birthday party on Saturday afternoon/evening which was great fun. The kids had a ball with all of Sylvia's toys and dress-up clothes (Lucy entered the house, found a hat and handbag, a pushchair and a baby and spent the rest of the evening very much attached to all four). It was a late night but Lucy managed fine and even had a lie in on Sunday :) Rebecca (Sylvia's Mum) gave the hat to Lucy to take home and she has been wearing it a lot ever since...on Saturday night slept in it, then had breakfast with it on!

Sunday was Valentine's Day and we had some friends for brunch. Lucy had another fine time with their children Haley (3) and Matthew (20mths) and was really good about sharing her toys. I cooked some new dishes that I hadn't tried before - hash brown casserole with bacon and some cheese and courgette muffins to name a few. Lucy got lots of Valentine's cards which are all lined up in the kitchen, and had made one for me which I will treasure.

On Monday we all went to the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia. We knew it would be busy, bring a holiday, but got there early and had a good time pretty much following Lucy about to where she wanted to go. It's a great place for that...few rules and lots of stimulating things for the children to do. There was a story time mid-way through the morning with Clifford the Big Red Dog, so we went along to that. Lucy was excited by the huge dog character until she got to the front of the queue to hug him, and decided against it!

Story time with Clifford

On the carousel

Driving the "Beekle" as Lucy calls it

Vacuuming in the play house

The worst part of the weekend was Monday night as Joe and I got very sick and spent the night in the toilets :( I slept on the bathroom floor because I couldn't move very far from the bowl, and got no sleep at all. It was a messy night! Thankfully our neighbour Mary Kay came to the rescue on Tuesday morning when we called her to ask for help. She took Lucy for the morning, gave her lunch and entertained her so much that I think she wanted to stay! It was a school day so she missed it - there was no way either of us could make it to school and back in the state we were in. Lots of rest yesterday and last night and we're both feeling a lot better today. Weak and tired, not much of an appetite, but we will survive. I have just eaten a piece of toast and some of Auntie Alison's marmalade, and all is good so far... I won't be eating left-over hash brown casserole and quiche for some time!