We woke Allison up this morning by calling her “the birthday girl” and started to sing “Happy Birthday” to her. She informed us that we had to wait. You are not allowed to sing the song until it is time for the cake. Duh.She jumped out of bed and asked if we could open our presents. Yesterday she wanted me to wait a day so that we could do our birthdays at the same time. She was so excited that of course we said yes. It is her birthday after all.
Last night Greg spent three hours putting together a little play kitchen for Allison. We left it against the wall in the living room to see how long it took for her to notice it. As soon as she did, she started hopping around. “Yes! This is just what I wanted! This is is such GREAT!” She opened up the rest of her presents (“MONNEEEEYYY!!!” when she opened Nathan’s card with four dollars) and then ran over to make us some tea. I guess we all looked thirsty.
Greg says that throughout the day, she will just randomly shout out that “This Is THE Best Birthday EVER!” Even as I write this she is walking around thanking everyone.
I know that we have been through this two times before, but it is completely different each time. It has been a great gift to watch her grow. She isn’t a baby or a toddler anymore. She’s this little person who has mostly rational thoughts and is able to express them. Someone who knows how to count, how to recognize most letters and numbers and is too clever for our own good. Happy birthday my four year old. I’m glad it is the best one ever and I hope they only get better.
Greg’s shoulders were bothering him so I started to rub some generic version of Icy/Hot on them. Allison asked if she could have some and I told her it was just for old people. Nathan and Zoey chimed in with questions like, “How do they determine old?”, “Who says it’s just for old people?”
I told them that it mysteriously showed up in a package on the doorstep last year when I turned 32. Kids are kind of gullible and they believed me.
Allison then proceeded to explain to us that we weren’t old, “Are you guys crazy? Old people are stooped over and walk with their legs spread apart all wobbly.” Like this:
I know the video quality isn’t fantastic, but this is her demonstration of an old man walking. I’ve been waiting for Vimeo to load up, but I don’t want to miss my daily deadline.
Today was full of wonder and excitement. Okay, maybe not, but I did visit the salon for a trim.
And, I took the picture with my awesome early birthday present. A handy little pocket sized camera that I can take with me anywhere. As a trial run we took it to Shreveport. We had to go to get a birthday present for Allison. Who is turning four. On Tuesday.
She can’t be four yet. Four is like, a big kid instead of a baby. Since I am trying to post every day this month, you will have to wait for all of the mushy stuff. Just know, we got her present, which even with all of our sneakiness, she spotted in the back of the jeep. “You guys got my present for me? I’ve been wanting it so much!”
We tried to play it off like we didn’t have a clue what she was talking about and that she didn’t really see what she thinks she did. She totally bought it, right?
So, I wanted a Friday title that was alliterative but also meant “taking it easy”. Looks like the only word that started with a* F was “fritter away”. I guess I’m a like an apple, frittering.
I plan on spending some part of the weekend watching “Wicked, The Musical” on youtube. Sure, someone recorded this when they weren’t really supposed to, but since they don’t sell it on DVD and there isn’t much chance of it coming to a city near me, it’s the only way I can think of to watch it.Last week, or the week before they showed parts of it on Ugly Betty and I thought it looked like something I would enjoy. If you’re Todd, then you are probably thinking, “Well, Duh”.
I have also, thanks to Becki, become addicted to the vocabulary test at FreeRice. I can feel like my brain is growing a little and do good all at the same time. Maybe that will negate some of the juju of watching a taped copy of the musical.
*With a letter, is it a or an? An looks right, but the letter itself is not a vowel. Tricky.
So, to continue on with the gardening line of thought from yesterday. I have no plants in my house. None that are living, none that are fake, no flower arrangements, nothing. Growing up, we had all kinds of ivy’s and potted plants in our house. I know that sometimes plants can brighten up a place. They can help with oxygen levels in a house, not to mention that some flower arrangements can really add drama, a bit of class, or just feel like the finishing touch on a room.
I’m curious to know if having no greenery is common or if most people have some kind of plants somewhere in their house. So tell me, are you like me or do you have beautiful plants in some of your rooms?
I have started to slack on my outside flower beds. Okay, not really started, it’s been more of an ongoing issue for the past 6 months. I have 4 flowerbeds in total. In one of them, I have to do hardly anything. Huge lilies are planted that take up the whole side of our house. The other three are in a sad state. LT has claimed two of them, I had some azalea plants that were thriving, a feat that I never thought I would manage. They have now been dug up and replaced with a ball and other various dog toys that LT has stashed away.
I planted bulbs in another of the beds, but eventually the weeds were more than I can handle. Then summer came and everything dried up. I’ve heard watering plants helps. I could say I was trying to conserve water, but really, I just never went out and sprayed them down.
Now that the weather is a little cooler, nice 70-80 degree days instead of 90-100, I hope to spend a little more time outside and repair the sad state of affairs. Anyone know any good ways to keep a dog from digging up flowerbeds? I don’t really want to do a fence around them because a) LT would just step or jump over it, and b) I think it would look ugly. Have any suggestions for good (pet friendly) ways to keep weeds away?
I was cruising along the road when Allison piped up from the back, “Go the Lemon Speed!”
Thinking maybe this is something from one of the shows she watches during the day, and not really knowing what she meant yet I decided to just play along, “Well, I guess I could try. Are you sure you don’t want banana or apple?”
“No, the LEMON speed. As fast as you are able to go!”
Yeah, we figured out that she meant Speed Limit, but really Lemon Speed sounds so much better. So, now anytime she doesn’t think we are driving fast enough she encourages us to “Go the Lemon Speed!”.
Remember last year when Zoey placed 6th at her UIL contest? They have been having team tryouts for the past few weeks. Both kids could try out for as many subjects as they wanted, but would have to narrow it down to just one for the actual contest.
Nathan tried out for spelling, math, and music memory (where you have to memorize classical movements, how they sound along with the correct spelling of the piece and composer). He told us that he thought the others would be fun, but he really, really wanted to do math. Zoey tried out for spelling and math. She also wrote a story for her class which her teacher decided must be used for the creative writing tryouts. Which, you know, pretty much guarantees a spot on the creative writing team.
Both of them did so well that they got to pick the subjects. Nathan picked Math and Zoey picked spelling. Because the creative writing part is on a different day, she will also be doing that. Starting next week, the kids will have to arrive at school early and stay late a few days a week so that they can get ready for the big UIL competition. I’m sure the way it will work out is that they have practices on different days just so that Greg will have to make two trips to the school instead of one.
Last year a few of us undertook a photo challenge sort of thing. We each got a copy of The Simple Secret to Better Painting. It has some information about composition of paintings that are easily translated into photos. We would take a section from the book, take pictures that tried to represent that section, and critique each other’s shots. It was fun while it lasted and I think really got some of us (maybe just me) to really look at things in a new way.
Since I am supposed to post every day this month, I’m going to start a new thing called Silent Sundays. I’m hoping that it will inspire me to keep my camera out more often and snap some good photos. Maybe it will carry over into December and then into the new year. I hope it still counts if you don’t write anything. Maybe I’ll give a little info about the picture so that I won’t be completely silent.
I walk by this little tree every day on my way home from work. I think the red leaves really stand out against the green, but every time I try to capture it, the pictures just don’t do the contrast justice.
