life with ego

Ten on Tuesday

 ..merged with My Life Monday because my Mama was too lazy to do this entire post yesterday.  We have been dead to the blogging world for a bit because we've been so busy and were out of town.  While we were gone I  participated in 3 (!) Easter egg hunts. That is triple the candy intake of normal kids.  But I'm not normal, so that's ok.  After each one of my hunts my Mama made me dump all the candy in one big bowl and only lets me have one piece at a time and usually only once per day.  Umm, how is that fair?  I'm the one that worked for it, I didn't see her out there on her hands and knees picking up plastic eggs. I saw her standing cozy with her little paparazzi camera.  She says too much candy is bad for me, but I don't see any credentials hanging on the wall that make her some sort of candy expert.  She just needs to wait and see how bad the karma from this is going to be.

1.  Annyywayyy, our my first hunt was with our playgroup, pretty low key, but as always the Mamarazzi followed me, damn flashbulbs....
2. My second egg hunt made me a local celebrity, err I mean local celebrity in Mama's hometown.  At my normal stomping ground in NW Houston I'm kind of a big deal, plus I've been named the Funnest Girl in Cypress, a pretty high title if I do say so myself.

3. Then as if teasing me with all this candy wasn't enough, they make me have ANOTHER egg hunt at home.  I found lots of eggs, I'm pretty much a professional now a great skill to list on my resume.

4. Let's see, what else have I been up to, with so many activities it's hard to remember.  Oh yeah, I did some swinging, but you already knew that was on my daily agenda.

5. I did some circus training with my miniature lion at my MeeMee's house.

  

6. I sat around looking carefree and stylish in case I make it into the current issue of US Weekly.

7. I had to bring our new puppy Charlie, (Charlie is his given name but I prefer Charlie-boy), to the vet.  It's a good thing I let my Mama come along, it was hard work holding him and I don't think I could have held him and filled out the proper paperwork so she came in handy.  The "doggy and kitty doc-or" gave him some medicines to make his cough go away.  I could take a picture of the medicines to show you but the camera is too high for me to reach right now.  Just picture normal pills in your brain, now picture them going into a blue bottle with a dog and cat picture on the side, now take a mind picture, taadaaa!!

8. Oh yeah, and the big bunny dude visited me -- you know the giant bunny, like at the mall.  A regular old 'don't follow down the hole' bunny couldn't lift those big baskets silly.  I only saw the giant bunny from afar.  I mean, I know he is innocent and on the up and up but he reminds me of these. Yuck.  Anyway, he brought me some cool stuff.  I don't have any actual pictures of my basket because my loser Mama was in charge of the camera and failed to get that shot.  Oh well, it's only my childhood, who would want to capture pictures of that anyway, since I'm only going to have one and all.

9. We bought some dead animals and cooked them, hooray! *Note: I'm a vegetarian except for the occasional chicken nugget.

10. Oh my goodness I almost forgot, I have the most wonderful and exciting news!!  The big bunny brought me my own sextuplets!!!  Now I can finally get that reality show I've been wanting!!  I didn't know how I was going to make it happen but now that this opportunity has just dropped into my lap, how could I pass it up?!  (*Note: The picture below only shows 5 of my sextuplets, I'm not dumb, I can count.  I misplaced one, I mean she must be around here somewhere, have you ever tried to keep track of six kids?  That's what I thought, so stop judging. )

 

Ten On Tuesday

10 things from The Girl to Charlie in the last 48 hours.

1. "Char-ree funny!"
2. "No Char-ree, MY Dora!"
3. "Char-ree, sit here, baby stroller."
4. "Char-ree, sit in my Dora car."
5. "Char-ree, no eat flowers!"
6. "Here Char-ree, yummy yummy Char-ree food!"
7. "Char-ree no stairs!!"
8. "Aww Char-ree my baby."
9. "No Char-ree my dress!"
10. "Eat Char-ree, yummy yummy quarter!"

   

Dear Ryan Seacrest, is it as awkward for you to try to extend 7 minutes of worth of talking into an hour as it is awkward for us to watch on American Idol elimination night?  While I have pen to paper, what do you think the show's chances of are surviving once Simon jumps ship?  I hope you are keeping your options open.  Even though I saw on Oprah you have 8 jobs, I think that AI is probably the big money ticket for you -- you can't expect America to want to keep up with the Kardashians forever.

Dear Jillian Michaels, I never knew it was possible to hate someone and yet want to hug them all in a few days time.  I mean I hate you constantly.  I hate that you make me feel like a loser when I can't possibly do one more jumping jack, yet you tell me that 400 pound men can do them.  I hate that you point to the perfect demonstrator's abs behind you and tell me they can by mine if I just keep torturing myself working out for 30 days and stop sneaking the brownies in the kitchen.  But after 5 days I swear my legs are more toned -- maybe your methods work, I'll get back to you.

Dear Target, I believe you have made a creature just as illusive as the Unicorn.  The Dog-Bunny.  I'm thinking of trademarking that name btw, so don't go trying to steal it.  The stuffed animal's tag simply reads "Dog with bunny ears", Dog-Bunny I came up with all on my own.  Ok, my 20 month old did.  But she is not old enough to responsibly collect the royalties, and have you seen the cost of of a 4 year public university in 16 years?  Plus, everyone wants me to have another and that means a half mil out of my pocket for both of them to get bachelors.  Sorry, I'm sure you don't care about my petty problems, so I digress and will get back to my point.  The Dog-Bunny is verrry confusing when you are  20 months old.  I realize you didn't force me to expose my toddler to this creature, I bought it of my own free will, it was cute, I'll give you that.  But when you have real dogs, and you have to do this to them to create a legit world for your 20 month old, that can cause problems.  I just wanted to make you aware of this situation.  If you want in on the Dog-Bunny™ verbage, just have your people call my people.

Dear Gasoline Makers/Distributors, have you seen the price lately?  Just wanted to bring it to your attention.

Dear Coat Rack, great news, I think I might finally be putting away all of those very heavy coats hanging on you -- I feel great confidence that Spring is going to stick around.

Dear Closet, I'm sorry to tell you that I will be moving the heavy coats into your territory at some point this week, the coat rack sends his condolences.

Dear Teenage Boy at Jamba Juice, thanks for explaining each step in the Strawberry Surf Rider making process and pointing out which fruits you were using to my kid, she was throughly fascinated.

Free Friday

Have I mentioned how much I love this age, and the exploding personality?  Have I mentioned how much I hate surprises?  Buuuut this age comes with surprises, and I like them, even  love them. 

Surprises that remind me she is a future celebrity stylist...

Surprises that remind me that toddlers think outside of the box..

Surprises that remind me that she is capable of sharing...

Surprises that remind me that I should take those few extra steps and stop leaving my shoes by the door...

Surprises that sometimes blend in...

and surprises that show she is always paying attention to her surroundings...

Not surprising though is that she is still over the camera in her face constantly.  It takes the right mix of miracle, belly tickles, and bribery to get her to even look in my general direction.  Oh well, I like a challenge.

 

Wordless Wednesday

My Life Monday

Another semi-uneventful weekend happened at our house.  Most houses were filled with chatter about how our government is forcing us to get health insurance, so make sure you keep your ears open because I hear next they are going to force us to feed our kids and get licenses to drive our cars -- crazzzy world.  But our house was filled with lots of other things.

Like shopping, dinner dates and broken sinks.  None of which I have proof of but I swear they did take place.  We had a plumber at the house this morning to fix the sink, his exact words were "wow, I've never seen this happen before", comforting.  He will be returning tomorrow because the tank on our master toilet (btw our house is not even a year old) is cracked so he has to replace that.  It's nice buying a house with a "bumper to bumper" warranty.

As always we filled our days with being silly...

 
It was winndddddy this weekend. Perfect weather for doing things like this:

 
When we weren't attempting to stay upright outside we were inside making healthy things unhealthy, sweet potatoes covered in cinnamon and brown sugar:

 
...and making carnival food "yummy yummy cakes" in The Girl's words..

 
  But the weekend was not all fun and game we took the plunge to became full fledged safety minded parents and installed this little $75 apparatus (sp?).

 
Don't worry all you daredevils out there, we could never cage her in, it only took approximately 3.5 minutes for The Girl to figure out how to waste $75 and pop that thing right open to continue her dangerous way of life.

Saturday Salutations

Dear Thunder, you confuse me when you decide to show yourself during The Girl's nap time.  Her trademark move for allowing me to know that she is awake and ready for me to let her out of prisonher bedroom is to bang on the door screaming "Mammmmma, I'm out..I'm coming..Mama are you coming??"  When you are blasting your loud rumblings outside I have to keep muting the television to see if it's you or her.  Sure, I could solve this by doing something more productive then watching television, but why would I want to?

Dear Pottery Barn Kids, your Red Retro Kitchen is very lovely and I want to own it, err allow my daughter to own it.  But me giving up on Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for the rest of my life is more likely then me paying $700 for your kitchen.  I mean, not that it's not worth it or anything, but it's a kid's kitchen.  It's fake.  If you wanted to send me some sort of 50% off coupon code or something I might throw it back into the consideration pile.

Dear Crayola, why do your bath tub crayons dissolve so quickly?  I mean I know it probably cost you a large chunk of money to pay the scientists who invented the chemical compound that allows them to exist.  I mean, that kind of idea isn't just going to fall out of my own head or anything.  And after they only lasted 3 bath times, I did indeed draw on my own bathtub with a real crayon to see if it came off just as easily as yours. And it didn't, so I felt a little less angry that I paid $4.99 for them.  It's your science and you can charge whatever you feel necessary but I don't think I'll be replacing them. 

Dear Garden/Lawn, we've now sank hundredddss (more then I feel comfortable sharing) into you so if you could start to look nice/grow some yummy veggies my heart might not ache so much.

Dear Coffee Table, are you somehow magnetically attracted to my kid's forehead?

Dear Scentsy Ocean Scent, if I could somehow implant you into my nose so I could smell you every time I inhaled I would be happy constantly.

Dear Frank Abagnale Jr., I just re-watched Leonardo Dicaprio portray you in Catch Me If You Can, I think your life is completely fascinating.

Wordless Wednesday

   

Ten on Tuesday

The birthday party wheels are spinning, themes, gifts, decorations -- we're 3.5 months out (unbelievable right?)

I pretty much have it narrowed down to two themes.

1. Dora the Explorer
2. Olivia Ella

She's so into Dora the Explorer, she is pretty sure they are BFF's.  So I know she would love it if the house was covered in Dora.  I could have these cupcakes made, I saw somewhere on the internet where someone had made "Backpack" out of felt and attached it to goody bags.  Buuuuut, this is probably the last year where she won't tell me what she wants so I kinda want to do it my way.  I thought about doing it red/white and the theme be Ella, do good bags/decorations with 'E's on them.  I would totally find some tights and dress her like Olivia too.  Though, if I did Dora I would hardly have to put and decorative effort forward since there is so much Dora crap scattered throughout my house. Either way I'll make another banner like this to match the theme.  I still have some time to decide -- I could totally think of something else I like better before then.

Gift ideas..

3. Kitchen - This is my favorite idea, but I really have no idea if she would know what to do with it.  I mean, I'm sure you're laughing but I don't cook so would she enjoy it?  Plus, do I want to give up another large chunk of my house to more large toys.  

4. LeapFrog Tag Jr - She's really into books so I think we'll definitely do this one plus whatever else

5. Camera - I know these say 3 & up (which I generally never pay attention to outside the infant stage) but she knows how to use my point and shoot so I think she would really like this.

6. Sand/Water Table - I think this is a pretty popular gift, though playing in sand freaks the husband out.

7. Train Table - Generally probably a boy toy, but I'm not a believer in "boy and girl toys".  She really likes cars and pushing them and likes playing with the one at Barnes and Noble.

8. Tea Set - She really likes playing pretend, we'll probably do this one also plus whatever.

9. PlasmaCar - I don't really think she has the motor skills for this yet, but man do I want one.

10. Mega Block - I think she would really like these, she loves stack blocks.

My Life Monday

We are sick, again. I know, right. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  Flip back a few posts, you'll see this same post approximately a month ago, I get sick every month, never fails.  Unfortunately the last 2 times The Girl has joined me.  I'm still holding out hope that her's is just allergies since her eyes have been watering too. Double Grrrrr.

But this past week has been so nice and I've spent a minimum amount of time inside working on projects like this:

And a combination of these...

 
and these...

But most of my time has been spent on my biggest project, the one I've been working on daily for over 2 years, there is always more work to be done, but so far she is turning out just perfect.

So we spent some time here...

And finding shadows on the sidewalk...

And being a professional bubble catcher...

And teaching Hello Kitty how to dance...

And taking in some fresh air..

We've tried warming up to loving, or at least liking the sprinkler and a vast improvement has been made.  But a large chunk of time is still spent taking it all in from a far.

 
Could it stay like this forever?  The perfect balance of warm and cool, minimum wind, cloudless sky.  The Girl being an awe of her surrounding and double checking to be sure that I also hear the "bird say tweet tweet" or her much enjoyment of picnic food like "fry crackers".   Or the way she giggles when the wind blows her hair in her face "quick Mama, look..wowwww, hahahaha".  Spring is definitely having an impact on her, for someone who used to wakeup and her first words were "eat cereal?" has turned into "go outside and swiinnngggg".  So if any strings could be pulled and we could pause this weather, I would greatly appreciate it...pretty please?