Lullabies and Mudpies - life unedited

Today was a gray and rainy day. G had off from school for a teacher work day so I shlepped all the kids down do the aquarium for a day of fish gazing. The belugas are back, finally, after a several month long vacation while some construction went on - the kids and I were so happy to see them again. Little L really loved pointing to all the fish this time, she is really becoming more aware of her environment.

When we got home, the downpour had slowed to a drizzle and Little Guy decided to dig in the mud outside. You can tell we are in Georgia from the lovely orange color of the mud.



A few days ago I decided from now on I am going to put fancy dresses on Little L whenever I feel like it. We have no one to hand them down to, so why not let her be fancy on any random Tuesday? I took these shots of her while we were playing outside the other day after G came home from school... she's getting so toddlerish these days.

Babette ate oatmeal.

And she liked it. All over her head.

good morning...

Way before I've had my coffee, when my body is still heavy from sleep and I don't want to move a muscle for fear of disturbing the perfect comfort that I feel in the earliest dawn of consciousness every morning, this is the deliciousness that greets me.

good morning.

Hi Aunt Angie

Greetings to my leader.

Dance, Magic and a Prince

When my cousin's girls were staying with us a few weekends ago, all the kids were gathered in G and Little Guy's room, being very quiet and content. I went to see what they were up to, and lo and behold they were putting on a recital. Big L was the director, Little L was the audience and the other 3 took turns performing. G did a fairy Godmother dance and cast a spell on each of us in turn. Little Guy danced to the Thomas the Train Roundhouse soundtrack. His costume didn't quite match his score, but it was the only dark blue on we had.

All 3 of my kids pouted when it wasn't their turn to perform. The older girls were MUCH better sports.

My Hometown...

We got to Naples at exactly 3:54 pm on Monday afternoon. I tried to leave Tampa at 9:30 am, but getting 3 kidlets packed up to go and getting things posted on the blog and doing a few errands that I had to do JUST THEN or else I would never get around to them sort of foiled that plan. My sister was anxiously waiting for me, this I knew, and was planning to leave work as soon as we rolled into town. Well, my mom told me that she was getting off at 4 pm that day anyway, so I arrived at her office just in tome to surprise her. Special delivery! I was going to say, and send someone in to find her holding Little L.

When we got there, I hurried the kids out of the car and we all ran into the building and started banging on the doors (she works in a high security building) to try and get someone to help us find her. After about 10 minutes one of her BFFs appeared saying she had left at noon to wait for us at mom's house. Drat! Foiled again!

So we went on down to mom's house and visiyewd before dinner. The kids had a great time playing Cooties with thier cousin LiLi while Auntie Angel and Panda fought over the baby. It's nice to be loved.

After dinner, when the kids were all settled in, I went over to my BFF Susy's house for a glass of wine and some chit chat. Her son, aged 7, was in his room, but not asleep when Little L and I arrived. Little L was a bit hungry at the time, and was fussing a bit too loudly for Sonny Boy. SB hollered "Hey! Tell that baby to stop screaming!" Susy replied "SB be quiet and go to bed" SB's response....

"NEV AH!!!!"

I about peed my pants laughing. I could just see him, sitting up in bed, arm raised, pointing his finger to the ceiling, claiming his place in the world. A world without screaming babies.

Good Genes

On February 23, 2009 Gene Huffine was inducted into the Chattanooga Sports Hall of fame. Why is this important to me, you ask? Because he is my children's grandfather. They've got some good genes.

Hangin' with Gran

My mother in law graciously came to spend the week with us after Little L was born. She was such a big help to me, constantly dusting and vacuuming and doing the dishes and the laundry. She even spot cleaned the furniture while she was here. Every speck of dust and floating Zoie hair was magnified to my hormone crazed eyes immediately after I returned from the hospital, so it was quite a relief to have her here banishing all the specks so I could recover peacefully.

Being here served her well also...she got to hold the baby tons. And who doesn't like to hold a baby? :)

Homecoming {jan 27, 2009}

I wanted balloons. Ms. Ruth from across the way had given me a little helium balloon on a stick that was a pink smiley face, which she instructed me to put on the mailbox when next baby made her appearance, so she would know. Ms. Ruth called me several times wondering if I had lost that little pink balloon since she still hadn't seen it on the mailbox.

When Little L finally did arrive, I told Mister where to find the pink smiley faced balloon (it was stuck in the basket where we keep hats and mittens) and I told him to put it on the mailbox. I also told him I'd really like some pink, purple and white balloons inflated and tied to the mailbox, also. Little Guy had a stork in the yard when he got home, Little L should at least have some balloons. In preparation for the big day, I had purchased a helium tank and a bag of mixed color balloons from Walmart. It also worked well since Little Guy's birthday was earlier in the month and so it saved some money on his party decorations... you know frugality is where it's at.

When Mister came back to the hospital after attempting this assignment, I was sad to hear that he was unsuccessful at inflating and placing the balloons. I mean really, it isn't THAT hard, right? He IS an engineer, I would think he could handle at least a clown task. Apparently, the balloons I had purchased were only 6" balloons and would not hold enough helium to keep them aloft. Who knew balloons had a minimum surface area to helium ratio? I asked him if he'd at least stuck the pink smiley face balloon on the mailbox. He said that it wouldn't inflate either.

Whaaaat?? Yep, he had taken a perfectly good balloon on a stick, snipped it off of the stick, then tried (and failed) to inflate it with helium. Oh my.

The only solution for this balloon-tastrope was to hit the dollar store on the way home from the hospital to score some inexpensive Mylar swag. Luckily, it was before Valentine's day so I was able to get pink and white heart shaped ones, supremely appropriate for our new baby love.

Once we got home, Zoie sniffed the newest member of her pack, as she always does. Then we celebrated Little L's homecoming with the only kind of cake I really like....king cake. Next year, we are SO getting chocolate and cream cheese filled king cake from Gambino's for her birthday. She seems like a king cake kind of girl, too.

And thus we started our life as a party of five.

American Girl Dolls...

We went to the American Girl Doll Store for my cousin's daughter's birthday at the end of December. G had only been there once before and wasn't unduly impressed last time.... Little Guy on the other hand, loved playing with all of the Bitty Baby accessories.

This time, G watched her cousin get so excited about her new doll and of of its accouterments that she has now decided that she wants an American Girl Doll, also. We have told her that she can earn money by doing chores and can ask for money for holidays and birthdays to save up for her own.... there is just no way Mister and I will buy her one outright. Not in our parenting philosophy (for a 5 year old who has a penchant for drawing on things anyway)... plus I think it will mean more to her if she earns it. Anyhow, I am quite certain whichever doll has the unfortunate luck of being added to our household will end up with hand-drawn permanent makeup and a super nice haircut at some point. Happily the American Girl Doll store has a hospital and a salon that may perhaps be able to mitigate the damage, when it does occur.

The American Girl Doll Store also has a Bistro where girls can have lunch or dinner with their doll companions at their side. They have a special birthday cake that you can order for celebrations like the one that we attended also. The cake was dry, but the icing was TASTY. All in all it was a very pleasant evening... a dreamy evening for Abs and G for sure.

Hey now Disney, the Dads are navigating!

We arrived at Disney on Labor Day morning, after driving over from Tampa in the wee hours. I had celebrated my birthday the night before with an adults only dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, and a little shopping at my new favorite store, Lush. Stef bought me some yummy body lotion bars and some really awesome creme deoderant there, and the salesgirls took pity on a preggo and threw in a bunch of samples of facial cleansers and masks, also. My favorite body lotion bar was in the shape of a heart and smelled like chocolate. Mmmm. More on that later.

Once in Orlando, we checked into our hotel to get out tickets, and since the room wasn't ready for us, drove over to the Magic Kingdom (of course!) and parked for the day. This being both G and my dear husband's first time at Disney, we decided to opt for the ferry for the trip over to the Magic Kingdom. As we were waiting for the boat to arrive, we were given some sidewalk chalk to decorate the ground with. We all wrote our names and G got a kick out of seeing "Happy Birthday, G!" on the ground for the world to make note of.

On the ferry, it was all excitement as the castle came into view. Oh how the children were positively vibrating with anticipation.

The dads, being male as they are, spent the majority of the boat trip studying the park maps and entertainment schedules deciding on the perfect plan of attack as to hit all of the attractions that the girls wanted to see. Such good papas.

Ahh, and the editing has begun

I know it has been eons since G turned 5 and we took that trip down to Florida. I am just now getting around to working on some of the photos. These were taken on my darling's actual fifth birthday. Steffy made her a vegan chocolate cake, and we had a little princess celebration that evening. There are 5 candles there, some are just hiding. Lil & Abs did a wonderful rendition of Happy Birthday to start our magical week off on the right foot.