Paradise City

See my cupcake?

Now you don't!

I didn't even leave a morsel.....ahhh, sweet revenge.

And She Was

My fellow readers, I interrupt your regularly scheduled blog to make an important announcement.

Today I turned one!

But the only thing I really, really want to do.....

is eat cake......NOW!


Mom says I have to wait till tomorrow's party, can you believe this travesty?

Tipsy

Today was the third day in a row that I found her passed out on the kitchen floor after drinking her bottle dry.

This time next year, I'm betting we'll need a 12 step program to help get her off the whole milk.


*pic is from the second day stupor

Footloose

Watch out Sofia.....here I come!




This one is even funnier watched over and over again:

Say, Say, Say

"Mom! Loic hit me!"

"Let's use our hands for hugs not for hitting our friends. Does Thomas the Train hit his friends? "

"No." replies Loic

"Mom, Thomas doesn't have hands!"


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We received information animal cards in the mail from National Geographic that I thought Ava would enjoy. She was excited to find them on the coffee table when she awoke from nap. She quickly grabbed them and began studying the pictures.

"Hey Moms, what are these Polar Bears doing?"

I take a look and read the caption to myself. It is explaining the mating rituals that the Polar Bears do prior to becoming amorous.

"It looks like they are getting ready to make a baby."

"Oh... did you and daddy play pat-a-cake too when you made me?"

"Um um............something like that."

******************

Ava comes down from nap time and I am watching Alicia Keys perform one of her songs on Oprah.

"Look Mom, Hannah Montana!"

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I have five sisters, Heather, Caroline, Pia, Laura, and Cathy. Ava adores all her aunts and wishes they all lived closer.

I got off the phone with my sister, Laura, and Ava says,"Mom, I miss Aunt Lola. Is Aunt Lola your sister?"

"Yes. Do you know all my sisters names?"

"Aunt Lola, Aunt Hedder, Aunt Carewine, Aunt Cassy, and Aunt Pia, Pia, PIANO!"

Love Bytes

Shhh! My new baby just fell asleep. She's been up all day since being delivered this morning, weighing in at 2.28 lbs and 8.9 inches long. She's tiny but mighty powerful...and a Q T to boot. The girls are adjusting quite well to their new sister but they are already trying to push her buttons.

Doesn't she look so peaceful when she's sleeping?

Uh,oh. I spoke too soon. She's waking up. Look she's smiling at you!

Meet our newest addition: Mini aDell Bruins
Don't you just want to put your hands all over her?

Lovely Day

Pumpkin patch picking may result in:

head shrinking

corn detasseling

sight-seeing

funky dancing

horse whispering

fancy landing

tire swing racing

knees cramping

happy ending.

Someone Like You

Last week while at the Children's Museum, Ava wanted to stop at the face painting station. She picked up the yellow paint and asked me to draw a sun on her left cheek. After I finished the sun I asked what she wanted me to draw on her other cheek.

Do you want raindrops on that side? No
How a rainbow or perhaps a red heart? No
Well what do you want?
I want a beer.
A beer? Do you mean a bear? I can make a teddy bear face.
No mom. A beer....... like daddy. I wanna look like daddy.
Oh, okay...like daddy.




A beard!

I almost peed my pants trying to contain the laughter every time I stole a glance at my bearded daughter. She thought she was the coolest thing because she sporting a beard like her daddy. She couldn't wait to show him that, NOW, they looked alike.

A couple days ago I overheard her telling Ruby "Ruby, you and me, we look like our mommy not our daddy. We have chocolate milk skin like mommy and Dora(the Explorer). Daddy has blue eyes and we have black eyes. So we look like our mommy, okay?"

Not anymore.

Me and You

Hey guys, you're in for a real treat! My mom took me to the Children's Museum the other day and I met an awesome new friend there. It's an adventure to go see her but I'm sure you'll agree it's well worth it. Follow me.

First we have climb up some stairs.

These girls are cool and all but I'm telling you my new best friend is even cooler than cool!

Let's cross the scary bridge.

And squeeze through the log roll.
We're almost there!

There she is!

We're practically like twins. Don't you just love her hair?

And head hugs are a must for this divine creature.

She's definitely a ten in my book.

Love her! Isn't she just the greatest?

Wild Horses

Let me take you through Ava's horse obsession.

There was the riding stage.

There was the playing stage.

Now we've entered the "being" stage.

Giddy-up!

Maybe I'm Amazed

As many of you know, Ruby, is nearing her first birthday in two weeks and for the past month she has been keeping us busy with her milestone mania.

I was re-vamping the dining room and moved all the furniture into the living room so I could begin the task of prepping the room for a repaint. I moved her portable changing table to a different area so I could place the bookcases in it's place......waiting and ready to be decoupaged while the paint was drying.

I finally finished the taping portion part of it and took a break on the Lazy Boy watching the girls play before putting the them to bed so I could begin painting once their heads hit their pillows. They loved the fact that the living room was in disarray and enjoyed playing under the table and chairs.

Ruby's changing table was moved to a nearby dining chair and she got adventurous and stepped upon it and glanced back at me with a "mom help! I can't get back down!" look. I encouraged her to give a try all by herself and she stepped right off.

She had the biggest grin and she was so proud of herself. She walked up and down along the couch shouting " I do dat! I do dat! I do dat!" over and over.

I don't know which surprised me more...her stepping down by herself or the three word sentences spewing from her mouth!

Along with those amazing accomplishments here are a few more things happening with her:

1. clapping
2. signing "more"
3. raising the roof (that's a requirement here in my house party household)
4. tantrums-- this I could do without!
5. eyelash batting--who can say "no" to that
6. She's also been tagged with a new nickname----DESTRUCTO
7. stair climbing....fast!
8. new word- GO
9. head hugging --she places her forehead on yours and gives you a nuzzle.so cute.
10. she enjoys hanging out upside down... in a downward dog yoga pose.

There you have it. She is one of the many reasons I haven't been blogging lately, she keeps me on my toes and by the end of the day I am just too wiped out to even think about blogging.

Things have finally slowed down and your regularly scheduled program has returned!

Rich Girl

So we are walking home after spending the morning at a Fall Frolic themed Super Saturday class offered at our local children education center when I spot a crumpled green back laying on the curb. Rather than selfishly snatch it myself, I let Ava experience her first "big money" find.

I casually stopped and pretended to tie my slip on sneakers in hopes that Ava would avert her eyes downward and spot the dollar. She didn't see it. So then I pretended to drop the bag of artwork I was carrying right next to the dollar and then had her pick up the fallen bag. She still didn't see it. Then I had her observe the tree above and then look below to see if she could find any fallen leaves...tying in what we learned hours ago. She STILL didn't see the dollar.

I gave up.

I literally pointed the dollar out and she excitedly picked it up.

" Oooo, Mom now I can buy "orange pony" at Tar-jay with all my monies!"

"You need to find about 22 more of those dollars to buy that Little Pony doll that crawls."

"Oh" she said with disappointment in her voice.

"Just keep saving your money and soon you'll be able to buy it or maybe Santa will bring it for Christmas."

"Okay"

She later decided to spend her dollar on a large chocolate chip cookie at Panera Bread instead. I guess she's thinking Santa is not going to disappoint and will be bringing her "orange pony" at Christmas.



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Now I did contemplate briefly on keeping that dollar for myself because that would've been the first time that I actually found money that wasn't in coin form.

I seem to lose money rather than find it.

When I was in grade school I sold my felt-tip markers to some boy in my class and he gave me,from what I remember,tons of money. I took it home and hid it, so that my mom wouldn't find out but then I couldn't remember where I had stashed it when it came time to spend it. Money lost.

I lost $50 when I stopped to look through a pile of shirts while in American Eagle (Hey,I was still a teen then...nineteen). I was holding the fifty in my hand...shopping around like that. I must of thought that it was safer in my hand than in my pocket because it was weeks ago that $20 mysteriously disappeared while in my own pocket.

One time I lost $300 because for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to take my money pouch along while chaperoning a tween dance at the YMCA. Yeah, I lost the pouch but days later it was found but not with the $300 intact.

There are more lost money stories....many more...... but recounting them is just too painful.

I like to consider myself more of a good luck charm...people seem to find money when I'm around. (let me clarify...they are not finding money at the same time I'm losing it) My sister, Pia, used to always find money....I was always with her at those times. I remember Ian found $20 while we were driving in an alley way and he spotted it in the grass....I was with him. My friend found $50 while out to eat....I was with her.

Oh and let's not forget the many people who find money in their own pockets...again I'm there to witness the finds.

Catch my drift? I have many of those stories and they're just as painful because I've still not found any "miracle" money.

What's the most you've ever found? What's the most you've ever lost?

The First Cut Is the Deepest

Ava finally got her first haircut last week! We took her to a place the specializes( you know...equipped with personal TV's) in cutting children's hair. Her hair was getting out of control and something had to be done....quickly. It took all of ten minutes for the hair stylist to cut and style her hair and Ava did terrific.

Side view.

She's much like her hairdo.....short and feisty.