Party animals

As mentioned earlier, Mabes has decided she loves kittens. You might call it a bit of an obsession. She decided she wanted a cat party, and immediately started planning. Awesome, less work for me. I wanted to make a pinata again, but that kind of took a lot of time. Plus, they recently chopped down a bunch of our trees, so we had nowhere to hang it--it was a convenient excuse.
I decided to do cat ears and collars in addition to Mabes' well-planned games. The kids colored shrinky dinks with their names on them, we baked them, then put them on their beaded collars. Dave was surprised how long the beading took them--I've worked with several of these kids in our preschool co-op, so I was banking on it taking them a while to do that while I made lunch!
When they finished, they played games. At Mabes' request, Dave made a "pin the tail on the cat" game, but took it a step farther and had it be "pin everything on the cat." And then instead of Duck Duck Goose, they played Cat Cat Mouse. And Cat Cat Bird. Mabes was disappointed that we didn't have time for Dog Dog Cat. (Creativity was limited.)

Picasso's cat

I used Sarah's recipe to make strawberry cupcakes with strawberry icing. It uses real strawberries in both the cupcakes and icing, so it's practically health food! And I had made the candy cats (boo, the whiskers were messy, but I stopped caring after the first one) in advance, so the cupcakes were super easy to throw together the day-of.
It was a fun, easy party and I had a lot of fun planning it with Mabes. Of course, despite games and activities, the kids enjoyed running around playing cats the most. Mabes has decided she wants to be a cat for Halloween--with the ears and collar, I think her costume is pretty much done. I just can't let her change her mind.

I think she enjoyed her ice cream.

Six already?!?!

Dear Mabes,

Happy birthday, little girl. Six years ago tonight, I held you and wondered who you'd be. I wanted to call everyone I knew to tell them we had you--it was like the best birthday and Christmas all rolled into one. Before you were born, Daddy and I worried that you'd be overshadowed by your cousins. We worried that you would be the boring, quiet child in the corner at family events.

We didn't need to worry.

I can think of lots of words to describe you, but not boring and quiet. You are fun and crazy and say the most hilarious things. (Daddy thinks I should have a Mabes-isms twitter account--I don't think I could keep up with you.) You are a great big sister; Annabelle adores you. Your energy is unparallelled. You are so strong-willed, outgoing, and extroverted that your dad and I often wonder where you came from.

We've had a long, great weekend. You were tired tonight, and I know that was part of the reason you were a little emotional. We sat in your room and you told me you were nervous about growing up. You're excited about 1st grade, but also scared. You told me that you think about all the challenges, and how there are more challenges in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, and that scares you. You're worried that 1st grade will be more work than you can handle. You're worried you'll do something wrong. You're worried it will be hard.

This is a side of you I don't see often. While I don't know where the crazy extrovert came from, I can clearly see that the worrier in you is all me. I didn't know what to tell you tonight, so I told you it would all be okay, you might be nervous, but you'll love 1st grade just like you loved kindergarten. I told you not to worry about 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, and just think about the fun things we'll do this week.

I don't know how to make the worrying go away. I don't know how to make "the challenges" easier. You are a brilliant little girl and I never want you to doubt yourself. You will make mistakes, and you'll even fail sometimes. You have so much potential, and I worry (see?) that something I do will stifle that. You will do great things in your life, but honestly? The challenges are part of it. It's how you'll learn. It's how you'll grow. I wish you didn't have to worry, and I wish I could tell you it won't be hard. I can't.

Six years ago, I had no idea the challenge in store in becoming a parent. It's been hard. I've cried a lot. I'm pretty sure it's only going to get harder. But that challenge has also been the most rewarding aspect of my life.

Kind of a random picture. But it goes along with the theme.
Also, Mabes seems so big here!

Mabes, we are so blessed to have you. You are a sweet girl with a big heart and bigger hugs. While I wish you didn't have to worry, I know it's part of life. If anyone is up for a challenge, it's you. I can't wait to see the things you'll do and the person you'll become. And like I told you tonight, Daddy and I will always love you. Just do your best, and everything always works out. Happy birthday, Mabes.

Love,
Mommy

Five years ago today...

I walked to the hospital and four hours later was holding this:

Little did I know then how much this little girl would keep me on my toes. In the last five years, I've read more child sleep books than I knew existed and I've learned that you can cry tears of joy and frustration at the same time. I've had my patience tried, my logic questioned, and my authority challenged. I've laughed and hugged more than I ever thought possible. And last night, as I hugged a half-sleeping Mabes at 1 am and she whispered, "I really love you, Mommy," I realized this is all going too fast. Happy birthday, Mabes.

For Mabes' birthday party, we decided last week to just do a simple party, invite a few friends from school/church, have cake, play, and call it a day. Easy! And then Mabes decided she wanted a Mario theme. Okay, I'll make a cute cake. And then I started googling. And that's when I decided I needed to make a pinata. It was a long process, but pretty fun. Plus, it was a nice distraction to keep me from warbling "Sunrise, Sunset" before breaking down in sobs that my little girl is growing up. So I made the pinata, and while a little lopsided, I'm happy with it. I have a feeling that I'll be finding dried paper maché bits (like Tobias' blue handprints) scattered around the house for months to come.

We had a blast. We played Yoshi games, hunted for gold coins, ate, and of course hit the pinata.

Party guests (minus 2) in their Yoshi hats.

Annabelle thought the pinata was hilarious. She'd laugh every time someone hit it. Each of the kids got 2 times at bat, with several swings each time. They successfully hit off the cheeks, ears, hat, and nose (see picture of Mabes), but Dave had to hit it a bit harder to break the head, which made Annabelle laugh even harder.

(Hats and pinata were not my idea--I'm not creative! I just follow instructions really well, and http://www.coolpartyblog.com/ has great ideas with detailed instructions. Perfect.)

Happy birthday, Grandma Jackie!

To finish off the trio of August birthdays, today is Grandma Jackie's birthday. It's hard to believe that it has already been two years since we moved this way, but from the very start Mabes quickly bonded with her southern Grandma. We still don't see her as much as we'd like, but she's always on Mabes's list of suggestions for things to do on Saturday (right after eating waffles and going to Home Depot, so she's in good company). My mom is very thoughtful of others and there's not much that falls under "going out of her way" because she's always willing stop what she's doing to help out, especially for her kids and granddaughter.

And on to the dancing birfday-gram...

(posted by Dave)

Awesome.

My dad sometimes comes across as a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants, everything always works out kind of guy. It's fun. It's reassuring. But don't let it fool you; you don't have to look hard to see that underneath the nonchalance is a meticulous planner with a yellow legal pad.

Take, for instance, vacations. The ultimate goal is for everyone to just have a good time, socialize, be silly, relax, and enjoy family time. But to achieve those goals, he carefully plans out each day--some days have a packed itinerary to maximize fun, other days have scheduled relaxing time. But it's all planned. In the midst of dealing with clients (his real job), he just sent an email letting us know what tickets had been purchased, when we'd have downtime, and other necessary information about the hotel, flights, cars, etc. He'd make a fantastic travel agent, but I'm sure he'd only be interested in that job if he got to go on every trip he planned.

So I'm looking forward to a fun week. Mabes is looking forward to giving Grandpa a birthday squeeze. And should something happen where things don't go according to plan, he'll brush it off and simply say "everything always works out." Because it always somehow does.

Happy birthday, Pappy!

(I told her to smile, apparently she heard "squint.")

Happy birthday, Amber-Rae!

Today is Aunt Ber-Rae's birthday, so Mabes knows that means it's camera time!

Though we don't have a birthday present yet, the pressure is on and Mabes knows it. For Christmas, Amber-Rae (I'm pretty sure it was Amber-Rae, though maybe it was Jackie? Let me know if I'm wrong! I think she's giving both of you credit right now!) gave Mabes this:
She liked the songs, she'd listen to them occasionally, I thought it was a good toy. Then, a couple of weeks ago, something clicked and Mabes decided it was a great toy--she'd listen to the 20 songs that came preloaded on there nonstop for quiet time, so I added a bunch more. (By the way, you know how Amazon occasionally has those "download 99 Mozart songs for $1" deals? They had a "download 150 kids songs for $1" a couple of months ago--best dollar I've spent in a long time. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you clearly need to spend some time on slickdeals.)

Warning: There's lots of twirling in this.

And yes, she's singing "I love the dairy-o"

The downside is that now Dave and I always have "How much is that doggy in the window?" or "I've been working on the railroad" stuck in our heads, but I'll take it. Her "quiet time" has gotten so much better, she can't wait to go into her room to sing and dance. And she's singing and humming a lot more, and while I'm sure someday I'll take Jeff's approach and offer her a quarter to go the whole day without singing (Laura lasted about 5 minutes with that one), for now, I'm loving it. What's better than a singing and dancing Mabes?

BLAAAAA!

Why, you ask? Because that's what Aunt Becca says, and it's her birthday today. In honor of this, Mabes has been saying "BLAAAA!" all day. I'm not sure exactly how it started, but I think it has to do with the Christmas when Mabes was 16 months old and Becca was making Mabes laugh so hard she threw up.

We were once teasing Becca for asking stupid questions. Someone suggested that she think before asking, and maybe she'd be able to come up with the answer on her own. Later, she started to say something, caught herself, and then her eyes got wide and she said "Hey! I thought about the question before asking it, and I figured out the answer!" Brilliant. The next day, she asked another silly question, and when my dad asked why she didn't try the "think it out" trick, she just shook her head and said "that takes too much time."

But that's why we love Becca. She's impulsive, energetic, enthusiastic, a bit crazy, and just a lot of fun to be around. She will talk until she "gets all her words out" for the day. She's got a big heart and is incredibly caring and loving, and it's been fun to see her grow in school/her career and see her interact with her nieces and nephew. Mabes thinks she's the greatest, perhaps because they're so similar. She's a fantastic aunt and we hope she has a great birthday!

Happy birthday, Dave!

I asked Mabes this morning why she liked "Horsey Daddy," and her response was fast--"Because he's SILLY!" Further prodding revealed that she likes him because she loves him and because he's silly. Very insightful and helpful, Mabes, thanks.

Dave shows off his silly side and strawberries.

While we may not be able to list all the great things about Dave, I'd like to mention a few highlights. First, he's hilarious. Dave has a quick wit and dry sense of humor, people often tell me how funny Dave is, but how they missed it at first. Yeah, me too. But once I "got" him, we became great friends, and I've been laughing daily ever since. Also, he's incredibly smart and hardworking, another thing I didn't truly appreciate until getting to know him. He analyzes everything (which can be annoying when we're ordering dinner, but it's good in a school/business environment), and has a memory for facts and trivia worthy of competing with my dad. Despite an apparent case of food poisoning, he's spent his birthday hard at work when not doubled over in pain.

And finally, he's there. In college, I thought it was funny that Dave was always the last one to go home. After Mabes was born, I blamed Dave for her wakefulness, insisting she got the fear of missing something from him. But for as much as I tease him about it, I really do appreciate how much Dave wants to spend time with us. I hear so many moms complain about how their husbands come home from work and then go out with friends, or golf all weekend, or just ignore their kids and watch TV. I've never had that issue with Dave. If Dave watches ESPN or Jeopardy while Mabes is still awake, he's building trains or reading books with her at the same time. I try to get him to go golfing on Saturdays, but he doesn't like the idea of missing out on family time for Dave time. We appreciate this.

So happy birthday, Dave. Hope you feel better, and who knows? Maybe I can talk you into going golfing on Saturday.

Happy birthday, Ricecake!

I think I may have mentioned that Mabes love birthdays. LOVES them. Some days, I think she'll grow up to be a waitress at Chevy's just so she can sing to anyone who might be celebrating that day (not to mention the giant birthday sombrero). So I wasn't surprised when I heard her singing to her toys, but I was curious as to whose birthday it might be. I mean, we all know Rocket's birthday isn't until August. I peek my head in, and see this:

It's Ricecake's birthday! She's turned two! Of course Ricecake is younger--none of her toys can be older and therefore cooler than she is. And what two-year-old's birthday party isn't complete without a cake (on the right--it's the pile of wipes smashed into the pan decorated with plastic ice cream cones) and new potty chair? Mabes informed me that that's what Ricecake is sitting on; it's not a wipes container. And the little button in the middle is the flusher. I'm just glad no one at the party felt awkward that Ricecake was sitting on a potty chair while blowing out the candles.

And more pictures of Mabes and her BFF of the week, Ricecake:

In matching dresses, but because Mabes is spinning, you can't really tell.

Eating breakfast together, while Rocket looks on enviously.

Sisters

The summer before college was a pivotal time in my life. A week into what I thought would be the most fun summer of my life, my parents strongly encouraged me to get a job. I didn't want a job. I wanted to enjoy my last summer as a kid. However, boredom, peer pressure, and parental pressure won out, and I begrudgingly got a job with a company that was a client of my dad's. I was particularly unenthused because my sister, Sarah, had been working there for just over a month before I started, and didn't exactly skip off to work each morning. Also, she would basically be my boss, a role she had tried to claim for most of my life (how many times did my mom say "Let ME be the mom!"), and one she would relish. I wasn't excited.

I don't mean to make it sound like we hated each other--quite the opposite. We played well together as kids, and were pretty good friends. Of course we had our moments, followed by my mom saying, "Be nice to each other--you'll regret this fighting some day." (We don't--looking back, those fights are funny!) But by junior high and high school, we had our own sets of friends, and she was 3 years older and therefore much cooler than I was. Since we shared a room, we'd talk about boys, school, etc., but would never hang out together on weekends. We were sisters, we were friends...just not great friends.

That summer changed everything. Because we were working on a super secret law suit, our boss had us hidden in an office and we couldn't talk to anyone about what we were doing. Sounds exciting, huh? Basically we had to organize countless boxes of thousands of discovery documents (seriously--by the end we had hundreds of 3" binders full of documents), index, tab, and then create a database. It was tedious work. But through that tedium grew a friendship, one with silly inside jokes, stupid songs about tabbing (we still sing it occasionally), conspiracy theories about our Jelly Belly-hoarding coworkers and their large underpants, and laughing so hard about our anonymous departmental complaint box and fighting to regain composure when our boss walked in. And yes, we were the only two people in our "department."

I think that was when we realized that we genuinely liked being with each other, not because our parents made us, but because we had fun together. That friendship grew as we went to school that fall, and though I lived in the dorms, I spent a fair amount of time with Sarah both on campus and just hanging out at her apartment. We even took a French class together (ma BONNE soeur!), we'd go out together, she'd let me tag along with her friends, only it never felt like "tagging along."

I used to roll my eyes when my mom would say we'd be best friends someday. But I can admit when I'm wrong, and I'm so glad I was wrong in this case. Though I wish we lived closer, I tell myself it's for the best, as our shared love of food and TV would leave our kids neglected and our posteriors enormous. Sarah is one of my best friends, someone I can call when I want to vent, whine, or just chat. She has an enthusiasm broadcasted by the color of her hair, and I can count on her to celebrate my joys with more enthusiasm and mourn my difficulties with more sadness than I do. She makes a good time better. Happy birthday, Sarah.

How many boxes of candles do we have to buy?

Well, Allison's teenage years are now more than a decade past -- now we can't even trick ourselves into thinking we're cool anymore. I welcome my best friend into her 30s with best wishes for the next 30 and a tremendous appreciation for knowing her throughout her 20s. Here are just a few things Mabes and I love about her:

• Her cooking. She's our in-house Julia Child (but still centuries younger and much sexier).
• She's smart and loves to learn so much about so much. When maps are desired wall art and you can carry on debates over the merits of Chicago Style, MLA and Strunk & White, you can call yourself a nerd.
  
• Great sense of humor. She's a nerd but she loves to laugh more than anything. When you intertwine Seinfeld and Dumb and Dumber into the discussion on style formats, then you have a true Renaissance Woman.
• She puts up with us. She listens, she cooks, she pushes us to be our best, and she even cleans up floppies (fortunately, the last one is just for one of us).

She's just a great person to be around and we like her just the way she is.

- Dave & Mabes

(Mabes isn't much help in showing me how to post a pic here, so we'll save that for later)

Birthday shout-out

It's birthday season amongst the Ostlers, which means there will be dozens of birthdays in the next three months. Mabes was very excited to call Dono last Friday and wish him a happy birthday, and has been asking multiple times a day whose birthday will be next. This morning, she asked me whose birthday was today. I told her we didn't have a family birthday today, but it was the birthday of my good friend Catherine. Her eyes got big and she said "I know! We need to go to Trader Joe's and get flowers and we will take dem to her and SING to Caffrin and she will be soooo happy!" When I explained that it wasn't that easy and that she lived in California ("hey! she lives in Canyifornia with Gramma and Grampa!") she first wanted to hop on a plane and visit everyone, but then settled for singing for the camera. ("and den you post it on your blog, mommy.")

The dress she's wearing is one that Catherine sent last year. It's a size 6, though, and last year Mabes' toddler potbelly made it impossible to button up the dress. I'm so excited that it fits this year, but the picture just doesn't do it justice.

I've known Catherine for about 24 years now. She is one of the sweetest and funniest people I know--just a great person to be around. She's the one to call if you need to do a fractals project for geometry, want a diamond studded bra, need a last minute SAT study session (thanks to her, I will forever associate the word "harbinger" with Harbin, China--random association, but it's an SAT word I still remember!) or just want someone to eat chocolate and laugh with. She flew across the country to wait outside the temple when I got married, a gesture that still means so much to me. When she found out that Laura was moving to New York, not only did she help her find a job (and an awesome one at that!), she took her to dinner and told Laura to call anytime, in case she needed a big sister in a new city. Catherine is incredibly supportive, giving, and just hilarious--if you don't know her, you're totally missing out. Happy birthday, Catherine!

I tell her to smile and look like a princess and this is what I get.

Birthdays!

Today is Bora's birthday, and while her cousins may have beat her to the punch, Mabes is very excited to wish her aunt a happy birthday. She was quite disappointed when I told her we couldn't bake her a cake and drive it to her, nor would she be coming over for a party tonight. So yay for Bora. In the last 24 years, the world has been blessed by Laura and her obvious talents, such as her music and just general awesomeness, but let me point out the many silly reasons Laura is fabulous.

(you may have to crank up the volume, Mabes insisted on whispering)

"Sparkler hugs": Okay, this has become and Ostler-girl thing, but Laura has mastered the finger tapping/awkward breathing that make the hug both creepy and hilarious. Stairs: If you're going up the stairs and Laura is behind you, run. And cover your bum. Phone calls: Conversations generally start with "so I don't really have a reason for calling you," but then we end up talking for an hour mainly about food and/or TV. Food is at least mentioned once. Pork: I revere bacon as much as the next girl, but Laura is one of two people I know who dreams of eating a bowl of sausage like she would a bowl of ice cream. And I find this hilarious. Ice cream: it's a food group. Silly walks/prances: I don't have much to say about this, I think it's self explanatory. Humor: While I happen to think our entire family is pretty funny, Laura is exceptionally talented in this area. She has not only mastered the sarcasm necessary as an Ostler, but she is perhaps the best one at being able to take a joke and laugh at herself. I mean, she's put up with being the butt of the same joke for 12 years now, and while that may be mean on our part, I think it just shows how easy-going and fun she is. Happy birthday, Bora.

And I can't post a birthday song for Laura without mentioning my mom. Her birthday was almost two weeks ago, and I didn't post anything for her. Mabes sang to her via Skype, so my mom got to see it. But given that last month was Scream Like a Demon Month, video just wasn't happening. But rather than having Mabes sing "Happy Birthday" to Grandma again, I thought I'd share this:

If you turned up your volume for "Happy Birthday," you may need to turn it down now. About a month or so ago, my mom sent a package including CDs for the entire Primary songbook. Mabes will only let us listen to the CD with "Give Said the Little Stream." Mabes adores this CD, and while I may get a little sick of it, it makes car rides much more bearable. There are enough songs that she doesn't get bored like she does with other CDs we've tried. This is just one of the many reasons my mom is awesome: she always knows what we need. It may seem random at the time--a CD when your kid is crazy, a dress when you have an ovarian cyst, or just listening when nothing is going right--but she knows what will make you feel better. She knows when to give advice and when to hold back and let us make our own decisions. But she's always there, supporting, crying, cheering, sympathizing. I had a boss tell me once that if his kids turned out half as well as I did, he'd be thrilled. Likewise, if I turn out to be half the mother my mom is, I'll consider that a huge accomplishment.

Birthday fun

It's been a busy week, and with all the delicious leftovers, I haven't had time to blog. I'm sure my sisters understand.

Her birthday was great--she was so excited all day and loved the phone calls and random birthday wishes from people at the grocery store (she told everyone). When Ainsleigh and Dono called to sing happy birthday, she just smiled and listened, and when they finished, she said, "Oh, good job, guys!" While I'm sure they did a spectacular job, Dono felt it wasn't good enough so they called back to sing again that night, which Mabes appreciated.


We decided to go low-key for her birthday, and perhaps save the Super Sweet Sixteen-style party for next year. We just had a few friends over (Hen(g)ry of course, and we're all very sad to learn she's dropping the nonexistent "g" from his name), ate pizza and cupcakes, and opened presents. Mabes thought it was the greatest party ever.


After putting her to bed, I thought I heard her asking for water. I went in to see what she needed, and she wistfully said "No, I don't need anything--I'm just talking about my birthday." The next morning, the first thing she said was "I had so much fun at my party last night!" I love that she's easily impressed.


Friday afternoon, we headed east to spend the weekend with Grandma Jackie and celebrate her birthday on Saturday. She was so excited to not only see Grandma Jackie, but to celebrate yet another birthday, that she fought falling asleep for most of the ride, despite being very tired. We had waffles Saturday morning, Mabes got to open more presents (including a cradle made by Jackie's cousin's husband, only Mabes insists that it's not a cradle, it's a rocking bed), and enjoyed fried chicken, barbeque, hush puppies, and dirt cake. The eight hour roundtrip drive is worth it for Eastern Carolina-style barbeque alone, and we had a great time visiting with Dave's family.


And finally, we decided that after 3 years, Mabes was ready for a haircut. Her hair had gotten a little crazy. But when you have a little girl who was bald for so long, it's hard to cut the hair, even for a trim. It had gotten long enough that I figured evening it out would still leave plenty of hair, so after cutting Dave's hair, we put Mabes in the barber seat. (And by barber seat, I mean the folding chair we use.)













It turned out really cute, though it's a little hard to tell from these pictures. She can wear her hair down without it looking strange--the sides were maybe 2 inches longer than the back. She now looks even more like a little girl, which is both funny and sad.

At this time, ___ years ago...

Perhaps the highlight of my birthday is the call from my dad. Pleasantries are exchanged, he says happy birthday, and then he launches into "29 years ago right now, we were..." and recounts my entire birth story, always ending with "and I still consider it to be one of the greatest days of my life."

Now, as a kid, I'm sure I rolled my eyes at this. Sarah has teased him about it. But there was always something kind of cool about 1) hearing how you were born, 2) realizing that your parents remember that day, even though it was years ago, and 3) hearing it from your dad. We expect that kind of sentimentality from my mom--we purposely buy her "crying presents" for Christmas. (And while some of those gifts have been cry-worthy, one year, she cried when she got a clock, the next year was a sewing maching. Happy tears both times, but we still don't get it.) So when Dad gets sentimental, it's something to remember. My dad has had an impressive career, played some amazing golf courses, and traveled the world. But to know that the births of each of his six children stand out as the greatest days of his life--that really makes an impression on a kid that doesn't understand parental love.

So I blame my parents for the sentimentality of this. Three years ago this morning, after a fast labor and 2 hours of pushing (who knew that pushing would take longer than the labor part?), Emaline came screaming into the world. Throughout our hospital stay, all the nurses commented on how alert she was, how they'd never seen a newborn so awake, etc. Being the proud, naive new mom I thought, "Oh, that means she's smart!" Maybe, but the alertness has nothing to do with that. Alert just means she'll never sleep. Despite her alertness and ridiculous energy, we wouldn't trade her. She's hilarious and loving and her hugs are probably the greatest invention ever. And you know how much I value the relatively short time she's asleep? As I checked on her before bed last night, I was watching her sleep and just thinking about how she's not my little baby anymore, it's like I turned into Laura or Becca and thought "Let's wake her up!" I just wanted to pick her up and hug her. Bebe.

The past three years have been a huge learning experience for us. Lots of laughter, lots (and lots) of tears, and lots of hugs. So yeah, I'm going to be an emotional sap today, because three years ago today was one of the greatest days of my life.

Pappy

Happy Birthday, Dad! It is a well-known fact that my dad is awesome. I've written about it before, and I'm sure I'll write about it again. We used to jokingly wish him a happy 25th or 30th birthday, but now that I'm almost 30, that just seems weird. So I'll just say that the world has been lucky to be graced by his presence these last few decades, and he's not only the best dad I've ever had, he's the best dad I can imagine. We'll be having ice cream in his honor tonight. Yaaaaaay, Pappy!

We talked earlier, but since he didn't get to see Mabes singing to him, here it is:

Happy birthday, Aunt Ber-Rae!

New rule when you come to visit: When you're here, it's your birthday. Okay, that might be a stretch. But because Becca came to visit a week after her birthday, and Amber-Rae came a few days before, we've gone ahead and thrown them a party. And by party, I mean pizza and cake. What more do you need? So if anyone else wants to visit, plan a trip near your birthday and we'll make you a cake and you can blow out candles. And Mabes will sing to you all.day.long.

Amber-Rae had just gotten back from a week in Italy and Greece and stayed with us for a couple of nights before heading back home. When I told Mabes it was her birthday, she decided that she needed to wake Aunt Ber-Rae up with a rousing rendition of the happy birthday song. Despite the jet lag, the birthday wake up was appreciated.

We made Amber-Rae help with the cake, because we're mean like that. I don't know why Mabes is making that face, but she's making it in all the cake-making pictures. But I'm posting it because Amber-Rae looks cute, and I guess this picture conveys Mabes' excitement level.


But we then let her have the beaters, as is the birthday custom. She was nice enough to share with Mabes, and Mabes thought it was glorious.

Note the new Greece t-shirt from Amber-Rae.

I realize this isn't the most flattering picture of her, but I think it's hilarious. For that reason. I'm sure my parents have a least a couple pictures of me making this face, and my dad has, on many occasions, made this face to demonstrate the faces I'd pull to make him laugh. And now I get why he laughed:


In honor of the birthday girl, we got her favorite pizza, Hawaiian. Mabes thought this was the greatest--ham AND pineapple on pizza? GENIUS! She was very excited. She then quickly turned her attention to the cake sitting on the counter, begging us to light the candles so they could blow them out.

She can't take her eyes off the candles:

We did it! That was a lot of candles...
I like birthdays.

Like two peas in a crazy, crazy pod

Becca (aka Bacon) came to visit this week, the last of our steady stream of visitors from my family. A couple of weeks before her visit, we realized that her visit coincided with Dave's annual trip to Amsterdam, which got bumped up a week this year, so they would completely miss each other. Boo.

Becca and Mabes get along great. Becca refers to Mabes as her mini-me, which surprised me because if you take away the curls, Mabes is my mini-me. Personality-wise, though, she is a lot like Becca. As we were heading to the airport, Mabes was talking about getting Becca and then I realized she was saying, "And I'm going to say 'BLAAAAAA' to Becca!" (Because if you ask her what Aunt Becca says, the answer is "BLAAAAA!" That's what they're shouting in this picture.) When we got Becca, much madness ensued and there was lots of yelling and screaming with Becca yelling "I'm so happy to be here! I'm so happy you remember me!" and Mabes yelling "Yay! Becca's here!" Becca was pretty close to tears but was also laughing really hard. They were both really wired and happy, and Mabes kept saying "Thank you, mommy, for getting Becca from the airport!" As if she'd been living there and we finally decided let her stay with us.

The next morning, Mabes was up bright and early at 6:30, excited to take us up on our promise to go swimming. AHA! There's one difference between Mabes and Becca: Mabes isn't a fan of sleep, and Becca needs more sleep than a 2-year-old. We headed to the pool, where we spent a good chunk of the week.
We also headed to South Carolina, so Becca could add one more state to her "been there" list, and to pick peaches, as strawberry picking season was over. Much to my disappointment, we got there and found out that there weren't enough peaches to pick our own, but we were able to buy some already picked. Needing something beyond a basket of peaches to justify the drive, we decided to get some homemade strawberry ice cream and eat it on the store's porch. I felt bad that Becca missed out on the fruit picking experience, but she assured me that eating ice cream and watching cars drive by on a country road was much more fun. (The picture is a bit shady, but this way you can see all the trees and how cute the area is.)

Since Becca's birthday was a couple of weeks ago, we decided to celebrate while she was here. And by celebrate, I mean eat cake and wear party hats. We're all about finding excuses to eat cake. Mabes was thrilled with this, and slightly disappointed that there were no presents. She didn't understand why giving Becca money to buy a popcorn popper was the greatest present ever. She'll get it someday. Nonetheless, helping Becca blow out the candles and then eating the confetti cake made her day. I think she enjoyed it more than Becca.
On another day, Mabes and Becca were coloring and Becca got this idea that she was going to make a special drawing for Mabes. She kept shielding her work from Mabes, which then made Mabes all the more determined to see what it was. "It's a surprise, Em, just wait!" Yes, Becca is 21. She just reverts to a 6-year-old when coloring. After shoo-ing Mabes away several times, Becca proudly announced that the picture was done and handed it to an eager Mabes, whose reaction was priceless. She studied the work of art for a minute, her eyes lighting up as she realized what it was. "Mommy! Look! She drew Becca and Mabes...and we're HOLDING HANDS! And wearing dresses! And there's a rainbow! And we're holding hands! It's Mabes and Becca! Oh, I LOVE it!" And thus continued the gushing, and she ran over to Becca and held her hand, looking at the picture to make sure she had the pose just right. "Oh, it's cute. I love my surprise!"
So it was a fun, crazy week, with much happy yelling and running around. Becca left yesterday and I think Mabes was a little annoyed with how boring and quiet it is when it's just us. Sorry, kid. Dave will be home soon, though.

Birthday awesomeness

We had a fabulous weekend. Saturday morning, we headed uptown (for some reason they call it uptown rather than downtown--I guess because it sounds nicer?) for the March of Dimes Walk for Babies. Mabes was thrilled when she saw the jogging stroller, which was great because I didn't know how she'd feel about a long walk. By the time we found parking, registration was almost over so we booked it to the starting point. Dave was a little nervous about keeping up that pace for the entire walk (that's what happens when you walk with my mom--you get used to walking crazy fast), but I assured him there would probably be tons of people and we'd be lucky if we didn't mosey along for the entire 4.5 miles.

I was right. Even though they closed down a bunch of streets, there were so many people the beginning felt more like people were out for a leisurely stroll. That's fine, people, but for 4.5 miles? I'd like to be done by dinner! If I had my dad's talent of making freakishly realistic cow noises, I would have mooed loudly. But the pace picked up quickly, due in part to people that bailed early on. Apparently, they don't care about babies. Jerks.

It was interesting to see the different shirts people were wearing. Some were "in memory of," and others were commemorating their miracle babies. It was hard not to get a little teary, especially when thinking about Katie's boys; one is home from the NICU and one continues to fight and exceed everyone's highest hopes. The advances in neonatal medicine are truly amazing.

A few times during the walk, we let Mabes out of the stroller. She thought it was great during the homestretch when all the volunteers were cheering people on--she threw her arms up in the air and ran, yelling, "Yay, Emaline! I did it! See mommy,they're saying, 'Yay, Emaline!'"

We finished before noon, headed home, and Dave and Mabes made my birthday cake. Mabes took a nap, I showered, and Dave sent me out for a pedicure. After a long walk in the morning, my feet (and I) were very grateful. Then we took the cake and headed to South Carolina to see Em's friend "Hengry" & family. They made us pizza, the kids had a blast running around, then we put Mabes to bed there so we could stay and play games with Lane and Deserae (Henry's parents). We got home late, and though Mabes was wide awake the whole ride, she went right to sleep as soon as we got home. All in all, it was a really fun day--a great way to celebrate my first (of many, I'm sure) 29th birthday.

It was hard to narrow down the pictures to just a few, so I put a bunch on Shutterfly. Here's the link:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AYuG7lw3aseU

Oh, and I heard my first tornado warning today! We went back to Henry's today and as we were getting out of the car, noticed the loud siren. I just thought it was a really strange sounding fire truck...that wasn't going anywhere. When we got in, we found out there was a tornado touching down close by, but it wasn't much and that was the extent of the excitement.