What Did You Get to Do On Friday Night?

The evening wasn't exactly a total wash--I mean, we did get to go on a brief date (dinner) SANS KIDDOS for a little over an hour.  But when I picked up the girlies from play rehearsal at 9:00 p.m. downtown, one of them notified me that her water bottle had spilled quite a few of it's contents inside her bag... on their (shared) script.  And if the script is not turned in @ the end of the play, or if it gets totally ruined, we have to pay $25.  I was more worried about them not having a script than the $25, though I'm loathe to shell out any more money than I have to, at this point.

So I thought, no problem--I'll just blow-dry the bottom of all the pages with my hair dryer.  (Luckily, it was only the bottom of the pages, not all the pages.) Because the entire bottom of the script was a soggy, stuck-together mess.  I figured it would take 20-30 minutes, tops.

After 30 minutes, I decided that unless I wanted to die of boredom, I should listen to my mp3 player.

The "not wet" top side of the script

After over THREE HUNDRED pages (really?  clearly, I had no idea what I was getting into...), and a mere HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES after the first 30 minutes (yes... that IS 1 hour and 45 minutes, total), we had mostly-dried out pages, in this form:

The bottom of the script

I left a book and 20 lbs.-worth of hand weights on it overnight, and it actually doesn't look too horrible, now.

Regardless, NOT how I wanted to spend my Friday night!  (Or any amount of time, on any day, for that matter...)

Three words:

Livin'

The

Dream!

Oh, the Things You Can Do! (with blankets...)

Somebody is very attached to his blankets.  The nice thing, he's not necessarily attached to any one in particular.  The not-so-nice thing is that he is attached to all of them.  So wherever he is in the house, he prefers that all of his blankets be there, too.

Last week, he danced with his blankets...

Today, he pulled a laundry basket into the living room, filled it with his blankets, and hopped in.  He mentioned he was like Baby Jesus.  Deciding that it would be infinitely more comfortable with a pillow, he confiscated one from his brother's room, settled back in... and requested that I take a picture with the "cam-ra, cam-ra!".  Yes, this is how he "smiles" for pictures right now.  Lovely, isn't it?

An Elmo-rific Birthday

-or-

Where, oh where did my baby go?



Somebody really likes Elmo.  Someone formerly known as "The Baby".  (Okay, actually we still call him the baby, but since he is now TWO YEARS OLD, we should probably switch it up at some point...)

Birthday Baby Boy and Brother

The celebration was low-key... because while I love the idea of elaborate birthday parties, I'm more into attending them than planning and executing them.  So he received some fun presents (tent and Elmo backpack) from Grandma & Grandpa... and $4 worth of Elmo merchandise from mom & dad from Target's dollar spot.  (Yep, that's right--we spent a whopping $4 plus tax on our kid for his birthday.  Technically, $8 if you add in the cupcake liners and Elmo cupcake toppers.)

siblings trying not to open watching delightedly the opening of presents 

Aunt, Uncle, Cousin & Baby Cousin joined us for dinner and cupcakes that evening, which made the day more festive! 

Elmo-rific cupcake tower 

Birthday Boy on Dad's lap, singing "Happy Birthday" to himself

And to top off the evening, the little guy serenaded us with his favorite song.  "Elmo's World", of course.  We didn't capture it on video that night, but here he is tonight after his bath.  Clutching the new Elmo given to him by his Cousin.  (Please kindly ignore my own singing...)

"Being Quiet" vs. "Being Good"

I seem to have a difficult time deciding between if I want my kids to "be quiet" or to "be good" in the afternoons....  Is it too much to ask for both?  (rhetorical question)

I should've KNOWN there was a reason why I was having an uninterrupted phone conversation.  I thought that maybe all of my implorations to please-not-talk-to-me-on-the-phone-unless-there-is-an-emergency (the definition of emergency being blood or vomit) were finally paying off.  To the boys' credit, I did actually finish the conversation.  Also, miraculously, the scene of the crime was a tile floor, and not carpet.

Why, yes, that is a dis-assembled Hungry, Hungry Hippos game in his hand and in the background.  Apparently, the game was too large to fit in the makeshift "tub" in its entirety.

Why Big Sisters Are Awesome

Thank You, Idina Menzel!

Or maybe the thanks should go to Stephen Schwartz, the composer. Or maybe thanks are due to the original Broadway cast of Wicked, since if they hadn't recorded a CD, I wouldn't own the song that changed my morning to one of (insert descriptive perjorative noun of your own choosing here) to one of, well, something approaching normalcy.

The Baby (who is actually now a toddler, but is still my baby. why must he grow up? and if he must grow up, why can't he FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD stop screaming?!?) had spent the morning either (1) screaming for no apparent reason, (2) riding around on my hip and whining mixed with screaming until I would put him in his crib, or (3) screaming because I had put him in his crib. After round 5 (actual count--not an exaggeration!) of this super-fun game, I was in his room trying to sort laundry, when he burst into a grin, squealed with delight, and went running to the living room. Curious, I followed him, and found him sitting in a chair in front of the computer, bobbing his head, and HAPPY (read: not screaming), listening to "No Good Deed" from the Wicked soundtrack.

About 15 minutes earlier, I had started listening to one of the ten-year-old's playlists from the songs on our computer, in an effort to distract myself from the screaming. The baby had expressed zero interest so far in a variety of danceable pop songs, and even U2... but Idina Menzel? Sold! As the song was winding down, I had to wonder if he would respond that favorably to the whole soundtrack, and not just that song...? Jackpot! And while he seemed to like all the music, he really responded to the songs with Ms. Menzel. He even started dancing to "The Wizard and I".

Plus, he stayed not-screamy for an entire hour and a half afterward.

Idina, I am now your biggest fan.

It Was Only a Matter of Time

In good news, I haven't had a anyone spill the contents of a box of cereal in 8-1/2 years.

In even better news, unlike last time, the contents were NOT dumped out on a hide-a-bed couch where the cushions had all ready been removed (going into practically every crevice), just minutes after I got out of the shower in preparation to take a 3-month-old to the pediatrician, with the realization that if I didn't clean up the cereal immediately the 21-month-old grinning girl would dance in the kid-tested-mother-approved contents, smashing them into dust in the living room, and as I looked at my watch to see whether we would be on time to the doctor appointment, vacuuming in my, ahem, unmentionables, I thought, "I don't think this is what my high school classmates thought I would be doing when they voted me Most Likely to Succeed."

Anyway, comparatively, having Lucky Charms spilled on a TILE FLOOR is practically heavenly! (Just ask the happy baby!)

Plus, I have to give the baby props for not only managing to get it off the table, where we all thought it was out of reach, but for knowing that it was in his best interest to do so while everyone else was out of the room. Smart baby.

Also, notice in the video how carefully he grabs a marshmallow amidst the cereal mess. Good thing he's our 4th... because 8-1/2 years ago, I promise that taking a picture of our toddler girl dancing in cereal never even crossed my mind....

Unrelated: All four of our babies have worn those pajamas! (sniff, sniff)

Please, Please Stop Growing Up!

*or*
My Baby Turns Six Years Old!

Right, I know that since I technically still have an actual baby, our third child probably no longer counts as my "baby"... but would he please stop getting older, all ready? Aah! The other day when I asked him if he could please just stay six and my little boy forever, he looked at me with a look that suggested I was differently-abled and said, "Mom, that's not even possible!"

We were all VERY lucky to have Grandma & Grandpa in town for the birthday event, and so we pulled the girls out of school early and ate lunch with the fam, grandparents, Aunt & Uncle & Nephew at everyone's dream birthday place: Chuck E. Cheese! I was a little hesitant, but it was actually awesome--who knew that Mondays-mid-day are DEAD at Chuck E. Cheese?!? Seriously, there was only one other family, and a few moms w/pre-schoolers... and by the time we left, we were literally the only ones there besides the employees. Very, very fun! And (surprise!), we actually remembered not only the camera, but to TAKE pictures!