Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The Last Supper

At the risk of sounding blasphemous or totally dramatic (or both), last night was a big night at our house.  It was the last day my daughter would be three. The last day she would be a toddler, the last day I could still call her my "baby" without sounding like one of those nutty moms who can't let go. 

Although we have fun celebrations planned for tonight (not to mention she already had a rockin' party this weekend), we decided to commemorate last night with the thing we do best...food.


I explained to Morgan that tonight we were celebrating, celebrating the last day she was ever going to be our itty bitty punkin.  I could feel myself start to choke up as I watched her navigate dinner on her own, trying to figure out how to use chopsticks.

And as I looked on with such pride, Morgan reminded me that four is just a number. She started sucking soy sauce from the packet...

Shoved sixteen three shrimp in her mouth at the same time...


And when I asked her to smile nicely for me, Morgan promptly showed me exactly what the phrase "see food" means.

I don't know why I was even worried about her growing up too quickly. We've got plenty of time to worry about that.  Plenty.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Oh, Me So Corny

Have you ever heard that, after so many years together, people often begin to look like their pets? Okay, me neither.  However, after 35 years of matrimony, I do think my parents may be starting to look like each other. At least they're not dressing alike...yet.



Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad - may the next 35 be just as wonderful!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Deep Thoughts

More than anything this year, David wanted a projector for his birthday so we could watch movies on the side of our house.  It took months of searching, but we finally found the perfect one...and it's been sitting in a box in our closet since May.  Happy effin Birthday, honey. 

In reality, we don't need no stinkin' projector.  We have our local park, which hosts a family-friendly movie every Friday during the summer.  Not only is it outside on a huge inflatable screen, it's F.R.E.E. So last weekend, we packed up our snacks and lawn chairs and headed into town to watch Puss in Boots. Am I the only one who feels a little awkward saying that movie title out loud?  

As the sun began to set, people starting showing up like ants at a picnic, or bees on honey, or toddlers on jello....you get the idea. We were glad to have a good spot and promptly began enjoying our little family night.  The movie was cute, Morgan was well behaved, and none of the teenagers surrounding us were overly annoying. Despite all of this delightfulness, I had several unresolved issues at the end of our little outing:






  • Why is it that people are physically unable to put just one piece of popcorn in their mouths at once?
  • How exactly do I end up with so many kernels in my bra at the end of every movie?
And finally-
  • No matter how many times I floss, why do I always find popcorn between my teeth weeks after I have eaten it?

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Countdown

I'm not sure when kids start to develop a sense of time, but being on the verge of four certainly isn't it.  As soon as we hit the month of August, Morgan wanted it to be her birthday.every.day.  In fact, she has been telling me all week that her birthday is in 38 pounds. Did I mention I think my kid is gifted?

To help her figure out when the big day is arriving, we made a little calendar this weekend.  Each morning, she gets to tear one ring off.  When we get to the pink ring, that's the day of her party.  When we get to the purple ring, that's her actual birthday.  Day one went off without a hitch, but I am willing to bet she's going to have the whole thing dismembered by tomorrow night and try to convince me her birthday is Tuesday. Gifted, not so sure.  Naughty, totally confident.


Friday, August 3, 2012

Girls Gone Wild

They say that men are more likely to keep friendships from childhood (something about being too lazy to invest in new relationships as they get older), while women make friends throughout their lives.  I, however, have been lucky enough to have several friends who have known me long enough to remember breaking curfews,  boys with loud cars, and underage drinking.  I guess what I'm saying is that I have friends who know enough about me to prevent me from ever running for public office. 

We spent some time with one of these friends last weekend.  Sonia and I have been friends for as long as I can remember.  We have weathered so many adventures that the stories often run together.  So much of our friendship has involved naughtiness that we generally can't talk about our adolescence in front of our kids...or our husbands.  One of the things I love most about Sonia is that she is full on crazy-she is loud, impulsive, and passionate about EVERYTHING.  Oh yeah, and totally irrational.  I don't know what I would do without her. 

So while she was here, we planned a night of debauchery.  To legitimize our activities, we started out with a family barbecue.  We had dinner and everyone played some backyard games.  In Idaho, we call it a beanbag toss, but I have recently been informed that it's really supposed to be called "corn hole" -- yeah, weird.











Before we headed out, I decided to take a few pictures of her children, you know, for posterity.  When I asked them to give me their best crazy face, they more than obliged. No wonder I like those kids -



We also tried to get a few pictures of ourselves. When we decided that we both looked too chubby and too haggard to pull off anything legitimate, I decided to go for something that more closely resembled a really awkward JcPenney portrait. And yes, that is my husband in the bushes.

When it was all said and done, we didn't end up leaving my house until almost 11:30.  Every bar we tried to go to was closed and we couldn't find a drink to save our lives.  We end up on the back patio of a local hole in the wall, where the bartender gave us exactly 50 minutes to drink our drinks and get out. 

As we climbed back into my car, ready to find trouble, Sonia got a text from her daughter, asking where we were.  I had to laugh, as it looked like we were breaking curfew again, except this time, we had our kids to keep us in check.  So we headed to Walgreens, bought some Cinderella pull-ups for Morgan, and called it a night.