Miss E

Wanted to get this up yesterday, but it was a wee bit on the crazy side.

Anyway...

Before (with Miss A on the left):

And After:


Super J has the camera with him on the trip, and thus I don't have the most uptodate current photos...but do not fret. I shall post one of the b-day girl on her new scooter, which she dubbed, "The BEST.PRESENT.EVER!!!!!" and I wasn't offended that poor Sea World Trainer Barbie had to take a backseat (because SWTB is a hit with the other sisters, and especially at bath time).

She had a very very nice, low key birthday. The Lemon Cupcakes went over well (she said, one little friend asked, "Miss E, what kind of cupcakes are these????" but ate hers anyway). We hit McDonald's for lunch and Chik Fil A for dinner. Why? Playlands, of course (special thanks to Kristan for being the co-chaperon for playland festivities). Since she'd already had cupcakes at preschool and will have a big ol' cake on Saturday (her dinosaur pizza party, don't you know), she graciously allowed me NOT to bake yet another cake and instead we went and got some frozen custard. She opened presents and we called Super J and then she got to take a bath in my big tub (with sisters!) so they could play with SWTB and the other newly dubbed "trainers" (poor Bathtub Cinderella Barbie is now called, "Trainer 2." Isn't it just like that...when you get a new job, sometimes your identity fades for a while). You've never seen such well trained dolphins and baby killer whales, let me tell you.

But let me share, Gentle Reader, a quick story which illustrates just one of the things about our Miss E that we love. And I use the Royal We, meaning me.

After unwrapping her scooter, amidst the shouts of glee and the happy dancing that were occurring simultaneously, Miss A said to me quietly, "I'm a little jealous." Miss E immediately stopped pumping the air with one fist while lovingly caressing the scooter's unopened box and said, "Don't worry Miss A. I'll share with you!" Miss E had owned it all of 15 seconds, but was willing to share at the drop of the hat with her sister. And that really is how she is...well, with Miss A. With Miss O, sharing is a bit tougher because Miss O tends to just appropriate toys and call them hers (I got my eye on you, Miss O. Give them back the seal! NOW.).

Truly she is generous of heart. Generous with hugs and kisses (but aren't we all a little glad she's grown out of the random kissing at her height level phase? I know my hipbone and various other bodily vicinities are). She is smart and sweet and pouty and stubborn and solitary and friendly to all and kind. She is KIND! And she eats meat. Lots of meat...very few vegetables and fruit, but she's working on that. She loves rocks and dinosaurs and digging things up and she's more than willing to crush ants that have come into the house and have subsequently terrified Miss O. Indeed, we have dubbed her "The Queen of Crushing Ants". But only on the inside. Outside, she has esteem for all creatures of the outdoors. Every flower. Every blade of grass. Her compassion has no bounds.

We love our Miss E, because she loves us, and we cannot help but want to return such a gracious and gentle gift.

Happy birthday, Baby girl. We love you. And that Royal We means Me.

Two of Four turning Five

Wait. That sounds like I'm announcing something. I guess I am, but probably not what you think.

Miss E is turning five tomorrow. I'll post more about her because she most certainly deserves a post about her greatness and sweetness and, let's be frank, her eccentricness (is that a word?) which makes her all the more adorable. But for now, I just wanted to offer this little taste, so to speak.

Tomorrow, we take a snack to preschool for her, to celebrate this milestone. We decided long ago upon cupcakes. Today, I got out my four different cake mixes and set them on the counter (along with a canister of vanilla funfetti frosting...meaning, it's vanilla frosting with sprinkles that you, well, sprinkle on the cupcakes after frosting). When I was finally able to turn her attention away from the sprinkles atop the can of frosting, and the various cans of pumpkin I'd put out on the counter whilst finding the cake mixes, and asking her to put the bullion back in the cabinet where she'd eyed the golden cubes, and to FOCUS on the decision before her (oh, and told Miss A to be quiet! Miss A was trying to sway her with all sorts of crazy ideas about cupcake combinations), she mulled between these type of cake mixes:

Chocolate.
Vanilla.
"Yellow".
Lemon (which should also probably be in quotes).

Guess which one she picked.

Knowing that her frosting was white and would have "rainbow" sprinkles. Which did she pick? Hmmm... Which did she pick.

If you guessed...





lemon
...you are correct.

Her reasoning for going with the tartier tasting treat over more traditional fare? Because once, sometime back, her class had lemonade to drink.

When asked what if someone doesn't like Lemon cake, she said that her fellow preschoolites have been told to say, "Thank you" or "No, thank you" and then they just don't eat that treat.

Okay, then.

Lemon it is.

And that's a little insight into Miss E. And a little bit more why we love her.

Mother's Day Gifts

Though this Mother's Day was kinda hard with Super J out of town, there were some really sweet moments.

One was that I made the girls wait until this afternoon to give me my Mother's Day gifts...and seriously, when you are 6 and almost 5, you have no patience to wait to give gifts, especially when you've MADE them, so I am totally not lying when I had to negotiate several times over the course of several days for them NOT to give me my Mom Day's gifts early. I know, it's kinda selfish, but I just wanted something officially Mother-ish, to commemorate this day.

Miss E gave me a little foam frame she'd made in school with a cute picture of her and some of her classmates at one of their learning centers. Appropriately, the center is "Sensory" which means it has sand in it. Miss E loves these types of center, so it's very fitting. So very her.

Miss A gave me a purple/pink/blue pinch pot that she'd made in art. Along with that came this little poem:

I hope you love my pinch pot.
It was made with lots of care.
I learned about clay in art class
And made this pot to share.
Keep it in a special place
So someday you'll recall,
The wonderful things my hands made,
When I was very small.
Love, Miss A

Yeah. I'm tearing up again re-reading it.

So, this is going to be a tough week being the only P.O.D. (parent on duty) but it's things like this that keep me going. I'm going to try to savor this happy moment, because even though the beginning of the day was the p.i.t.s. (pits!), we did manage to get to church on time (gasp!) and with some supreme flexibility, things got done and then we managed to have a calm and fairly relaxing afternoon. Miracles of miracles. Or should I say, a heavenly Mother's Day Gift, because that's what it was.

Hope you had a great day. And Happy Mother's Day, wherever you are.