Bethany's birthday

I was looking through my posts, and I realized that I never posted Bethany's birthday pictures anywhere- bad Mommy! So, 2 months late, here they are... I will caption before the pictures.

Bethany's birthday cake... lovingly made by Mom. Emily decided she didn't need to wait to have some, so she dug in. Mom was able to fix it a little bit... click on the picture to see what I mean.

My parents and Ken's parents hang out during the party...

This was the closest to a still picture that I got of Bethany. The tiara band didn't stay on long, but it was cute!

I am learning that it's harder and harder to get a picture of Bethany being still. This dress has Bethany's monogram on it. Mom made this dress for Bethany for her birthday!

Emily kept herself entertained by watching "Backyardigans" on Papa's computer with headphones. She's so grown up! Mom made this dress for Emily with Emily's monogram on it. It wasn't for her birthday, but as Nana says, "You can't make a dress for one without making one for the other! It wouldn't be fair!"

Bethany enjoyed opening her gifts!

After awhile, Emily decided to help Bethany! I don't know why I look so serious... maybe I was concentrating??

Emily helps her Bay, and Bay watches very patiently.

Bethany is getting her first glimpse of freedom to pursue sugar. She didn't quite know what to do!

She did figure it out, and took a break to enjoy some milk with her cake!

Okay, there they are. Well, 10 out of about 45, anyway. I just took the highlights for brevity's sake. It was a lot of fun, although the presence of our good friends, the Cheshires', was sorely missed. They were sick with the flu the previous week and didn't want to risk giving it to everyone. (I was thankful for their thoughtfulness, but sad about their absence.) We also hated that Beth wasn't there, but understood that sometimes, family has to come first. We ate some cake in her honor ;)

And the Torch is Passed Down...

It seems like only yesterday that Emily did this. I can't believe it Bethany's turn! The girls have been playing so hard that once you get them to sit still, this happens...




AWW! So sweet!

Now, here's Emily sleeping in the same chair...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA!!

We love you!!! We can't wait to see you on Thursday. Have a wonderful day!!!

Emily's Hijinks while Playing

So, I guess a little of the "teacher gene" has been passed off to Emily. She was in the playroom, playing, and I heard a loud squeal. Of course, I had to go check that out. I walked down the hallway, and this is what I found. (Please pardon the messiness- it is the playroom, after all!)

Her bears were sitting each in a chair, and she was talking to them. Of course, as soon as I grabbed the camera, she joined her "class" for the picture. What a cutie!!

A Day in the Life...

So, I made the mistake of allowing Emily and Bethany to play together in the playroom. Here's the result.

Black crayon. Yep. Thank GOODNESS that crayon isn't toxic. We'd have a real problem on our hands. You can't see it in the picture, but Emily, who stripped down to her diaper, is standing next to Bethany with a proud grin on her face.

Now, you are probably thinking that it took them a solid 15 minutes to do this. Wrong. It was 5 minutes, tops. Just another day in the life...

"Tagged"

So, my good friend Mandy tagged me. The task it to tell 7 random facts about myself. It would be interesting if you'd comment back and tell me if any of them surprised you or if you knew them all...

1. On my plate, my foods cannot touch. If they touch, I freak out and lose my appetite. I will not eat foods that have mixed, unless they are supposed to mix. The worst thing is when juices from one food touch something else. I will give away any and all bread that was touched by a vegetable juice.

2. On my plate, I eat one item at a time. For instance, I'll eat all the mashed potatoes first, since they will get cold the quickest. Then, I'll eat the meat. Then, any other vegetables. Last, I'll eat the fruit. The only exception is the bread, of which I'll take 1 bite in-between foods.

3. I only write in black ink. I can't stand writing in blue ink.

4. I have about 30 different kinds of notecards. I love finding pretty notecards. (Mandy, if I had 1/8th of the creativity you had, I would probably make a different notecard every day!).

5. I hate collectibles. I haven't found one collectible that I like.

6. If it's coffee, coffee-flavored, or a coffee product, I love it. As a matter of fact, I am sipping a Mocha Java Chiller from Sonic as I write this.

7. I hate surprises. The worst thing in the world that anyone can say to me is, "I have a surprise for you." Actually, I don't hate surprises, I hate knowing that there's something that I don't know. (Mandy, it's killing me that it's too late to call you about your number 7!!!)

Well, there you have it. I'm supposed to tag some other people, but I am new to blogspot and don't really know anyone who has a blog except for Brandie. Brandie, consider yourself tagged!

Brandie

Chuck E. Cheese

So, I can't decide if Chuck E. Cheese is of God or Satan. I think it depends on what part of the trip you are referring to. The beginning is so much fun. There's so much going on; there are tons of flashing lights and bleeps, dings, and bells sounding out. The smell of mediocre pizza fills your nostrils as you enter through the velvet rope (I know- a velvet rope at a kids' place-strange, huh?). You get your little cup full of tokens and begin searching (sometimes with very little hope) for an empty, clean table.

Well, if you have kids, you know how the rest goes. It's up and down for the rest of the trip. We're happy, then we're sad. There are tears, and sometimes, the kids cry too.

So we went tonight. As we walked through the door, we were pleasantly surprised to see Emily's friend Lucas there. They had so much fun playing together. One funny thing that happened- well, it's funny if you know my personality, I guess. There was a herd of very big boys playing in the tubes where the little kids play. Right at the slide, they were bullying the little kids. Now, Emily isn't big enough to climb into the tubes yet (she can't make it up there yet because the steps are huge). BUT- Lucas was up there. These boys were being horrible. They were climbing up the slide and blocking it so that no one could come down. They were taunting the little ones. So, I did what any nosy, teacher-like person would do. I yelled up the slide. "Boys! You stop that right now. Come down the slide this instant!". I waited for them to come down. I said, "I don't want to see you do that again. You go down the slide ONE TIME, and then you move out of the way. Do you understand?" They mumbled "okay" as they walked off.

One of their moms asked them what I said. As I heard them tell her, I looked at her like I just dared her to say something to me. Boy, I was ticked. I mean, WATCH YOUR CHILDREN, PEOPLE! ARGH.

So, later, I wanted to put Bethany on the little Chuck E. Cheese ride where it takes your picture. There was this little girl, 3 maybe 4, just sitting on it. I looked everywhere for her parents, who couldn't be found. I asked her if Bethany could have a turn. She looked at me and said, deadpan, "No,". I about died laughing. There was a group of older ladies, just watching. They thought it was really funny. I tried and tried to convince that little girl to give Bethany a turn. She was adamant. So, finally, I offered her a token. I said, "How about this? You can have this token, and you can take a turn. Then, Bethany can take a turn. How does that sound?" Her face lit up as she took the coin and said, "Thank you!". She rode the ride, got her little picture, and got off the ride.

That's right. I can still outsmart a 3-year-old. And right now, she's probably sitting somewhere saying, "That's right. I can still outsmart a woman!"

Everyone had fun, right up until we told Emily that it was time to go. And if you have kids, you know how it ended. I sure am glad they stamp your hand with coordinating numbers, because anyone could have sworn that we were kidnapping some kid. Just another day in the life...