Birthday Week

My newly minted 5-year old

This week we have been consumed with the girls' birthdays.  The big party was on Sunday afternoon and I was on pins and needles as to whether the weather was going to cooperate.  On Sabbath morning I checked the weather forecast and saw that there was a 30% - 40% chance of thunderstorms and rain during the party time which was 5:00 - 7:00 pm.  Given our tiny house and the fact that Ron and Elaine's house is undergoing a kitchen remodel, we had no backup plan for bad weather.  Fortunately, Allen and Tangie were gracious enough to become the backup when I presented it to them at church.  And so began my checking of the weather like every hour.  Who plans a party in May in Florida for the afternoon when it rains practically every day??  In my defense, it actually hadn't started raining in the afternoons until just about a week before the party.  I didn't want to do a morning party because of Mother's Day.

Ah, yes, Mother's Day.  My dreams of enjoying a nice day to myself were quickly smashed when I came to the realization that the only day we could have the party was on Mother's Day.  At least with it so late in the day, I figured I could have some part of it to myself.  Which indeed, I did.  It started off with a bang when the girls came running into my room.  "Happy Mother's Day!" Calleigh shouted.  "Happy Birthday!" Aubree chimed in as she hugged me.  Close enough, Aubs.

I have to hand it to Duncan who, after breakfasting at First Watch, took all three kids to Sea World by himself.  That really isn't an easy feat when one of them can't even walk.  I've gone to the parks with the three kids but I've at least always had some other adults with me.  From all accounts, it was a rousing success.  Obviously Brady went without nursing for a good portion of the day but at his age, it's not essential so I figured he would be fine.  In fact, he only nursed first thing in the morning and then before bed.

In my few hours of free time, I went to a few Goodwills (which were mainly a bust), a consignment store, Ross, and TJ Maxx, the latter at which I bought a new bathing suit.  That was unplanned but I was excited because you know what a drag it can be to bathing suit shop.  By 1:00, I had to get home to start cutting up veggies and put the last few things together for the party.  At 2:00, I called Ron for a weather report who said it looked good so the party was on!  At 3:00, I met Jennifer at the party site, Phelps Park, to start decorating.  Let me just tell you what an awesome friend Jennifer is.  She helped me plan all the decorations, made an AMAZING cake and cookies, and then spent several hours of her day helping me set everything up.  She's awesome!      

The party theme was a garden party with blue, green, and yellow decorations.  Since Calleigh has always been pretty wishy-washy about party themes, at least she was last year, I made the unilateral decision to go with this theme.  I'm not a big fan of characters (princesses, Hello Kitty, etc) so I was trying to go in a different direction.  Well, somehow Calleigh got in her head a few weeks ago that she wanted a "pony" party.  I think she was basing this on "My Little Pony" which, although we've bought a few at some yard sales, I wouldn't say she's some big fan or something.  I have no idea how she came to this conclusion but it didn't go away like I thought it would.  Pretty much every day she told me she wanted a pony party.  When she saw the decorations I had bought, which were definitely not pony decorations, she got upset and told me that I wasn't the boss of her party.  Finally, after hearing this every day, I started really thinking that I was a horrible parent because it was her birthday after all, and it wouldn't kill me to just give her a pony party.  But, it seemed like an awful lot of work to return everything and plan something new so I gambled that she would like what she saw once she got to the party.  Jennifer and I were on pins and needles.  I am happy to report that Calleigh was happy.  Phew!!  Sigh of relief.

I had Jennifer at least make a cake with a pony on it.  The top was strawberry and the bottom was banana.  SO GOOD!

We were going to throw the numbers away but realized we could invert them and use them for Duncan next year.  Nifty.

I'm also not a big fan of throwing huge birthday parties (in fact, I would be just as happy as not having any birthday parties at all) so we tried to limit things to our small closest circle of friends and of course, relatives.  I think it was just right.  Every one seemed to have a good time.  We thought it would be neat to have it in a park since most people have never been to Phelps Park being on the opposite side of town and all.  The weather held the entire time and was never an issue.  During the party, Aubree cornered me at one point and whispered to me "Am I three now?"  It was really precious.  Then, as we were pulling into the driveway on the way home, completely unprompted, Aubree pipes up from the back, "Thank you for planning our party, Mom."  Not to be outdone, Calleigh said "You did a really great job with our party."  Pony, shmony.  That made my day.

This week Aubree had swimming lessons on Monday and Wednesday.  The Monday lesson went great.  She put her face under and didn't complain or anything.  Everything was hunky dory.  Wednesday morning when I mentioned her lesson she informed me that she wasn't going to do it.  I hoped that would pass but when Zoe arrived at the pool and it was time to get in, she adamantly refused and started to cry.  I didn't know what to do with that so I told Calleigh she was having a lesson instead.  Since Calleigh had just told me that morning that she wanted more lessons, it worked out well.  We have another lesson on Monday so it remains to be seen if it will be Aubree or Calleigh.  I really don't know what happened.

Yesterday was Calleigh's actual birthday and we had a big surprise planned.  My cousin Alison had somehow gotten three tickets from someone to Disney that she had hoped to use when she was in Florida a few weeks ago on a cruise.  Unfortunately for her, it hadn't worked out.  I was all too happy to take the tickets off her hands.  The tickets were only good until May 24 so we had a small window of time to use them especially since Aubree would be three on the 19th and thus would have to pay.  That's when I got the bright idea for Duncan to work a half day on Calleigh's birthday and we would head down in the early afternoon and surprise the girls.  So that's what we did.  They had no idea until we passed the main entrance to the Magic Kingdom and Duncan pointed out the Mickey ears.  I wouldn't say there were any shouts of euphoria but Calleigh turned her face into her car seat like she does when she's kind of embarrassed and I saw a smile on her face.

On the way in on the tram.

We arrived about 1:15 into the park and so began the 5.75 miles of walking (per my Fitbit).  The weather called for rain and I had bought some ponchos at Walmart.  The rain never came to fruition although I was half hoping it would to thin out the crowd.  Actually, the crowd wasn't all THAT bad but once again, I could not stop my bemusement/disbelief/ridicule for the people that wait in 60 minute lines with little kids to go on a 3-minute ride.  We got fast passes for a couple of the kids rides so the longest we waited was like 10 minutes.  When we came around the corner on the end of the Peter Pan ride, Calleigh couldn't believe it, "That's it?  That was the shortest ride!!"  Another time, she noticed a long line (20 minutes, it said) waiting to get on a roller coaster (The Barnstormer) and she refused to wait.  I think she takes after my own heart.  This is one of the main reasons that I prefer Sea World and Busch Gardens because we just don't experience these kind of lines there.

Duncan determined the guy in the black hat is Neal Boortz, a conservative talk show host with a nationally syndicated show.  

The parade

All Calleigh could talk about was getting this Minnie headband.  

Aunt Toni called to wish Calleigh a happy birthday and Aubree demanded the phone to talk to her.  She went and stood in a corner with the phone tucked under her ear.  It was really funny.

We enjoyed a couple of shows, the parade, and probably the best ride - -  It's a Small World.  Brady, especially on that one, was pointing at everything and doing his little baby talk sounds that he does when he's happy and excited about something.

Oh, one of the funniest things of the day was by some random little boy.  We were in Fantasyland and all of a sudden, I hear this woman say "Johnny, stick that thing back in there."  I look and there is this probably 3-year old boy with his business sticking out of his pants and it looks like he was about to go pee right there in the middle of the street with people bustling all around.  He finally stuck it back in and the mother breathed a sight of relief.  Boys!

I wasn't sure how long we were going to stay but by about 7:30, I was pretty tired and I had a headache coming on.  I guess I should have gone to bed earlier the night before in preparation for the day.  I was worried that we would have to bribe the kids to get them to leave but amazingly, no one said a word.  Neither of the girls had napped so maybe they were starting to feel tired too.  As we loaded into the car, I asked them what their favorite thing had been.  Calleigh thought for a minute and said it was "The Dreams Come True" show.  But then she laughed and said, "But that's not right.  Dreams don't really come true."  Then I realized that she was taking it literally and I had to explain what kind of dream they were talking about.  I would have asked Aubree about her favorite thing but she was asleep in her car seat in about two seconds.

By the time I got home, I had a raging headache.  Fortunately Aubree and Brady went right back to sleep once we put them into bed.  We let Calleigh stay up a little later since it was her birthday and all.  I took a bath and went to get into bed myself but before I could do that, Calleigh came in my room to give me a hug and told me "This was a stupendous day."  That was nice to hear because a) She really did have a good time and b) Stupendous was our word of the day and she was using it.  We've started doing a word of the day where I teach them a new word and I'm so excited when they use it on their own.

This morning when I woke up at 6:30 (a few minutes before Brady's 6:45), I thought, "Wow, so this is how good you feel when you go to bed at 11:00 instead of 12:30!!"  I guess the headache at least got me into bed earlier.  On the other hand, I was completely unprepared for yard sale day.  I always input the addresses into my GPS on Thursday night and obviously had not gotten to it.  I quickly took care of that while waiting for the girls to wake up.

Yard sales was okay but this exchange was priceless.  I'm not making this up, I swear.  The setting was at a yard sale and I'm waiting to pay for two pairs of shoes.

Shopper (well dressed lady in her 50's): "The total is $13 you said?  I'm sorry but all I have is a $100.  Can you make change?"  (Sidebar: Who brings a $100 bill to a yard sale??)

Owner (gentleman in his early 60's): "$100?  Oh wow.  Okay, yes, I think I can make change.  Let's see, what would that be?  Hmm.  $100 less $13.  Hmm...

Shopper: "My head isn't too good with that stuff."

Owner: "George!"  (screams to someone in the house).  "What's $100 less $13?"

George (turns out to be guy in his 40's): "$100 minus 13?"  Umm......$83?"

Owner: "Okay, $83."  He starts making change and the shopper doesn't say anything.

Me (finally can't stand it another second): "It's actually $87."

Shopper (in complete awe): "Wow, she's good."

George (coming out of the house) "Oh, $87.  Well, at least I wasn't trying to make extra on it....Oh wait....Yeah, that's why I use the phone with the calculator on it."

Ladies and Gentleman, these are the people that vote and educate our children.  Seriously.

This week I made the decision to start the potty training thing with Aubree.  Part of the impetus was definitely the fact that cousin Camden, who will also be three next week, has started.  I figured that would motivate her a little!  Actually, we have a little bit easier of a task because Aubree's been going # 2 on the toilet for probably a year.  I hear that it's harder to do that so I figure we have the tough part down. And really, I'm sure if it wasn't because I'm lazy, she would already be potty trained.  We started Wednesday afternoon after nap time and all went well.  I didn't put her in undies at Disney, for obvious reasons, so we resumed this morning.  I let her wear undies out yard sale-ing but I brought the potty in the van with us.  I can't believe it's been two whole years already since I did that with Calleigh.  Wow.  Anyway, it went pretty well.  She did go on the potty at one point but another time she told me that her undies were wet and sure enough, there was a little wetness there although not quite enough to call it an accident.  She wore her diaper for her non-existent nap, as it turned out, and then back in underwear from about 4:30 - 8:00 without incident.  We'll see how it goes at church tomorrow.

In Brady news, I'm just about ready to deem his first official word as being "bubble."  He says the Mama and Dada but for some reason, I've never counted those.  The girls got a bubble machine for their birthday and we were using it earlier in the week and I kept repeating "bubble" and it sounded like he was saying it.  I tried it again today and he was still doing it.  The new cute thing he's doing is that when I say "Give me a kiss" he'll move his mouth right next to mine so I can kiss him.  Of course, his mouth his open so it's a little messy!

Oh, one other thing I wanted to mention is how Calleigh is messing up my parenting mojo.  Aubree will start acting all stubborn about things so I have to call her bluff.  For example, she was lying on the floor and said she didn't want to get up.  I told her, fine, we were going to just leave for Publix without her. At this point, Aubree starts crying.  I gathered up Brady and told Calleigh to come on and I headed out the door.  Well, you would have thought I had disowned Aubree or something.  Calleigh started freaking out and now they're both crying hysterically.  "No!!  We can't leave Aubree here.  No, no, no.  She's my best sister."  She runs over to Aubree and starts hugging her and won't let go.  "You're my best sister Aubree.  It's okay.  I won't leave you."  Oh my word.  How am I supposed to put down the law when there's that going on?  And if I reveal to Calleigh what I'm trying to do, she'll know how this secret plan to get kids to do things works.  Arghhh!

Have a wonderful Sabbath!

Her new chef hat, apron and oven mitt.  

Calleigh trying to teach Aubree how to tell your left hand from your right by making the "L" with your  left hand.

Going to sleep tonight with her Minnie headband on.