Edith's Three!!

I really can hardly believe it, but this happened:

Yup. Edith is three. Amazing. And she even wanted me to take her photo to document the occasion. The lighting wasn't the best where we were at, but there was no way I was going to turn her down. 

We had such a great time hanging out together on her birthday. Edith adored the decorations and was so happy they were just for her. I loved that pretty much every time she walked into the room and saw the decorations she would pause and gleefully shout, "Happy Birthday to ME!" Her pure joy was so great to see. It made me happy.

In the afternoon I made Edith some hot cocoa with whipping cream for a special treat. Birthdays should be like that.

After a dinner of cauliflower soup it was time to open gifts. I don't think Edith was bummed about it.

Always happy to get books. Always.

I love that she gave her new underwear a kiss. It's the little things.

Earlier in the day I asked Edith what she wanted to do now that she's three and she told me, "I think I'll build a unicorn because I really want one. Her name will be Gracie." Good ambitious plans, Edith!

Waiting patiently while Big helps her with the tape on the top of the box.

Hooray! Looks like she won't have to build a unicorn after all. She immediately announced that its name is Gracie. She loves it.

Like you can't tell. Ha!

Edith was kind of spaced out and tired by the time we got to the cake. I got her to focus her attention just long enough to take this cute picture…

…and then she did this weird squinty-eyed thing…

…and then, suddenly, a candle was out! Edith was leaning back in the chair so casually, not appearing to blow, so it took me by surprise. You can see how spaced out she still looks.

Then she focused in again and put some effort into the others. 

Still a little too casual about it all with your arm behind your chair, Edith. That candle lit back up.

There we go. Now on to the last.

Perfect!

The cake was delicious and Edith was so glad that Grandma and Grandpa Gorilla could be there. 

Happy Birthday, Edith! You're the best 3 year old we know. We love you!

A Short One

Edith's 3rd birthday is today (what??), so I want to catch up with a short post so everything will be in order. Yes, it's the OCD in me. This really will be short. For real. Well, comparatively. (Compared to my own posts, of course. I'm sure there are blogs out there that always have posts shorter than this.)

Last week was Spirit Week at the boys' school. Mustache Day is always a favorite. Although, for the second time in a row, Bud hasn't wanted to be photographed with his mustache. Tough noogies, kid.

Friday was crazy hair day. Big and I have been letting his hair grow out, waiting for it anxiously. I really wanted to give him a horseshoe head of hair, but he insisted we stay a little more in the lines. So we gave him a really quick half-a-haircut before school. His look was a big hit.

After school that day we finished cutting his hair (he almost didn't let me because he didn't want to have to take another bath) and then booked it out of the house so some people could come look at it. We made an impromptu, ill-prepared trip to the park. It was only in the upper 40's and none of us had jackets. Edith shivered when she was swinging in the shade, but wasn't too bad in the sun. Big doesn't get cold, apparently. I froze. But, we had fun anyway. Bud and Ginger were smart and just sat in the car listening to music.

I was super excited when Rophone came home from work early on Monday. Such a treat. We all went to pick up the boys together. Edith was so happy to have both her parents there.

I think both Edith and I agree that having Rophone along on tricycle rides makes them even better. I sure do love to see the two of them together. They are such cute besties.

I am so excited that it's Edith's birthday today! I can't wait to post about it (especially now that I'm all caught up!).

Basketball Quickie

I have just a few minutes to do a quick post about Ginger's basketball season. I only took my camera to one game so, for once, the photos will be few (amazing, I know). I really loved watching Ginger play-- she stays so calm out there, not letting things rile her. She reached a point this season, too, where it seemed like all of a sudden something clicked. Her ball handling became more confident and she even made a 3-point shot in the last game. Way to go, Ginger! I think that having her dad coach her was a great fit.

Here are a few (not-so-great) photos, taken at one of the first games of the season:

I loved seeing Ginger grow and improve this season. Can't wait until next year!

So Behind!

With all of the things we've had going on around here, I really should have posted before now. I hate feeling so behind on blogging, because it's not like life stops so I can catch up. This post should get me up to date on most everyday stuff and photos (so many photos!), except for the separate post I need to write about Ginger's basketball season. And Edith's birthday is in just over a week… Yikes! I'd better get going then.

Edith has been kind of into pretending to do our makeup and hair lately. My hair was getting pretty long a few weeks ago, so once my makeup was finished I helped Edith do my hair in "pigtails". She was so happy with the results. I do look rather fetching.

We had a pretty serious bout of inversion air, so I tried to make sure we were occupied doing fun things indoors. It sure is nice to hang out together.

I was the big loser at Rack-o. 

Edith informed me that the reason she's so good at playing Trio is because her hands are so big. She's right, her hands are huge. 

I took pictures the last time we did this floor puzzle, but just couldn't resist taking more. It's the pigtails. They kill me. Waaay better than mine.

Bud competed in his school's spelling bee this year. They started including the 3rd graders a few years ago, even though they can't go on in competition if they win. It was a good experience for him and he did a great job. Bud missed his word in the 5th round and, of course, "pulitzer" was the only word he didn't know in that round. Isn't that how it always is? 

Big lost his very first tooth! He wouldn't wiggle it or attempt in any way to speed its demise, so it just kind of fell out into his mouth while he was walking in the hall at school. He told me about it when I showed up at his class to volunteer. Talk about a happy kid!

It really is a lot of fun hanging out with Edith during the day. She's such a great conversationalist! And it made me feel so good when I told her that she's the cutest and she responded, "No, you're the cutest! And, you're the best mother." Thanks, Edith. That was just what I needed to hear.

Talking non-stop can wear a person out, though. 

It's not all about play when Edith and I are together, though. Luckily she likes to work, too.

The best part of working is the relaxing you get to do afterward. Especially if it's relaxing in a fort.

Thankfully we got some snow to clear the air so we could spend a little time outdoors. I told Edith we could build her very first snowman after we shoveled the driveway, but the snow was too powdery. Luckily she was happy to just play together instead.

The next day the snow was perfect.

On February 8th I helped Ginger throw a brunch birthday party. I served waffles with berries, whipped cream, and buttermilk syrup, chicken and apple breakfast sausage, cheesy scrambled eggs, orange juice, and chocolate milk. Ten 12/13 year old girls can make a good amount of noise, especially when playing team Pictionary. It was a lot of fun to watch Ginger with her friends. I hope she had a blast.

Last week was a little bit crafty. Edith painted some rock magnets while I painted some knobs for the child-sized hutch we were putting in her room.

I got off pretty easy this year when it comes to Valentine's boxes. Bud decided to reuse the one we made last year, so I only had to collaborate with Big on his. We were pretty proud of the results and it only took about 15 minutes to make. Perfect.

Tuesday the 11th was a pretty busy day for Ginger. During the day she got braces:

She had basketball practice after school (no picture). And then in the evening we got to go see Ginger be inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. It was nice.

We were kind of laughing during the ceremony about how even though Pen was in the NJHS, we never went to any ceremony. She didn't let us know about it. Kind of like how we didn't even know she was in the elementary school spelling bee until after she won the whole thing… Ha!

I went to the elementary school on Valentine's Day to help with Big's class party. I made frosting and was in charge of the frosting-cookies station. Knowing that compulsive knife licking is pretty par for the course in first grade, we had enough knives for all and I put a dollop of frosting on each plate. With some of the sprinkle mountains kids were creating on their cookies I was sure we wouldn't have enough sprinkles to last, but they did. Kind of a loaves and fishes moment. Or something. 

It was super nice to have the day off yesterday for President's Day. I always look forward to the chance to hang with my honey. My sister-in-law, Jazz Hands, was in town with her youngest, so we got together at Art's house so we could all see each other. It was loads of fun.

I have been doing this old-school-but-awesome workout called Callanetics lately. Edith loves it. She came up to me last night right before bed and asked me to take a picture of her doing "Warm-up #3". It made my evening. So funny.

The weather was really great today-- clear skies, fairly warm-- so I knew it was time to get out for our first tricycle ride of the year. I was amazed at how much she has grown since we last went in the fall! The tricycle seat needs to be moved back to the last spot, that's for sure. It was really fun to be out together. I think it invigorated both of us. Seriously, such a cutie.

I'm hoping to maybe get a picture or two of Pen in the next post. Time for forced picture taking, it seems. We'll see how that goes...