Princess Mila's Garden Party

On Saturday Mila's Mom and Dad hosted a very, very special fourth birthday party, Princess Mila's Garden Party. All of Mila's friends who attended were attired in Princess outfits and crowns and jewelry. There was a craft at the beginning of the party to make a crown for each princess with their name on it, followed by a yummy lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut into a flower shape, and a diamond-shaped tuna fish sandwich. There were also carrot sticks, chips and mango salsa, potato salad, ham and cheese sandwiches, and pink lemonade. A delicious and beautiful fruit salad was served in small goblets and the pink lemonade served in larger goblets.

After lunch there was a parade of princesses who were waving brightly colored dance ribbons. Games followed and each participant had their own personalized game card for earning stickers for each game played. The choices were croquet, ring toss, bean bag toss, and bowling. Everyone won stickers and had lots of fun. All of Mila's family participated in leading the games: Aunt Jen, Grandpa Ed and Peggy, and Grami. The inside game was pin the lips on the frog which proved to be lots of fun!

Daddy had made delicious chocolate cupcakes that he had decorated as butterflies - - they were a big hit. Cupcakes were devoured and presents were opened and many hugs were given.

When the main party was over, some of the guests joined the family at the neighborhood pool for two hours of fun and games in the water.

In all, the party lasted from 1 pm to 6:30 pm, and everyone was exhausted but happy! And the house was FULL of fun presents and discarded wrappings, all evidence of a great day.

Like mother, like daughter

We lived in Gainesville when Tiffany and Jennifer were growing up. A favorite place in the city to visit was "The Duck Pond" which stretched for a couple of blocks down the middle of a divided road in "old Gainesville," bordered on each side by old, beautiful southern homes.

One day when Tiff was 6 or 7, she was standing on the concrete wall that surrounded the duckpond when she leaned over too far and fell in. Understandably, the water was pretty murky and disgusting. And she had on her winter coat, so it was an uncomfortable, cold, and stinky trip home to clean up. Jennifer and I have always cherished the memory, we thought it was pretty funny. Tiff never found it as amusing. Until today.

Just before suppertime Tiffany and the girls went to the edge of the pond behind our house to feed bread to the fish and turtles. Ellie leaned over too far and actually somersaulted head first into the water. Tiff had to step in, shoes and all, to rescue her. Ellie was extremely unhappy and cried well into her bath before she could laugh again.

Oh, for the amusing part: I was preparing dinner when I heard the commotion and looked out to see Tiffany walking Ellie away from the pond. Ellie was screaming. Tiffany had a wry smile on her face. Guess it depends on which side of the pond you're on whether it's funny or not.

Bathtime imaginations

So I'm sitting on the stool in the girls' bathroom watching them in their bath. Their imaginations are working overtime. Ellie declares that she's Daddy and begins working the shower diverter-thingy up and down methodically. She tires of that after a minute or so and declares she's now Mommy. She and Mila both are playing with empty baby bottles into which they're pouring water from a cup. Mila begins to make goo-goo noises so Ellie tilts her bottle to Mila's mouth for Mila to drink from the bottle. Mila pretends to drink for about 20 seconds - - - then Ellie abruptly tosses the bottle into the bath water and declares, "Feed yourself, I've got to work on the computer!" and she promptly turns to the bathtub corner and begins "typing" frantically on the edge of the tub.

It was too hilarious for words. Oh, IF only I'd had a movie camera on them! What fun that would be to have on film.

Things happen (when Democrats get uppity)

Today you received your first public insult. Luckily you were both blissfully unaware of it.

The three of us had dinner at McDonald's (at the insistence of both girls!) and as we were leaving, a yuppie was entering and looked down at you two and said "Hi."

When you didn't either one immediately respond, he blurted out, "Your parents are undoubtedly Republicans," and kept walking.

I'm still steamed. But only because he meant it as an insult, which was totally inappropriate and uncalled for, not because I would ever take the label Republican as an insult.

Wish my "W" bumper sticker hadn't faded out. I'd have run over him a few times.

Grami's Birthday

I just experienced a wonderful birthday. I had a lazy day but a fun-filled day which started in very late morning (my kind of day, sleeping til 10). My sweet granddaughters, accompanied by their mother, came to my room around 1 p.m. and sang the Happy Birthday song to me. I've never heard it sung sweeter. Then I was covered with kisses and hugs from Mila and Ellie.

Mila had already eaten lunch at school, so she stayed with me upstairs while Ellie went to eat lunch downstairs with Tiffany. Mila played with school glue and pasting cut-outs onto a sheet of paper for awhile, then went downstairs for a "nap" at Mommy's request. That didn't pan out (whatta surprise!), and I heard laughter and frivolity and knew no nap was being taken. The girls opened my door and insisted I come downstairs so they could show me a birthday "surprise," which turned out to be flowers from Tiffany's dad and Peggy. They wanted the card read to them and the flowers identified, then each had to sniff each kind of flower before they were satisfied.

Then they took me out to my car to "get my gift out" but when I unlocked the car, the surprise was that it had been washed and vacuumed! They were SO excited about it. Apparently Ellie and Tiffany had taken the car to the car wash while Mila was in school. I don't think Ellie had been to a car wash before as she was almost breathless with excitement telling me about the experience. I think the best part for her was being out of the car and watching it being washed.

That evening all six of us met at Outback for a birthday dinner. It was such fun. The very best kind of birthday - - - spending it with my four girls - - my two special daughters and my two special granddaughters. Oh, and the best son-in-law around too!

I've got it good.

Calypso Waterpark

Saturday at the Calypso Waterpark we were all sharing pizza on our lounge chairs when I dropped some cheese and sauce on my shirt that was sitting in my lap.
So, I scrubbed a bit then set it aside to deal with later.

A few minutes later, Ellie comes over and sits next to me to eat and after a while I look over and she's scrubbing my shirt with her napkin.
I said "Oh, thank you, Ellie...I spilled some on my shirt and didn't get it all off."
She responded "I will clean it for you Aunt Jen!" then continued to scrub and scrub until it was all clean.

;-) My sweet little angel and only TWO!

Is Anybody There?

Overheard from downstairs, Ellie apparently trying to get into the bedroom she shares with Mila:

"Anybody there? I'm trying to get in but I don't have a key. Can you open the door?"

Ellie is absolutely amazing. At 2 1/2 she can convey any message she wants to. Her command of the English language is beyond belief. Not only does she appear to know hundreds and hundreds of words, but she uses them easily and appropriately, forming complex sentences worthy of a much older child. And uses better grammar than many adults I know!

Of course Grami isn't prejudiced or anything . . .