My Baby Girl Turns 3!

Happy Birthday, Iris! 9 23 09

Favorite Color - Blue

Favorite Song - "Somewhere Out There" from American Tail

Favorite Playmate - Her Older Sister, Gillian

Favorite Game - Playing House/School

Lovey's Name - "Doggie" (which is blue)

Catch Phrase - "I Want Some of THAT!" or "You Teasing Me, Mom!"

Iris is Afraid of - NOTHING!

Favorite Thing to Do - LAUGH!

Ed's Porch on Sunday

Ain't it great to be crazy?

The Scent of Home

In July, Mike, the girls, and I went camping at Grandma Lasers. We left Iris' little blanket with a dogs head - "Doggie" there. Of course, since it is an hour and a half away, it took us a month to get Doggie back and it came back by way of my Mom. But Doggie was FINALLY back. So last night, Iris is snuggling into bed with her Doggie and she smells him. Then she says, "He smells like Grandma Laser's." She lifted him for me to smell and I did and memories just came flooding back. The smell of the laundry detergent she uses. The same smell I smelled when I would bury my little head in her stomach when I was a child just about Iris' age. It made my heart ache a little... and it made me smile.

WOW! It's been a long time!

I know I haven't updated in forever. This summer has been bliss as far as spending it with my girls. We have swam, camped, gone to Cedar Point, gone to the fair. It's been wonderful. And there are still events to come. I guess I feel Mommy Guilt over her being in daycare for the summer. I wish she had a farm to roam for an endless summer as I did. I wish she spent afternoons picking daisies and Queen Anne's lace and playing with the new kittens born in the Spring. I wish she counted days by picking mulberries, fireworks, watching Grandma get her flower arrangements ready for the fair, canning, and finally, the trip to visit Grandma in South Dakota signalling the end of summer. But she does play with her friends everyday and we have the weekends which I try to fill with all of the summer fun I experienced as a child. She just will never have those endless days which some might think would be boring, but I remember them as filled with imagination and magic. Above are pictures of Gillian with her friend, Mekai Gray, at the Franklin County Fair.

That's not REAL FOOD!

So today the whole family is in the grocery store and Gillian says, "Mom, what is for dinner?" (oh boy, here we go.) "Fish," I reply. "UGH!" she says. Ok, I'm feeling generous. I offer to let her and her sister do their own thing for dinner. She says, "Make your own pizzas." Ok, maybe I can get some whole wheat crust, tomato sauce is a vegetable, and cheese isn't bad, right? So, I agree. We go down processed food aisle after processed food aisle and NONE of the pizzas are RIGHT. So, after I determine that this is NOT any kind of pizza we have made at our house or any of her cousins' houses I ask her, "Just WHERE did you see this 'make your own pizza'?" "At SCHOOL!" she replies. "Lou Fei had it." (Lou Fei is her best friend and JUST as much of a pistol.) OH! - light DAWNS on my marble head. I take her to the refrigerated aisle and stop at LUNCHABLES. "Is THIS what she had?" I ask.

Now, in case you don't know, I LOVE food (have you SEEN me?). But I love GOOD FOOD. I don't frequent McDonald's. I don't eat much CANNED stuff. In my cart at this point was a TON of fresh fruit and veg, some soy milk, various whole grain and whole wheat STUFF. The dinner I was making was fresh sun dried tomato tilapia with a fresh loaf of whole wheat bread from Trader Joes, olive tapenade with feta spread, and a HUGE salad. THIS was the hugely offensive dinner. How do I feel about processed food? Not good. How do I feel about LUNCHABLES and most other OSCAR MEYER FARE? I LOATHE the fact that it EXISTS! So, there you go. God has decided to ping me in my snobby food head.

But I bought it for her. And one for her sister. My stomach heaved as she devoured hers AND over 1/2 of Iris'. (Iris decided pineapple and fresh bread was all she wanted for dinner, but don't get the wrong idea. Iris would eat chicken tenders at EVERY meal if I would let her.) Hopefully, one day, my children will eat as I do. (They will OCCASIONALLY eat hummus.) But I don't have A LOT of hope as I see what my Letitia's children eat and she is a nutrition FREAK. Sigh....

Snow White with the Cousins

Gillian, Iris, and 7 of their cousins have season tickets to the Columbus Children's Theatre. This weekend we saw Snow White. After the show, the kids got to meet the cast and crew. Then Ed and Maura took on NINE children overnight in Prospect. They had pizza and candy and watched Madgascar 2. Izzy was down at 8:45. Xavier was down at 9:30. The rest of the kids partied until 10:30/11ish. CRAZINESS!

Mike and I got to sneak out and see Slumdog Millionaire which was great, but we came back and stayed over just in case Iris got homesick. All of the kids did great and slept until about 6:45am. UGH!

Gil and Iris were asleep by 7:30pm tonight. Definitely tuckered out by all of the fun.

Mom and I on the Couch

My mom and I are sitting on the couch watching CNN- her favorite channel. We're about to watch The Secret Life of Bees if Letitia ever gets here. So...that will be awhile. Girls night with Mom and Letita starting late...GO FIGURE.