Feisty's Birthday

Well, what a weekend. As you know, Feisty's 3rd Birthday was on Saturday. The big three. Numero tres. However, since for the past few months she has already been saying she is three, she started off the day convinced that she was four. I finally convinced her otherwise and she finally started telling people the truth of her age. I told her that in about 20 years, she won't be wanting to go forward in age, she'll want to be going backwards. She got a wierd look on her face when I told her that and went on with her three year old business.

I started out the day by making all the kids a breakfast of pancakes and cinnamon rolls. There was shopping to do, cakes to pick up, baths to give, and the regular household duties that somehow always get put on the back burner because of something else of more importance happening (like say, reading a Harry Potter book.....or a birthday party, or such....)

She had been fighting a little cold all week. Mainly just a runny nose, but she hasn't quite been her typical "feisty" self. But by the big day, she was really feeling run down. Being who she is, though, she refused to admit it. After all, it was 85 degrees outside, the whole neighborhood was outside and there was no way in the world she was going to sit inside and be left out of the fun. I tried to hold her down; tried to use the logic that if she rests now she'll feel better for her big party. That logic failed to pass with her. She lives in the here and now, and the here and now included lots of fun in the front yard with water, friends and bathing suits:

"Hold on a second now....I need to wipe my nose with my ridiculously long tongue..."

"See, Mommy?!?! I'm not sick!!"

Feisty did retreat inside for a little while; meanwhile Care Bear continued being the ring leader for all of the fun....

As the day wore on, Feisty seemed to get more tired and it looked like she just didn't feel well at all. My Mom and I both tried to convince her to hold off on her party until early this week so that she would be able to enjoy it more, but she would hear nothing of it. All attempts at getting her to slow down and rest were for naught. I did manage to get her to get in the bath and get cleaned up so that she didn't look like a greasy rugrat at her party. I also even managed to get Care Bear to get in the bath and let me wash her hair. Despite the fact that my girls love to dress up lately in the frilliest dresses they own, at the same time they have a great aversion to having their hair or faces washed......the two don't add up. But I insisted. Here they are with Blondie 2 right after the bath, but pre-hair styling.

Both of the "blondies" detest wearing dresses and love playing with bugs. They both informed my girls when getting ready in their dresses that they looked like they were going to be in a wedding. Hey....if my girls want to look like they belong in a wedding every day of their lives, that's fine by me. I'm not sure what I would do with a tomboy. Seeing's how I hate and fear most living creatures that have more than four legs.

AND PRESENTING.....THE BEAUTIFUL BIRTHDAY GIRL....

(She was looking down because the sun was in her eyes. Notice the pretty purple flowers right behind her. That bush looks so massive with her standing next to it!!)

You would think by what they chose to wear that we were heading to the White House for her party or something. But we weren't. Just heading to about the germiest place in the world. The almighty Chuck E. Cheese's. Didn't matter, though. That's what they wanted to wear, so wear them they did.

Feisty perked up considerably once we arrived at Mr. Cheese's place. The first order of business on Ms. Feisty's agenda was not to eat or to play, but to open presents. She got quite a bit of assistance and looks of envy from her big sister....and I daresay she got quite spoiled. There are only a few pics here of her opening her presents:

Following the opening of presents and approximately one and a half bites of pizza she proceeded to party hard for two more hours. She was beat by the time we got home and for punishment for me not just stepping up and saying, "We're postponing the party", I got four hours of sleep. Mother's Day was not much of a treat. But I'll discuss that later. I need some more pictures for that one.

She had a great birthday, though and got treated like the princess she is. Feisty would like to thank everyone who wished her a happy birthday. She sends her regards. :-)

Happy Birthday My Sweet Feisty Girl!

Dear Feisty,

I am writing you this Happy Birthday letter a day early because I don't know if I'll be able to get a chance tomorrow what with all of the partying we'll be doing for your big day!

Three years ago, right around this time of the day, I remember I was taking your big brother and sister through the drive through at McDonald's for some dinner. Your daddy wasn't home yet and I was hot and tired and not feeling so good. I had gone on maternity leave two days before and your due date was approaching the next day. Your sister had been three weeks early, so even though you weren't overdue, I felt like you were seriously late since Care Bear was born so early.

I went to bed that night. I had put Care Bear in our room in the basinette that we had set up for you. She was feeling a little insecure for some reason....I think it was sisterly intuition. I woke up at 3 in the morning with a great jolt and the realization that I was either peeing the bed, or my water had broken. I was hoping for the latter, because well......who wants to admit at age 29 that I had lost control of my bladder?!?! I woke up your daddy and told him I thought my water had broken. I called the doctor and told him what happened and he told me I needed to get to the hospital right away. I called your Grandma Dawn and told her that she needed to get to our house right away to take care of your brother and sister while Daddy and I went to the hospital. It took them quite awhile to get to our house and I was starting to get worried because I was afraid that I wouldn't get to the hospital in time to get an epidural, and the contractions were starting.

They finally arrived and we headed for the hospital. Most of the rest of the morning is a blur before you were born. The atmosphere in the hospital when you were born was much different than when Care Bear was born. There were so many people around when she was born and it was late in the afternoon, but with you, it was early morning, people hadn't had a chance to get up to the hospital yet and it was much quieter and more peaceful. When I received my epidural for you, it went much more smoothly than when I got it for Care Bear. This time, the doctor got the right spot and didn't cause blood to shoot out of my back, so that was good.

The doctor finally arrived and after what seemed like no time at all, you were born. At 9:27 a.m. A beautiful little 6 lb 6 oz little baby girl. You were crying, as all babies do, and I remember holding you for the first time rubbing your little head and whispering, "It's OK baby. It's OK. Mama's here."

The whole time I was pregnant with you, I remember feeling like I didn't know how it was possible that I was going to be able to love another child as much as I love your sister. But all of those doubts washed away the second I held you in my arms that first time.

You were such a beautiful little baby girl and although you had a rough couple of first months with having colic, you quickly grew into being the most mellow, sweet and thoughtful little girl. I remember mistakenly telling several people that you were going to be my "easy child". I laugh at that notion now because you truly live up to your blog moniker. You have grown into a strong willed little girl who knows what she wants and holds her own with her older and stronger siblings. And every other kid you come in contact with, for that matter.

You are so smart and the things that you say and do everyday continue to amaze me. You have such a bright future ahead of you.

I adore you and everything you are. You are my little angel, my helper girl, my sweet sympathetic child, and an amazing little girl! I don't know what my life would have been like had you not come into it!

I can not believe you are already three. It is impossible to believe. I hope you always maintain that strong personality of yours as you get older and stay true to yourself and who you are! You will go so far!

Always know that your mama loves you so much and I always, always will! I am so proud of you, my love!!

Love forever and always,

Your Mommy!!

Spring Has Sprung!

It appears that spring has definitely arrived here in Colorado. Today could actually be mistaken for summer as it is a perfectly sunny day of 75 degrees. Although there are other more obvious factors besides the sun and the warmth that prove to me that summer is very, very near. The approach of summer is indicated around my home by these things:

**All of a sudden, my children decide that they need to pull out the sandles, shorts and tank tops at the crack of dawn despite the fact that it still may be only 45 degrees at that time a day. I warn them that it's still chilly out, but they refuse to believe me until they walk out the door for us to take Anakin to school and the goose pimples appear seconds later. Someday they'll figure out mama knows what she's talkin' about.

**In the same regard, they feel the need to pull out their little wading pool, or have me turn on the sprinklers decked out in their teeny weeny bathing suits and refuse to hear me tell them that the pipes probably barely thawed and the water will be colder than the north pole in December. Again.....mama knows. But they forget a day later.

**It becomes harder and harder and harder every day to get them to come inside and get ready for bed. What child can justify in their mind that it's bed time when the sun hasn't even set behind the mountains yet? I mean it's utterly ridiculous. I felt the same way as a kid, but now I don't care if the sun stays up til 2:30 in the morning. It's 8:00 and it is time. Mama needs a break. I'm searching for some wood or cardboard to tack to their windows to give the illusion that it's dark even if it isn't. Hey! Maybe that will help them sleep in longer in the morning, too? Wishful thinking.

**The neighborhood kids come out in droves and for some reason, I seem to be the only panicked parent who feels compelled to stand on the sidewalk and police the kids from staying out of the street. Why do no other parents seem to see this as a concern in my neighborhood? Especially when we also have teenagers who like to take the corners of our street in their Mustang or TransAm or whatever it is at 65 miles an hour.

**The ants! Oh for the love of ANTS! It seems that an ant colony approximately the size of Texas has made a home under our front lawn and once the lawn mower makes its first run over the grass in the spring, they flee the underground and congregate on our sidewalk. It is NASTY! We should take up some stock in Raid or something. Dude. Seriously. It looks like our sidewalk is covered with moving, crawly carpet.

**The smell of freshly mowed grass. One of my favorite smells.

**Open garage doors, loud music coming from out of garages, neighbors from across the street who like to have obnoxious parties with their little motorcycle gang (which they think are Harley's but they are really Hondas.....I think someone needs to clue them in.) Oh, and these are girl neighbors by the way. Doubly obnoxious.

**The neighbor's cat who seems to think that all yards in the neighborhood are fair game and therefore likes to present his little "gifts" that he kills in your yard. Last night, as all the kids were in our backyard playing, the neighborhood cat slinked out from behind the bushes in our garden clutching a poor, baby bird in his mouth. It was about the saddest thing I have ever seen. I, being the wuss that I am when it comes to seeing animals being killed, forced the children to chase the cat out of my yard. And then threatened them with all summer priveledges being taken away if they dared set foot anywhere near that poor birds remains. What?? You thought I was going anywhere near that bird to clean it up? Huh uh. The 6th grade neighbor "know it all" boy did it for me. Good neighborhood boy!

**The TV being off much more and the doors being left open to let in all sorts of fun creatures and critters. I'm just going to make a recording of myself for the summer screaming "SHUT THE DOOR!!!!" and run it over and over all summer from the open window so I can get on with other business.

And it's just May 9. Wow. Could be a long summer. But it'll be great.

New Job Update....

I spoke to the "head honcho" in my area this morning while I was still at home. As it turns out, there are now technically two full time positions available in the office. Recently our office underwent a major overhaul by splitting into two different buildings on campus. The new building that a portion of our office is occupying is now known as the "Admissions Welcome Center". This is where tours and counseling, etc...take place. The remainder of the staff stayed where I am right now. Last week, our front desk person resigned her position. They decided to do a little "shifting" of duties. This summer, they were going to have students staffing the front desk over at the Welcome Center and send back over the counselor they stole from us who has been filling that spot for the last two months (leaving us over here seriously under-staffed). However, they have now decided (since our front desk person resigned) to have students staff the front desk over here and open a full time position over at the Welcome Center. That is the position that I was under the impression that I would be taking when I decided to go full-time. However, another person in our office (a fairly new counselor of only three months) expressed an interest in that position; which leaves her full time position over here open. (Are you following all of this??!!) It has been decided that she will go over there and I will get to keep my current position but in a full time capacity. Which is wonderful, in my opinion. I don't have to switch buildings, learn a new job, leave my co-worker/best friend whom I have worked with for ten years.....it's all coming together for the best.

Oh!! AND, AND.....my new work space is going to be about twice the size my current one is....and I get a (drumroll please....) WINDOW!!! Oh, yeah....I'm movin' on up. Next, I'm going to demand a promotion and raise....

And it's a done deal. My director came over this afternoon and made me sign a contract. There's no turning back now. My official full-time duties commence Monday May 14. Which gives me one more full week of half time to squeeze as much love, fun, kisses and hugs with my babies. And one more Bible Study. I won't get to go to my young mom's Bible Study anymore. *sigh*. You do what ya gotta do....

Oh, and by the way....the song I have currently playing here is "The Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani featuring Akon. I'm playing it in honor of my darling baby girls who squeal with delight whenever they hear it come on. They call it "the funny song" and dance around like maniacs when it's on. My Mom told me that when they were in Wal-Mart the other day, my girls saw it come on the TV in the music area of the store and Feisty looked up at the TV and said, "That's Gwen Stefani!" Cracked.Me.Up!!

Major Life Change Ahead!

Last week my supervisor offered me a full time position in my office that just became available. I have been obsessed over the past week of nothing more than the decision that I had to make as to whether or not I should take the job. There are serious pros and cons to taking the job, but the pros won and I have accepted the job. I am not sure when it starts; I believe mid-week next week.

I am heartbroken over the fact that I will not be able to be with my girls as much anymore; but I am thankful for the four years that I have had the opportunity to work part time and be with them. Care Bear starts kindergarten next year; Feisty will hopefully be going to pre-school, so I'm trying to make myself feel better by knowing that they will be doing other things other than missing mommy while I am at work. And they will still have grandma in the afternoon.

Please pray for me as I start this new chapter in my life; that I will have peace with my decision; that my children won't resent me from being away from them more than I ever have been and that I will adjust well to working 40 hours a week again. It'll be a difficult adjustment, but one that is necessary for me and my family right now.

Thanks!

Wordless Wednesday

Feisty's Fabulous Fashion Faux PasAND "Helping" Grandma With The Groceries....Feisty Style!

I Simply Should NOT Be Allowed In The Kitchen!!

One would think that someone of the ripe old age of 32, married, with three kids would have mastered the art of the kitchen by now. Not only do I not know how to cook well (given the fact that I've actually had to award readers by helping me with recipes), but I don't know how to work a garbage disposal (since I almost lost my eye recently), and I now have a beautiful scar on the front and back of my arm from the evil monster called the oven!!

In trying to cook my children an ultra healthy meal of frozen chicken nuggets the other night, I reached in the oven to turn the nuggets over half way through their cooking cycle. Instead of taking an oven mitt (which was within arms reach of me) to pull out the oven rack to do this, I figured to myself, "Oh, I'll just stick my arm in there and turn them over." That is when a searing pain touched both sides of my arm and left beautiful marks on either side of my wrist. At first it didn't hurt too bad. Being the domesticated diva I am, I just put my wrist under cold water for awhile and figured I was good to go. Wrong! I know most of you mom's out there have probably never been in danger of a butcher knife taking out your eye or having an oven burn the life out of your arm, so you probably can't sympathize. But let me tell ya. It hurt. Within two days, I had a bubbling blister on my arm that hurt when I even tried to turn my wrist. And I now feel the need to tell anyone within arms length of me what a kitchen idiot I am lest they think I did something to purposely harm myself, because that's what it looks like.

People....Martha Stewart I AM NOT! If anyone in this world needed a maid, it would be moi! Applications now being accepted!!