More Birthday Fun

Genevieve and I spent some time at the Children's Museum recently.  I stopped for a Starbucks and ordered a child sized milk. This tiny cup is so cute.

This photo is staged.  

I dumped that milk in her cup or she would have dumped it down her lap.  

Liam and Jamie joined us.  Genevieve continues to be totally enamored with this big boy.

We dinosaured it up.

I didn't even know this part of the museum existed.  I'm so smart.

Thanks to Liam after about 20 minutes we were ready to receive our paleontology degrees.

I also picked up T's cake to celebrate with his parents.

I mentioned my husband like running as a possible theme for the cake.

This might be the most heinous cake in history.

It looks like the male icon from a public restroom is running from a disaster.

Abby and Papi arrived with presents.

The birthday boy chose dinner.

Since he's all kinds of fancy we had tamales from The Tamale Place. 

Our fancy dinner was followed up with some dancing.

I turned on some 60s girl groups and Abby and Papi started rocking.

2 steps in and Genevieve would not be left in the corner.

Abby also showed G how to use our pillars for leg lifts.

Those ugly things should be used for something, I suppose.

Other than supporting the ceiling.

I forgot candles so Abby improvised with a lit match.

2 more weeks until our next birthday!

Genevieve is 2 on September 14th.

Going to "School"

My hiatus is due to busy days of school for both me and the little Lady G.  

I like to snap pictures of Genevieve most days to send to her grandparents.  Earlier this week I teared up a bit looking at how toddlerish my baby is.

She wears a backpack now, for crying out loud.  

She also talks in semi complete sentences.

"Coffee, hot!  Mama, careful!"

We ride the elevator sometimes at school, mostly because I like to laugh about how she follows school rules, even when it's just the two of us.

When her entire class rides the elevator, they all must sit down for safety.  

I love this picture below because it shows a hint of…

CURLS!

It appears that my precious is starting to get some curliness/waves to her hair.  

I could not be more thrilled.

She also has my lower lip issue.

I'm kidding.

She's actually sticking hers out.

I look like this full time.

We also celebrated Trinity's 38th birthday yesterday.

G was the birthday presenter.

That's all I've got right now.

No funnies.

We have some adventures planned in the upcoming weeks so I'll share those soon.

Church Festival

On Friday evening I strayed from G's usual 7 p.m. bedtime.

Gasp!

It was Friday night, after all.  She didn't go to bed until 8:30!

She still woke up at her usual morning time, further affirming my thoughts that children need routine early bedtimes.

I will step down from my soapbox now.

We went to Augustravaganza at Nativity Catholic church, where my friend Jenny is a member.

I was very uncertain about putting my child on a ride solo, but then I remembered that those carnies who work the rides are totally trained and are professionals.

Fish!  Fish!

We met Jenny and Jason and Genevieve thinks that anything Margo can do is amazing.  Margo is 3.

G was all about the carousel.  I was all about the beer tent.  I just oozed class as I spun and sipped.

We rode the carousel 4 times.

Then she showed Margo the ropes on the fish ride.

She has not done a lot of shoulder riding, but this was certainly the perfect venue for such shenanigans.  I love how she is clutching T's forehead.  

Saturday was rainy and cruddy.

I tried to explain that "outside!" was not in the cards for the day.

The highlight was wearing her boots.  She loves those things.  

We loaded the car to go to the art museum and sadly discovered that we had locked ourselves out.  T then set off the alarm by opening the garage door into the backyard.  The alarm company called, and apparently I gave the wrong passcode.

The heat showed up about 5 minutes later as we pondered what to do, since our key holding neighbors were gone.  

This lovely police officer reported that the alarm company said the alarm was triggered and an unidentified female was unable to respond appropriately.

I am said female.

Her partner picked the lock to our back door while G enjoyed her new badge sticker and looked at all the bells and whistles on the police car.

We were so grateful for our local law enforcement officers.  

Our other feeling was pure embarrassment for being such idiots.

We crafted at the art museum.  That's all we do there.  They have an area for children that G loves.  We don't do much gallery walking. I can't risk those little fingers touching priceless art.  

T decided that he could wear the same shirt two days in a row.

I swear I do laundry.

We were stars of this temporary exhibit.

G also stood in front of the two outside.  These numbers are staggered, so this photo shoot was much easier than it was with number 1.  I could actually stand and get a picture.

Just not a good one.

G's birthday is less than a month away.  

Just in case you forgot, here is our bunny at 1 year.  

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair!

Oh, my lands, people.

I reckon I have a problem.

I'm using Little House on the Prairie lingo because we went to the state fair, and I guess farmers talk like that.

They also wear gingham shirts and some seriously bedazzled jeans.

I'm talking about the teenagers who showed their animals in the 4H competitions.

I wasn't aware that one could purchase jeans with that many rhinestones on the pockets and waistband.  I'm thinking  a glue gun and a trip to Hobby Lobby was required.

Anyway, that's not the problem.

The problem is that my soon to be two year old won't ride in a stroller.

We have a possible trip to DisneyLand in our near future, and if she can't sit her rear in the Britax for a twirl around our state fairgrounds then I think we are in trouble.

But the day started out just in the most merry of ways.

The biggest boar was fine.  

The goats were fine.  

We practiced our animal sounds as we sashayed around the sheep, cow, goat and pig barns.  

Notice I'm holding her or am touching my toddler in some way in all of these pictures.

Well, you know what?

Mama Long Arms got tired.

I mean real tired.

Back to farmer speak.  

I became so tired after trekking through hay and animal byproducts while balancing a 31+ lb child on my hip that I had the audacity to put her down.

Well, my friends, things went poorly.

The hallelujah dance commenced.

This is where she raises her arms in the air, stomps her feet, and  starts speaking in tongues.

It may also be known as a tantrum.  

We then tried to put her in the stroller.

Alas, a great impersonation of Linda Blair in The Exorcist was witnessed by all fellow fairgoers.  

I really don't know how she can arch her back that far while keeping the back of her head and her feet in the stroller. 

My husband is a big fan of ignoring inappropriate behaviors, while I cluck and wring my hands like the world is ending.  

We proceeded to stroll the state fairgrounds while our child flung herself forward as if she would break free from her chains, God willing.

She screamed her face off, 

red faced and drooling as we passed fellow toddlers strolling and clapping.

Didn't  she know this was supposed to be fun?

I might as well have been flogging her with the state's largest corn dog or breaded tenderloin.

She finally wore herself out after about 30 minutes of screaming.

Here is the aftermath.

She sucked down a vanilla milkshake, because I like to reward atrocious behavior.  

I was so frazzled that I was unable to purchase and enjoy my annual elephant ear.

If she ruins my trip to DisneyLand, I may leave her in the park.

We are going to start practicing by torturing her nightly with strapped in strolls around the hood.

Our neighbors are going to love us!