Robby is One!

We celebrated Robby's birthday with a Where the Wild Things Are themed party.

My brother bought a tap for the keg that was shaped like a Wild Thing.

That's right, a keg at a one year old's party.

This event was orchestrated by my brother.

He is a social person.

He enjoys a theme.

He was highly disappointed when the tap didn't actually fit on the keg.  

He rallied though and handed gold glitter crowns to all of the guests.

Our precious boy had a Max crown.

He liked the icing! 

He did so well at his first party.

He smiled, laughed, and let everyone else do the heavy lifting by carrying him around.

Last Saturday we braved the mall so Jane could get her beloved Santa picture.  

Robby had a total meltdown and my mother was running in circles behind the camera guy screaming, "Just take it!  Take the picture!!! Quickly...Now!!!"

I saw one of my oldest friends, J.D.

He is a good 5 inches shorter than me, and we went to our first dance together in 9th grade.  The photographer brought out a ladder for me to sit on and he stood behind me.

We were teased like you wouldn't believe over that picture.  It was hysterical.

We were fairly confident 14 year olds and just rolled with it.

24 years later and we decided to recreate it for giggles.

On Sunday we took Genevieve to see the Winterlights display at the IMA.  

It was so pretty and fun.  

We started at 5, and G brought a stuffed flamingo.

I brought a stroller mostly because I thought she would be cold and cranky.

I bundled her up and laughed at how big she looked in that thing.

They had spiked hot chocolate (Peppermint Schnapps) and hot apple cider (Bulleit bourbon).  Trinity raved over it and said he really did not understand how he had been drinking cider for so long without bourbon.  

It was so charming and they had the Lilly house all decorated.  

G toured it without drama.  I tried to take her in about 2 summers ago and she got too handsy and the docent asked us to leave.

I was super proud that day.

We are ready for Thanksgiving and then the Christmas season.  

Genevieve and Violins, not Violence

I shall write more about my child, as I seemed to have lost my own identity.

Just kidding.

Kind of.

There has not been a lot of personal Betsy excitement recently, but life with G continues to be entertaining.

She had her 5 year checkup and she was not short on drama-

Being the stellar mother that I am, I had promised her that she would not receive any shots at this appointment.

Why did I make such a ludicrous promise?

I have no idea.

I do not make a habit of promising things that I have no knowledge of, but for some reason in my mind it made perfect sense that this appointment would be shot-free.

I was wrong.

Drama!

She did handle it well and I learned a valuable lesson.

Don't talk about something I know nothing about.  I'll probably forget that lesson in 10 minutes.

We had a family date a few weeks ago to see the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in concert.

It catered to children and we crafted a fish to use during the performance.  

Trinity took his ladies for our first experience at Fogo de Chao, the Brazilian Steakhouse.

They should just call it, "Bring da Meats."

We discovered our child is a serious carnivore.

She continuously flipped her "overeating pass" to green so the waiters would bring her more meat.

Her father was in heaven and I was appalled as I stuck with the salad bar and various cheeses.

Exhibit A: my precious girl gnawing on some sort of meaty bone like she's a rabid dog.

Not unlike her father, she finally stopped by groaning, clutching her stomach and exclaiming, "oooooh, my meat belly!"

For shame.

We finally accomplished our annual tradition of her birthday picture at the IMA. 

Genevieve and I started taking violin lesson at the Indianapolis Suzuki Academy in August.  I say I am taking lessons as well because the Suzuki method is rooted in serious parental involvement.  Now I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but I'm putting forth my best efforts in hopes that my child will be performing on a cruise ship in the Bahamas in 20 years and her father and I can travel on the Carnival Cruise line for free.  

I kid.

She loves it and these people are serious!

She attends a private and a group lesson weekly.  I fastidiously take notes and try not to look like a rhythmically challenged doofus.

Her teacher is very focused on the correct posture, so she practiced her posture using a cake box with a ruler attached for 2 months.  

This really isn't a joke.

It was adorable.

Last week Miss Rachel told her she was ready for an actual violin.  

She sized her after her lesson and instructed me to get a 1/10 size violin, which I added to my notes.

It is approximately the size of the violin that Chester Cricket would play if he didn't already have his amazing cricket legs.  If I confused you, go read the classic children's tale, The Cricket in Times Square.

You're welcome.

We celebrated that her (our) daily practice with a cake box violin had paid off with dinner at The Cake Bakeshop.  

We went on November 1st, so it was the first day with their Christmas decor all aglow.

We had the place to ourselves and it was magical!  

G made out with the mechanical reindeer.

On Saturday morning we trekked to Indianapolis Violins to get her instrument.

I loved the owner/violin maker/Geppetto.

He was so kind and explained the proper care of G's delicate violin.  

He actually makes the instruments here, and it was like stepping back in time.

I told T I felt like we were in an episode of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood from 1972.

I was Lady Evelyn.

He was Mr. McFeely.

I am also totally normal.

She proudly took to the streets of Indianapolis to panhandle with an open violin case.

I think I've hit my quota of sarcasm for today.  I'll stop.

She was so proud!

We practiced her posture with the real thing!

That evening Trinity and G attended the Rootin' Tootin' Hoedown Father Daughter Dance at St. Jude.  

They had a ball and so did I.

I hung with my friends Will Truman, Grace Adler, Karen Walker, Beverly Lesley and Woodchuck Cider.  Woodchuck is my favorite.  

Wellie's Birthday visit

We wrapped up our Pennsylvania road trip with a 2 night visit to Wellie.  We blew in the day after her birthday, so we brought the party!

G was disappointed that we couldn't put 94 candles on the cake.  

Wellie was decked out for Halloween, including balloons and spookies.  

I glittered hair to keep things festive.  

Wellie loved her new unicorn pink hair.  

G and Wellie are two peas in a pod.  They play so well together.  Wellie could be a 5 year old or Genevieve could be 94.  

The next day we played games.  

The angle of this picture makes me look like a circus sideshow act.  

G trick or treated with all of us in Wellie's living room.  Rose got all of the candy and toys for her.  

The girls spent a lot of time outdoors too.

They crafted and colored quite a bit.  

We do love our precious Wellie!