Genevieve's Big Day

Genevieve turned 4 on September 14th.  We celebrated her birthday with a special party on Saturday.  This was her first party with friends.  I was worried about how to entertain children, and I was not about to go to Chuck E. Cheese.  

I Googled Princess Party and reserved some Rapunzel action.  

She showed up and she did not disappoint!  

G was absolutely enthralled.  

She told her story, sang songs, and taught the girls how to dance.  

I decided to forgo Pinterest and really went nanners with some yellow crepe paper on my pillars.  I would have had those pillars removed by now if I thought my house wouldn't fall down.  

Rapunzel brought a trusty assistant who was well trained in glitter tattoos.  

She drew quite a crowd.  

Georgia was busy observing her surroundings.  

Aunt Katie and Caroline brought the fabulous braided crown for G to wear.  It didn't last too long since it was so heavy.  

Rapunzel had an amazing voice and kept the girls entertained for an hour and a half.  She helped G open her presents, cut the cake, and play games.  

I tried to ask her a little bit about herself and she told me that she had never been out of her tower.  She would not break character.

Robby called her a female Daniel Day Lewis.  

It was a magical day for our little girl.  

We decided to torture the staff at our local hibachi grill by bringing a party of 11 for dinner.  

Katie took the picture.

What a fine looking group.  

G ate her weight in edamame, her favorite.  

Our faces with the big fire were pretty ridiculous!

This truly showcases my blow holes.  

G had a sparkly pineapple for dessert.  We were all caked out by then.

Yes, you read that correctly.  

Abby and Papi stayed the night and G opened two books from Abby on Sunday morning.  Abby brought them back from her trip to England and Scotland.  

It was a delightful day!  

Lordy Lordy Look Who's 40!

I think that cliched saying was everywhere in the 80s.  So it's only fitting that we celebrate someone who was not born in the 80s.  

Sweet Trinity turned 40 last Sunday.

On August 28, 1976 a little hairy baby entered the world in Memphis, Tennessee.  

They called him Trinity.

Trinity is still his name.

We celebrated my honey love with a family party at his parents' house.

Aunt Shirley was there, my siblings and their peeps, and my parents too.

It was a soiree.

Except you wouldn't know it, because I didn't take any pictures. 

His mother hosted a lovely party and we dined on Tennessee BBQ, T's favorite.  

I bought him a Yeti cooler that is roughly the size of my closet.  We will be exchanging that puppy for a smaller size.

He got some shirts, so he held them up proudly.  

His parents bought him a drone, so if my husband is dragged off and questioned by the Feds, it's not my fault.

Ha!

I couldn't help but chuckle thinking about how Trinity already reminds me of Phil Dunphy on Modern Family.

The episode with Phil and his drone was hysterical.  

Patsy was pretty clever with the cake.  

Genevieve loved this picture of Trinity as a four year old.  

He was quite a dapper fellow.

It is so funny that once you reach a certain age, it no longer seems old.  I will never forget my father's 40th birthday in 1988.  My mother sprayed our hair gray and we surprised him at his office.  My brother, sister, and I lured him into his boardroom and a man in an ape suit came in with balloons and cake.  I was 9 and I thought it was the coolest moment ever.  I remember all of the secretaries laughing. 

Dad is closing in on 70 now, which blows my mind.

Happy birthday, sweet T!  

Back in the Routine

I have neglected my online scrapbook since school started.  The days have flown by and I'm halfway through the first grading period!  

Genevieve absolutely loves her teacher and her new school.  We picked out a special Friday gift to send for her teacher.  

Honestly, smelly Mr. Sketch markers are the only reason I'm still teaching.  I sniff markers and it gets me through the day.

I figured that G's teacher has 20 4 year olds, so she needs smelly markers more than I do.

Ha!

We had our own Olympics at school last Friday.  My munchkins are adorable again this year and I am so happy again to be in first grade.  

Genevieve had her first soccer game last weekend.  It was rainy and was a pretty underwhelming experience.  She was in it to win it for the first 2 quarters of the game.  Then she got tired, hungry, and hot and was over it.  She stood along the sidelines and cried and generally embarrassed the hell out of me.  The other embarrassment was my most laid back father.  The man never uttered a word in years and years of what I'm sure was very frustrating athletic performances from his own children.  Alas, the man is a regular Dick Vitale at his granddaughter's peewee soccer game.  I'm talking constant commentary.  

"Well, it looks like Genevieve's not too interested."

"That one over there is going the wrong way."

"This is going to be a long game…"

Oh, Dad.  

My favorite part of the whole experience was the family in their chairs next to us.  They were eating crackers out of the box and squeezing squeezy cheese on them as if it was their last meal.  I thought they stopped making that squeeze stuff in the late 80s.   Their child ran over at one point, stuffed a cheese cracker in his mouth, and then ran back on the field.  

I giggled in silent judgement.

Then my kid lost her marbles.

Karma, people. 

Speaking of judgement, the rhythm was gonna get me at our first dance class of the 2016-2017 season.  

Thank you, Gloria Estefan.

G was reunited with Cordelia, her pal from last year.

That's Cordelia in the background, working on her chaine turns.

Her dad sometimes calls her Junior Mint.

She's a trip and a half.  

I had to google chaine turns.  It's French and I didn't imagine it was spelled shunay or Sinead, as in O'Connor. 

She opted for a more mature leotard this year.  No sequined tulle.

It really enhanced her silhouette.  

Check out that profile!

Toddler tummy out.

She's constantly stuffing animals and such under her dresses and shirts to have a baby in her belly.

There is nothing under that leotard.

Just the apple she inhaled 10 minutes before class.  

Karma got me again, people.

She was 15 minutes from the end of the class and came over and demanded a snack.  Sweet Lord, you would think she had a tapeworm.  

She snagged a box of raisins and sat down waiting for her turn to leap.  The other little girls started demanding raisins and hopping around.

I felt like I was in one of those old California Raisins commercials where they sing and dance and generally look creepy.

The only person who I don't think was judging me was Junior Mint's mom.

She announced, "y'all should know, Genevieve is ALWAYS HUNGRY."

Yes, thank you.  

Truer words were never spoken.

G's teacher posts pictures on Facebook on her private page.

G learned about sinking and floating during science last week.  

I may have her teach me that lesson, as I still haven't mastered that concept.  Buoyancy is a concept that eludes me.

I troll T's account, since I'm still boycotting FB in my own name.

Snarf!

A Bunch of Firsts!

Genevieve attended her first meet the teacher event.  She really liked Mrs. Norris.  

She has her own locker at preschool.  

She was jazzed about her very first day!  It was my 16th first day of school as a teacher.  

I chose not to photog myself.  

Her teacher uses an app to communicate and sent me this picture of my painter during the first week.  

G also had her first soccer practice on Wednesday.  She looked the part with her shin guards and cleats.  She stepped on my finger while wearing those cleats and I nearly passed out.  Those things are legit. 

Trinity has vowed to learn something about soccer.  

She really thought this was her own goal.  

Oh, I'm just acting like I always do.

I regularly balance on a ball.  

She listened attentively to her coach.  Her team is the Tomcats.  That's funny to me.  

She kept saying she was on the kitty team.  

\\

She took a lot of water breaks.  

A lot.

We hit up the IMA family day art olympics after watching the opening ceremony.

G loved this background but could not decide on a sport.  She's holding a baton and crossing the finish line while wearing a swim cap.  

She loved art and yoga outside.  

She's famous now!