Happy [Belated] Birthday, Lil' P

Don't worry. The celebration wasn't belated... just the reporting of it...

I don't know where to begin.

First of all, I've been feeling very nostalgic about my baby's birthday this year. She is 4 now. She will start Pre-K in the fall (er, late summer). I will no longer have her all to myself three days a week. She will likely learn to read very soon. She is grasping pre-reading concepts very well. She will become even more independent. But she will always be my baby.

Saturday, the day before her birthday, we went to the Georgia Aquarium as a family. This seems to be somewhat of a birthday tradition for us. Starting with when we took Evan to the Aquarium for the very first time on his first birthday. His sister was 4 weeks old, so we left her home with GranNan and Poppy and had some special bonding with our birthday boy. So, this year, it seemed fitting to celebrate there with P.

The kids both thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lil' P even got a special birthday cupcake when we took a break for lunch.

It was a good outing. Until.... When it was time to leave, we headed out through the gift shop and noticed that the rains had started coming down. These rains had been predicted. I don't know why we weren't better prepared. But we weren't. We had no umbrella.

So, I stayed in the gift shop with the kids while their sweet, sweet Daddy, who would do anything for them (all of us, really) paddled out into the rain to get the car. He called me when he was close, and we headed out to meet him. If you've been to the Aquarium, you know that no door is anywhere close to any street. So we had to run for it. Corin left the car, grabbed an umbrella and came to meet us.

But it was too late. Pressley had gotten wet.

For most children, certainly for our first-born child, this would be NO BIG DEAL. But for our Sweet P, it was the END OF THE WORLD. She cried like her heart was broken. "I'm wet! I have to change clothes when we get home!! There is water in my HAIR!!! And on my skirt!!"

Bless her heart. She finally calmed down a little, but I just hope the incident didn't ruin the whole experience for her.

On Sunday, we celebrated her birthday all day. She got to pick where we would eat lunch after church. Moe's, of course. Then we went home for quick naps before turning back around to head to Monkey Joe's for the party.

You may recall that Monkey Joe's is not historically one of her favorite places. But here's the deal: She wanted to have her party at Candler Park again this year - just like last year. Which I thought was great, because here is the thing about a birthday party at Candler Park: It is FREE. But what should have stood out to me was that we had great weather last year, and what are the chances of that happening two years in a row. Slim to none, right?

Right!

So, the forecast was 40-50% chance of showers for Sunday. After not sleeping the prior Sunday night and Monday night, I knew we had to do something. We talked about it Monday and Tuesday, and on Wednesday, we made the decision to move the party indoors. By then, the two other jumping places (without giant scary purple monkeys) were booked up. So, I had given Pressley an option: A) We could have the party on her birthday at Monkey Joe's and do our best to keep Monkey Joe away from her; or B) We could wait 10 more bedtimes (that is how she judges a day) and move the party to the next weekend. Since 10 more bedtimes is a lifetime in the eyes of an almost-four-year-old-anticipating-her-birthday, she chose Monkey Joe's.

The party was a big success - even though the weather turned out to be gorgeous. (I was consoled by the memory of the giant mud puddle that totally stressed me out last year and was surely present this year as well on account of the torrential downpours from Saturday.)

And even though Monkey Joe was an ever present source of contention throughout the party.


After Monkey Joe's, all the local family came over to the house to eat pizza and watch P open her gifts. She got lots of fun stuff and was excited by pretty much all of it. But, when my sister's family had to leave (on account of my nephew taking the CRCT the next day), we all ventured out onto the front porch to tell them goodbye.


The ulterior motive of all venturing out to the front porch to tell them goodbye, was the opportunity to show her the new bike that was sitting out there waiting for her. The problem with the way we did it was that she was very confused. She couldn't figure out why someone would leave a perfectly lovely princess bike just laying around like that. Bless her heart. As we finally explained enough that she started to figure it out, she said very slowly, "So, you mean this is my bike?" And then came the grin. The all-over-the-face-kind-of-grin that makes a mommy and daddy SO happy to have made their baby happy.

Happy Birthday, precious Pressley. Mommy and Daddy love you very much!

(Many, many more pictures at the April '10 tab above. Including a close-up of my first-ever two-tiered birthday cake, featuring Jasmine - the princess du jour.)

Annie and other inanities

The Easter Bunny brought the movie "Annie" to Pressley in her Easter basket. I have been looking forward to watching the movie with the kids, even after Corin pointed out that the Easter Bunny got the 1991 version of the movie with Kathy Bates and not the original version with Carol Burnett. Corin was out tonight, so the kids and I had movie night with "Annie".

So, now I shall share my thoughts on the re-make of one of my favorite childhood movies. (I was always real mad that I didn't have red hair as a child because I thought that was all that was standing between me and my dream of playing Annie on Broadway. Little did I realize that my inability to carry a tune in a bucket at that age was likely a much bigger obstacle.)

Pros: 1) I appreciated the fact that Ms. Hannigan was not slogging away on a fifth of whiskey through most of the movie as Carol Burnett's version of the character was prone to do. That might be a little hard to explain to the kids. 2) I really appreciated the fact that this movie did not contain any scenes where the fake parents actually absconded with Annie for some period of time and chased her through a construction site, or up a ladder or across a train trestle. I really don't remember the specifics, but I remember it was high and precarious and dark and scary and always made me very uptight. And Pressley is easily made uptight about those sorts of things, so it was nice to not have her clutching me through the last 20 minutes of the movie like she did during "Up."

Cons: 1) It was not the original. 2) They omitted the "Dumb Dog" song. Helllooo.... Why would they do that? Sing it with me now... "Dumb dog. Why are you followin' me? I ain't got a crumb, dog. So how about letting me be? I ain't gonna feed you. Don't have a snack for you. HHmmm, hmmm. Dum, dum, dum, dum, for you..." OK. So, I forgot some of the words, but how will I ever re-learn them now, when the only version of the movie in my house fails to include such an important element? 3) There is no scene in the pool with young Annie sporting a bathing cap. Crying shame, really.

I could go on with the cons, but really, the re-make was pretty decent. I mean, it did still feature "Hard Knock Life" and "Never Fully Dressed without a Smile." (Have I shared too much?)

Seriously, I can't believe I just wrote a whole post on the movie "Annie." This is what insomnia the night before throwing a party for 26 four-year-olds will drive a grown woman to. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go back to bed and stare at the ceiling and worry about how exactly I'm supposed to cut the tiered cake that I just made to serve the maximum number of party guests. Or maybe I'll worry about how much Monkey Joe's will charge me for the 2 extra guests I might have. Or maybe I'll worry about how I've been blowing my diet all day today by eating sushi and untold nibbles of the pound cake I cut off to try to prevent the cake from being lopsided. (Totally lopsided anyway. I should have left those shavings on there and saved myself the calories.) Or how I intend to continue blowing my diet tomorrow by having a piece of pizza and a piece of cake. Or maybe I'll worry that I've become one of those people who can't just enjoy her kid's birthday without obsessing over the number of calories it may cause her to ingest.

Oh, so much to worry about and so few hours before morning....

Hey, on a positive note, now I don't have to say I wrote a whole post about "Annie." Now I can title the post, "Annie and other inanities."

See what happens when I come to the computer after my bedtime?

Goodnight.

Inside her brain

I'm trying to get ready for Pressley's birthday party this weekend. Part of the prep is getting the frosting transfer ready for her cake. She wants Jasmine on her cake this year, so a couple of days ago, I found a couple of coloring book pages that I thought I could use. I decided to let her choose which one she wanted on the cake. So I showed her the following two pictures:

(I know the quality is poor. And, I tried and tried to get them to show up next to each other, but as we all know, I'm technologically challenged and that was apparently beyond my skill level.)

I asked her which one she would like on her cake. She laid them side by side and thought for a moment.

"Welllll," she said. "When she's doing this [pointing to the top picture above], she looks like a kid. But when she's sitting at her mira, she looks like a princess. And she needs to look like a princess. So, I guess this one [pointing at the bottom picture above]."

Alrighty then. Decision made. And good to know that lying on one's tummy with ankles raised and crossed makes one look like a kid. I think I may start trying that as I approach my forties. See if it makes me look more youthful.

Stay tuned for pictures of the cake. (But if you think I'm doing that vanity, you've got another think coming. There will be Jasmine and there will be something for her to perch on. That is it. I hope she still looks like a princess when the "mira" is out of the equation.)

** Just one more little note. My spell check just informed me that I don't even know how to spell technologically-challenged on my own. So sad when a once-bright mind goes dim...

Siblings

I have been wanting to write this post for a long time, but for some reason, I've just been having such a hard time getting to the computer. (Incidentally, if you are wishing I would post more often, feel free to contribute to my laptop fund!!)

I digress. I have been so enjoying this stage in the kids' relationship as brother and sister. Evan and Pressley are so sweet together (most of the time) these days. They are very playful and loving. And he is very protective - well, unless he is tormenting her. Which brings me to the first story I wanted to share

While we were on Spring Break a couple of weeks ago, the kids enjoyed playing on the beach and in the pool together. Last summer, both were strong swimmers, but Pressley seems to have forgotten that she can swim. In fact, she said one day in amazement of another little girl her age in the pool, "Look, Mommy...that little girl can swim!" Ummm, I answered... "So can YOU!"

But she was having none of it. The pool was a "lagoon" pool and was centered around two small "islands". Evan enjoyed swimming back and forth to the islands, but Pressley wouldn't leave the security of the steps. (Even though toward the end of the trip, she was swimming on the surface of the water. It just happened to be the surface above the steps.) Anyway, Evan decided Pressley shouldn't have to miss the islands and the waterfall, so he decided he would carry her there across the shallow end. Then he decided he would play a good old fashoined game of UPsy Daisy with her. It went something like this....Step, Step, Step, Dunk (as he said UPsy daisy); Step, Step, Dunk; Step, Dunk; Dunk; Dunk; Dunk. The closer together the dunks (and the UPsy daisies) got, the more she sputtered. Mom and dad and I - through our laughter - were yelling, "Evan! No! Stop sweetie! She can't breathe!" When he finally stopped and deposited her safely on the steps, she looked at us, bewildered, and said (not really so mad as she was confused), "Why did Evan keep ducking me under the water and saying upsy daisy? He just kept doing it and saying upsy daisy! Just ducking me under and saying upsy daisy...."

Ahhh, siblings.

Then, we were at church last Wednesday night. After our activities were done, I was letting the kids run around and play in the courtyard outside while I chatted with my mom. (I like to wear them out before I bring them home whenever possible, and this night I knew Corin was working late and I'd have the bedtime shift by myself...) So they were playing and Pressley tripped over a seam in the sidewalk (she is her mama's child) and splatted on the pavement. I tried - I really did - not to react. But I knew it hurt. After I stifled a gasp, I tried the whole, "You're OK. Hop up and brush it off" thing, but it was too late. She'd heard the stifled gasp and she knew her knees and elbow were scraped. She ran to me and climbed up in my lap, howling.

Sweet little Evan (of recent dunking fame) came running over with concern in his eyes and gently placed a hand on each of her knees to keep the air from getting to her scrapes. They both stayed like that for a few seconds and then Pressley let go of me and leaned over to him and just hugged him and held him. It melted my heart. A precious moment indeed.

Ahhh, siblings.

When we go to the shoe store and the cashier gives her stickers, she asks if she can also have some for her brother who is at school. (And she doesn't ever keep them for herself.) He helps her get buckled in her carseat and sometimes even unbuckles her without being asked. She cheers for him at his basketball and soccer games. He tries to teach her to read.

Ironically, since I started this post, they have been fighting like cats and dogs. Despite the fact that Pressley has been at Berry with me this weekend and Evan has been home with his dad. You'd think they would have missed each other.

I have threatened to make them eat dinner alone in their rooms. Threatened to make them go to bed early. But the best thing I could have done is just what I did. Sit right here and finish this post and remind myself that I am really fortunate (and maybe we're even raising them right) that they love each other as much as they do.

I am optimistic that as they grow up, no matter how much they bicker, they will always love each other deeply, protect each other fiercly, enjoy each other's company, and yes, even torment each other from time to time. Because, after all...that's what siblings are for. Right?

Easter festivities

We had a really lovely Easter celebration here in the McCarthy house. I already told you about the egg hunt we had at church on the Saturday before Easter. After we got home, the kids and Corin dyed some eggs. After bedtime, the Easter Bunny paid a visit to the kids. When they woke up, they were very excited about their goods. Lots of candy, a movie for each, a new Wii game (which, come to think of it, we still haven't opened to play), etc. Then we went upstairs to get dressed for church...(And we made it to the 9:00 service more or less on time, which is a feat in and of itself.)

This is the first year that I haven't completely obsessed about making sure that the kids' Easter outfits coordinated. And, wouldn't you know it...it is the first year I've gotten a photo of both of them looking at the camera in the same picture. Go figure. Oh, well. It's not like the clash, but they don't go. On another note, please note Evan's tucked-in shirt and his big boy belt. I typically get him a sweater vest so I don't have to fool with making him keep a shirt tucked in. But, seeing as he's almost six, I figured it was time he learned to tuck in a shirt and buckle a belt. Seriously. I know that is sad that I didn't tackle this issue before now, but I'm in a place where I like to pick my battles.

Then, for the third year in a row, we had my side of the family over for the Easter meal. This year we got together for dinner rather than lunch, and I inadvertently made Corin do the lion-share of the work by suggesting we do a bunch of stuff on the grill. I promise that wasn't pre-meditated. Not because I'm above doing that to him, but because I just didn't think of it. Oh, I kid. Really the whole grill thing was a ploy to create a menu that I could eat since I'm still on this silly ever-so-restrictive diet.

Before we sent Corin out to slave away at the grill, we all went down to the grassy common area of our subdivision (which the kids call "the rocks") to let the cousins all hunt eggs. They were enthusiastic about all the egg hunting despite the fact that this time around the eggs were completely empty.

I will return shortly to report on our trip to the beach and post some pictures from that adventure.

This post was going to be about Easter...

I was all ready to post a few photos of Easter because we're back from our spring break trip and now I have an actual backlog of things to catch up on. But then I saw the line from my last post that said, "Note to self: order Pressley's...birthday party invitations before it is too late."

OK. Before you get ahead of yourself and judge me for forgetting...I did not forget. The invitations came while we were out of town. However. HOWEVER. I am glad that I did not have them pre-printed, because while we were on vacation, I got an e-vite from two families of kids in Pressley's class at school who are co-hosting a party for their two sons on the same day that I was planning to have Pressley's party. So, I spent quite a few minutes obsessing about the situation. Aloud. To my mother. Who graciously pretended to care.

And then. AND THEN...

Lo and behold I got another e-vite from another mother of a classmate of Pressley's inviting us to her birthday party on the alternate date I had finally settled on. After all the obsessing. Could I have worse luck? I mean, when am I supposed to have a party for this child without totally annoying all the other parents who now already have 3 presents to buy within the two weekend span surrounding Pressley's birthday??

And, I thought maybe we could get away with only inviting gymnastics friends and church friends and only a few friends from school who are closest to her. But dang it if she doesn't take after her mother (ahem) and feel as if everyone she knows should be involved in celebrating her birthday!

I think I have settled on having her party on a Sunday (which would never be my first choice, but does have the advantage of being her actual birthday), and just throw caution to the wind. As long as we invite everyone she knows, she may be so distracted by the guests who do show up that she won't notice the ones who don't come because their parents didn't want to buy one more friggin' birthday present for the last weekend in April and the first weekend in May.

Oh. And now my invitations are going to go out 5 days later than the ones for the double party that will take place one day before. And I thought being a lawyer was hard. This super-mommy thing is a chore!

I promise to tackle the backlog of pictures tomorrow. But now I have a backlog of shows on the DVR that are not going to watch themselves....

What happened to the last two weeks of March?

Could it seriously be April already? I'm not complaining, mind you. Because April brings Easter, spring break at the beach, Pressley's 4th birthday, and SPRING! But, am I the only one that April totally snuck up on? (Note to self: order Pressley's Princess Jasmine birthday party invitations today before it is too late!)

Corin has taken the kids to play basketball, so I find myself with a few quiet moments, and I have chosen to spend them updating the blog. You're welcome.

We've had some serious fun around here lately. Evan has started playing spring soccer. He is loving it. Last spring, he totally hated soccer. This season, he is exhibiting mad skills, persistence, enthusiasm... he is a totally different kid out there.

Last weekend, we went to Knoxville to see Gran and Grandaddy, and of course, Lilly. The kids had a great time. That trip officially kicked off our Easter celebration.

We have been trying to really make sure the kids know that Easter is not just about eggs and bunnies and new outfits for church. But this is a tough one for me. Christmas is easy. The birth of a baby who would later become our savior. Warm and fuzzy. But, Easter.... Easter is heavy stuff for kids. For any of us really. I'm trying, nonetheless.

While in Knoxville, we attended a lovely Palm Sunday mass and dyed Easter eggs. Pressley looked up at the crucifix at the front of the church and whispered loudly, "Everybody loves Jesus because he's up there on the cross." Or something along those lines. Precious. It is probably about as deep as her understanding can be at not-quite-age-four. But I'm glad she understands that we love Jesus and he died on the cross. Evan's understanding is a bit more sophisticated. He understands that Jesus died, but then rose again on the third day. So, we're getting there.

Anyway, we had a great time in Knoxville, and the kids enjoyed dying eggs with Grandaddy. And they had a big time, as always, playing with Lilly. I'm quite sure that Lilly must breathe a sigh of relief when we leave.

Is this the cutest picture of the kids, or what?


And here they are dying their eggs....

Today, we continued the Easter festivities with the annual Easter Egg Hunt at Briarlake. I didn't get many photos of the actual hunt, because....HOLY chaos, batman! I've never seen eggs disappear so quickly in all my life. The hunt seems to get bigger each year. The church volunteers hide roughly 6000 eggs. I don't know how many kids were there this year, but our gym seats 300-400, and let's just say I hope the fire marshall wasn't around this morning, because there were WAY more people than that packed in there. There were age-graded hunts, and our kids were luckily participating in the same hunt: for 3 year olds through kindergarten. (Although, I must say that there were some extraordinarily tall "kindergartners" out there....) Poor Pressley was so overwhelmed by the speed with which the hunt evolved that she just stood there with her basket, near tears, and whined, "I can't find any eggs, Mommy! I can't find any eggs!" Until super-daddy came to the rescue, grabbed her hand and ran with her to the land of milk and honey, just beyond where the throngs of kids were sweeping through picking up every egg in sight.

All in all, it was a great success. And then we got to eat lunch with the cousins, so the kids were happy as clams.

Still on today's agenda: dye more Easter eggs, cook dinner, clean the house (or at least straighten the piles of clutter) before the family comes over tomorrow night, stuff sweet tarts and gummies into plastic eggs, stuff plastic eggs (and other goodies) into Easter baskets, lay out (and maybe even iron) Easter outfits, scrub Easter tattoos off two little arms before said little arms go into sleeveless dress and short-sleeved shirt tomorrow for church.... I'm exhausted just thinking about it. I better go spend my remaining quiet moments resting up.

Happy Easter, yall. Do try to spend some time reflecting on the true meaning of it all and thank your Lord for paying the ultimate sacrifice for each of us.