Mamadavia's birthday

Ah, it was my birthday this weekend and it was a wonderful day with a few lessons splattered amongst the fun.
I got a great gift from all the little chipmunks, a NAP! wow priceless! Dave was working and all three kids napped, it was great! By all my !! You can see my excitement and enthusiasm over this gift that i didn't even ask for, but so greatly appreciated.
We went to a wonderful Irish Pub for dinner. Lesson #1 Pack soft toys for Theodore to play with when we are out. Yes, she has learned to bang everything! She also is throwing things on the floor. While i know better then to pick these things up and give them back to her, Alvin does not. She had fun having him pick up after her.
Simon is our moocher, she ate all but one of the cucumber slices out of our salads. Then she just had to have a shrimp as well. Lesson #2 Don't feed a moocher, they just come back for more. Trust us, we know.
As we left (through the bar) Dave was carrying Theodore, and an obviously drunk young man says from across the room that she is "the prettiest girl in the world". OK, you're hitting on my 6m old? LOL glad Dave was holding her, it was a little weird but once we got out the door we laughed. Lesson #3 Um, keep my girls away from drunk men.

Once outside and laughing, Alvin says "i smell smoke" "who's smoking". Who is he, Smokey the Bear? So, as i am explaining laws and such i see the guy who is the offending smoker. He is having is smoke around the side of the building in a patio area. So, he says "hi" and at that point i am pretty sure he heard everything.

It is about that point i realize that we are no longer "cool". We pack up our minivan and now i am sure i am not cool.

Veggie Dessert

We all know the rules, eat your veggies.....finish your dinner and THEN you can have dessert. That's how is is supposed to work, but what do "they" say about the best laid plans?

Simon being the typical dramatic 3 year old girl, can go from smiles and laughing to tears over something in 10 sec flat. It usually takes 4 or 5 repeats before we can understand what the problem is over the heaving cries Then when she finally can articulate actual words we hear "i forgot to put on my make up" (on the way home from being out, and she only wears lip gloss) or "i wanted to wear my dancing shoes". We have found that girls really can create their own drama.

On our way home from eating out one night, she has one of these hysterical crying episodes and she says (you have to remember to heave at least twice when you read this) "I FORGOT TO EAT MY SALAD".  We assured her that there would be many other opportunities to eat salad but that one was over.

So, this weekend we had a party to celebrate both girls getting dedicated and Mamadavia made this fabulous cake

Simon was very excited to have a slice of this sweet delight. As every good mom would, i made sure she had a decent dinner that she felt was just a waste of her time. After coming up to me no less then 10 times, it was finally time to cut the cake and she was first in line. She promptly ate all the icing and filling and then left the cake.

Well, next thing you know she is having some chips and salsa (it's a party and all the food is still out) and then a huge plate (well huge for a 3 year old) of vegetable and dip. Then she was done and could relax.
I am beginning to think that i should just give her dessert for dinner and her dinner for dessert!

Counting and Driving

Alvin, when he was still my little guy..........today he reminded me a few times how grown up he is getting............or not.

He was spending time with his younger sisters and Simon was watching a PBS show. In the show they were counting and his looks at me and says "why are they counting my ones, it would be much easier if they counted my 10's or 2's or 5's"

Later in the morning he says "when i am 19 will i be able to drive" and i said "i sure hope so, where would you want to drive to?" he said maybe down town (okay "downtown" is 6-7 blocks away is a block long, not even a traffic light) then he said "maybe i will ask my friend (the neighbor) and we can go around the block". Ah, if his world would only stay that small.

Nicknames

You always have those little endearing names for your babies when they are little. They are such a bundle of cuteness their actual name doesn't quite seem to do them justice. So, we come up with all these cute nicknames..........and with each kid i have felt a need for them to have their own special nickname that i use only for them. There are others that i have called all of them but......

For Alvin it was doodle bug which was quickly shortened to "doodle"
For Simon it was Bug-a-boo which i shortened to "bug" or "bugga"
And lastly for Theodore it is "Boo Boo" like in Boo Boo Bear (we saw Yogi when she was really small) which, obviously becomes "Boo" when i shorten it.

What i didn't notice until tonight is that they piggyback each other "doodle bug a boo boo", how odd is that? That was me, not even trying.

OSHA and Zoo

Ah, spring has arrived! I wasn't sure of it until i noticed Simon's hair, the increased curl is evidence of the passage from dry winter air to humid spring/summer air. (if i had a dime for every time i was asked if i curl her hair)

 Other happenings at the Chipmunks house:

We have a new OSHA director, Alvin.      

Now he has always made a sign saying "wet floor" when he helps wash the floor, and to his credit the floor really is WET when he is done. This week he took it to a new level and made this sign

I interpret it as "stop or you'll slip", evidently we have moved to more universally recognized signs in our home.

"Family Fun Day" destination was the Zoo

........felt a little bad for the giraffe i don't think licking the pole will satisfy his hungry belly.
We saw lions and tigers and bears (polar bears to be specific) and monkeys too. We have a picture of those monkeys that Alvin took, unfortunately it doesn't meet BCC (blog communication comission) standards.

Theodore was pleased to showcase her purple stroller and her animal sounds as well.

 Ever been in a monkey house when they are all going crazy? On the way home i feared a monkey may have made it's way into our van, but the sounds were truly only coming from one source.

One more picture to share, a few days before mothers day Simon brought me some "special flowers" as she called them. I offered to hire her out to a friend who wanted to get rid of some weeds, but we really still need her here.......we have lots more "special flowers" for her to pick.