Cupcake

I was sitting at the table watching Stella finish up her lunch and talking about the birthday party we were about to attend.
Me-"Stella, I don't want to go.  Maybe you could drive yourself."
Stella-"MOM!  I can't drive!"
M-"Well, if I go, you have to give me your birthday cupcake.  Is that a deal?"
S-"You're kidding, right?"
M-"I'm dead serious."
S-(nervously laughing) You're kidding!

Later on in the car on the way to the party, Stella was in the backseat, looking out the window.
S-"Mom?"  (sounding sad and really serious)
M-"Yeah? What's up?"
S-"Do I really have to give you my cupcake?"

Love it!  She had been worrying about that cupcake for 2 hours!  I feel the same way about cupcakes.

2011 Wrap Up

 Had to throw this picture in of Sophia checking out the goats at the zoo. She was pretty amazed by this view.  

 A baby Quinn is born!  We've been waiting for this little guy for a long time and he's finally here!  He looks totally different now. I will post new pictures soon.  He is ADORABLE!  

 "Mary" and "Joseph"(that's Jerome Bettis, Jr., for all you sports fans out there)

 Stella was arguing with Papa John about how barrels work at the rodeo. Yes, her room always looks like that.  (except for about 15 minutes on cleaning days)

 Gingerbread house construction

 Feeding reindeer (after Christmas eve ER visit and before mommy and daddy polished off a bottle of wine after our stressful day)

 Cookies and milk for Santa

 Opening presents on Christmas morning! So fun!

 Sisters

 Our farewell visit with best buddy

 New bedding-courtesy of Mimi Sandy

 Mimi Sandy and the girls on the porch of our new mountain vacation home.  Just kidding. We were looking and pretending.  

Date night while the grandparents are in town!  

Top 10 Lessons of 2011

1. Do not try to clean sand (or really, anything) from a potty training toddler's pants at the park.  You might get more than you bargained for.  (flashback to me, holding up my hand in horror, covered with poo at a park with no running water and Josh laughing at me)
2. Resist the urge to call 911 when your daughter has a collision with a coffee table and is bleeding out of her face.  There was a lot of blood.  It actually crossed my mind to call.  I didn't.  Instead, we made a trip to the ER and paid $845 for glue and steri strips.  Maybe resist the urge to go the ER would be another one.  
3. Don't feel guilty for not enjoying every moment of parenthood.  Thank you, Momastery.com, for pointing out the difference between the kairos(listening to them giggle and play together peacefully) moments and the chronos (doctor's office diarrhea) moments.  
4. Kids save weird things.  Cleaning out the playroom baskets is an adventure.  Twist ties, Christmas ribbon, dried play dough, paper with scribbled art work, a doll arm, an empty baby shampoo bottle...."Mom!  You can't throw that away! I was saving that!"  
5. Kids can be mean and it makes me want to hit them when they are mean to mine.  I can't help it.  I just do.  I mean, I don't actually hit them, but I want to.  Instead, I just give them dirty looks and hope their mothers aren't watching me.  You know what? I don't care if their mothers are watching me.  I'll give them a dirty look, too.
6. It is a TERRIBLE idea to take children to the grocery store after 4:30 p.m.  I don't know what happens, but they shouldn't be allowed in public places after this hour.  
7. We are not old enough to go to the  movie theatre yet.  ($27 for tickets, $10 popcorn, $7 drinks+getting there early to get good seats+1/2 hour of previews+small children=leaving after about 30 minutes after the movie begins)
8. Our kids are never going to sleep late. I must give up on this dream.
9. No matter how many times you tell them not to, kids are going to cut hair (on dolls, horses, each other) if left alone with craft scissors.  After finding little piles of fuzz, Rapunzel hair, and finally Sophia's hair, I learned my lesson and took the scissors away.  
10. Bubble baths solve all of the problems of the day.  That's why we rarely skip a bath.  They can go from chronos to kieros with a little capful of bubble bath.  :-)

FIVE

I know I am 2 months late on this one, but I have been really busy and had to find all of my notes that I have written down here and there as I think of them.  Stella turned FIVE on November 8th.  This is big.  She has been talking about FIVE since, well, since she turned 4, I guess.  (which is a long time in kid time)  Apparently, her whole world was going to change when she "got 5."  She chose to have heart shaped cookies with pink icing for her school friends and she wanted to invite Caroline and Stella P. to the zoo for her "party." Easiest. Birthday. Ever.  In fact, she is getting really easy.  So, I have compiled a list of 10 things I love about Stella.

1. She has the voice of an angel.  And she loves to use it.  She sings....and sings....and sings.  She makes up songs, she changes the words to songs, and she doesn't care where we are or who is listening. 
2. She has an amazing imagination.  Did you know that wild dogs live in our back yard and she is the only person that can tame them?
3. She is nice.  Yesterday we were at the park and this little girl was being a jerk to her and Stella just persisted and kept ignoring the little girl's disinterest in anything she had to say until the little girl gave in and played with her.  This could be a good thing or a bad thing in the future, but I was glad she didn't throw sand in her face (which is what I wanted to do) or that SHE wasn't the punk kid.
4. She's a stellar dancer.  Actually, she's a little spastic, but she dances with reckless abandon.  Kind of like her dad.
5. Her favorite character in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was the "organic snow monster."
6. She is really funny.  
7. She's going to be famous when she grows up.  Do you know how I know?  She is going to have 5 daughters when she grows up and their names are: Amelia, Pepper, Suzanne, Suzanne, and Pumpkinhead
8. She LOVES cowboys and horses.  That's cool. 
9. She's brave. She got up on stage as Mary in her school Christmas play in front of about 200 people and entertained the crowd without a bit of nervousness.  She wanted to rock climb at the zoo and I told her she was too short.  (she wasn't)  I hope my fear of pretty much everything doesn't affect her.  I hope she stays brave and fearless.  Sometimes I need to learn to keep my mouth shut and admire her fearlessness.  I love her for teaching me that.  
10. I love that she shows her love for everyone (and I mean, everyone-even the exterminator) and doesn't apologize for it.  She loves deeply, purely, happily, sweetly, and she gives hugs like she will never let go.  I know one day she will, so I'll cherish those hugs for as long as I can get them.