Photo Archives - or I hope I can catch up on some sleep while on this vacation

These old photos are of my cousin, Maya. What I find hysterical about these photos, besides the hairdos and such, is that she is reclining in everyone. Oh, yes, there were other photos of her, but these were so much more fun!

This photo was around 1995, although I'm never sure about that date in the bottom corner. It had to be Christmas time as this is when Maya and her mother would visit us.

This is a very typical Maya and mother picture. Sometimes the roles would be reversed and Maya would be the one sitting up. They have a very special bond, and it was always easy to see that when they cuddled on the couch.




This picture was the year that Maya got her hair permed while visiting us at Christmas. It turned out all curly and made her look so grown-up. She did it before her mother arrived (I think), and I'm not sure that her mother approved.

She is in one of my brother's old beds (bunk beds) that were moved into the guest room. It was always cold down there, but a nice place to escape when the family became too much.

We are a family of readers (at least on the female side) and thus a lot of photos are of us reading. Or working a puzzle.

This picture cracks me up every time I look at it. I'm not sure if she is pretending to be asleep for my taking of the picture, or if she is pretending this so she doesn't get roped into ironing.

This is 1989, according to my father's markings on Maya's foot. Why he didn't write her name on the picture is a mystery, but when he did put her name it was usually misspelled as Mia.





This picture is the same year as the perm, I believe. It is different from above because the couch is where the chairs used to be. I think I took this picture (and the second one) because my father's markings are missing. It took me a while before I realized he was right on keeping track of people and dates on pictures.

Maya was probably watching television, and I took the picture because once again she was lying down!




Back upstairs and this time the couch is on the opposite wall in our living room, thus a different date than the other couch mother/daughter picture.

Despite all the loping around, Maya did up and off the couch to go Christmas shopping, help with the food preparation, complete a puzzle, or help make a snowman. It was because of all that activity that she had to take a rest!




The one photo I tried to find and didn't succeed in doing so is one of the first photos of her trip to Indiana. In the picture, she is, of course, lying down on the floor, her head in my lap sleeping. I actually remember that moment. My cousin lived a very different life than my own and visiting us was way out of her norm, especially since she didn't really know us well.

I remember trying hard to get her to interact with me, but she was very shy and afraid (and knowing us I did understand). When she finally got down on the floor with me and lay her head in my lap I remember feeling a sense of accomplishment, as if I had won some hard-fought battle. I also remember feeling joy in my heart that my cousin liked me, that she trusted me enough to fall asleep in my arms. I hoped this was just the beginning.....and it was.

Weekend Memories

1. She was patient while she taught them math even though they weren't interested in learning.


2. We slurped down homemade milkshakes sitting around a table, all of us together.


3. She curled against my chest, her hair tickling my nose and chin, and I hoped that it would always be like this, but I knew it wouldn't. And that made it that much more precious.


4. They swam, and my chest burst with pride.


5. "Come and watch me," she begged. "I've worked hard and I've got it this time." And she did, standing on her head in deep water, her legs straight, her toes pointed.

First Swim Meet - Summer Season 2009

Our first meet of the summer season was a hot and balmy one! This meet I decided to be the photographer instead of a timer.


While Darcy loves her swim cap (and wears it around the house), Madison abhors caps, but bravely tried one out for the meet.

It didn't last long. It fell off during warm-ups and ended up in the swim bag.

Darcy's first race in the 10 and under was 25 freestyle. That is her out there in the lead. A good race for her first meet of the season. She gets so nervous leading up to her races that I think she burns it all out in the race.

First Place and pooped!

Madison's first was the 12 and under 50 Freestyle. She reminds me of a WSI swimmer. She has beautiful, soft strokes and she just glides through the water, but the power isn't there.

Her turn wasn't bad and she started pushing it on the second lap, pulling up from fifth to finish fourth. She said she has to swim slow on the first 25 or else she "gets so tired....sigh". We tell her to use those big feet of hers.

That is her (front in the second photo) coming in to make her turn. Her friend, Heather, is the one already making the turn. Heather took first place, but it was close.

Darcy's other race was the 25 butterfly. The first year she started swimming she was determined to learn how to swim butterfly. She practiced with me in our pool over and over again. She would swim it in the meets, and I can remember thinking how cute she looked swimming it butt first.

Not anymore. That girl can swim butterfly! Her stroke was so beautiful today that I was shocked. She has been working on the stroke in practice, but this was the first time I really paid attention to her swimming it.

At first Darcy was the only girl swimming on the heat sheet, but the coaches urged two other girls from the year round team to swim. Darcy and one girl were neck and neck, but my girl pulled away in the end and got the touch for first. Tom and I were quite surprised by how good she looked in that race.

Madison's next race was the 50 breaststroke. This is definitely her best stroke, and she enjoys swimming it. I've tried working with her the last few years in this stroke, but it wasn't until she did well in a race that she realized she could benefit from my expertise.

My advice before the race:

1. Glide, don't just pull and pull and pull.
2. Stretch out that long frame of hers
3. Remember to turn and end with a two hand touch

Again she started out smooth and slow, and about half way through the second lap I remembered that I had video on my camera so I turned it on.

Wow! My girl can swim some breaststroke! Watch her start kicking some butt - she is in the third lane toward the camera. If she just had turned that power on a tad earlier, she would have taken them all out.

A great first meet for both of them! Tom and I are so proud!

Hooked on Hollywood

Since summer started, and now that I'm home and on the computer more, I find that I have gotten caught up in the lives of Hollywood's celebrities. I have read about them in magazines. I have googled them on the Internet. Now I'm about to blog about them.

• Farrah Fawcett - I'm starting with Farrah because even her death was usurped yesterday. I have been keeping tabs on her story through the Today Show and the Internet. I plan on catching the rebroadcast of her documentary, Farrah's Story, tonight on NBC. She was an icon of my generation. My brother had her famous poster on his bedroom wall. Girls in school were getting their hair done Farrah style with the feathering. My friends and I role-played Charlie's Angels, all of us fighting to be Farrah or Jacklyn Smith. She was married to my Big Valley hero, Lee Majors, and we used to fantasize a lot about their life together. Despite her traitorous walk off of Charlie Angels, I followed her life as we aged and cheered her when she finally got the accolades she deserved through television movies like The Burning Bed. I'm sorry that her life ended and especially sorry that she couldn't just have had her own tribute yesterday and today.

• Michael Jackson - The death of Michael Jackson was shocking to me. I knew Farrah was near the end and so her death wasn't unexpected, but the King of Pop? Shocking. I hadn't heard it before picking up the girls at swim team practice so I just stood there on the pool deck taking it all in when informed. I spent last night, early morning, and most of today channel surfing from station to station watching all the footage they offered. For my generation, this is Elvis dying. He was a Hoosier. I grew up listening to the Jackson 5 and later buying Michael's albums as he stood out on his own. I can still remember waiting for the premiere of his Thriller video on MTV, and then just sitting there in shock at the sheer audacity of it. He was truly one of a kind. He had a genius about him, pulled from his childlike mind. I blame his family and those around him for not protecting him more. Today the abuse he suffered throughout his family and entertainment life wouldn't be tolerated but back then I think everyone turned a blind eye. He had so many problems as an adult, although frankly, I don't think the kid every grew up.

• The Gosselin Family - The first time I saw the show Jon & Kate Plus 8 was in April. I was channel surfing during the daytime looking for something to watch while I ironed. I came upon this show and spent the entire time ironing with my mouth wide open. For some odd reason, I really thought this woman had given birth to these six children naturally, without drug influence. I couldn't believe how exhausted I was watching them get these children ready for church and a day in the park. At the time I thought the couple was odd. Their interviews on the sofa were interesting. She seemed very controlling and very much the one in charge. He leaned away from her and seemed very passive and whiny, yet he too had a controlling side. I never saw the show again until last week when I watched the episode where they claimed to be separating. I feel really terrible for the children. They didn't ask for this reality television life. Yet I like to think that the parents did it for them. You want to help your children have a better life and, let's face it, money can make life better, and reality TV brings in lots of money. Somewhere along the line the yearn for money and a better life got in the way of raising children, and that to me is the sad part. Yet I can't stop reading about these people.

This is definitely the way to go

A couple of weeks ago, I turned to the Internet for help in learning how to fold sheets. It is the most aggravating thing folding a sheet.  I interviewed several people on sheet folding before I turned to the Internet but no one could give me a way that was satisfactory.

Then I found a guy - which was surprising to me, not that I'm sexist, but really, how often do you see a guy folding sheets? - who gave a tutorial on folding a fitted sheet. I had to keep watching the videoing over and over, pausing and going back, as he was a tad too quick for me but by several views, I was an expert. I did so well with my sheet that I emptied out my entire linen closet and folded all my fitted sheets. Learning how to do this properly cut down on wasted space in my closet and now all my sheets fit so nicely inside.

I'm going to take this sheet folding act outside the house and perform demonstrations in several other homes. My sister-in-law has booked me in July to tackle her linen closet. I work cheaply in Indiana (Donut Bank donuts) so call me to get on the books.

Homeschooling - homemade pizza project

We are rolling along in the summer homeschooling program. It is interesting to me how the four kids are finding their own learning projects as we go along.

On the fourth day, one of the mothers lent us an erasable wipe board so that Madison could use it for her math class (Madison is working with the younger two on math as I am clueless in that subject and she is brilliant). Darcy and Heather were trying to figure out how to hang the board in our make-shift classroom. The dilemma was that the board only had hangers to hang it length-wise (landscape as the kids referred to it) and Madison preferred it to be hung like a regular chalkboard because she felt she had more room.

The two girls studied the board for a while. I studied the board. I suggested that since the hangers were the type that screwed into the board that they unscrew them and re-screw them back into the board on the sides that they wanted to hang. We got a hammer and did just that. Then we hung the board.

Heather: "Hey, we're doing Woodworking 101!"

Later that day, the girls paired up to make homemade pizza. Heather and Madison watched a video on the correct way to toss pizza. They rolled and rolled and spent quite a bit of time tossing the dough into the air. First Heather would take a turn and then Madison would take a turn. There was a lot of laughing, and the dough did end up on the floor twice.

Heather: "Five-second rule!"

They had a problem with the dough. Every time they would get the dough the way they wanted it, whether by tossing or rolling, they would put the dough back on the wax paper and it would shrink. They finally decided to leave the dough in a misshapen circle and began to "decorate" it with sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and olives. Once it was in the oven they felt the job was finished. They later learned that it wasn't...when I smelled it burning and took it out of the oven.

Darcy: It looks like a continent!"

The girls devoured half the pizza. The consensus was that the dough wasn't cooked enough in the middle. It was on the outside, demonstrated by the girls when they knocked it against the table edge.

They then turned the kitchen over to the younger girls for their turn at making pizza. The kitchen that was turned over to them did not resemble the kitchen that the older girls started with, however.
There was flour everywhere. Flour on the floor, flour on the cabinets, flour on every inch of the counter, flour inside of every object that happened to sit on the counter, and flour in the sink.

The younger students took it all in stride and went to work. They watched a video on the correct way to work the dough with your fingers. They both took turns following the instructions. They too had the same problem with shrinking dough that the older girls had encountered. With my help, we decided to roll the dough and then use the lip of a bowl to cut the dough into a nice round circle.

They ended up with three pizzas, one large and two mini pizzas. Two of them were cheese as Sarina is a vegetarian. The last mini pizza was for me with pepperoni and black olives.

While the pizza was cooking the younger girls, with my help, cleaned the entire kitchen. They washed every piece of furniture in the kitchen. They washed and dried utensils. They swept and mopped the kitchen floor.

The important thing was they kept checking on the pizza as it cooked. When it came out of the oven everyone felt it looked prettier than the first pizza.

The girls devoured most of the pizza and declared it "yummy".

Asked what they from their experience?

Sarina: "Always go second!"

I don't want to be royalty anymore

My dental sagas just continue. There is something about me and dentistry; like oil and water. I went yesterday to get my $1200 replacement crown. The one that I had to get to replace the first crown I had for five years. The first crown, put in by a different dentist, caused me nothing but grief from beginning to end, with a few happy years in between. This replacement crown would end that horrible chapter in my life and all would be right with my mouth.

I opted out of the needle and went for the numbing cotton swab instead. Out came the temporary crown and in went the new one. Tap, tap, tap on the red carbon paper. Drill, drill, drill to fit the new crown. Tap, tap, tap again. Drill, drill, drill again. Still not fitting properly. Out came the crown. Oh, wait, no, the crown wouldn't come out. My dentist put his gloved hand back on my crown and pulled, and pulled, and pulled. He used gauze to pull. He tried picking around the edges of my gum to unloosen it. He pulled some more with his fingers. He finally got it off with a combination of a tool and his fingers. I sighed with comic relief. And then....

Then he noticed a hairline crack in the new crown! The one I forked over $1200 for. A crack in the crown! Sort of like the reason I had to get a new crown in the first place.

Back in went the temporary crown. The new crown is off to the firing pit once again, although I'm not sure why a new crown isn't being built for that kind of money. But once again I left everything in the hands of the experts. Now I'm second guessing, while nursing a raging headache and toothache.

I would rather have a pap smear then dental work.

Weekend Memories

1. I looked in and she slept soundly, her mouth open, her arms tucked under her chin surrounded by pillows, and love swelled inside my heart.


2. The music played, and I sang loudly, not caring about who might be listening.


3. They argue with each other, but they join together when a third enters the conversation. They are sisters and that is a bond.


4. We were watching the same movie as them, only in the other room. Their smiles were so big when they saw that and joined us.


5. It is tough on this day without my own father, but watching the wonderful father that Tom has become makes it easier.

Happy Father's Day

Although my father isn't around to enjoy these photos (and enjoy them he would), I thought it fitting to post them today.

My father loved to take pictures. He carried a camera around everywhere, and if he didn't have his camera when he saw a photo opportunity we had to stay posed until he got it. We made a lot of fun of his picture taking, but looking back through my photos I'm thrilled that he took so many. Photos tell the story and bring back great memories.

This picture was taken on my birthday when I got my typewriter. He set this photo up, I'm sure, wanting to dispense fatherly advice on typing.


The one thing about my father was how funny he really was, whether intentional or not. This is a picture of him hosing the yard while it was raining. This was the kind of stuff he did that drove my mother crazy, but to us kids we thought it hysterical.

I opened the door and took this picture, surprising him. Even taken unaware the man was smiling. When he saw a camera he would just pose. Here he just pretended he was hosing down the porch because "the rain couldn't reach here".


I am very thankful that my Dad wrote on almost every photograph he took. He wrote the date, the occasion, and the names of the people in the picture. This was another thing we made fun of, but now that my memory is going as I age I'm so grateful to have that information. Now I know how old I was and can recount things from the past through a picture. He would have embraced the digital age, but he wouldn't have liked not having a picture in his hands to write on. Although, he would have loved messing with digital photos on his computer. Heck, he would have made videos of them!

This is a great picture, but I haven't a clue who took it. This is the Indiana farm that he grew up on (and died on). These are the fish he caught and documented on the photo.

I have a few memories of fishing with my Dad. I didn't much enjoy it, but I'm glad I did it. Another lesson is life that I'm glad I experienced. He made us bait our own hooks and take our fish off when we caught them, which is the part I hated. But he was also a softie and I could get him to help me out on both of those most of the time.

I think the man photographed every major day of our lives. This picture is the day I graduated from college. We are standing outside our front yard in Indiana right before leaving for the ceremony.


My father was born on the 4th of July and so it was a big day in our house. We liked to put sparklers on his cake instead of candles. He enjoyed gifts and the sillier the better. He was definitely a kids' dream because if we saw it on a television commercial during Saturday cartoons we knew he had to have it. And he loved it.

He also insisted in his photographing that we take pictures with our gifts. Every Christmas he set up all the presents we received and took our pictures next to it. I love it now looking back at the gifts and knowing when I got them. I try to do this with my own kids, but I'm not as successful as he was. This pictures is his 66th birthday. I got him the Red Cross First Aid Kit. I got on for myself too. I still have it to this day in my van.

My father was a good man. I miss him a lot. More so on this day. I miss his "Russ-isms". I miss his humor. I miss his big bear hugs and his big gnarled hands. I miss the smell of his cigar smoke. I miss his lectures.

I'm glad I have his photos.

Out of the mouths of my babes

At the grocery....

Darcy: "Oh, we need hot chocolate mix! We are out of that."

Me: "Hot chocolate? Are you crazy? It's miserably hot outside, we don't need hot chocolate."

Darcy: "But Madison and I drink it in the morning."

Me: "Honey, it is too hot to be drinking hot chocolate. I'm not buying that."

Darcy: "You drink hot coffee."

Me: "And your point is?"

Darcy: "Hot chocolate is just coffee for kids!"

Amateur Photography

I am not a photographer, but I'm trying to be one. I'm thinking of taking some classes, and my neighbor is quite helpful in passing on his photography magazines for me to read, but right now it is all off the cuff. The following photos are my attempts at capturing nature:

This photo was taken on the property where Madison had her speech contest. My car was facing this scene in the parking lot. The bird put up with a few clicks, but then Darcy made a loud noise and he flew to a different area of this pond.

I thought my camera did a good job with color. I like that I got the bird, but also captured the surrounding area. The most interesting thing about this area is that it is nestled in this little nook not far from a heavily traveled main road. If you didn't know it was back there, you would never guess it.

This is a picture of a bush in the corner of our backyard. I believe it is an azalea bush. It was given to me by my friend, Ann, after the death of my father.

Originally Tom planted it outside Madison's bedroom window, but in his many jobs of re-working our sprinkler system and his attempts at landscaping, it got moved to this corner of our yard. It is a better fit here because it sits outside my pool area and is the only color in our yard at that end. It makes me happy to see it while I'm lounging on my raft in the pool!

Don't think this picture is any prize winner in photography, but I like the sentiment behind it.

This picture was taken in St. Petersburg, Florida. I took it for the palm trees. I like that I captured the trees, the water, the sand, and the birds flying in the background.

I think it is a pretty good nature photo. The picture was a tad dark, which is probably a negative in the world of photography, but I used the "I feel lucky" button on my Picasa program and it lightened it a tad. This is something I would like to learn regarding photography.

I'm shooting with a digital pocket-size Canon so I'm not sure that I can get award winning photos with that camera. Again, something I would learn.....

This last photo is of our orange tree in the backyard. It was full of oranges when I took the picture. I got under the branches and looked up into the tree, hoping to capture the abundance of the fruit, but somehow only got this lone fruit. I think it sort of makes the picture.

Summer Schooling 101

This Monday began our summer homeschool adventure. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I am working with the girls on different subjects that I think they need some help in. I am also working with them on etiquette and household chores. So far, after two days and the addition of two extra students, it has gone well.

Darcy has definitely embraced her laundry chore. This week she has the Monday/Friday shift of laundry. She is to gather up the hampers, separate the clothes, put them in the washer, run the load, put it in the dryer and then fold them. Each individual must then put the folded laundry away. On Monday she did two loads of laundry. She found $1.00 in the first load and $.50 in the second.

"I can definitely get used to this job!" she said after depositing her earnings in her piggy bank.

Today's lesson started with everyone starting or continuing a website for blogging. The two new additions had to design and develop their first blog site, while my two helped them get started. Then I gave them a topic to write for their first paragraph. We printed those paragraphs and exchanged them for editing. Then together we went over each paragraph until it was presentable for posting. Presentable meaning grammatically correct with correctly spelled words and correct punctuation. They did very well with the topic: A relative. You can check out my girls' blogs, but the other two are read by invitation only.

We ended the day with a trip to the local grocery store. I gave the younger girls the task of feeding us all lunch for under $25. They came in at $22.06 and were only off on their calculations by $.38. We filled up on sub sandwiches, fruit, chips, and plenty of desserts.

I'm thinking this could be a new career, but I have a feeling that it will be much like my current one......fulfilling, but low on the pay scale.

Out of the mouths of my babes

Me: "Check the drawers to make sure we haven't left anything in the hotel."

Darcy: "Nothing in here but the holly Bible."

Me: "The holly Bible? You mean the holy Bible?"

Darcy: "No, the holly Bible."

Me: "How do you spell that?"

Darcy: "H-O-L-Y-E Bible"

Weekend Memories

I like reading blogs, and one that I've discovered is http://www.girlsgonechild.net/.

This woman is a phenomenal writer, and I love her entries regarding her children. Last Sunday she decided to write down memorable weekend moments and she urged other bloggers to join her. Because I liked the idea and need things to blog about I'm joining her. Behold my past two weekends:

1. The joy that only balloons and a chocolate chip pancake can bring.
2. Floating freely on a raft in the pool, the hot sun beating down on your body while your hands float freely in the coolness of the water.
3. Waking up and enjoying coffee on the balcony overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.
4. Seeing Florida through the eyes of someone who has spent the last eight months in the frozen tundra.
5. The quietness, stillness, and sadness of a house whose company has left.

Top 10 things I like about having Susan & Gabby visit

10. My sister in-law lets me take lots of photos of her that I can post on my blog.

9. The kids take care of themselves while we sunbath.

8. I have another woman to help me in the kitchen.

7. Gabby has her father's humor so we don't really need him for entertainment.

6. Both understand that gossip is a high priority.

5. Susan is cute and thus attracts all sorts of good-looking creatures for us to bring home.

4. Susan's idea of a good time is relaxing in my backyard pool thus keeping my budget in the low figures.

3. Which in turn keeps my husband happy.

2. Susan likes to read trashy celebrity magazines and always brings several with her when traveling.

1. Susan takes care of emptying my dishwasher, does my laundry, and makes me coffee every morning!

Damn, I'm going to miss them.

Letterman vs. Palin

Here is the thing. It was a joke. The joke that Letterman made had to do with Palin's visit to a Yankees game. Letterman said, "there was one awkward moment during the seventh-inning stretch: Her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."

According to Letterman, he made the joke about her 18 year old daughter, Bristol, who was, let's face it, knocked up at one time. Was it a smart thing to say? No. The problem with making jokes about children is that it had better be funny to the mother. If it isn't, well, watch out. Mothers are like bears when it comes to their children. Mess with the kids, mess with the mother. A mother will attack anything and anyone if she feels like her kids have been abused. Sarah Palin felt like her daughter, whether she thought he meant Willow or Bristol, was abused verbally. She attacked.

The problem is that she is still attacking, even after Letterman apologized. While I understand her need to protect her children, the fact really is that she herself put her children out there for comedians and the like to pounce on. The added bonus was her older daughter getting pregnant by an 18 year old kid while Palin was on the campaign trail spouting out her beliefs of no sex before marriage. She threw her own daughter to the wolves. Had she declined John McCain's invitation to be his running mate, only a few Alaskans would have known or cared about Bristol Palin's pregnancy. Instead she opted to run for the second highest office in our country. She put her kids on the chopping block by doing that. It has happened to every candidate who has ever held an office. And perhaps this is one of the reasons for her hostility.

It is over. Palin has protected her child by lashing out. Letterman has apologized. It should be over. Stop. By continuing to attack Letterman, and boy, has she made some disparaging comments (almost slander) regarding Letterman and young girls, Palin is putting her children back out there for more abuse. She is just giving the media and political pundits more ammunition to shoot at her family.

And really, when you read back over the so-called joke, I think the joke wasn't as much about Palin's daughter as it was about Alex Rodriguez. He's the one that should be going for Letterman's throat.

Staycation

I haven't blogged in over a week. My readers (all four of them) have bombarded me with emails wondering why they haven't been able to get their daily dose of me. I apologize, but the truth is that I was on staycation.

Staycation is defined by Wikipedia as "a neologism for a period of time in which an individual or family stays at home and relaxes at home or takes day trips from their home to area attractions."

My family, sister-in-law, Susan, and niece, Gabby, arrived from Indiana on the 3rd of June and together we have stayed at home and relaxed in my backyard pool. We took one day to visit an area attraction, the beach. Thus the reason I have not blogged. I was too pooped from all of the relaxing.

Rest assured I am now back. We put Susan and Gabby back on a plane to Indiana with much sorrow. Staycation is over, and after I reassemble my house, I shall hop right on the blog and pull you readers back into the folds of my daily life as a SAHM.

The party just continues on

Birthdays in our house tend to last longer than a day. We have the family celebration with the relatives that live in the area. We have the neighborhood celebration with the neighbors. We have the birthday party which is the party with other children.

Each year I try to skip the party with the other children because that is usually expensive and time consuming, not to mention a pain in the arse. The girls take months to decide what they want to do. Darcy's plans change daily. Madison's birthday falls around Thanksgiving when everyone is busy with their own families so we have to do it after. Darcy's birthday is the beginning of summer and I can usually get away with a pool party, but she wants to invite the entire school and my pool won't hold more than ten.

This year Darcy's birthday fell the day before our summer vacation. I call it our summer vacation because family is coming to town this evening. My sister-in-law, Susan, and my niece, Gabby, are traveling to Florida for sunshine, gulf water, chatting, and mojitoes. Well, that is Susan's reason. Gabby is coming to play Barbies with Darcy. The point is that I've convinced Darcy to wait until after they have gone home to have her birthday party with school chums.

We did not, however, ignore the other parties. Sunday night we met the grandparents on both sides, and Aunt Julie and her children for a birthday meal at Arigatos Restaurant. Darcy chose the location because she loves the "goody goody sauce". We ate chicken, steak, shrimp and veggies all prepared at our table by a Japanese chef with sharp knives and plenty of flames in his fingertips. They even brought out a cake.

Cousin Brea kept Darcy on her feet by running around the restaurant to look at other diners' tables. She also sat on Darcy's lap and enjoyed sharing Darcy's meal. It was a nice evening and a nice first celebration for her tenth.

Last night on her real birthday we had the neighbor party. The neighbors from across the street, next door, and two houses over came to celebrate, along with Jyoti and Sarina and two other friends. We had punch, cookie cake and ice cream. Madison led off the celebration with music:

After the music came the food and presents. All in all a good day. The birthday girl was quite satisfied with her haul.

Happy Birthday Darcy

This day ten years ago I was in the hospital admiring our newest addition to our family. Darcy was born at 6:19 AM and she came into the world quickly and with little fuss. After that it was downhill. We came home and she wouldn't wake to feed. She got dehydrated.

Two days later she was at the children's hospital where she and I lived for the next four days while we waited for the results of a spinal tap. By day three I had figured out that her tongue was always on the roof of her mouth and she couldn't get it down to nurse. One of the many doctors we saw suggested a bottle, and once her little tongue was pushed down she slurped down my pumped breast milk in seconds.

After that she was a different baby, waking and crying every 20 minutes for more milk. By the time the results came back negative she was alert and drinking a bottle. It took her 9 weeks of bottle feeding before she latched on to the breast. Once she latched on she never let go and never took another bottle again. If I hadn't gotten ill when she was 17 months old and had to stop cold turkey, we would probably be weaning her today.

Darcy was a happy little thing. She loved her sister. She loved to suck her first two fingers. She loved to explore. She loved to ask questions. Pretty much none of that has changed today. She is still a happy thing. She is usually smiling her little dimpled smile and she is most always laughing. She loves her sister, although Darcy thinks she knows more than Madison. She now sucks her thumb instead of her fingers. She still loves to explore (see Kelly's website at http://www.demographicofone.com/) and she is constantly asking "why" and other questions.

She is also very athletic and excels at every sport she tries. She is the first girl to be chosen by the boys in PE at school. Children and adults always want to be around her and she usually puts herself in the center of attention. Luckily, her sister is very patient with this and allows her to move forward, being content to stand in the background, smiling at her silly Darcy.

When I began this website years ago I started a topic called, "Out of the mouths of my babes". In looking back over those entries I found that they are mostly all from Darcy. She is always gabbing and chattering, and she says some of the funniest things ever.

It took her years to grow her hair. Now she loves messing with her hair and is constantly changing her hairstyle, cutting it when the mood suits her. She is willing to try anything when it comes to her hair. When she was three years old she cut her own hair, and then realizing that she might have done something she shouldn't have, she took all of the hair and hid it inside her baby's cradle.

Her hair is much thinner and a lighter shade of red then her sister's. I was very curly when it started growing and it stayed that way until she got it cut short for the first time. Then the curls disappeared. They have since reappeared after her latest hair cutting.

Darcy's best buddy is her doll, Molly, that she got when she was around 18 months of age. By this time she was sucking pacifiers to make up for the cold turkey nursing, and Molly came with a pacifier around her neck. Molly is an over-exaggerated puppet, and while she scares most everyone else, she is Darcy's love. Molly has been everywhere with Darcy and to this day she still sleeps with her. She has worn and is a tad shriveled from the washing machine, but Darcy will never give her up.

Darcy started swimming before she was one. She loved getting in the pool at Kelly's apartment complex. She wanted to wear goggles and she wanted to be underwater. She was always being pulled up out of the water by someone because once underwater she would just hang and look around with her big eyes.

She was an excellent listener and by the time she could walk she would walk to the edge, jump in, and kick to me. I use to joke that she was walking advertisement for me as a swimming teacher, and I debated about giving her water-proof business cards to hand out to the women who would grasp their chests whenever she would just stumble into the deep end and swim.

Today my baby turned 10 years old. She has been counting the days on a calender she keeps in her bedroom. I have been ignoring those big X's that she crosses out each night before going to sleep. I can't believe that ten years have gone by so fast. I can't believe that she is in double digits and going into the 5th grade. I can't believe that she can read, write sentences, and give speeches. I can't believe how much she loves fashion and how she loves to dress herself and pick out her own outfits. Time has snatched my baby and turned her into a young lady.

She likes to remind me that no matter how old she gets she will still be my baby. While that is true I miss the baby part of my baby. I miss those days of cooing, and finger slurping, and diaper changing. I miss snuggling and nursing her. I miss kissing her toes and smelling her baby scent. And while each new phase brings new pleasures I wish that just once, on a child's birthday, you can for a moment have that baby back in your arms before you open them and let her run.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl. We love you!

We have a Wii!

Ever since I first played the Wii I've wanted one. I am a Nintendo junkie. I had to have the DS after I played one. I'm hooked on the thing. I play word games and brain age. I have two characters living their lives in Animal Crossing. I clean it after playing it and lovingly put it away in a protected case.

I heard the hype about the Wii. Whatever, I thought. I have the DS how much better can this Wii be? I don't need to be in front of the television. I'd rather sit in my bed or a comfy chair and play the DS.

All those thoughts went out of the window when I played the Wii. My friend bought one and she invited us over to play it. She and I played first. We boxed. We had no clue what we were doing so we had to play it over and over and over again until we had the hang of it. By the time we had finished our fourth game of boxing we were both covered in sweat and huffing and puffing. The kids took over, but each time they ended a game I jumped in and played it as well. I bowled. I played tennis. I pitched in baseball. By the time I woke up the next morning my entire body was sore from playing the Wii. I was hooked.

I had to have one. My husband wrinkled his brow and said, "We aren't getting a Wii. We don't need to be sitting in front of the television playing more video games." I tried to change his mine. I even begged. He held fast. We were not getting a Wii.

Yesterday all of that changed. My friend, Jyoti, brought me a present. I had spent the last week and a half taking her daughter in to our family while Jyoti was out of town on a family matter. I didn't do it for a present. I did it because that is what friends do, and because I dearly love Sarina and think of her as my third child. She was no trouble. She was better behaved then my own children. Jyoti still felt the need to thank me. She did so with a Wii.

I am so going to be busy tomorrow. Good thing old Scrooge is working!!