Thanks for the memories girls

Today was Mommy's birthday, and you girls were left to help me celebrate while Daddy headed off to a football game with the boys. I picked you up from Grandma Barb to find a very fussy Parker. I made a deal with you, you had to help me work for a little while and we'd go for BBQ and then meet friends for ice cream. Well, work ended up being us spending an hour with a customer in a vacant (and hot) house waiting. Payton, of course you kept reminding me that you were being a good girl, and that being a good girl meant that we'd be going for ice cream. You also announced twice that you needed to use the restroom - once to pee and once to poop. Great, just what this guy wants to hear. Parker, you don't get the whole making deal game yet. You proceeded to be a wreck. I don't really blame you, it was a long hour, but you fussed, you hid in closets, you demanded to play with ink pens, you fell repeatedly but you survived. At long last we got to leave there. We made it to Shane's for dinner and you girls turned on the charm! You made friends with the staff and found the ability to control yourselves in a manner that made me proud. Once, you Payton, asked to go to the bathroom. I knew you'd just been, twice, and told you to finish your dinner. We bid farewell to your new found friends with apologies for the small mess, and moved on to find our old friends at Marble Slab. This is where the evening gets exciting. As Ava and Charly and then Jake arrive the energy level multiplies and we all headed into the small ice cream shop. We were lucky, there was only one other family in the place and they were already at a table. I quickly order for us, and hand Payton her ice cream. I take a bite of mine and start to get some ready for Parker, as Payton looks at me and tells me she has to potty. I am trying to figure out the logistics of this event as I look down and see a puddle forming. So, there are 4 kids standing there playing around the puddle, Parker strapped in a stroller and I'm holding an ice cream cone. Now what! As I calmly walk her to the bathroom she's leaving a trail behind her and Ava is happily following along seemingly oblivious to what's happening. I don't know how or why, but I kept my cool. Luckily I happened to have her suitcase in the car from Grandma's house so she got a fresh skirt and panties and marched out to continue her ice cream. The best part is that all of the kids just went on as if nothing had happened. I have no idea if it was the great parenting skills of my friends, or if the other kids just didn't realize what had happened but no one teased her or said anything to her. The shop owner mopped up and didn't say a word. We all went on to enjoy our ice cream. That is until Charly started yelling from the bathroom. Leslie goes in to discover diarrhea and a clogged toilet. At this point I'm pretty sure that they've added a poster of our mug shots in the back as people that are banned! Once again, the kids didn't seem affected a bit and moved on to play outside. Thank God for my wonderful girls, good friends and their fabulous kids. I had a wonderfully memorable birthday.

STOP

Parker you make me laugh every day. You've not been a great speaker up to this point, instead excelling at things that require fine motor skills which is just fine by me as eventually I'm certain you'll start speaking and never stop. But this weekend you've come up with your first command, STOP. You use it when appropriate, and sometimes just to make me laugh like last night when I took you up to bed and started putting your jammies on, you looked up, grinned and yelled STOP, well, your version of it which I can't even attempt to spell. Funny Girl!

Princesses Are Old News

Last night Laura sent me pictures of Lily all decked out in her princess atire for her 3rd birthday party which made me stop and think, somewhere along the last couple of months Payton has grown out of the princess phase. How is that possible?? She still loves to strut around the house in my high heels carrying a purse, but she seems to be over the ball gowns and fairy wings. Seriously, she's only 3 I am not ready for her to move on to the Barbie's and Hannah Montana gear! She does still ask to go see the princesses (Disney World), but she's just not IN a dress all the time like she was not that long ago. Now she insists on wearing skirts or jeans every day. She tells me when I'm brushing her hair to make sure I don't make it flat. I really don't know where she's getting it. Obviously she does have some older friends, and we know that Ava's quite the diva influence, but I just didn't realize that she was paying that much attention. I'm certainly no great example of fashion, and we rarely see the Disney chanel with the hip attire for her to copy. Where is this coming from?? Oh well, we'll see what the future holds.