Daytime family auditioning to guide Santa's sleigh

Some Birthday Fun

A few photos from our birthday adventures.  More "real" photos to come (these were all taken with my phone

Birthday girls at the Nutcracker

Moolah says her favorite part was... "all the parts except the king...um... what was that?  Oh. All the parts except the King Rat. And the other Rats. But not the mice. The mice were cute"

The Princess and the Frog

After Moolah's top two choices for birthday activities fell through (riding the tram and seeing Princess Leia at the Star Wars Store -- she was sick), we went to the Princess and the Frog.  It was Mama's first theater outing with Mooolah (who has been to a theater with Daddy and with Princess Leah... not to be confused with Princess Leia), and it was Ace's first theater adventure at all. Both did great.  

Movie review by Mama:  Cinemark Kids Packs Rock.  A small amount of popcorn, one candy, and a small soda all in a spill-resistant box.  And no arguing between siblings!  And you can get an Icee in the pack.  It was fantastic.  I tried to find a picture online and could only find blogs of parents ranting about the unreasonable nutrition, outrageous prices, and ecological armegeddon bound to be caused by theater concessions.  I say the kids pack is the smartest idea I've seen in a long time.  

Chipmunk Fun 

Ace enjoying Moolah's birthday membership at the Childrens Museum 

Christmas rituals with Strider's Kids

Moolah is now old enough that she remembers a couple of Christmases and is beginning to understand the kinds of things that go with Christmas.  There are the movies, the books, the tree.  

I did break down last year and get DVDs of the classic Christmas TV shows:  Rudolph, Frosty... there are a bunch more on the DVD that I try to ignore.  I swore I wouldn't.  Those are things that you see once a year and look forward to and sit down and watch.  The problem was when I realized that they were on at 8 - 9 pm, just at bedtime, and because we live a DVD-DVR lifestyle now, getting everyone ready to watch a show at exactly the time it is on is just too much work.  So, we bought them and put them in the Christmas box so that we wouldn't be faced with endless requests for the Grinch in July.  

Last week the box came out.  Moolah requested Rudolph and we turned it on. Ace was perfectly happy until the Abominable Snowman showed up. Then he ran out of the room and yelled my name til I came to get him.  We decided that Rudolph had to be a special Moolah movie this year.  Ace does like the Polar Express (trains = good boy fun).  

We went to Santa Brunch at the local high school on Sunday.  Moolah did sit on Santa's lap, but she didn't want to ask him for gifts (she has decided to write him a letter... which we need to get done).   Ace didn't want to have anything to do with Santa.  It was a complete reversal from two years ago when Moolah was just a little older than Ace is now and would not go near the big guy in red, but itty bitty Ace thought his beard was just the most fun ever.  

Tonight Moolah and I see the Nutcracker for the first time.  I imagine that will be an important tradition in the years to come.  I imagine Ace will be perfectly comfortable with Santa by next year, and will compete with his sister for the longest list.  

She will win. She always makes sure of that.  

Birthday Strangeness

This morning I decided that since it's my birthday, I got to spend a few minutes at my favorite coffee shop just reading a magazine.  The magazine I picked up was the July issue of Real Simple. This was the last page (ugh, it won't upload as an image, so you'll have to click here to see it). 

Engagement

or quite awhile, Moolah has been planning for her future.  

Version 1.0:  Moolah lives in our house. She is the Mama and Ace is the Daddy. They change their names to "Mama" and "Daddy" and have a Big Sister Moolah and Little Brother Ace.   (When questioned, she is unsure where real Mama and Daddy will be). 

Version 1.1:  Same as above, except she and Ace keep their names and have Big Sister "Mama" and Little Brother "Daddy".

Version 1.2:  Same as above, except that they have Big Sister "Cousin Posey" and Little Brother "Daddy". (Hmmm, Mama is the first to go from the scenario, and Moolah is still unsure where Mama and Daddy will be living). 

Version 1.3: Same as above with Moolah, Ace, Sister "Posey" and Brother "Daddy", but they live in either the Sunny State or China.  Mama and Daddy can still live in the house. 

Sometime in the last few weeks, she asked me questions about this plan in a way that made me answer "Well, you probably won't marry Ace."

"Who will I marry?" (alarmed). 

"Well, I don't know.  Girls don't marry their brothers.  They marry someone who is nice to them and makes them laugh."  

"Well. Dima is nice to me.  Maybe I'll marry him."  From there the conversation took a turn toward realization that she had not seen Zoey or Dima in a long, long time and she missed them terribly.  So, pretty soon, a playdate with both was scheduled for Dima's house at Moolah's request.

Then, last week, I picked her up from Daytime Mama and asked "how was your day?"

"I'm going to marry Sam."

"Really?  Tell me about that." 

"Well, I asked him and he said no but then he said (imitating nonchalance) 'okay'." 

"When did you ask him?"  

"Well, he was showing me a dinosaur and I said 'Do you want to marry me?' and he said no but then I asked again and he said 'okay'."  

"Then what happened." 

"We started being silly and Teacher Jessie told us to put the conversation rug away."