We're (Almost) Famous

The Saint Paul Pioneer Press published this story I sent in today's edition.

Grandma Jody of St. Paul: While driving in the car with 3 yr. old Sophie, I pointed out the trees to our right.
Grandma: "See those trees, Sophie? One time when I was driving three deer came flyin' out of those woods right in front of my car!
Sophie (looking at me with pity): "Grammy, deer don't have wings."



Not actual "silly grandma" face. Used for illustration purposes only.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Party animals!

When Horns Lock

Sophie is mad at me. Lately she has had a thing for "nap pants." She likes to come over in her pajamas, or change into comfortable bottoms to lounge around in and nap in. I asked Sarah to send over something cozy for her to wear at my house on Monday. All was fine until Patrick was coming to pick Sophie up after work and I wanted her to change back into her jeans. It was a perfect storm: the "nap pants" happened to be short capris and it wasn't warm enough; she didn't fall asleep during her nap time, instead spending that time undressing her dolls and singing, so she was crabby; and I was in a hurry to leave. Two bullheads collided. I asked her, and asked her, then told her, then finally went to change her myself. She kicked her feet at me, and I called her a "brat!" She started sobbing as dramatically as only a three-and-one-half year old girl can. Five minutes later, tears dried, we were in Patrick's car when from the backseat we hear,"Grandma called me a brat!" No mention of the mani/pedi with the shiny undercoat of chrome nail polish, or the sparkley topcoat of glitter. Not a word about the unicorn cookies I frosted and sprinkled for her lunch treat. Nada about the dollhouse I set up and played with her. Just that I CALLED HER A BRAT!

A Garden In my Head

Ahhh! Give a girl temps in the 30's and she starts to think Garden. Ever since Sophie and I daydreamed about a picnic or a tea party in the backyard, I've been living, breathing, dreaming, garden. Oh yeah, and shopping garden. I found this pretty tall floral tin to hold my garden stakes in the shed for $2.10.


And I found this birdcage when I was shopping with Robyn on Wednesday at HomeGoods and paid $6.99.

And from my favorite secret store, I picked up a pretty pink bowling ball for $1.49 to add color to my birdbath or my shade garden. But the thing I like the best is this chandelier (A splurge for $7.49.) If it works it will hang above the table in the shed, and if not, it will hang from a tree over the table on the patio. How cool will that look with real candles?


I can't wait for the real spring, not just the one in my head. Thanks to my photographers assistant Nate for trudging with me through the 2 feet + of snow we still have in the backyard!

In the meantime, back in real life, I have been coughing up chunks of my lungs again, along with nursing the headache that such violent coughing gives me. Thanks, Nate,Jake,Max,Luke and Sophie!
Friday night Bob and I used our season tickets for the St. Paul chamber Orchestra. We had 3rd row seats-very cool! Bob said, "It was the best sleep he has ever had." LOL
On Saturday, I had to get up, get dressed, and leave the house to run an errand for Emily. I figured as long as I was out, I might as well pick up Nathan for lunch at Chipotle. Then we might as well run in the thrift shop to look for a flashbulb for the cool new-to-me Old Brownie camera that I found. Then I might as well bring him home with me. So Nate stayed the weekend again, and we played the longest UNO tourney ever! He won the first one 10-8, and the second 3-2. We watched alot of the bears on the internet, and Hannah and he watched scientific stuff about NanoScience. He got a chance to go to The Lab with Hannah to see her work. When he came home we made those retro sloppy joes in the canned biscuit 'buns' from a 30 year old recipe. Nate wanted to bake brownies at 10:30 at night, but I suggested bed instead. Tigger loves to have Nate overnight, because he sleeps with him. He misses his Zach, but Nate'll do!. Jeff came and got Nathan in the morning, and I think I'll take a nice long nap.

Boys, Boys, Boys

It's been 4 days of non-stop testosterone. On Saturday morning, Molly dropped off Captain Underpants Jake and Max for a few hours while she took Nate to his tournament.We took every toy out of the closet to amuse Max and keep him out of trouble. Jake watched Spiderman. Again. They both liked to pet Tigger, and for his part, he was a very very patient cat. He didn't even bat a whisker when Max called him "Daisy". We had a good time and Max didn't ask for Molly once! Max also had to talk to me, since he thought I wasn't as good at reading minds as his parents are. He said milk, more, and finally baba before he was satisfied I knew he was thirsty. Nate won both his basketball games. I guess I am the Jinx after all. Nate got a 3 pointer at the buzzer and many other great shots. During a break the ref called for number 42's parents. While Molly was trying to remember if that was his number, he asked again,in a louder voice. She reluctantly raised her hand thinking he was in some sort of trouble. Instead the ref announced to everyone, "You can't teach heart! You can't teach heart!" True. You either have it or you don't, and he has it in spades. We are very proud of him.

After the game, Molly picked up the two younger boys and left Nate with me. He napped, he fooled around with Hannah, watched Men in Black II and we watched Lily and Hope with the newborn twins on Bear.org. We also discovered they have another camera in Ted and Lucky's den, and the boys were really active that night. Nate also showed me alot of fishing and tackle box videos on YouTube. Really! Hannah got us White Castle for supper and we went to bed fairly early.

On Sunday, Nate and I read the paper. He- the sports section and funnies, me- everything but. We were invited to lunch with Patrick, Lorraine and the kids. Even though the adults had them outnumbered, they gave us a run for our money! We dropped off Nate after lunch.

Monday night Captain Underpants plays basketball, if you can call it that. The kids mostly run up and down the court holding the ball. Once in a while they shoot at the hoop. Jake has a big grin on his face the whole time. It's fun to see him.

Tuesday Boy Genius Luke didn't feel good enough to go to school. He may have an ear infection. He does have a cough and a fever. Patrick brought him over in the morning. All morning we worked on making a heart garland out of cardstock. He liked the "power tool" portion the best. The stapler. When Grandpa came home we took him to lunch with us for our anniversary, and even let him order dessert. A cup of dirt with worms. He came home and took a nap and I finished his garland and Sophie's for them to take home.


I can't wait for Friday when Sophie and I can do something girly!

Sparkles the Farting Unicorn

Another Friday, another fun day with Miss Sophie Jane. Sophie was sitting in her pajamas and just rarin' to go shopping for "something sparkly". Just one thing was stopping us. Sarah forgot to send clothes and I had just sent home a shopping bag of "my" back-ups to her house last week. We had slim pickin's because she decided she had to wear a dress and I only had one non-sundress left. The dress was fine, but I could only find a pair of pale pink anklets. Wrong color. I put a pair of capri leggings under it, but it still wasn't warm enough. And her only shoes were hot pink sparkly tennis. After getting dressed, she was so cute we had to have a photo shoot. She is getting to be quite the little model, don't you think? We left to go shopping, and first order of business was to buy tights and shoes. We found a cute pair of black leather maryjanes in her size (and I also found a pair of brown ones for next year.) Both cheap enough! I soon found a pair of cream color lycra tights and we were off to the cashier and then the dressing room. Suitably dressed for lunch now, we dropped by the University campus to pick up Hannah. Sophie wanted pizza, so we headed for Old Chicago. Sophie chose to sit on Aunty Hannah's side of the booth, and so of course they were fooling around! Hannah always gets her going. Hannah was chewing gum and Sophie asked for some. She was chewing her last piece, so she offered that to Sophie. And she took it. Sophie said, "Thanks Aunty Hannah, that was very sweet of you" as she was chewing her ABC gum. Sophie had brought her stuffed unicorn with her and Hannah was entertaining us by having it talk to Sophie in a squeaky voice while she was moving it around like a puppet. At one point in her enactment, she made a loud ppphhhttttt sound. Sophie shouted "YOU CAN'T JUST LET FARTS IN HERE!!!!" We burst into laughter until we dissolved into tears. I am sure everyone thought one of us had done the deed! I am probably banned from Old Chicago for life. Sorry Diane.




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WORDLESS WEDNESDAY