Back in January, I blogged about my
3 New Year's Resolutions. I can honestly say that not a day has gone by this year that I have not thought about at least one of them. And on today, November 4th 2008, I was finally able to check one of those 3 goals off the list -- yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is true. For the first time in my life I voted!
Seriously, though, I do have fairly legitimate excuses for why I'm only just now voting in 2008. The year 2000 was my first year of eligibility, but being a Sophomore at BYU, and not quite knowing how to do an absentee ballot for my home state of Louisiana, the election came and went without my contribution. When 2004 rolled around, I fully intended to exercise my patriotic duties, but then Grace decided to make her appearance a week early and was born the night before Election Day, and I didn't quite make it to the polling booth once again. So there you have it. Judge me if you must.
In other news, Grace is 4!
Lovely, isn't she?
It's really quite impossible to get a decent picture of her. On Saturday we attempted to celebrate her birthday -- which for some reason, has sort of snuck up on us this year. Usually her birthdays are drawn out to the point of ridiculousness, and we end up celebrating for weeks on end. This year, however, everything was a bit of a last minute effort. While Scott took Ethan and Grace to gymnastics that morning, I ran to Wal-Mart to get her a present and some more decorations for her "party" as per Ethan's request. Even her cake was a last minute inspiration, thanks to the shirt Grace put on when she got back from gymnastics later that morning. She originally wanted a dog cake (which I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to make), so I was relieved when she changed her mind to Hello Kitty. The hardest part of making this cake was getting a thick enough layer of frosting on top so that the chocolate cake didn't show through. Oh, and keeping Grace from eating the frosting before it got on the cake, of course.
The party was merely a family affair, and Ethan made his OWN "decorations" for Grace down in the basement. Apparently he thought that a nice tic tac toe board on the wall was in order for the day.
The "X's" are made from blue painter's tape, and the "O's" were drawn on the wall with marker, because as Ethan said, he "couldn't figure out how to make circles with the tape."
While Grace was SUPER excited about her birthday present...
Scott was NOT so excited about her birthday present, and has forbidden playdough to ever come into the house again...
(Rest in Peace little playdough set)
So, there you have it -- the anatomy of a birthday party in our household. I think Grace had a good day. All I know is that the older she gets, the more I'm realizing that having a birthday fall on the day after Halloween is not necessarily a good thing for my sanity. The children have been on an all-out sugar high for the last week, and this weekend was a nightmare of epic proportions with regards to their behavior to each other and to their parents. And don't even get me started on the Time Change. Who even thought that thing up ANYWAY? All it has meant for us the last few days is that Grace now wakes us up wanting breakfast at 5:30 in the morning instead of 6:30, and it gets dark so early in the evening that I feel like its 10 o'clock at night when in reality its only 7, thus making me feel like I'm being gypped out of my evenings. Combine all that with the fact that not a night goes by where one or more of the kids doesn't wake up at some point needing me, and I am EXHAUSTED. And sick of having to do breathing treatments. (Just thought I'd throw that in there).
I'll close with a couple more pictures and a quip from Scott.
Grace is a hippie.
Sophie is asthmatic.
And finally --
said SCOTT to Ethan who was loudly making noises and picking on the girls all during dinner tonight: "Why do you do things to bug me so much?"
There you have it folks. Goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow.
post script -- Scott would like his objections to be stated that he is not as a bad a father as this last quote would suggest.
Gobble, gobble -- all ready to layer on the paper mache.
"You have to POP the balloons??" -- Ethan finds out what happens once the paper mache dries.
Grace goes native.
And thinks she's REALLY funny.
Sophie gives in to peer pressure.
And then feels guilty that she let Grace dupe her, once again, into making more messes for mom to clean up.
