Chocolate Cake

My Dad was out of town for my Mom's 53rd  birthday, which meant my sister and I were left to plan something memorable.  Fun.  Unusual.  Exciting.  She and I are the "original" partners in crime and it didn't take us long to manipulate a couple of teenage girls into babysitting our mob of preschoolers in exchange for an outrageous hourly rate or
 to decide that dear, sweet Mother's birthday should look less like this:

And more like this:

This, friends, is chocolate cake.  In a shot glass. 

Now it's  not that we wanted to get her intoxicated.
No, no.
It's just that the old dinner and a movie routine gets a bit monotonous and when you're a "young grandma" you want to be reminded of the "young" part every now and again.
Or so we hypothesized.


And so, to the shock of our husbands, we took our Mom to the bowling alley (aka Family Fun Center) and this family had fun.

Now, I am about to share with you a well-guarded family secret and I expect it to stay here in Blogland.  Are we understood? 

My mother's daughters are not good bowlers.

Nor are we good at any other sport.

I just thank the Lord that he made us both this way and that we can enjoy ridiculous, yet entertaining, competition between two horrible non-athletes.

I was disapointed to get that close to my goal of bowling a 50

But I totally mopped the floor with my sister the second time.  Ker-chow!

To top it off we played a round of laser tag.

Yes, we did.

And we will be doing that again soon.

There was something strangely gratifying about hunting down my husband and shooting him with lasers.

Unfortunately, the ending score was deleted by the attendant.

But I'm pretty positive that the Red Team won.

Future Filmmaker?

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Hug Peez

Eva

 Evaloon   Moosey  Moosile-Lucile

 Moose-Kadoose  Evalumpcious Evalicious

Moose   Moosey-Loosey   Evie 

I forgot to post about my baby turning 2. 

So this one's all about Evelyn.

Favorite color:  Yellow

Favorite food:  all of them.  Especially likes anything called "Nack" ("snack").

Favorite person:  Elmo closely followed by big sisters, then Baby I (Iris), then Pier (Pierce). 

Favorite past time:  sitting on the potty chair and singing.

Favorite books:  Brown Bear, Binky, Baby Einstein Animals

Favorite sayings:  "yeah, sure."  "I yike it." 

Funny things from this week:

We arrived at the soccer fields for Mia's game and Eva spotted the playground...

(hyperventilating) "Allay!  Allay! (Ali! Ali!) slide!  Me!  Go!  Peez!  Allay, peez! (Ali, please!) We play?"

Ali:  "Okay, okay.  Calm down.  Yes, I'll take you to the slide.  Sheesh."

Enjoying a "pop" (lollypop) at a soccer game (see above picture).

Eva gets to the tootsie roll center and very seriously announces to Joe and I

"I yike choc-it my mouw!"

(translated to "I like chocolate in my mouth!")

Leaving Grandma's and Pop-Pop's after dinner one night:

Me:  "Eva, did you have fun at Gramma's?"

Eva: "Yesh.  Mommy have fun Gramma's?"

Me: "Yes."

Eva: "Daddy have fun Gramma's?"

Joe: "Yes."

Eva: "Allay have fun Gramma's?"

Ali: (giggle) "Yep."

Eva: "MiMi have fun Gramma's?"

Mia: "Yes."

Eva: "I yike Gramma."

Her comprehension is crazy!  Too much time conversing with her sisters I guess! 

A second grade neighbor boy commented in amazement that he could understand almost everything Eva said!  He couldn't believe she was only two because his little brother is three and doesn't say hardly anything.

But then our conversation about the developement of toddlers was cut short because he had to go spit on a wasp in the backyard. 

The sisters are taking full advantage of Eva's speaking capabilities as well, knowing that it is much harder for Mom and Dad to tell little Eva "no" than it is to tell them "no".  For example - I know my two year old didn't figure out what a  "snack bar" is on her own.  And it took some serious tutoring for her to get the pronounciation down.  But she marched up to me yesterday and said, "snack bar peez?  tweet (treat) snack bar?" to which I asked in shock, "you want a treat from the snack bar??"

  And Eva shrugged her shoulders and said "yeah, sure" as if I had just suggested it.

  Then, conveniently, Ali appeared and asked what Eva wanted. 

Eva's biggest goal it seems is just to be one of the sisters.

What they do, she must do.

I have to go through the motions of fixing her teeny tiny little golden fluffy hair into a ponytail every morning because I do her sisters' hair.  She sleeps in her own bunkbed every night and came up with her own secret handshake because her sisters have their own secret handshakes at bedtime.  

She is a joy and a love and I hope she never quits needing to take a break once in a while to

"hug peez Mom". 

Homeless Baby

The following is text between my sister and I this morning.

Leslie:
New Message
I found this homeless baby on the side of the road. She covered in jam and butter it seems. Hope she'll wash up
nice.


Katie:
Were you cruising Fraggle Rock again? I told you there are too many shady babies on that street. Don't give her any money, she'll just spend it on more jam and butter. Addict.

Leslie:
New Message
You're too funny! I'd say she's shown significant improvement


Katie:
Much better. I just hope she can keep it together long enough to hold a job. It's never too late to start over and become a productive member of society.

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