On Saturday, Maia turned three! We had a little birthday party for her on Friday morning, which was more or less a time for the kids to run around the house with their little friends and the moms to sit around and talk. Most of the kids came dressed up (well, it was a dress-up party). Guess what Maia wore? You'll never guess so look in the picture at the left to get a clue. Yep--the infamous "Pink Dress". Maia started wearing it daily two weeks before Halloween and pretty much didn't take it off until after Christmas. She still wears it occasionally around the house (I won't let her wear it in public anymore, but she doesn't seem to care, thankfully). I guess for nostalgic reasons she decided to wear it at her b.day party! I put some make-up on her, too--she looked like our little "Sweet Pea Princess", as her Grandma Cindy likes to call her. On Saturday morning when she got up, Jay gave her a hug and exclaimed, "All done with the Terrible Twos! On to the Terrific Threes!" Hmmm...I'm not as optimistic as Jay, I guess. Sometimes, our little "Sweet Pea" can be a little "Spicy Pepper." We love our Maia Jean!

Ahhh..yes. My other two good luck charms. They have both had colds and so they slept in a little (a very little) this morning. Hey, Dad and Mom--don't think I forgot another important reason for celebrating this day. Has it really been 33 years? Maia and Colby seem to think so (hence, the shamrock message they are holding). I sure hope you get to go on a hot date, or at least that Mom will allow Dad to stray from "cardboard and fish". HAPPY 33RD WEDDING ANNIVERSARY, YOU CRAZY LOVE BIRDS!!!! You two are the best parents ever and I love you. Today and every day I feel so "lucky" to have you. Enjoy this "Green" kinda day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! I decided I would get into the spirit of the holiday 'cuz it's fun. I told the kids they should wear green today so that they don't get pinched ("Or flicked," Carter said. "Flicked?" I replied. "Who flicks on St. Patrick's Day?" He didn't know!) Avery was very concerned because she doesn't have any green clothing. I let her wear one of my shirts (actually, recognize the shirt, Jen? It was in the latest installment of hand-me-ups). This picture was taken before Carter left for school today. Just a couple of my good luck charms--the other two were still sleeping. Today, we are doing a "Green" day for our little preschool. The girls get really excited for our preschool days (once or twice a week). I do,too! I love to spend the quality time with my girls! Tonight, we will have breakfast for dinner (aren't you jealous, Heth? Maybe you can convince Mom to take a break from "cardboard and fish" to have some waffles and hash browns). We are having Green Eggs and Ham (which I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole--to Sam I Am's dismay) and green shamrock-shaped pancakes and hash browns with green onions. What a treat!

While Heather was here, we cooked some tasty food. She really wanted to live it up (which means "eat tasty food") because all Mom cooks at home these days, and I quote, is "cardboard and fish." Ewww. Dad is on Weight Watchers (again) and that's all he can eat--"cardboard and fish." It's sad that Mom's cooking has come to this (she is afterall a fabulous cook), but Dad's health is muy importante.

Anyway, on the first night, we made croissant sandwiches (loaded with fat). We decided that fries would make a great side dish, so I added everything into a plastic zipper feature bag (notice I did not say "Ziploc"--if we would have used an actual Ziploc brand bag, what happened would not have happened). I began to shake the bag with everything inside. I think Heather felt excluded so she said, "Pass it over here!" and held her hands wide. We began passing the bag back and forth across the kitchen, getting progressively more creative with our passes. And then the inevitable happened. Heather turned around and launched that fry bag at me from between her legs. The non-Ziploc bag burst open and sprayed me with fries, parmesan, olive oil, and other tasty spices. We both let out a little scream and then stopped, staring in disbelief at my grease-splattered clothes. Then, of course, we had to laugh and pick up the fries, which we decided to eat anyway. The picture shows me in the aftermath. I learned two valuable lessons from this experience: 1. Always use Ziploc bags, and 2. "Fry Bag Throwing" is not a team sport.

Today is Monday. Ahhh...what a peaceful day this is! Normally, I wouldn't say that about a Monday, but this Monday is an exception. I just finished a long, tiring, and very fun week. "Long, tiring, and fun"--I know these words are at odds (or one of them is). It's rather like the Seasame Street game--"One of these words doesn't belong here, la-di-da, yaddi yaddi ya..." Nevertheless, it's true. The week was long, tiring, yet fun. You'd probably like to know "why", rather than read my ramblings. My baby sister, Heather and her little guy, Hunter were in town for a visit. Hunter arrived with the stomach flu and it sort of went down hill from there. Picture this: Hunter (age 2) and Maia (also age 2) alone in a room together. Hunter enjoys throwing anything he can get his wee little hands on; Maia hasn't napped well regularly in days. I probably don't need to describe what happens next. Yeah. It got to the point that Maia would anticipate Hunter's every move--even before he himself thought it up! She would start screaming and crying before Hunter even did anything. This was fascinating to him--afterall, what an intriguing way to learn cause and effect. Who knew antagonizing one's cousin could be so much fun? Anyway, I was at my wit's end with the whole thing by the end. Not to mention my house was a diaster area. I mean, Heather isn't the tidiest cat on the planet (no offense, Heth). Other than those two things, I enjoyed myself immensely and we did some fun things. I'll probably have a few different posts about our week.