I've Got Nothing.

This pretty much sums up what we've been up to lately. I don't even have any great stories of mass destruction to report.

At Atlee's birthday party last Saturday, we received all sorts of compliments on how well behaved Cady was. I know, I was shocked too. Then I realized she couldn't move much because she was trying to digest all of the half hot dogs and half hamburgers a crowd of five year olds generates.

There weren't any ponies involved.

We celebrated Atlee's fifth birthday this weekend. She won't actually be five until tomorrow, but sometimes we can't wait for a good party.

When she's 35 and in therapy, I fully expect her counselor to ask her for more details about the cake from her fifth birthday. "There was an S on it you say." "And the homemade heart shaped cake was broken? Interesting, very interesting."

It might even make it onto Cakewrecks if I'm not careful. Atlee repeatedly assured me that she loved it. In the end, that's the only part that really matters.

[It's not an S, it's a 5.]

She was fiercely excited about a birthday party.

Rich too.

Friends and family and food and cake and balloons and presents. Could you hope for more on your birthday? I think not. Thank you again to everyone for helping to make it a wonderful day for Atlee.

In other news, Greeley seems to have gotten confused by the whole birthday party thing and thinks she turned two.


Most of our conversations seem to go "No!" "Mine!" "Stop!" "Milk!" "Nurse!".

Two is such a pleasant age, isn't it?

Low Cost Gettysburg Family Entertainment

Yesterday was a big medical day around here. We had two separate doctor's appointments scheduled for Thursday. First up was Corwin the cat. He was off to get neutered.

[Did you know that if you Google Gettysburg and neuter, I'm number one?! I'm not sure if it's much of a legacy, but whatever.]

I was a little worried right before the appointment, because I couldn't find the cat. I walked all around the neighborhood calling, "Here kitty kitty!" and thinking I probably sounded a lot like a crazy cat lady. Corwin finally showed up and was promptly caged and delivered to the vet. I'm guessing it'll be the last time he comes when he's called.

The second appointment was a well visit for all three kids. Greeley was due for some shots and Atlee also needed a round for kindergarten this fall. Shea was along for the ride because we kind of figured something had to be wrong with him as a consequence of his diet. Rich, um, on occasion parents by terror. One of his latest campaigns has been telling Shea he is probably going to have to go to the emergency room some evening and receive all sorts of shots and IVs of vitamins. This appointment with the doctor was supposed to reveal all of his anemia and scurvy and whatnot.

In a surprising turnaround, the doctor said Shea was perfectly healthy and we probably shouldn't make such an issue of the food thing. He was the only one who left the office without being jabbed by multiple needles. Even worse, Shea's old enough to have heard the entire conversation and spent the evening telling Rich, "You were wrong Dad. The doctor said I'm fine."

As promised, a low cost Gettysburg family friendly form of entertainment.

The Five Second Rule

My friend Gretchen is a great big spoiler. This weekend we received a box of yummy Valentine's Day cookies from her.

[Gretchen has a blog- Whenever Possible, Make a U-Turn- but she hasn't posted to it in over a year. Perhaps this will encourage her to give it another go? She's an outstanding writer and should try the whole blogging thing again.]

The kids were all enjoying the cookies.

These weren't just any cookies, mind you. These were Harry and David cookies. I thought I was demonstrating fine sharing skills by telling the kids about them.


Greeley was enjoying this heart shaped cookie that was almost as big as her head. Perhaps it was a little too big for her. Shortly after I took this picture, she dropped half the cookie on the floor.

That was when we learned that when there's a dog in the house, the question of the five second rule is really a rhetorical question.

Easily Confused

Things are kind of hectic around here lately. Last week, we decided to consider Greeley a really, really big girl and kick her out of our bed at night. She's been moved to the girls' room and her own bed in the bunk bed arrangement. Um, she still nurses at night though. That means I actually get less sleep now that she's- wait, I need to count on my fingers- twenty months old than I did when she was six months old.

Secondly, I know you're all sick of hearing about my new dog. Too bad. I love how clean my floors are. Just this morning, Greeley dumped an entire Strawberry Shortcake glass full of milk on the coffee table in the family room. I went running for the towel to clean it up, when it slowly dawned on me. This is exactly what my new dog is here for!! "Here Cady. Come here puppy. Have some milk." (Although, I suppose if you have dog germ issues, you might want to avoid touching any surface in my house for a while.)

In summary, I'm slightly sleep deprived and trying to keep track of a baby at night and a dog in the house. Sometimes I'm easily confused and mix things up.

Vacuums

Let me guess. You have a nice vacuum. Most people do. Maybe not a great one, but a nice little vacuum. Do you know what mine looks like? Kind of like this. Only it's 8 gallons. And older. Please don't think this is a complaint.

A shop vac is kind of perfect for around here. I can suck up a knee high barbie boot and half a waffle without any thought. The standard "household" vacuum can't handle my household debris.

You've heard my new vacuum is coming tomorrow right?

It seemed kind of unfair that I had to vacuum today in preparation for her arrival. But, since she comes with my parents it seemed the polite thing to do. This way my parents can pretend on some level that their grandchildren aren't being raised in a great big mountain of crumbs. They know the truth, but we all like to pretend.

Although I did think about maybe asking Mom and Dad to drop the dog off and take a couple of laps around the block while Cady did her job.

Gettysburg Family Fun: Explore and More

Dial-up? I'm sorry, because there are pictures galore. On Saturday, Amy and I took all four girls to Explore and More. I get a lot of traffic from people looking for things to do in Gettysburg with their family. I can highly recommend a trip to Explore and More. It's a local children's museum which encourages hands on play.


When we walked in, Greeley was thrilled to discover a giant train table. Truthfully, she and Atlee also love the giant train table at our local library. This kind of makes me a little disgruntled because they never seem quite as thrilled about the giant tote of trains and train tracks under Atlee's bed.



Eh. Bygones. Amy entertained Greeley with a chicken puppet and some pretend eggs.


Explore and More has a fabulous 1860s style kitchen to play in. Apparently, something big happened around here in 1863.


Go on. Twist your neck to the side to see the cute baby with an ear of corn. It's totally worth the pain in the neck.


Here's the fruit and veggie market where she got the ear of corn.


Upstairs, the girls found busy boards to keep busy.


And buttons! Buttons that Greeley could push to her heart was content.


Yeah. I know. Sideways again. But totally worth the kink in your neck again. Perhaps you should go get a massage when your done here. Wouldn't that be nice?


And blocks. Because blocks are always more fun when you're not at home.


Same thing for coloring on paper. A whole room dedicated to making art. They just leave the glitter lying around. Crazy.


Greeley had to go back to the kitchen. She was brewing up a lovely onion tea. Yum.


And the best part? A giant bubble maker.


Trinity was so clever, she was blowing bubbles while in the bubble.


This is just bonus beautiful baby footage.


Now go get that massage. And click on an ad so I can too.

What Happens on a Sick Day...

A few points that stand out to me:

1- The dancing shirtless wonder was too sick to go to school today. Hmmm. Perhaps I need to reevaluate our sick policy.

2. When my girls see a camera they automatically say "cheese". They are better trained than Pavlov's dogs.

3. I'm sorry that you have to hear Rich sing. Imagine my life each and every day with a man who bursts into spontaneous song.

4. Greeley's working on her booty shaking skills.

The Bizarre Choices an Eight Year Old Makes...

Shea: "Do I have to try something new?"

Rich: "Yes. Here's the sausage and rice, since the only other new thing on the table is the bottle of crushed red pepper."

Shea: "Would the crushed red pepper count as something new? Even though I've had it before?"

Rich: "Shea, I'll tell you what. If you eat a whole spoon full of crushed red pepper, and keep it down- you can't spit it out- that would count."

Me: "Um, I don't know if I'm really comfortable with this...."

Shea: "I'll totally do it."

And he did. And we all laughed at the expressions of pain that contorted his face. But he didn't spit it out. He did, however, spit out a large mouthful of milk because we were all laughing so hard during the aftermath.

Name That Offspring Results...

You clever, clever people. 8 out of 13 folks knew it was Atlee. Bonus points to Monique who based her guess on the arrangement of furniture at Mom and Dad's. See that blue recliner chair next to Atlee's head? It's part of the couch that was moved aside a few years ago to accommodate the Christmas Tree. Clever, clever people. I think this is evidence that Rich and I need to have a fourth child to up the difficulty level of Name That Offspring. Rich says something like, "Blah blah blah- you're crazy, no way- blah blah blah."

Anywho, did you hear there's some sort of football game this evening? I'm not certain, but I think we may be the only household in the state of Pennsylvania watching reruns of House or Law and Order tonight.