Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Bad birdie

A bird flew into the window by our kitchen table tonight while Cara and I were eating dinner. Needless to say, this warranted additional examination....

See the bird? By the railing? (OK, pretend you see it)

It also prompted Cara to deliver a stern lecture on proper flying etiquette:
"Birdie! You do not slam into the window. That's a bad choice. You get a booboo. You fly over there."

Fortunately, the bird recovered and flew away after a few minutes.

With rings on her fingers and paint on her toes

"Look!!!"

"I have painted toenails, just like Shelby's!"

Ride 'em, cowgirl

For Christmas last year, my parents and grandparents gave Cara a wonderful horse swing made out of an old tire. Good stuff! Much excitement!

Of course, then we had to wait 7 months for my dad to actually hang it in the yard. : P

But... I can say that it was totally worth the wait! Look at how cool this is. Poppa actually built the arch to hang it on himself and did a fine job of it.

Of course, Cara just loves it.

Thanks, Nona, Poppa, Gigi, Deedee, and Great Grandpa!

Put me in the zoo...

For my birthday, I decided I had better things to do than work on my birthday. So we went to the zoo instead. Jenna had the day off too (what a coincidence!) so she and Tristan came along.

It was absurdly hot (and I do mean absurdly hot) and sticky, but the kids had a good time altogether. They always get along well, despite the age difference. Tristan is very careful and considerate of Cara.

We had the pandas all to ourselves for a good fifteen minutes. The kids had a swinging good time.

Then they got up close and personal.

Mei Lan really is adorable. Several million dollars worth of adorable? I'm not sure, but she is definitely a cutie.

We visited the kangeroos, who were much less bouncy than my daughter. You can faintly make one out sprawled on the ground in the background. Yes, it is in fact looking at Cara - I think it was surprised that someone has the energy to jump in this heat.

Next stop: the petting zoo. Cara liked the goat. Well, it was a very friendly goat. Tristan thought so too.
In fact, the goat was so friendly that it offered to pose for a photo with us all. Such a nice goat.

We visited several exhibits, including the elephants, and had a picnic lunch sitting by the lions.

By this time, it was blazing hot, so we saw a few more exhibits and called it quits for the day. But it was a fun excursion, and a great way to spend my birthday.

And of course, I got my mom's mouth watering strawberry cake for dinner. Mmmmmm.

Cinderella and her Prince Charming

Strawberry Girl

I am woefully behind in posts... I will try to make it up this week!

A couple of weeks ago we went up to a pick-your-own strawberries farm in Dahlonega. We went up early in the morning to try and beat the heat (unsuccessfully, I might add). Mom and I picked and Cara "helped" put them in the buckets.

Of course we also had to sample the berries, you know, for quality control.

Cara was very diligent in this task, and tells us they all passed inspection, thank goodness.

We picked a ton of berries - probably more than we needed - but I froze a bunch and Aunt Meg promises to make some yummy concotions with them.

And about half of them were promptly made into strawberry shortcake and my birthday cake. If you have not had the pleasure of tasting my mom's strawberry cake... well... I am very sorry for you. Come to my birthday next year, and you can have some : )

Car wash

"I am making the car not dirty, Mommy."

Hello, operator

Caught this as I was drawing her bath tonight. This is my old cellphone. Here is the conversation:

"Hello, Dana Pearce. I change my diaper. Uh huh. Uh huh. Hi Mimi! Hi Poppa! I mumble mumble something unintelligble. Uh huh. Uh huh. Mommy! You silly! Nona, I change my diaper. Uh huh. Uh huh. I put medicine on my booboo."

Monkey see, monkey do

Scene: Walking out the door on the way to school. Mommy is holding Cara, who is holding Monkey.

Mommy, singing: You and me and Monkey make three!
Cara: No, Monkey doesn’t make three!
Mommy: Then what does Monkey make?
Brief pause, while Cara considers.
Cara: Monkey makes gooooood choices.

Splash!

It rained sometime today. But the ground was already dry by the time we got home, so I didn't think much of it.

I was talking to my neighbor and Cara decided she needed to check out the sandbox... by the time I got up there (2 minutes later, mind you), she was soaked from head to toe and giggling non-stop. It was great.

Naptime

The joys of napping with a toddler in the house: you get company. Lots of company.

Plus a loving two year old patting you to sleep.

What impressed me, Tim, is that you sleep through it all. Including the "Let's explore Daddy's mouth" part.

Advice on cows

On the way home tonight, I received some very sage advice on dealing with cows:

Cara: Do NOT crash into the cows! You gotta BE CAREFUL, Mommy!

Mommy: That's a good plan. I will not crash into the cows.

Cara: The cows would be SAD if you crashed into them. The cows would cry!

Mommy: You're right. They would be sad.

Cara, waggling her finger emphatically: Do NOT crash into the cows! Be careful!

Mommy: Ok! I won't crash into the cows.

Cara: We ride the cows. And the ponies.

Mommy: Really!

Cara: Yup. We ride the cows and pet the ponies. And we go to the zoo. You gotta BE CAREFUL, Mommy!

No cows were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had lots of fun this weekend. Tim's parents have a cabin on Lake Blue Ridge, which is a lovely place to relax and have a mini-vacation in the mountains. Cara was VERY excited and it was all she talked about Thursday and Friday. "I'm going to the mountains!" she kept telling us. And now that we are back, she is just as enthusastically declaring "I am a mountain girl!!" to everyone who would listen. She even says it in the appropriate mountain girl accent.

We took long hikes several days, trying out Daddy's new backpack. To my surprise, we saw a whole slew of little tiny orange lizards (salamanders? newts? I dunno). Cara named them "Orangie" and had to hold every one we saw.

Just to illustrate how much she's grown in a year.... here she is, May 24th, 2009:

And here she is on May 25th 2008:

Look at that hair!

Daddy and Grandpa spent some quality time fishing... but the best fish of the whole trip was caught by... Cara!! She was very pleased with herself and tried to kiss it. I don't have any pictures yet - they are all on Grandpa's camera - but will post once he sends them.

She was very eager to examine the catch of our two fishermen:

Cara's favorite pursuit of the weekend was swinging on the porch. She is OBSESSED with her swing. We had to pry her out of it with a crowbar....

Although a spoonful of brownie mix worked well too : )

:

Cara speaks

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I don't have any new pictures, so you're getting a thousand words instead.

This morning: "Booboo, Mommy! Put butt-paste on my booboo!" (translation: she wanted Benadryl cream, for insect bites.... which she thinks is diaper rash cream)

When I picked her up from school: "I played outside with Hazel, and Caleb, and Libby, and [in a dramatic, exasperated, 'you're in trouble' tone] Reece Thatcher!" (Reece apparently gets in trouble a lot, and consequently, her name cannot be said in a normal fashion.)

While in the bath: "Mommy, don't peepee in the sink. That is not nice." (I have no clue where this came from. I was not even close to the sink.)

While reading: "This is a moose, and this is a moose, and this is a moose, and this is a...... [long pause for reflection]... not-moose."

Just now, screaming in bed: "Turn the movie off! Turn the movie off!" (Turns out the "movie" is her "soother" music player that attaches to the crib. She had turned it on, but the batteries are starting to go and it sounds a little, well, sick. Now, why she didn't turn it off herself, I don't know. Maybe she was too traumatized.)

Puddle

Cara danced in this puddle until it evaporated. Spun in circles like a ballerina. Stamped her feet and giggled at the splash.

It's lovely to see her get so much joy out of something so simple.

Making faces

We have learned something new: how to make faces at people.

Here she is, wiggling her fingers in mockery of... well.... me:



Finger waggling with the addition of the toungue. She is refining her technique very quickly, you can see.


And now, for the grand finale, we have the amazing "Your-Face-Is-Going-To-Freeze-Like-That-Young-Lady" mouth pull. Quite impressive, I must say.


Fortunately her face did not in fact freeze. Thank goodness.