A Birthday Feast!

On Sunday, my baby brother, Robbie, turned 15 years old! Paprika hasn't seen Robbie in almost two years (since the summer of 2008), but she remembers him very well. I am always amazed at what Paprika remembers, truly.

Anyhoo, I told Paprika it was Robbie's birthday, and the first thing she wanted to do was sing him Happy Birthday. So, we called him on his cellie and she sang Happy Birthday to him.

Then when we got off the phone, she said very simply, "It's time to make Robbie's birthday dinner feast!"

Well, I went off to change Ginger's diaper and when I came back, Paprika had gone out to the backyard and had brought in all kinds of good stuff to make this dinner. She had taken out bowls and cups for mixing. And she had picked most of the rose petals off one of our rose bushes. She had picked greens from the plants. She had picked little purple flowers. Everything was from our backyard, and it was transformed by way of her imagination.



The rose petals were strawberries. The leaves of the plants were spinach. She had made him a strawberry and spinach salad!



Then she put it on the plate and said it was a big yummy plate of salmon and asparagus.



Then it was time to make the birthday cake.



She got out the mixing bowl all by herself and started to make the cake.



She stirred and mixed...



it was starting to look good!



Then she added some oranges from our orange tree.



Then I went to feed Ginger and get her new clothes. When we came back, Paprika had arranged the cake like this all by herself:



I don't know about you, but I think it looks like a divine birthday cake! Happy Birthday, Robbie! I hope you like your feast!

Where Do All The Cool Kids Hang Out?

On Saturday, I took Paprika to Princess Class. I was sure it wouldn't be cancelled like her dance class and her art class were. For starters, it's a Princess Class all about crafts, tea parties, make-believe, and dress-up. What's not to like about that? Second, it was on Saturday, so I figured it would be something working parents could fit into their schedules. So we had double chance of it being well-attended: working parents and stay-at-home parents would be able to make it.

That morning before we left, Paprika went through all her princess dresses until she found her very favorite one (the princess dress her Mimi and PopPop gave her for Christmas). She got all decked out with her hair bows, and feathers, and she was so excited.

She kept saying, "I'm going to go to Princess Class and make some friends. All my new friends are going to be at Princess Class!"



We got to class, and what do you know...we were again the only ones enrolled and the class was cancelled! They didn't have time to call us beforehand (they were hoping for last minute people to show up), so the teacher offered to do a craft with Paprika by herself. But, of course, there were no other kids there, which was the whole point of the class!

Paprika was so disappointed. She sat down and kept saying over and over, "When are my friends coming? Where are the other Princesses?"

It made my heart hurt.

So, basically, I need to figure out where the cool kids hang out - or any kids for that matter! I can tell you one thing...it's not at any of the Parks & Rec classes! We are so done with Parks & Rec!



When we left, Paprika kept saying, "Where are my new friends? When are they coming?"

I had to do some damage control. I knew there was an Earth Day festival going on at the park, and I knew there would be kids there, so we headed over there straight from the Princess Class.



It was great! There was a band and lots of kids Paprika's age.



We had an awesome time. Paprika danced and played with the other kids.



Ginger was much more interested in going through my purse...



and playing with my cell phone...



...and my sunglasses!



Then we came home and had a lazy day. Paprika and Ginger had a great time playing with chalk on the back porch. Paprika is teaching Ginger all about drawing. Ginger is Paprika's first art student.



Paprika later took my makeup and painted the bathroom floor with it. I don't have a picture of that! It was a whole tube of my expensive foundation and I almost cried. Well, not really. But she's always doing stuff like that...last week she put all of our refrigerator magnets in the toaster...and toasted them. She said that since they were on the refrigerator, they must be cold and they needed to be warmed up. I heard the toaster pop and came into the kitchen just in time!

Paprika's imagination is so big I just can't think of everything!

Anyhoo, all's well that ends well. Our day was a good one. I just have to find out...where do the cool kids hang out? Well, besides the two cool kids who hang out at our house! ;-)

Happy 10 Months!

Dear Ginger,

So much has happened in your life in the past month.

You got your first tooth. You started eating baby food! You love pureed sweet potatoes and pears. You do not like peas! You love your biter biscuits and your wagon wheels.

You can move from laying down to sitting up. You can pull yourself up to standing! You can stand for a long time holding on to something, but you're not quite ready to cruise yet. You are a really fast crawler, and you can climb the stairs (mostly, you get stuck on that last step)!



You love to laugh. You love your daddy, and your big sister. You love your mommy, too! You love to swing on our swingset! You love to smile and giggle and laugh some more!

When we went to Disneyland last week, you didn't like the car ride home at all. You kept saying "mama, mama, mama!!!" because you wanted me to scoop you up instead of ride in your carseat. As long as mommy is holding you, everything is alright!



You are into everything, and you love exploring. You are babbling like there is no tomorrow.

But you still love to snuggle your mommy more than anything. You still want to be held all night long. You fall asleep in the Ergo and I can only lay you down if you're really really asleep. Otherwise, you get so mad! How could mommy think about laying you down in your crib?! You will sometimes take a nap in your crib, but at night you want to be held all night long. You are a snuggler!

You quit your pacifier this month. You want nothing to do with pacifiers anymore. But you want everything to do with nursing...all the time...even when we're out and about in public.

Happy 10 Months, Ginger! I am so glad that you came into our lives! You bring so much sunshine and joy into our family. You mean more to us than you'll ever know! We love you so so so so very much and we always will!

Love,
Mommy

Together Time

Mr. Mustard's schedule on DWTS has been intense, to say the least! We haven't been seeing too much of him, so time with him is really precious at the moment.

Yesterday he had the afternoon free, so we decided to tie up some loose ends with our old townhouse up in Pasadena. It was just some routine stuff...you know the stuff that you have to do but don't really want to do? We had to take down the flat-screen we have mounted on the wall, fix the wall behind it, and just lots of little stuff like that. The girls came with us, of course, and they were very good sports.

We had planned to go back up to the old townhouse today to tie up some more loose ends (the list is really neverending), but we decided that the day was better spent relaxing as a family, so that's just what we did!

First we went out for ice cream. You know that saying, "Like a kid in a candy shop?" I never knew what a kid in a candy shop was like until today. And now I know! Haha!



We shared chocolate ice cream with sprinkles- Paprika's favorite. Mr. Mustard even let Ginger try a bite! She thought it was deeee-licious!



Then we went down to the pier. Paprika chased birds, and we all watched the surfers. We went to the marine center and petted the sea stars and learned about sea life. It never gets old!







Then Paprika had her new ballet class. Today was the first class, and she was soooo excited. We got to the class and only one other girl had signed up, so they cancelled the class without even telling us! The grandmother of the other little girl was there and raised such a fuss that they called the instructor and she drove over to give the girls a private dance lesson for an hour.



The teacher was phenomenal, and soooo much better than Ms. Gulch! Paprika learned more today than in her whole series at the old studio! Plus, this teacher was so nice to the girls...so very nice! Refreshing!




This is the second time this week we've been cancelled on at the last minute. I had Paprika signed up for an art clas, too, and the instructor called the night before to tell me that they didn't have enough students enrolled to do the class! Bah!

So, now I'm back to square one. I can do a lot of this stuff at home, but it's really being around the other kids that Paprika loves most. I can't tell you how much fun she had with this other little girl today. She was having the time of her life! So, I'll keep at it and eventually, hopefully, find a class that won't be cancelled on us!

D-Land Solo!

On Monday, I might have lost my mind because that morning I woke up and decided to take Paprika and Ginger to Disneyland and California Adventure all by myself. Now, of course, I have taken them to Disneyland with other people and I have taken Paprika by myself when I was pregnant with Ginger. But this was my first trip with a 9 month old and a 3 year old with no other adults present.

It all started because of an advertisement Paprika saw in the back of O Magazine on Saturday. It was an ad for some Disney cruise and it featured fairies and Tinkerbell...and so Paprika would not stop talking about wanting to go see these fairies and Tinkerbell.

I think the ideal adult/child ratio for D-Land is two adults per child. This was obviously exceeding the limit, but what could I do? When you want to see fairies, you've got to go see fairies!

Even though the whole point of the trip was to go see Tinkerbell and her fairies, Paprika decided when we got there that she really wanted to go to the Monsters, Inc. ride first. We rode that twice and then walked around California Adventure checking out some of the characters.



Then, she said she really wanted to go on the Carousel (again, when were we planning on seeing the Fairies?) So, we rode the Carousel twice.



Then we went on the Pinnochio ride twice.

Then we went to lunch just the three of us at the little restaurant by the Pinnochio ride.

And then we went to see Tinkerbell and the Fairies. Paprika was so excited! Then she was nervous. Then she wanted to run away. Then she wanted to very slowly approach the fairies to say hello. Needless to say, I was focusing on her and not on taking pictures...so the moment passed by without photos. What can I say, this is one rare un-phootgraphed moment of her childhood. Cest la vie!

After that, we went to the Princess Tiana show, where we were front row. Paprika got up on stage with Princess Tiana. Paprika played the tambourine, and she danced in front of the audience, and it was just awesome. Really.



Then we rode the Buzz Lightyear ride (Paprika kept calling it the Buzz Light-berry ride).

And then we got settled for the big Parade on Main Street...



And after that was all done, it was time to head home. Big day. Phew! It was rather exhausting (at least for me), but well worth it considering all the fun we had!