Kid Concerts

Everyone,

Every Monday morning at 10am you will find me hauling Butterfly and Soot out the door to walk the mile to our town's city hall. Butterfly happily sits in her stroller, pointing out birds and that park we walk past every week. ("Look Mommy! A park! I can't go there..." which is code for I'd really like to go there.) Soot runs helter skelter around for about the first half mile. Then she pants next to my side and really gets into the business of walking.

We arrive on the lawn of City Hall, sweaty, panting and in need of water. We skirt around the other moms and their kids and stake out some blanket room under a Japanese maple planted in memory of someone. I tie Soot to the maple and give Butterfly some water because she wants to drink out of mine before I do. I meet up with friends from either my Mom's group or church or both. Today it was both. VaVa and her mom, NayNay (sorry NayNay, if you read this. It was all I could come up with.) Also Butterfly's friend Vinny and his mom, Lelo.

Today on the mics was a group called Almost Recess. They are a male A Capella group and they were pretty good. They did a fun thing at the end where they sang one of the songs in different genres. Blues, opera, rap, techno. My favorite was techno. They are not as good as my favorite male A Capella group called Voice Male, but they are pretty good. They have sound bites on their website if you're interested in it.

Vinny, Butterfly, and Vava ran up and down the small hill behind the maple and got all sweaty. They did dance a little, but they were more interested in that hill. Good way for them to get some energy out.

Only one thing marred the nice day. The butt cracks. To my fellow moms, if you are going to wear low rise jeans, please realize that when you swat down, you look like a plumber. And it's not attractive. I know I have a lot of work to do on my butt to make it look nice, let alone be able to show off my crack. When you are trying to squeeze into your pre-pregnancy jeans, please be mindful of the people behind you as you swat down to talk to your child. It's really, not pretty.

I walked home with Vinny and Lelo (Soot and Butterfly in tow of course) and we went to see our good friend Tena and her kids. Then, off to lunch with everyone. So much fun! I love having friends out here. For so long I felt so lonely. I had so much to do all the time, but I felt like I really didn't have any friends, just people I hung out with. But now I feel like I have friends. And so many of them! I knew if I kept plugging along and went to as many places as I could, I would find someone to hang with. And I have. It's nice. :)

Safire

PS- Hormone levels all back to normal, supposidly my body is back to normal. We shall see...

Butterfly and Boys

Everyone,

I have realized that Butterfly does not have a lot of boys her age to hang around with. Not that it's bad to have basically all girl friends, but a boy around would be good. I paused to think about it and honestly, there are 2 boys that Butterfly hangs out with regularly. One is the neighbor kid down the street, let's call him Vinny. We're good friends with his parents and we switch babysitting a lot. She gives him huge hugs and blows kisses to him and hauls him around by the hand when they hang out. She just loves Vinny.

The other boy she hangs out with is my scrap booking partner's boy. He is just a week younger than Butterfly, and is the youngest of 5 kids. Butterfly prefers to hang out with his older sister (who she is as big as, Park is 4) but will play with Wred if he's playing with his trains. We went there on Tuesday and Wred followed Butterfly around and kept saying, "No! Mine!" whenever she picked up a toy. It's hard to be 2 and learning how to share.

At church on Sunday we sat behind a family with a little boy probably a year or so older than Butterfly. He was hanging over the bench trying to get her attention by flexing his muscles. He kept whispering "Big muscles!" to her and flexing his arms. She looked at him the first time, and decided her magnadoodle was more interesting. As he continued to preen for her attention, she started to glower at him. I actually saw her flounce and turn her back on him. Poor boy's muscles deflated and he turned around. Juice leaned over and asked me how I felt about a boy flexing at my daughter. I replied that I was fine with it because she was handling it herself. Juice nodded and went back to driving Butterfly's car around the bench.

Boys!

Safire

Back to the Gym

Everyone,

I've started going back to the gym. I was put on hiatus once I found out I was pregnant by my doctor, and was told I could start back up once I was well into the 2nd trimester. Well, that didn't work out. My hormone levels are back to normal. So I figured I could go back to the gym now, after giving my body some time to heal. I went to the gym yesterday for a pilates class.

This was my very first pilates class. Wow am I uncoordinated! The class was full of breathing while rolling up and down, and moving right arm and left leg together. I stumbled through. And I felt fine after. This morning I felt fine too. But now, this afternoon, I'm starting to feel my abs. Ouch! And my arms...I did 9 push ups yesterday and boy do I hurt. I think this will be good for me. As a favorite movie line says, "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't kill their husbands." Happy people whose husbands watch the kids so you can go make more endorphins at the gym don't kill them either. :) I do like yoga better because I could take the time to figure out the moves. I must be doing something right because my abs!

Our summer is piling up to be a busy one. One big splurge we are doing at the end is going to the Pennsylvania Renn Faire. It's only about 2 hours from here, so we're going to enjoy a different Faire this year. We are also going to the Maryland Renn Faire as we always do. I think it's just because we want to wear our garb. We are going to stay over a hotel near the faire so we can really enjoy it and turn it into a mini-vacation/road trip for us.

Our town has free kid concerts on Monday mornings, Tuesday and Wednesday the local theater is showing free kid movies, Thursdays I have a standing scrap booking date with a lady in my ward and the farmer's market with yummy fresh produce, and Fridays Juice typically gets off early so we can go and do stuff. It's also fun to go swimming with my moms group, and play dates for Butterfly. We are busy!

I saw my first firefly of the season yesterday. I love seeing them flash bright green near our house. Last year along the creek, they were all flashing white. Fireflies are something that I will miss terribly when we move away. (No, no plans until at least 2+ years.) We may have to keep Butterfly up one night and let her catch a few in some jars. Check out THIS LINK for some pictures of the fireflies in our area.

Safire

No no no!

Everyone,

There are 2 phrases I hear every day. I wish it was things like "I love you Mommy!" But it's not. Mostly it's just a string of "No! Don't! I do it!" and "I want something else." That is her equivalent of "I'm bored!" Said in that whiny, sighing tone of voice too. This phrase I hate more than anything else. I try to make sure we get out of the house at least once a day. And it's not my fault she's bored. She has tons of toys to play with, and books galore. But still..."I need something else!" ARG!

We are still using the 2 minute rule but have morphed it into you-have-2-minutes instead of do-you-want-to-now-or-in-2-minutes. And she has caught on to our saying, "2 minutes are up!" by retorting (and yes, it is a retort), "No! 2 minutes DOWN!" Thank you Micky for teaching her opposites. It's really funny to hear.

Also today I couldn't find her new doll's ice cream cone. (You feed the doll the ice cream, it gets all over the dolls face and you have to wipe it up with warm water. Or you could wait until it gets warm enough and it fades away.) So I called Juice at work to see if he knew where it was. She asked to ask him, and couldn't keep her hands off the phone while I called him. I had to dial it 3 times. And then when she got to talk to Juice, she just went off. She told him that she couldn't find the ice cream and she looked all over and it's lost and gone forever and she can't find it in the whole wide world. Then she went off on a tangent about a garbage can which was the only word I could really make out. Luckily, Juice knew where it was and we were able to rescue Chloe's ice cream. (The name came with the doll. And it's not always Chloe. Sometimes it's Cindy.)

Just now she told me that Soot's red bone will make her feel better. And ran and put it on Soot's paw. She is just too cute!

Safire

Funny Girl

Everyone,

Butterfly's vocabulary is increasing and she is saying hilarious things. A few days ago, our friends from Juice's work brought her a birthday present. So when we picked Juice up from work, she was so excited! She talked all about blowing out her candles and how old she was (I two! I two!). So yesterday, when we went to pick up Juice from work, she didn't say hello to him. The only thing she asked was, "Where my birfday present? Where my candles?" Silly girl.

One other thing that amazes me is her ability to tell restaurants what she wants to eat. Either she is not very shy, or we eat at restaurants often. Last week we had friends from Las Vegas visiting and we went out to lunch. The waiter came up to us, and she said, "Hi! I want hot dog please. Thanks!" And smiled. And then she added, "Oh, milk too." The waiter was very good but I think he did a double take. I did a little one myself. Where did my baby go?

She is amazing.

Safire

Thanks

Everyone,

Thank you for all your kind notes and flowers and gifts that you have sent me. It's nice to know that everyone loves and is thinking of us. It's hard to loose this baby so far into the pregnancy. I seriously thought we were past the danger point. That makes it 10 times worse.

However, Juice and I are choosing to focus on the future. I am going to put all of the ultrasounds (3 of them, all with heartbeats) and all the notes and all the belly pictures I took into a safe place. I don't want to forget this pregnancy, but I don't want to dwell on it either. I did feel the baby move first around 11 weeks. I thought the baby was strong. I have no doubt that another strong baby will come into our lives and we will get to see him or her grow up. S/he better not be strong willed though. We already have one of those and I think 2 of them will drive me screaming from the house. :)

I am playing phone tag with both my OB's office and my RE's office (that's the place where we go to GET pregnant) and we're thinking of starting things up again in the fall. That is if my hormone levels are going down appropriately. Don't expect me to talk about the RE here. It makes me moody and cross and I don't like myself while on the hormones. And don't expect me to say anything once I do get pregnant for awhile. The hardest thing this time has been telling other people. Juice and I took turns crying on the phone for a few days telling everyone. Our parents were nice enough to tell family for us.

Butterfly for about 3 days wanted to see the baby in my belly. I'm so glad that her memory is short.

I see a big thunderstorm rolling our way so I should go. Thanks again.

Safire

Butterfly 2 year old stats

Everyone,

Our big girl is getting bigger by leaps and bounds! We went to the doctor the other day and got her official 2 year old stats. She is 32 lbs (about the 110%) and 37 inches long (135th%). She still has a nice small head of 19 inches around which is only in the 90th%. She is seriously as big as a 3 year old. They measured her 4 times at the doctor's office because they didn't think it was right. And when the doctor came in, she told her where to sit, where she was going to sit and where I was sitting. The doctor looked at me and said, "She's bright. Do you read chapter books to her? She might like them." I nearly fell off the floor. Chapter books?! I know I like them but she just barely turned 2. I haven't tried any with her yet but I'm interested to see if she would like them. She has about 15 of her books memorized (so do I) and will read them out loud to herself. So maybe...

This is Butterfly and her new bike we got her for her birthday. Okay, I bought it at Christmas time because I got it on a huge sale (normally over $120, I got it for around $60...nice!) but it's been in our attic since then. She loves the thing and begs to go out on it at least 3 times a day. I need to get her a helmet. I wish she could pedal herself because she gets frustrated and then pushes the bike with the handle. And that is SLOW GOING. The bike also adjusts out so as they get longer, you can make sure it fits properly. She is already on the next to the last hole. But I don't think that's going to stop her.

Every day she amazes me with her sweet nature and spunkiness. She was always a sweet and spirited baby, and has not really changed a whole lot. Well, except for the "Do it myself!" and hitting we are dealing with but that's 2 years old for you. She's a love even with that.

Safire

A sad morning

Everyone,

So this morning I was doing the wash and came across some of my maternity shirts that I had just pulled out a few days before the news. It seemed sad that I wore them maybe once this time around, and now I have to put them back in the box. Even sadder seems to be the pants that I bought because I was going to be pregnant in the summer, that I never wore. One still even has the tags on them. I wonder if I can find the receipt and take them back. Another sad thought...

I get my blood test results back tomorrow. From now on, I'll be having weekly blood draws to make sure that my body is doing what it should. I have gotten to be on such good terms with the lab that they know me by sight. They also want to find a new vein in my arm to take the blood from, since the one that they always use is starting to develop scar tissue and is harder to poke. That just strikes me as sad too.

Butterfly has been pretty good during all of this. I think she is picking up on the sadness around here because she's been having more tantrums lately. But I've been trying to keep things normal for her and actually get her out playing with her friends. I think she got used to people around all the time in Utah and is feeling a little lonely now that it's just us.

And that's a little sad too.

Safire

It was supposed to be happy.

Everyone,

Today was the day that I was supposed to share some good news with you. After more struggles to get pregnant, we did! I didn't want to say anything here because I wanted to tell our family in person. And we just came back from our family. So we were all happy and things seemed to be going normally.

Then I went to the doctor for a routine visit. No heartbeat on the doppler. No heartbeat on the ultrasound at the office. No heartbeat at the emergency ultrasound at the hospital. Baby was measuring around 13 weeks, when I should have been around 16 weeks.

We are sad. We are unhappy. I am especially unhappy because this throws us back into the infertility world of shots and timing and the like. I know I don't talk about it much on here because it makes me very dark and moody. But back we go. If I swore, now would be a good time for an oath.

The worst part is loosing what was supposed to be. We were supposed to have a baby around Thanksgiving. We were supposed to fly home in March for my Grandpa's 80th birthday with another cute one. We were supposed to give Butterfly a sibling. It was supposed to work. We were going to be happy. I was getting all excited to pull out all the clothes we would need. I picked out the double stroller I wanted. We have everything but the mattress to move Butterfly into a big girl bed so the new baby could use the crib.

But now, it's just sad. Yes, I can still do some of those things when we get pregnant again. But now Butterfly and the new baby will be that much farther apart in age. And if it takes us awhile to get pregnant, again, like it always does, they will be even farther apart. I now have to worry about loosing baby fat with no baby to cuddle.

It's just plain sad.

Safire

Final Video Presentation

Everyone,

Remember when I did this video for Butterfly last year on her birthday? It made my parents cry. It made me cry. Still does. Since we don't have enough happy crying, I thought I'd make another one for Butterfly this year. I have finally finished it (ignoring the 400+ emails I have because I haven't checked my email in almost 3 weeks) and I hope you will like it. Turn on your speakers, get your tissues and maybe a drink. It's over 15 minutes long. I like it but would love your comments. And since last year I got a lot of questions asking about the songs I used, I put little credits in this time. Enjoy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I just can't believe how much she has changed from this time last year. Her eyes have definitely changed color (watch that...very cool!) and she has learned to walk, talk, run, jump, give kisses, say NO!, and all the other stuff you learn in a year. We have also been ALL OVER. It looks like that is all we do, travel around. She has been to Gettysburg, Hawaii, Utah, California, Assateague, DC (several times), Annapolis (also, several times), Monticello, and the White House Easter Egg Roll. We stay busy here in our house.

Seriously, I can't believe that she is 2 going on 3. What happened to the tiny baby in the first slide show?

Safire

In Utah

Everyone,

I am loving my very long vacation in Utah. Well, except for the fact that Butterfly isn't sleeping very well and we all got colds because she licked the hand rail at the monorail in Disneyland. But still, I think I have had french fries and fry sauce every day this week, and I've been chowing down on cheddar and sour cream chips since they don't seem to have them in Maryland. Yum!

I'm also enjoying spending time with my mom watching girly movies and hanging out with my best friend Laura and her baby in the mornings. Great times! I have pictures to show you, plus Butterfly's 2 year old video, but that will have to wait till around Memorial Day. Until then, this is a picture of my Dad and Butterfly on a ride in Disneyland. Fun times!

Safire

2 Years Old

Dear Butterfly,

You are so dear to us. You are so sweet, loving, happy, funny, and an all around great gal to be around. Daddy and I often talk about how fun you are, and how smart you are. You know so many things: the words to Twinkle, most body parts, how to turn on and off the CD player, the TV, the computer; how to open the front door, a few letters and numbers, and a few books. I also hope that you know that your Mommy and Daddy love and adore you.

As we watch you blossom into a little person, we wonder where that sweet demanding baby went. Well, you are still very sweet and still very demanding. Most of the time you are also reasonable so we don't have too many tantrums. Daddy keeps saying you got my common sense. It's not a bad thing to have. It will help you in the future.

Every day, I start to recognize myself in you. The way you stick your lower lip out when you are hurt or pouting. The way you turn those big eyes on me and glower. It makes me laugh every time because I've seen pictures of myself with that exact expression. I also see how you have your daddy wrapped around your finger. Isn't he nice to have around?

You are continuing to talk up a storm, and will tell me all about your day all day long. I love how you say, "Cummon guys!" when we are walking to slow behind you. Or "Hold my hand?" when you want to cross the street. It's so sweet to feel your silky little hand in mine. You have started to want to hold my whole hand and not just my finger. You are growing up so fast. Other favorite phrases include: Soot good girl, run fast, run run run, play with friends, play with toys, I found our car!, read books please, No Daddy don't come, dance with me!, you silly/funny Mommy, what wrong Mommy?, I need my Mommy, I need my Sister (last name). This last one is because the kids we babysit call me Sister (last name) and you have picked up on it. It's very cute. The other day we were walking into church and you turned to me and said, "I Sister (last name) too!" Yep, you are. What a smart girl!

You have changed so much this past year. You went from not knowing how to walk, run, climb, or jump to doing everything. You also have gotten so much bigger and longer. You are as tall as the 3 year old we babysit, and fit into 3T-4T clothes. Toys are your biggest draw right now. You love to play with your toys. When Nana told you that she had toys at her house to play with, you got so excited! Now you wander around the house say, "Go on airplane with Mommy. Go see Nana's house. Nana has LOTS of toys!"

For your birthday this year we are going on a trip to California to see Aunt Angela graduate from college, and to go to Disneyland. We are also headed to Utah to see Nana and Grandpa and all of our family and friends. I can't wait to show you off and have everyone tell you how wonderful you are. Because you are. And you have a great family who loves you and is seriously missing out on all the fun. :)

I can't wait to see what this next year is going to bring!

Love, Mommy

2 weeks till 2 years old!

Everyone,

In 2 weeks my baby will be 2 years old. Where does the time go? Juice said that time was just plugging along before we had her, and then suddenly it grew up and got a real job. Now time just races by. I'm doing another picture slide show for her so look for that in about 2 weeks.

She talks up a blue streak, repeating everything I say and then some. She frequently asks to go to Nana's house ("Go Nana's house? Ride airplane! Play toys!") since we are leaving in 2 weeks for a visit to Utah. My mom told her on the phone that she has toys for Butterfly to play with. She asks for them. She also asks to go over to the house where I babysit or over to "Kebin" who is a friend of ours from our church.

Her favorite thing right now is to dance. She knows how to turn on the CD player in my room and will dance fast or slow depending on the music. The slower the music, the more arm movement is involved. Fast music needs some spinning on the ground and lots of bouncing. She wants us to join her and we do sometimes. But if we are the audience (which she says), then we're not even allowed to bob our head. There are rules people and you must follow them.

She has a few favorite stuffed animals (FINALLY) and will sit and chat with them in the mornings. I get a few more minutes in bed and she pretends with her toys. She asks them to "Cummon you guys" and "Drink, both hands". She has a few teddy bears which she calls care bears and has them do the care bear stare. She has a care bear dvd that we watch a lot.

She is also into books lately. She has always been a book worm but now she will sit and turn the pages by herself and explain the pictures to herself. She will often just burst out laughing and say "That funny!" when a picture catches her fancy.

She is a pretty good eater for lunch and dinner, but breakfast is a bit of a chore. She loves loves loves "jelly sandwich peanut butter" and will eat a few half sandwiches through out the day. She is also wanting to drink from regular cups and not sippy cups so I have started giving her small amounts of water at lunch in a small plastic cup. She loves hot dogs, black beans, ice cream, raisins, milk (she still calls it "nup") and meat. She loves meat of any kind. She does okay with green beans if you catch her on a good day, and also loves tomatoes, strawberries (any kind of fruit for that matter), and peas.

My favorite things she does is randomly she will come up to me and hug me and tell me she loves me. She will also ask me "What wrong Mommy?" if I'm trying to sleep or if I'm sad. She also knows she can't go in the street with out holding hands "Hold my hand!" She sings her own version of Twinkle, the Wheels on the Bus, and the Snowman song. She does all the hand actions to about 8 different songs. She also knows a few nursery rhymes like Humpty Dumpty and Hey Diddle Diddle. What I want to know is it too early for the whys to start. I tell her to do something and I get a "Why?" Ugh, it's getting frustrating to do things like dress her or put on shoes because every time I ask her to do something she asks "Why?" back. She does love to pick out her clothes so I've kind of given up on that battle. You want to wear this bright yellow shirt with totally clashing shorts? And different colored socks? Sure. Often she looks like her daddy dressed her, but really it's just her. I do insist on matching stuff when we are going out for a play date or something, but otherwise, she can wear what she wants.

We have discovered the joys of 2 minutes. Say if she doesn't want to go inside and will scream and cry and carry on if I make her, I ask her if she wants to go in now or in 2 minutes. Almost always she picks two minutes. And when I say the 2 minutes is up, she happily follows me inside. Or to get her diaper changed, or to take a nap. Sometimes she will even come up to me and say "2 minutes up!" before they are and we go do whatever it is we should have done.

I can't believe she is going to be 2 years old!

Safire

Spring Dresses

Everyone,

Just for my mom, I thought I'd post pictures of Butterfly in her spring/summer dresses. She is just so adorable and such a big girl!

Thanks Mom for the bottom dress. She looks so cute in it!




Safire

A trip to the ER

Everyone,

On Friday, we took Juice out to get his hair cut. Butterfly and I went to go get food. And about an hour later we returned to the house. Totting hot burritos and a lot less hair.

I got into the house first and let Soot out of the kitchen where we keep her when we are gone. She is jumpy and happy as always. I just noticed something red on her foot. I didn't even bother to look at it closely right at first. I figured it was some kind of sticker that was stuck. Then I wondered, "What has she gotten into that a big red sticker would be on her foot?" So I took a closer look.

No sticker. Blood. And lots of it. And a huge gaping wound about 2 inches long and open about a quarter inch. So I scoop up the dog and run outside to Juice and Butterfly, and say we need to go to the doggy hospital. I showed him her leg, and called our regular vet to see if we go there or what. They were closing, so they sent us to the doggy ER about 20 minutes from our house. Address and phone number in hand, we ran off to the ER eating our food as we went.

Can I just say that it's a great thing to have a doggy ER but boy are they sad places. We got there and hung out for about 20 minutes in the waiting room while more emergency cases were moved to the back. It was a small waiting room, and there was a very chatty lady in there with her teenage daughter. Her dog was in because she had a fever for days and antibiotics weren't taking it down. A few other people came with nasty cuts, a dog fight victim, a loud pathetic sounding cat, and a dog they were putting down for reasons unknown to us.

We were there almost 2 hours. Butterfly was a great little girl. The loud cat entertained her to no end. First the kitty was talking to her, and then the kitty was singing so she danced around. Then the kitty was whistling (no idea where that one came from). We rearranged all the fliers they have, and read a few of the free magazines. The whole time she was asking, "Where Soot?" or popping up with "Soot has owie." She is so cute. Towards the end, we had to take her outside where she ran up and down the wheelchair ramp. I didn't even think to grab her any toys when we left so it's nice to know that she can be entertained with what they have in the office.

Soot ended up with 3 staples in her leg, and a huge pink bandage and a lovely for her head. She is SO FUNNY with this cone on. She keeps running into corners and just stopping because she can't figure out why she is not going anywhere. She doesn't really fit through her doggy door so we have to make sure she gets outside.

A few days later, we took her to her regular vet who pronounced her 90% healed and put a smaller bandage on her. She promptly got it off, so we just left it off. They shaved her down a lot and she looks a little funny still but she is healing. We have to carry her up and down the stairs and she is restricted to short walks around the 'block' until next week when they take the staples out.

Poor thing. We don't even know how she did it.

Safire

Easter Egg Roll 2007

Everyone,

Okay, that camping out bit, SO worth it to go to the Egg Roll. It was so much fun. We got there and they gave us free breakfast (eggs in tortillas, juice and fruit) and a free juicer and a free CD from sunkist. They also had a little stage where they were playing some music.

Once we got into our tent to wait for the Egg roll, we saw all of our friends from church and said hello. But once we were on the White House lawn, I think we saw them once more and that was it. There was SO much to do, and not just whacking eggs with a spoon down a slope. We of course, did that first because that's what we came here to do. They actually take real spoons and stuff from the WH kitchen and had over 10,000 colored eggs for the day. Imagine the chickens that could have made!

There was face painting, coloring, story nooks, 4 different entertainment stages, an animal stop, an egg hut, a bunny fitness trail, and more.

I had the most fun with the egg roll and the animal stop. Mainly because the monkey fell in love with Juice and wouldn't let him leave. It was even pushing off of it's handler to get Juice to pick him up. What can I say, Juice is loved by all. I also loved the animal stop because where else will Butterfly get to touch a snake, an alligator, a monkey and see a porcupine eat a bottle? It was seriously cool.

We skipped the face painting because by the time we got there, the line was huge. We also skipped the free professional pictures because no one but me wanted to do it. Kind of bummed about that one and if we end up going again, that will be my first stop. We did meet the speedy delivery guy from Mr. Rogers and Butterfly got a signed picture of him. Having never watched Mr. Rogers really, I was unimpressed. But Juice got a kick out of it.

Butterfly also took the egg dying seriously and died her egg deep pink. She flipped over a white spot that it had, so we stuck a sticker over it (a butterfly, of course) and she carried it around the rest of the time.

We got so much free stuff there, beyond the food they had there. Coloring books, special egg dying kits made just for this event, candy, diapers, a poster, and the coveted wooden egg signed by the president and first lady. Butterfly got a purple one. She enjoys pointing it out on our shelf every now and then.

We had the greatest day. I think I would love to do it again.

Safire

Ticket Campout

Everyone,

All I can say is that this Egg Roll thing better be worth it. It turns out that all the ladies from my church that I was supposed to go with kind of chickened out because of the snow. They sent their husbands instead. I would have but my good friend, Lea, really wanted to go and her husband works nights. So we went.

We hauled all of our stuff down there on the Metro and walked 2 blocks to the White House. Everyone kept looking at us and averting their eyes like we were homeless. We did look pretty scruffy...old jeans, a tent, bags.

When we finally reached the Ellipse, we dropped our stuff and went in search of dinner. Did you know that practically all the restaurants near the White House close at 7pm? We must have tried 3 different places before we found one that was just closing and agreed to make us some gyros.

And then, the waiting. Oh, the waiting. We sat and chatted with the husbands for a few hours. 2 of them are doctors so that was pretty interesting. And then I got tired so I went and laid down in my freezing cold tent. Because, of course, it was like 20 degrees outside and all I had brought was a sleeping bag. Granted, this sleeping bag will go to -20 so I was still okay. But man it was cold! And I kept waking up to cars going past, and people playing Apples to Apples right next to the tent. I do think I managed to doze off because when my alarm when off to go get the tickets, Lea was in the tent.

My friend Ra, who kind of organized the thing, said that they typically pass out vouchers for the tickets between midnight and 3am. So I set my alarm for midnight, and we proceed to sit out in the cold and wait. Boy did we wait. And while we waited, it started to snow. I had taken my sleeping bag out there with me, propped 2 chairs up and promptly fell asleep. I think I slept for close to an hour when Lea woke me up and said she was going back to the tent because it was snowing too much for her. So back to the tent we go.

Around 4am, they finally came around to pass out the vouchers. I was #104, and I owe that all to Ra's sister who came down at 2pm to set up chairs. Vouchers received, sleep needed. Back to the tent for more fitful sleep.

Then, at 7am, they started coming around and asking everyone to fold their tent. After brushing the inch or so snow off the tent, we did. And then more waiting. But this time hauling all of our stuff around with us. We do not have a light tent. And I couldn't get it back into the bag. I am not the master packer that Juice is.

Finally, we got the tickets. 10:15 am for Monday. This better be worth it.

Safire

Snow

Everyone,

It's April. And it's snowing. And it's supposed to snow tomorrow night while I am camping out. Feeling a little crazy but I am going!!

Safire

Happy Birthday Juice!

Everyone,

So I know I haven't written in awhile. In my defence, Juice and Butterfly are sick so it takes up ALL of my energy to deal with them. And then the weather changed and I just couldn't be inside. But now that it's rainy and cold, I might actually do some more typing. We'll see.

Juice turned 28 last weekend. He had a great low key birthday where we ordered our favorite restaurant to go and spent the evening playing with his birthday presents. Butterfly and I got him a usb rocket launcher and he tried to hit poor Soot, even though it says in the instruction booklet not to aim it at pets. Once I read that, he tried to aim it at me. He said that it didn't say anything about wives. Lucky for him, it has a short range and makes a loud popping noise before it goes off. Kind of like the flame spurt in "The Princess Bride".

He also got a new card game called Killer Bunnies. So hilarious! We played it a few times but we need more people. Anyone want to come over for a night of card game playing? We promise to provide snacks. The purpose of this game is to keep your bunnies alive and to avoid things like the eboli virus and being abducted by aliens.

This weekend I am braving the cold and camping out on the Ellipse of the White House for their Easter Egg Roll celebration. It's supposed to be in the 30s. I am so excited to have a night out. This will be my first night away from my house without Butterfly. In almost 2 years. I think I'm due for it, don't you? Granted, I would have rather gone someplace like Florida or something for this but camping out with all my gal pals is just as fun.

Safire

Learning about Maryland

Everyone,

This weekend marks the 373 birthday of the state of Maryland. So, since we live here, I thought I'd let you know a few things about the state.

1- The state sport is jousting. Yes, jousting. As in men covered in metal on huge horses hurtling towards each other and trying to knock the other off their horse. The state team sport is lacrosse.

2- Maryland is known as a border state because it exhibits both Northern and Southern characteristics. The more rural areas of Maryland are more southern, while the cities are more northern.

3- Maryland is the second richest state in the Nation. New Jersey is the first.

4- State symbols:

bird: Baltimore Oriole
boat: skipjack
cat: calico
crustacean: blue crab
dinosaur: Astrodon johnstoni (looks like a mini t-rex)
dog: Chesapeake Bay Retriever
drink: milk
fish: striped bass
flower: black-eyed Susan
folk dance: square dance
fossil: Ecphora gardnerae gardnerae (it's a snail)
gem: Patuxent River Stone
horse: thoroughbred
insect: Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly
nicknames: "The Old Line State" and "The Free State" (which I wonder about because aren't all the states free?)
reptile: diamondback terrapin (it's a turtle)
song: "Maryland, My Maryland"
tree: white oak

5- Maryland is 42nd is size. It is 12,417 square miles. It is also 21% water.

6- It is 19th in population density, with close to 6 million people in 2000. It is the 5th in population density per square mile, with 542 people per square mile. Or so. I am surprised at how packed the cities are, and how open the country is.

7- Highest point is Hove Crest at 3360 feet above sea level. Lowest point is the Atlantic Ocean.


Happy Birthday Maryland!

Safire