Hoppy Birthday...A Little Early

Hey, we have to take advantage of the good weather, people.  Since it was not raining today, a rarity lately here in the cold, cold, north, we decided to put together Elena's 4th birthday present.  Really is it a gift for the whole family as we can all join in the fun.


It was a family affair putting things together.  Miss E helped her Daddy (While wearing pajama pants, pajama gown, rain boots, a hill tribe hat from Thailand, and her jacket):

  
This lasted for all of about an hour (pretty impressive I thought) before someone was kinda tired of waiting and kept asking if it was almost ready.  Is it?  How about now?  And now?  HOW ABOUT NOW, DADDY?!?!?

Charlotte helped too, as you can see.  She is wearing the latest in baby cool-weather duds...and yes, the thing swamps her, but that seems to be normal for her.  Regardless she is one happy girl playing outside with the rest of us!


We took a break for some lunch but then worked some more to complete our task.  Finally, it was done:

And I know at least one little girl was very, very hoppy!  She bounced and she danced and she sang and she JUMPED! 

She wants friends to come over and she can't wait to show all of us her abilities.  Every minute she is coming up with new "tricks" for us to approve.

Overall, a very good early birthday gift, I think.   Even I've had a go...and hopefully I won't regret it tomorrow!

Happy Day to Me

I began my day by attempting to breathe.

I have a cold, and it is a doozy on the sinuses.

Once I was sure that I would indeed be able to breathe for the day, I went to the gym to do a Body Attack class. Yay for exercise!

I then came home and we all got ready to go to the zoo. This included changing Miss Thing out of her pajamas and into some proper clothing. Just before I put on her shoes and socks I leaned over her and asked her if she knew what day it was.

She looked at me like I was crazy.

Then I told her that it is Mama's birthday.

She responded with a song.

It was awesome, unasked for, and the best birthday present from a little one. Here is a re-enactment:

Excellent, yes? Especially the "and many more" section.

The zoo was excellent, full of Miss Thing running throughout the place. Pei Wei was nice for lunch. The afternoon was relaxing and I spoke with some family.

Then we had dinner.

It was best summed up by Rocket Man:

"One day we'll laugh about that dinner."

I'll just leave it at that.

A Look Back, Take One

Way back in June, we had a birthday party for Perpetual Motion. We decorated the dining area a bit and purchased some balloons and bubbles to give to those who attended.


Miss Thing was completely unaware of what was going on. She was a tad concerned that all of the people she usually saw at the playground were suddenly in her house, but no worries - they all began playing soon enough!


She received some rather nice gifts, including a Dr. Seuss book. She still won't really let me read it the whole way through as she is far too busy to sit for that, but she really enjoys the crazy cow that came with it. She can tell you that the cow goes "mooo"...and if you ask her what she says, well, "mooo" again.


All of her gifts are being put to good use and have been since her birthday, but this magnetic farm animal toy has just taken on a new meaning. The farm has two slots on it where you place the front end and back end of animals. You can make a match or not, and each has a song to go with it. Recently, we discovered that the front of our dishwasher is magnetic, even though it is stainless steel, so she races from the side of the fridge to the front of the dishwasher moving the animal halves back and forth.

Good times.

Also? Keeps her busy while I take care of things...for about a minute.

Kids: They certainly teach you how to make the most of very short periods of time.


I have a couple of other photos of Perpetual Motion opening her gifts, but in most of them she is fascinated by the paper. Oh, yes. The best gift of all...


...in fact, once she realized that the paper was off of a couple of gifts, that was all she wanted to play with, so I was going to open the gifts for her. Fortunately, one of her friends noticed her absence and immediately took advantage of the fact that it appeared as if whoever was sitting with me got to open presents. Too funny.


We had enough gifts that each of the kids who cared enough about it was able to open one. Good times ensued as everyone was then able to play with whatever we had received! The youngest kids played with paper and the older ones managed to break in the toys the right way.

We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and then we had cake! Perpetual Motion had no clue what we were doing in the above photo.


She had experienced solid foods a bit, but nothing like this cake. We poked it, we grabbed it, we licked our fingers...


She soon discovered that the icing was indeed her favorite part and managed to get most of it off of the cake.


Very soon thereafter she was showing her exhaustion and the thumb took up residence in her mouth. Off to bed she went...after a good bath of course.


The following morning the leftover balloons were fading and she managed to get this one and play with it. Oh, how exciting and fun that was! She still loves balloons and points them out when we ride in the car or if we see them in a book.


Overall it was a very nice weekend and a good first birthday!

A day to celebrate (take two)!

Happy birthday to you!


Happy birthday to you!


We hope you have a wonderful day!


Happy birthday to you!


We love you!

27 on the 27th:

A Year in Review

On this day one year ago I turned twenty-seven years old.

I was 27 on the 27th.

I was 3 times 3 times 3.

Have I mentioned that I have great affection for the number three? It is, in fact, my favorite number. I love it in combination with any other number as well as on its own. Honestly, I like all odd numbers a good deal more than even ones. The reason for this is uncertain, but it is partly the reason for which I was married on an odd-numbered day.

I am letting you in on the crazy and I am aware of this fact.

While walking with Pantalones Cortéz this afternoon I reflected on the past year a bit. Some amazing things have happened in this year of 27 on the 27th. I have decided to commemorate the end of the year by posting about the wonders of my being twenty-seven on day 3-times-3-times-3.

We moved to Spain.

(psssssst! WE MOVED TO SPAIN!)

I ran at least three times a week for over six months.

Now I walk for an hour at least five times a week.

Señor CC and I only own one car.

I do all of the cleaning (yes, it is a wonder; I abhor cleaning).

We do not have a microwave.

We visited London for four days.

I taught Cooper-chew doggy-fantastic to walk properly.

This does not mean pull as hard as you can in an attempt to go fast.

I have carried out multiple conversations in español.

People actually understood what I was saying.

I understood them, too.

I have been to Gibraltar, Sevilla, Tarifa, Ronda and Granada.

I started Spanish class.

I visited my family more than any other year since we were married.

Rrawr-monster knows who I am.

She thinks my doggy lives with her Gran and Papa Jim.

It is the only place she has seen his photograph.

Two-toof says "Bye-bye!" to me on the phone.

I received a Nikon D50.

Oh how I love that camera.

We found Cooper-chew doggy-fantastic’s family number two.

I learned to drive a manual-shift car.

Did you read that last one?

We went to Salzburg, Austria for three days.

I have met interesting and wonderful people from Texas, Arizona, Virginia, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Greece, and many other places.

I learned that Spanish people are kindhearted and friendly.

I began this blog.

My identity is morphing.

I don’t know what shape it will take.

And so, here we are at the end of a three-cubed year. I can only hope that my year of 28 on the 27th will be just as eye-opening and that I will continue to learn about myself and the world around me.