Yes, But Only If You Bring Your Hamster

Peanut is having a play date right now. I am quietly sitting in the room next to them and relaxing. I'm also listening in! When they first started playing they were using the tinker bell nail polish kit. Peanut's friend said something like, "Did you know that if you put clear nail polish on over the other polish that it'll stay on forever?" Peanut was so excited...I'm waiting for her to ask me for some. Then her friend started talking about how strong her calf muscles were getting because she's exercising...she's 5 1/2!
Bump! Yikes...every bump and bang I hear from that room just makes me cringe.
"We're twins because we both have pony shirts"
"You can play with my mom's toys, but not with mine" (that comment was addressed...believe me!)
"I'm hungry," said Peanut
"Me too," said friend
Be right back ................................................................................
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"Water that people drink is from Whales"
"All drains lead to the ocean"
"I just drank sewer water" (I set that one straight too)
Just spoke to her friend's mom...she'll be spending the night tonight.

So these crazy conversations reminded me of when I used to have play dates.

I think it was 2nd or 3rd grade and a girl invited me to play at her house. The week before I had brought my hamster to school for show and tell. When I showed up at her house without the hamster she wouldn't play with me...I know! How pitiful is that?

Peanut's Gallery

I snuck in the picture for this shot

I don't think she meant to take

a picture of the ceiling

Whoa! Psychadelic!

My cheek

Click your heels three times

I know he's my ex, but he's

adorable in these kinds of pics

Peanut and Paw Paw's mouth and tie

Paw Paw

Uncle Brio

Mimi

Santa and Barkley

Yes, I took this one

This one came out good

This one came out pretty good also!

I am getting my dad's old camera this week, so I'll start letting Peanut use my camera when she wants. I showed her how to use it yesterday at brunch and these are some of the photos she took. She cut off a lot of heads, but some of them were actually pretty good! There are photographers on both sides of the family, so who knows! Maybe she'll have her very own Peanut Gallery some day (sorry, couldn't resist).

Visit With Santa

My new favorite picture
Peanut with Robert

Peanut, Barkley & Santa

Talking to Santa

Hugging her "Baby Hunting Dog Dalmatian"

With Uncle Brio

Mimi, Santa, and Me!

Met up with Robert D and his family to have brunch at the country club on Sunday. Santa was making a visit. They had a really nice Santa this year. Usually I take her to the mall to see Santa, but just didn't get a chance to this year. It was really nice of Robert's mom to invite me to go with them. I'm so lucky to have her in my life.

Saddle Up! It's Chanukah Party Time!!!!!!

Tonight is Peanut's Chanukah party. This will be our fourth year. It's a good feeling when your friends contact you a month before and ask when you're having it (so they can get it on their calendars). I have to admit, I almost didn't want to do one this year. Nana Rose won't be able to come in from Albuquerque this time, so I thought I'd have to make the latkes by myself. I have a girlfriend who is coming early to help me and then yesterday Ardie offered to assist as well. He did such a good job last year eating up the latkes he's now a pro at what they should taste like! It should be an interesting party...Robert D and his parents will be there and possibly his girlfriend. I've also invited Russell. This will be his first time meeting Robert and his family. Glad it will be on "home turf".

When Peanut found out Russell was coming she said, "What we'll do is have everyone line up and take turns having horsey rides on Rusty." This morning Russell emailed me to see if he could bring anything to the party. I told him... a saddle...

In the Pink

"Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I concede"

"All this pink is making me itchy!"

" Pink accommodations were not listed in the brochure.

What's with the reversible comforter?"

Hello Pink!!!

Bye Bye Land Before Time Curtains

Peanut kept insisting that she'd sleep in her bed once she had her "pink" room. Up until now it's been a Land Before Time Room. I kept holding off on redecorating as I thought we'd be moving. Last May I purchased pink princess themed bedding and a few other things. Had to come up with a solution for turning the room pink without taking down her Land Before Time Murals (which of course she wanted to keep). The walls are a lavender color (technically Silverberry!)...We hung curtain rods along the wall that has the murals and then hung pink curtains to cover the wall. A few more pink touches were added and we now have one girly girl room...and I didn't have to paint the walls. She's slept in there a couple of times, but we're working toward more nights...and Grandma and Grandpa dinosaur can still watch over her bed.

I am fostering my friend Sandi's cat, Buddy (aka Bud Bud)...he has staked out Peanut's room as his own (leaving Percy with all of the downstairs area)...eventually he got used to the pink.

Kind of Like an Olsen Twin?

I separated these pictures from the birthday dinner photos because they were just too funny. As you can tell, Peanut enjoyed her dessert that night. I absolutely love the wide-eyed picture...she actually looks a lot like her dad in this photo (a face he gives)...and an Olsen twin!

Live and in-person

Sitting at my desk after a yummy office Thanksgiving Day Feast...I have a little under an hour to go before it's time to leave to pick up Peanut. Sometimes during the day I look at the pictures I have saved on my computer and I see one that is just so precious...and I can't wait until it's time to leave so I get that picture live and in-person. The photo in this post is the one that just "hit" me at this moment. I love my little girl.

Leaf It to Peanut

Peanut had a school project in her backpack the weekend before last. She needed to decorate a cutout of a feather that would be added to all the other kids' feathers to make a turkey. Sunday morning when we got up we decided that we were going to do things found in nature. We picked leaves from trees that had beautiful fall colors, acorns, acorn caps and berries. Just doing that felt like an adventure! Thought we could mix it with some glue and glitter and make a nice feather. Thankfully I already had the glitter. We sat down at her little table in the living room. Before we began to work I thought I'd put some music on. We've been watching the musical "Annie" and I thought it would be fun to dig up my old record and play it. I couldn't find it, but I did find The Brady Bunch album that I listened to in the late 70's. Brought back some fun memories and I was surprised how many of the words I remembered. Got the sillies out of our system and started to get to work on the assignment. Those of you who know me well know that I don't like glitter messes. At first I thought I was going to be the one controlling the use of the glitter...then I let go and had a blast. We had to put a heavier backing on the feather as the construction paper just would not hold acorn caps, etc. Used the back of a notepad. Then we traced a feather onto a red piece of construction paper b/c the bright blue piece that we were to use was just not "Fall-ish". I ended up bringing down the hot glue gun b/c I knew that Elmer's would just not do the trick. Did the first few leaves with glitter and then I thought it would be fun to use glitter nail polish (and less mess!). Despite the awful smell, it actually worked! We also put glitter on top of the nail polish for extra shine. I gave Peanut the job of glittering the acorns, leaves, etc...then she would place them on the feather (sometimes with my encouraging her where to place the stuff)...and then I would glue it on. We sat there with our heads bopping away to the music and just had a great time. We started picking leaves, etc at 9:30am and finished her special feather and two plates of decorative acorns, leaves and acorn caps by 2pm (with lunch in-between). We were still in our jammies, there floor was not messy, but our hands were...and we had the best time.

We decided that we're going to do an art project every Sunday morning that we are together. It was one of the best times we've had together.

This time for real

Okay, let my realtor talk me into keeping the house on the market for a little longer, but still no luck. She is picking up the sign today....Ahhhhhhh! I can relax now...well, kind of...had to spend $180 today to add more freon to the upstairs A/C. Next time it runs out I'll have to replace the air handler...$1500 of fun, fun, fun. Frustrating? You betcha!

Pumpkin Patch is all the Buzz!

You can see the bee on her right shoulder!

Went to the pumpkin patch for the 4th year in a row with Peanut. We met up with some friends. Peanut dressed as a bride and looked just adorable. When we got there I showed the girls a spot to meet at in case we got separated from each other. We walked them over to the maze that's made out of hay and watched them go in. This is the bigger kid maze so it's kind of hard to see where they're at. We kept watching the exit and no Peanut or Chloe...they got lost in the maze and ended up going out the entrance...and waiting exactly at the spot I showed them! Very cool!!!

The bees at the pumpkin patch seem to get worse and worse each year. We were playing in the patch and Peanut was climbing on the haystack. I wanted some photos of her sitting amongst the pumpkins...she took several really fun shots and then my friend was going to take one of the two of us. We were posing for the picture when BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...a bee stung my Peanut!!! She cried at first and I did my best not to freak out. This was her first bee sting and I didn't know if she'd be allergic (my dad is deathly allergic to yellow jackets, but I don't have any allergies)...thank goodness she was not allergic! I was really proud of her for wanting to stay and continue having fun. It was a beautiful overcast day (translation...not hot)...next year will probably be the last year we go...my Peanut is so grown up!

Staying Put

Decided to take the house off of the market for the time being. Too much stress going along with not knowing where Peanut and I will end up living. Need a break from it. Over 50 showings and not a single offer, kind of sucks. :(

Coasting

Haven't had much time to collect my thoughts the past few days. Feel like I've been over-thinking way too much lately and my brain needs a break. Just going to coast for a bit and see where that takes me, see how I feel...officially letting go of control.

Sigh.....

The house hasn't sold yet. Had to call the apartment complex and forfeit the apartment. Feeling quite blue about this and hoping there's something better around the corner....sigh...

Early morning walks

This morning I parked my car across the street from the school and walked Peanut to the doors. It was cool out, the weather was just beautiful, there were tons of kids either walking by themselves or with their parents... And it was our special time together. It gave me great pleasure to see her walk to the door, say good-bye to me, and head on to her classroom without needing to look back. It was a confidence I had hoped to see. I actually really enjoyed the walk back to my car too as I am finding this is a nice time of the day to strike up conversations with other parents.

1st Day of Kindergarten Photos!