blur....

The past few weeks have been a blur. I've managed to work very few hours at least one day a week and still put in about 65 hours most weeks except last week. And it was still kind of crazy. The hardest part is that I am physically and mentally exhausted and I have no idea what happens after this project is over. Maybe some laundry will actually get completely done and really put away. Maybe I'll get cards made before the day before whatever event I need them for. Maybe I'll sleep through the night without dreaming of drug names or inspecting cells.
So, firstly a big thank you to those who have worried over my state of being. I'm really blessed to have family and friends who are willing to give me a lecture stare when I come by to drop something off. I know this isn't the best for me but I have made sure that I absolutely made it to things I have to.

So, here's some pictures:
Beca dressing up in a dress that I used to dress up in that Mom used to wear.
This was at Kristin's shower (beginning of October) - Beca and Rachel were the shower helpers and passed out paper, pens, and presents on cue as asked.
Also at Kristin's shower - Beca poses for pictures. I love this dress on her.
Beca at Bike day at school. Mommy missed this one but Daddy was able to take her tricycle over.
So, the first week of the truly insane work schedule, I pulled a 12 hour day shift, took a nap, worked from 10pm to 3 am, slept a few hours until Beca woke me up, went back to work for a little while and then took the afternoon off to go to the fair! Cynthia and Jason went with us and it was a lot of fun. We mostly looked at the animals and ate. Beca's corn dog. On the bench is the largest thing of ice cream I have ever gotten from the NC State ice cream booth. It's taller than the cup next to it.
Hushpuppies! They all had pickles too! We also visited my photo that I entered into the Fair - it at least got hung up.

The last weekend in October, I had to work but I escaped during key moments! Aidan's second birthday party was so much fun!! It was a Diego party!
And the next day, Emily's 1st birthday party. Needless to say, the child loves cake...
So Halloween day, I went to Beca's Halloween parade at school (and a doctor's appointment before and after). She was a very cute Minnie Mouse. Behind her are her friends Flora (an angel) and Erin (a princess).
After the parade, the parents went back into the playground to give out candy to the class. It was fun to have them trick-or-treat around!

Oma and Beca (Oma gave out candy too!):
Beca's class!
After a short trip to work and a short nap in the hammock, Steve picked me up and we went to Payton's house (one of the Bella Trio).
Here's the family pictures before trick-or-treating:
The Chapman family (Rebecca, Payton, and Jonathan)
The Sullivan family (Kristen, Melissa, Neil, and Kate)
And the Cottles - Beca, Chewbacca, and me!
We had to beg the girls to take a picture with Chewy - Kate was ok as long as Steve didn't have the mask on but as soon as he did, she would watch him like a hawk.
Trick-or-treating little girls - and they got good at this quickly!

And finally, enjoying some loot (the lollipop party)!Sorry these took forever to post. I finally got to go through it all!!

More from Beca

More amusing comments from the three foot club:
Beca watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and there is an episode that Daisy gets her Pretend Doctor's Sticker. Beca gets her doctor's kit out (thanks Aunt Dee!) and sings the little song that Daisy sings - "Does your head hurt?, Do your shoulders hurt?, Do your knees hurt?, Then Whaaat's the Matter?" - to which her patient is supposed to point out whatever ailment Beca chooses for me (my stomahc hurts a lot). Then she gets every item out of the doctor's kit and uses it as appropriately as she can. Her use of the syringe (which adorable squeaks with every plunge) was to look at the gradations, pump it into my arm a few times, and then look at me and say "Hmmmmm.... extremely stubborn and suspicious". For those of you who don't have Mary Poppins memorized, this is what Mary Poppins said to Michael when she measures his height.

Another funny thing she does (and this is since fall started) is to sing Johnny Appleseed when we say prayers. But she insists that she needs to thank God for the sun and the rain and the pumpkin seeds.

I'm loving 3 year old logic!

Beca's prayer

Funny little girl - when Beca was asked to say her prayers before dinner, she said the following:
"Dear God, Please bring me a baby. Amen"
And promptly took a bite of her food.
We have no idea where this came from.

Fabulous Poodle has a funny morning

In her lifetime (5.5 years), Zoe Annabelle has never brought an animal to the door. She briefly caught a baby bunny in her mouth and a squirrel fell off the fence into her mouth but she's never really brought us anything. Until today. I was already gone so this is what Steve told me. Zoe barked to be let in this morning and when she did she reached down to pick something up. This usually means she has one of her soccer balls and wants us to come out and play. But she tried to come in and bring whatever she grabbed in her mouth. Turned out to be a dead squirrel and she was coming to bring her prize to us. Yippeee... Now she's out hunting another.
So the real question becomes - is it funnier that the squirrels think Zoe is going to climb a tree and get them or that Zoe thinks she can climb a tree and get them?

I wrote this post a long time ago...

There are times when I really love trips where somebody drives and I can get something done. Sooo, back in October, we went to Pennsylvania for a quick weekend visit. I hate that they are always short but I enjoy the moments so much. So here is what I typed in on car rides to and from until my 'puter battery gave out or my eyes got too tired of squinting.
Pennsylvania – October 2008

Beca – before going – “I’m going to be in the Halloween Kaprade!”, “Grandma is going to tell me something and Grandpa is going to say Go ask your grandmother”, “I told you you could do it Oma!” when mom got a DVD going in her car.

On the way there - “Quick, we have to get there before Grandma goes to sleep”, “You have ear pads too Oma!” “We both have ear pads!” (headphones)

I escaped work by going in obscenely early and skipping lunch. Had to finish packing with Zoe running around and doing the freaked out poodle thing so by the time I walked out the door, her ears stank. Lovely. At least the next person she would see is Steve – I bet he got a double punch of Zoe paws and she’s just the right height!

We got on the road fairly quickly, with a stop at the gas station. She was watching her Jane movie (Peter Pan 2: Return to Neveland) with her headphones on which she likes to hold on with both hands and elbows pointed out. Beca fell asleep with the headphones on just before we got onto I-95 and stayed that way until we got towards Richmond! On 295 at the big bridge, Beca got freaked out because she couldn’t see the road.

Stopped off 295 at a McDonalds and Beca really did not like the bathroom and really wanted to go on the playground. She shoveled her chicken nuggets which meant she had way too much in her mouth and it actually took her longer to eat than if she had just taken real bites of it. Her reward for 3 chicken nuggets and some French fries and all of her chocolate milk was that she got to go on the playground. Turns out she didn’t really like it – it was dark and scary – a weird maze and she decided part way in to turn around and come back. So she came back to the table (which was not attached to the kids area) for some McFlurry with M’n’M’s courtesy Mommy’s October addiction with McDonalds for Monopoly tags. I think I like playing online because I never get to play it anymore. I should probably just stop it but it’s always nice to lose weight during November right before Christmas Cookies arrive because I gained some in October.

Back on the road, I get to work on the computer because Oma sits in the back with Beca. They watched the Halloween sing-a-long. Twice. Then we convinced them to watch Sleeping Beauty with their “ear pads” on so we could listen to the Country stations on the satellite and check the DC traffic/weather. I love Satellite radio! Lucky for us, most of the traffic nastiness was in the south-bound lanes. For those that don’t drive in DC, it is the worst place to drive. There’s going to be construction somewhere and a bridge is always down to one lane! And PA falls into one of those areas where they have two seasons – winter and construction. But they block off like 6-8 miles at a time for a 500 foot span. And it’s been blocked off since we were up in June. Weird. Beca had a fit about something and when we laughed at her 3 year old logic, she yelled at us to stop laughing at her. She also panicked on the back roads because it was dark and scary. We told her it was a rollercoaster and she put her hands up and said “whee. Be careful , ok?” We arrived around 11:30pm at Grandma’s – she was up watching the Red Sox play Tampa Bay. It was at least 12:30pm before Beca got to sleep. And 6am Friday, she was up needing to go potty. I got her to lay down a little longer and then she got up when she started hearing others (Oman and Pop-pop). We had a slow start to the morning but Mammy came up with Grandpa. Beca did not want to wear jeans but eventually agreed to it along with a Trick or Treat shirt. We piled in the van for the Bowmansville trio special – Uncle Henry’s, Country Maid and Kings. Uncle Henry’s is a Mennonite farm that has a bit of a factory for pretzels. Thee women all work in the factory, bagging pretzels coming out of an oven at 625 degrees. I figured out last time that you could get 5 soft pretzels for a dollar and they are so yummy. You can also buy bags of broken pieces – we got a bag of regular but the special of the day was 2 bags of darks which is what my dad gets. Beca likes them too. The funny thing is that they even have a website for their pretzels and really nicely printed store bags for their pretzels. Every time we go, it seems there are more women in there. Sometimes even the little girls are helping. The second stop is the Country Maid bakery for doughnuts and sticky buns. Their doughnuts aren’t fried but they are good. There’s different creams – my favorite is the regular cream. Mom’s too. Dad likes the chocolate so ofcourse Beca does too. They had pumpkin right now. They also had cheese sticky buns and raisin sticky buns. It’s soooo good. Last stop is Kings – they have a lot of bulk made items including Penna Dutch pastas. It’s so much cheaper than grocery store pastas. Thy also have bulk candies and Beca got butterfly gummies. This is also where we pick up ring baloney and cheeses. Beca likes ring baloney like a good Penna Dutch girl!

Grandma made yummy soup for lunch. Mine never turns out that good. I also had a headache – little sleep over the past week and my jaw was taking the stress. So I took a nap while Pop-pop took Beca to the little park – she went on the little horses, the slide, the swings, the teeter-totter (the still exist somewhere!), and then went for a long walk by the pond where the geese, ducks and swans are. They continued up the path past the golf course and watched some golfers for a while before hiking back the path that goes behind my grandparents’ house. She was almost ready to fall asleep but picked the one clothing item no one could find – her princess nightgown which I had put in her car bag just in case we needed it later in the evening. It was all a ploy to keep herself awake. So when I got up from my nap, Dad wanted to go to the outlets to look for sneakers. We took Beca (now in a pumpkin dress) and she was asleep before we got half way there. She slept an hour and a half while shoe shopping, party supplies shopping, tasty cake shopping, and more party supplies shopping. When we got her out at Grandma’s she said “why aren’t we going shopping?” Luckily, Missy and Sara showed up soon after with Noah and David. David is adorable and he hides his eyes behind his sweet chubby baby hands every time I say hi to him. He also grins – a lot. They headed out to have dinner with their other grandmother and we ate with Grandma, Grandpa and Mammy. Grandma made a really good shepherd’s pie as well as ham, pasta, and other yummies! My head was a little better and the food was really good. Maybe it’s just better when you aren’t the one cooking. Aunt Lynn had stopped for a bit and had taken Mammy home but she had forgotten her food in the fridge and she was worried about it so much that right before we left to go into Boyertown, Aunt Lynn called asking about Mammy’s food! Hehehe! Luckily, we were on our way in and already had it packed in the car. After dropping off the potato salad and leftovers and a doughnut, Mom, Dad, Beca and I went to Denise and troy’s (Dad’s brother) – Beca loves to play with Rachel and Andrew but she was already tired and wallowed a lot. Joanne (Dad’s sister) also brought Dayna and Blake over. Couldn't these three be sisters?!?!? We had fun chatting for a while and just visiting. Beca finally got her princess nightgown (reward for going potty) and then we had to drive back. She did not fall asleep this time. So bedtime was a little difficult and I finally just let her sleep with me. Didn’t take 3 minutes for her to fall asleep finally. Oh well – she hardly moved until morning when we both started coughing (after I got up at 5am to close the window). I like fall but to go from 85 degrees to 60 and not even 40 at night is just crazy.

Breakfast was pretty quick so we could get ready for the main reason we drove to PA. Beca didn’t want to wear pants again but I finally convinced her to wear a Halloween tee shirts and polka dot pants. The tougher struggle was getting her to wear her chucks but she was fine with it once they were on. And then we had to struggle in Dollar Tree regarding a pair of broken fairy wings – 50 cents eventually but a lot of screaming too. We also left with purple princess hair, a fairy skirt and an orange “Ta-ree-ra” (tiara). Grumble, grumble. She was out of sorts off and on for a while. We had a great party for Grandpop and got a good picture of the family that was there. Beca and Noah had fun on the swing at my Uncle Glenn and Aunt Dawn’s house and they have all kinds of room in their new house. The basement is pretty much an open room still – they’ve got a TV cabinet, large table, office chair and two camp chairs. Looks more like a interrogation room than anything but Noah and Beca had plenty of room to run! And they ran a lot. Lunch was turkey, stuffing, pastas, and bread. There was a lot of food and it was good. Beca and Noah had their own table and they did pretty good. They ate because Aunt Dawn told them there was cake. And there was cake and it was good. We celebrated number 75 for Grandpop – or “Foxy G” as my cousin Kat is allowed to call him. He got a pile of presents, some more useful than others. Aunt Dawn had buckets and fun foam Halloween shapes – funny pumpkins, bats, etc. And the kids ran around again, this time with Pop-pop and Uncle Glenn chasing them around after we sent the kids down because they were bugging us upstairs and we were half-heartedly watching college football games, some more heartedly than others.

Hoping the children would nap in the car, we left for Aunt Lynn’s. Beca did not nap but Aunt Lynn offered us the opportunity to take Mammy back to her house. No sooner did we pull out of Mammy’s driveway than she was asleep. Then I did a dumb thing and tried to carry her into Lynn’s house. Big mistake. She saw the cats in Lynn’s room and woke up. So Miss Wendy Whiner came out until Kat and Sara volunteered to take the kids down to watch a movie. Whew! Until David woke up and didn’t know where he was and nobody was there to tell him it was ok. Suddenly everyone else started showing up and it was time to hit the parade. We hadn’t gotten the kids dinner but oh well. Beca got tights, leggings, 2 pairs of socks, Red Sparkle shoes that were a size too big, a long sleeved tee and a turtleneck under her Minnie Mouse dress. It was much colder than what we have been used to over the past few weeks. Noah was an elephant which proved very amusing throughout the entire parade as either Democrat or Republican floats and campaigners went past. One float had a Donkey roasting an elephant. David was all cozy warm as Mickey Mouse. The parade was a lot of fun and Beca really enjoyed the music. She did not like the horn honking from the big trucks. She was intrigued by the twirlers, especially the ones that had the fire on their batons. The tiny girls were cute because they had glow slicks on theirs! Neither of the kids liked the hearse that blew fire out of two pipes on the hood – they both hid. Beca under a hat and Noah into his Auntie. The highlight for Beca was Aunt Dee, Rachel and Andrew coming by and giving her candy! She really got into getting candy but Max and some other boys that encroached on our space kept getting in front of her. Lucky for her someone dropped a big pile right where she could get it and with two fistfuls of candy, she came back to me and said “I got all the candy, Mommy!” We’re so proud. About 2/3 of the way through, she said “I’m done. I want to go to Aunt Lynn’s and get something to eat.” So we left early but since the remainder of the floats and groups were on our way, we pretty much saw everything else by walking past it. Beca kept asking “where is the rest of my family?” Beca had a blast, got ¾ of her bucket full of candy and for a week Beca has been saying “remember when we went to Aunt Lynn’s Halloween Parade?”. the ride home was long but all the girls got a nap in. All in all a good weekend!!

Copper for 7 teaches lesson in Madness

Got your attention with that title, huh? That's for Stephanie!

The Copper for 7 is a reference to the fact that the traditional gift for anniversary #7 is copper. My DH bought me a Sirius Satelite radio for my car that goes only in my car but is somehow semi-transportable if you buy a boombox type device to plug it into. The idea was ingenious but I just got it in my car about 10 days ago. I do love it. I can actually pause songs (sort of like Tivo) and then listen to that song over and over again. So when I was in a foul mood the other day, I listened to Pink's new song "So What" over and over until I really did want to start a fight. And I don't normally want to physically fight. I prefer dueling with language and terrific commentary (as long as I'm winning). I'm mostly thankful that he did not get me anything in the "wool" option for traditional gifts. Our friend Jeff wins the most from this information and Steve is is new savior. Steve informed Kristin of the Copper for 7 ruling and she realized that green lighting the new TV was going to have to happen in order to reward her DH for their 7th anniversary. Way to go on the cool flat screen, my friend!

So, there is a song that they like to play on one of the stations that reminds me that one definition of Madness is doing the same thing and expecting different results. It amazing how much this applies everywhere in life. "But this is how we've always done it" is a phrase I hear more often than I care to and find it coming out of my mouth even on occasion, though I try to use different phrasing. I feel like I'm always doing the same thing because someone elses thinks it will get a new and different result. Not so much. Can't make chicken salad from chicken poop no matter what other ingredients you throw in with it.

Our anniversary present to each other was a wekeend in Myrtle Beach at a resort and spa. We spent all day Saturday getting massaged, sugar scrubbed, facialed, pedicured and manicured and fed too! Sunday we said no to a time share (and Steve kept doing some lame fist pump he picked up at work) and then went shopping, eating and played 54 holes of miniature golf (or "minotaur goff" as one very interesting course deems it). It was completely worth it although the harsh reality of work slammed full force on Tuesday. I've determined that I need an entire 8-10 days away from work to actually feel truly rested. Luckily, I am 100 days away from that reality. One must have something to look forward to in life, you know.

And in case you are wondering, here's a nifty little website with the traditional and modern and alternate anniversary gifts.
http://www.happy-anniversary.com/year-of-marriage/index.html
I really liked it because it listed the jewelry and alternate jewelry!

Insanity ensues in my world so it is now time to finish packing Beca-Boo and myself for a weekend trip to Pennsylvania (still pronounced "Penn-sul-bania"). Yeah, that's right - I got home Monday, scrapbooked Tuesday, 5 loads of laundry and packing tonight and we are leaving tomorrow right after work. I think the washer is a bit agitated with me. I hope the Halloween parade in Boyertown, PA is a lot of fun although the forecast is a bit of a shocker considering the 85 degrees today. A 25 degree drop in the high for us. Hopefully Beca can be bribed with a delightful array of new clothes that just came out of the bottom of her closet. And hopefully, I remember my camera.

Pictures - various

Yes, finally, pictures.

So, in the beginning of September, Beca decided she was going to have a tea party with her princesses. Here they all are:
Alice, Jasmine, Aurora, Merriweather, Flora, Cinderella, Ariel, Beca, Baby Ariel, and Cassie. She names all dolls "Alice" unless otherwise directed. Here's our new orange room! The shelves have a lot more on them now!! I'm still not finished emptying out the craft stuff from my old room! Happy Birthday to my Mom! Cape May, NJ - all the ladies. My flibberty-jibbet of a camera decided that the remote could only go that far if I used it when no one was out there except me. Whenever everyone came out, it stopped working. Thankfully, a nice man on his way back from the Wawa stopped and put his coffee down to work the remote for a picture! From left: Dawn Wagner (DIL #1), Dawn Leister (Daughter #2), Sara Wagner (the mom/grandma), Stacy Wagner (offspring of DIL #1 and son #2), Angela Cottle (offspring of daughter #2), Melissa Lee (offspring of daughter #3), Lynn Burkett (daughter #1), Jill Stahre (daughter #3), Kathryn Burkett (offspring of daughter #2), Megan Wagner (offspring of DIL #3), and Andrea Wagner (DIL #3) not everyone could join us but it was still lots of fun.. I made sweet tea (pomegranate the first batch and mango passionfruit for the next 2 batches). Sunset over the harbor by which we sat outside and stuffed ourselves with calamari, shrimp, garlic bread, and various other goodies.
Mom and I liked this sign:
Pop-pop's birthday - Beca's getting the hang of the "blow out the candles" part. The cake was Coldstone and it was good.

Beca was "reading" here. She is starting to do much better recognizing letters - still favors numbers but she is our child. She has a series of books with very short sentences and words that she can sort of read.

Alrighty, here's some that I took at the wedding in the beginning of September. Some are just the artsy shots that I took. Mostly, I'm showing off. I really enjoyed this and I anjoyed more just handing the bride a DVD and saying, enjoy. They are her memories not mine. I just got them saved in digital format. I know some photographer out there is going to be aggravated with me for saying that but I showed herr how to upload to Shutterfly, order good pictures for a really reasonable price, and share the pictures on Shutterfly's site with her family. the only thing I did was run around on the beach and try to remember that I could do whatever I wanted, I was the photographer and if I stepped in front of someone, oh well. And that I wasn't directing the wedding. that was hard too. I am so proud of this picture! No one ever gets Alex to smile on camera! And I love his grin!

It's hard to see now that I have it posted, but this picture has tons of stars in it. the moon was amazing!Whether he realizes it or not, Steve can take some really cool pictures. This one of Alex is awesome. I think he sees things a little different and it's nice to have shots by different photographers.

Where oh where did September go?

My, my, time it does go 670,616,629.4 miles per hour. Yes, I still love my science. And no, I do not remember that off the top of my head. Chemical Engineering is more about finding the appropriate location for information.
So, here I am into October and I am still delinquent on pictures. Since the wedding weekend, I worked crazy hours, threw a birthday weekend party for my mother, traveled to Minnesota & Wisconsin for work (technically fly into MN then drive into WI to the actual plant, then had dinner and went shopping in MN, then back into WI to stay in a hotel before going back to the plant, going back into MN for dinner in Stillwater on the St. Croix River, then WI for another night's rest and short morning visit to the plant, then back into MN to get on a plane and come home), home for 13 hours (actually in the RDU area for 13 hours and 24 minutes but that's only because we switched vehicles), off to Cape May, NJ via VA Beach, VA to pick up or drop off some baggage (and Jill and Missy), home once more, more work, catch a minor virus from my mother, take care of Beca not feeling well, more work, manicure/pedicure (that I paid for even though one of the Procurement guys told us he'd buy us manicures), more work, Parata Employee Day and Duke football game, friends over for dinner 2 nights in a row and then spent the rest of the month (yes all 2 days) recovering from a stomach virus. The result of which is now I have a cold again. As does Beca. Icky part - skip this next paragraph if you don't want to listen about my malady.

Steve also had the stomach virus but gratefully Beca has not. It was the worst illness of my life. I would rather be 40 week pregnant and recover from foot surgery and a C-section at the same time than do that again (although the whole you can't take a shower because your foot can't get wet and you can't take a bath because you can't soak the incision would horribly complicate the whole matter at least in terms of the way I smelled). 6 hours spent actually sick after 2 of which the cramps started. When the cramps started, I couldn't lay down or every muscle in my body cramped up simultaneously. I couldn't stand up because I was exhausted. There was no way to get comfortable and I just got more delirious. Don't blame me, I just tell it like it is. And that sucked. The flu for a week isn't as bad to me as this was. By 3AM, I was praying for death. By 6am, I found that I could actually drink a completely flattened Sierra Mist which tasted like the most scrumptious treat in the world. i had a total of 10 crackers over the course of the next 24 hours that counted as my intake of solid food. I'm still tired from it three days later.

So, details, my friends, on the joyous occasions, now that the nasty bits are out of the way. My Mother's 50th birthday was September 12. It's amazing to me the number of celebrities that turned 50 this year - Sharon Stone, Annette Benning, Madonna, Prince, Marty Stewart, crayola's 64 count box, Holly Hunter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Pfieffer, and the Peace Sign!! Plus some more great people that we actually do know! But out of all of those, my favorite person is my mom. She's really my best friend - we grew up together. We talk every day and she listens to every grievance, whine, story, hilarity, whatever. Dawn's heart is one of the most amazing. The number of people that she has helped over the years is truly amazing. She refuses to take sides against friends for other friends, chosing to maintain her friendship with each. She unconditionally loves her grand-daughter to the point that she and Steve have a dance of "am I visitng too much" and "am I asking you to have Beca too much".
So for her actual birthday, we had a great weekend with some family in town, lots of friends, and yummy cakes. My favorite thing about birthdays is cakes. So there were two. A Peanut Butter Playground from Coldstone and a fabulous cake from Blue Moon with Chocolate Raspberry Mousse! The whole theme was "What's One More Candle?" - originally Mom had said she didn't want anything for her birthday. After a friend passed away over the summer, I knew we had to have a party for her. Thinking back, I wish I would have been feeling more with it. Next time, I hope I'm not as frazzled with so many other things around the same time.
The next weekend, she and I joined her mother, sisters, 2 sister-in-laws, and 4 nieces in Cape May, NJ. It was a beautiful weekend to be there. Nice and warm during the day but not so stifling. The houses are amazing there and I took massive amounts of pictures of houses. Not necessarily a place I would have picked on my own (NC beaches are still preferable for me) but a good meeting place for us all. In order to get there, we end up taking a ferry across Delaware Bay - it was not a nice ride on the way there but on the way back, it was a beautiful morning and very nice. Although the movie screen in the van is always kind of nice to have!

Beca this month has been hooked on Peter Pan and Return to Neveland. She refers to them as Wendy and Jane, being the adorable girls in each of the movies. Her favorite thing to watch in the van is Robin Hood. I cannot imagine how many times Steve has listened to it. And she also loves Aristocats, and has now taken to yelling "Momma, Momma" just like Marie when she is attempting to tattle on her brothers. Those that knew me growing up would know that this tone of voice is truly inherited and her pension for ratting others out seems strong. Every week we get to hear about what Jordan or Eli or someone else and what they did that was naughty. Tattle, tattle, tattle. There is drama at school though. Erin, Flora and Beca are all about the same age. Someone is always odd man out. That never was as much of a problem with Payton and Kate but I guess they were 2 and not 3. She also insists on playing dress up everyday and wearing a dress (again, an inheritance). thankfully, her wardrobe is plentiful and it really more depends on whether we feel like she needs to learn a lesson that you can't always get what you want and by just asking nicely or repeatedly, that doesn't mean it is really going to happen. I think this tires me more than anything. Except maybe looking back on my schedule of events this past month.