Two Party!

Em turned two years old on Saturday!  We had so much fun at her party, and are so happy that our families were able to make it.

But first things first.

We went to Chelsea, Alabama to hang with the Roche's for Halloween:

Rob officially dressed as Dexter, but it's ok if you call him Rob.

Harper was WonderWoman.

 The Fam.

I set the Women's Rights Movement about 50 years back and dressed Em as Ellie May Clampett.

It was a big hit! Again, I look forward to your judgements.

Em kind of thought that we should just stay at Joy and Charlie's and eat their candy.

Then it was time to get ready for Em's "2 Party"! First, let me just note that I have learned how to have guests.  I cleaned the house on Friday (despite my better judgement), set up TWO COFFEE POTS in our pantry area, and cooked some chili, pasta, and vegetables.  I also bought copious amounts of alcohol and two rotisserie chickens from Sam's.  Oh, and some paper plates and bowls.  

When everyone arrived, I announced that the food was ready and located in the kitchen.  Eat when you want.  Eat what you can find.  

It was glorious.

Em got some awesome stuff for her birthday, including various types of elephant toys, various types of fish toys, some puzzles, books, an Elmo ("Elbow!") and a teepee.  And cupcakes, which might have been her favorite. We had her party at Wald Park, and it was a gorgeous day.  I have to say I'm a little bummed today that the festivities are over.  

Least favorite part of birthday: Getting hair fixed.

The girls are intrigued by "Elbow" on Memere's iPad.

I set up her new teepee with all her presents from us and the grandparents...

...While Dad and Dietz joined Em for a little joy ride.

She was pretty surprised!

Time for the 2 Party!

All her favorite people were there....

Plus there were cupcakes.  (And fire!)

Presents here too--this is a Robofish from Joy, Charlie, and Aidan. OBSESSED.

A scarf, hair clips, and even a beret from Aunt Fifi & Company :)

All four together now!

Rosemary came over to deliver her gift personally.  Em loved it!

They must have read together for 30 minutes or more.

Hey look, I caught a toddler.

Harper was a good sport about it all, and did her best to keep up with the action.

But eventually Memere's snuggles overcame her.

 We even had a small belated birthday celebration for me, with my favorite kind of cake!

Look how tired Em is-she had a huge weekend!

Awesome weekend!  Though, I have to say that the misalignment of these pictures is not awesome.  I will fix them later!

Practice

This video is probably about 6 weeks old, but check out Em rocking my stilettos!

The gauntlet

Well, we are getting pretty excited to run the gauntlet at our house. And by excited, well, you know what I mean.  Halloween is coming up this Thursdays, and we are going to crash Halloween in Joy and Charlie's neighborhood this year.  Em is going as a cowgirl and Harper is going as Wonderwoman.  Then, on Friday, the fam is coming to town to celebrate Em's 2nd birthday!  Weekend of festivities, followed by another week of work.  I have a job interview at AUM on Nov 8, then more work, then a conference Nov 13-16, during which Rob will have to fly solo.

I got Em some AWESOME stuff for her birthday, which she is simply going to lose her noodles about. And we are having a fish/ocean themed birthday party at the park, for which I am making cupcakes with fish on them.  It will be less of an insane crazy train than the last birthday party we had for her. I'm actually really excited about her birthday, somewhat excited for Halloween, and stupid-excited to get the other stuff behind me.

(Aside: I think for my interview I will do muscle contraction as my teaching demo.)

Last weekend was my birthday party, and we went for roller skating with friends, then margaritas!  Rob made me a pink cake with pink icing (my favorite), and we had some with breakfast (i.e. for  breakfast) the morning after the party. Em thought that probably this was the best day ever.

Em's feelings about having pink cake for breakfast:

(I will anxiously look forward to your judgements)

Em had cake.  I had cake then a laundry folding party.

Harper did this:

I recently taught bones at work for my A&P class.  

Gotta watch those skeletons.  

They can't be trusted once you let them out of the closet.

Since it is now cooler out in the mornings, hanging out under a pile of baby snuggles is 

much more enticing than going for a run.  

Love their little baby smells.

Hope everyone's week is great!  We are going to visit the pumpkin patch before it is too late!!

First Haircut and Other Adventures

Em, who seems to think that the hairbrush is a machete, had her first haircut recently!  This child, I swear, thinks I am going to kill her when I come toward her with a comb and ponytail holder.  Every day, I fix her hair.  Obviously, I have not killed her yet.  Anyway, her little ringlets were getting tangly at the ends, so I took her down the hill to Amy (i.e. Auntie Fifi) who was nice enough to accommodate us at 8 on a Saturday morning.  Em sat around the table and had a nectarine with her "sisters" and got a hair trim.  Best. Salon. Ever.

Harper did this while Em got a haircut:

I work late a few nights a week, but sometimes the kids are still up when I get home.  Such was the case one night this past week.  Obviously I was happy to be home, and Em was happy to get to wait up for me. Right after this picture was taken, she fell off the couch and onto her head.  We have not yet noticed any cognitive effects of her one millionth knock on the noggin.

Yesterday, I decided it was time to toss some toys and store others for Harper to use later. I have wondered many times since Em has been born exactly how long it would take before she caught on that "toy  cleanup day" is directly related to her room looking much cleaner.  The answer is exactly 23 months.  Perhaps fewer, since this is the first Toy Cleanup we have had in a little while.

She responded like this:

Meanwhile, Harper is just happy to be here.  Even though her light up musical mirror thing doesn't even work anymore.

Em enjoys helping with Harper/Forcibly feeding Harper a bottle. She looks partially annoyed/partially inconvenienced by this activity. Harper looks terrified.

Last weekend we decided to take Em to the Oak Mountain Fair.  She couldn't have been more ecstatic.

But, she did enjoy the petting zoo, carousel, spinning dragon ride thing, and the giant lemonade we got there. Harper was pretty unimpressed by the whole thing, but was happy to be outside.

Just had to sneak the following picture in.  Naptime=Peace on Earth.

Last night we went to a party, where I recruited the nearest kid to babysit.  This one is 3.  That is old enough right?

Natalie helps her Momma blow out candles.

Em ate approximately 1000 cupcakes.

Hey, hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend!  The weather is gorgeous here in Birmingham!!

In other exciting news

2nd blog post in 12 hours?  This procrastination has gotten truly out of hand.

In other exciting news:

1. My bangs are back!  The weather is cooler and I now have a little more time to style my hair.  So, BANG!

2.  I rejoined facebook about 2 weeks ago.

3.  I got a chambray shirt yesterday from the Birmingham Fashion Truck.  (Turns out I don't have any problems buying clothes off a truck.)  I am wearing it today with my mustard yellow skinny pants and brown flats.  Put all that together with #1, and I am looking very hip and modern today!

I might have taken this selfie in my bathroom. 

After two glasses of mostly-vodka with a splash of cranberry (on date night!). 

FTW.

Mad Skills

Our weekend has been the usual.  And I'm up typing this because I have reached a major roadblock in the cover letter I am writing for a job application that is DUE TOMORROW.  Sigh.  At some point I realized that I have not informed any of you of Em's new and exciting skilllz.

1.  EmeraldJoyceMans can now quickly and efficiently get the lid off of (almost) every container.  She has covered her hair and face in vaseline, as well as concealer (not at the same time). She filled all the tupperware containers and baby bottles in our house with baby oatmeal cereal.

2.  EmeraldJoyceMans is much taller than you think she is.  She can reach clear to the middle of the table, grab my coffee cup, and bring it to me.  Usually she doesn't spill any, but where there is hot coffee concerned, I am thinking I should be more careful?

3.  EmeraldJoyceMans can now open almost any door.  Which means she might go outside if we are not looking and have forgotten to lock the deadbolt.

4.  EmeraldJoyceMans can now take off her pants.  Lord help us.  She has peed in the floor more than once.  She peed on my foot this morning. But potty training is starting, so I guess I can look forward to more of the same in that area.  Or worse.

5.  EmeraldJoyceMans insists that someone scoop the litter box EVERY SINGLE MORNING.  As soon as we get up.  She yells at us until it is done. It truly is the highlight of my day.

6.  EmeraldJoyce Mans can say "Ice Ice Baby" and walk very well in my stilettos.  I am not sure which of these things I shall call my crowning achievement as a parent.

And other things I'm sure I'm forgetting.

Anyway, this weekend.  I did some grading, should have filled out some job application packets (YAY for another dual job hunt). Saturday I grocery shopped and cleaned the house (BORING) and then Rob and I had date night.  We tried to go to Gips Place (a real deal juke joint!), but got kind of lost in the hood on the way there.  So we went to courtyard and saw an all girl band play.  I was skeptical (sexist?) at first but they were AWESOME.  And they brought all their friends with them.  Might have been the entire middle-aged lesbian population of Birmingham, AL.  They were fun though, and I had vodka for the first time in a REAL long time.

Today was Sunday which meant I had to cook like 4 giant meals to get us through the week.  I work so many late nights that my Sundays are generally spent in the kitchen.  Today:

Chicken And Dumplings
Chicken Legs
Roasted Carrots
Talapia
Chicken with Pasta and Veggies
Steamed veggies
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Sauteed Tomatoes with Basil
etc.  It was a pretty productive day.

But we got some good news today too.  Some friends of ours welcomed their baby boy yesterday! Nothing smells better than a new baby.  Nothing feels better than not being pregnant anymore.  Except all of your pants fitting.  I am almost there.

Speaking of pants, I'm sure I would be able to zip all of them if I would just do some ab work.  I tried to do a 7 day challenge, and did 1.66 days of it.  So, unless they are grading on a curve, I would say that I failed.  Perchance I will try again.

Today I took Em to a food truck festival at Railroad Park.  There was music, and NO WE DID NOT EAT FOOD FROM A TRUCK (see my post from June 2012 on food poisoning). But we did go to sonic and get mini-milkshakes.

And finally:  Harper.  She can roll over.  And over.  And over.  And is learning to sit up.  She smiles like a champ, and that little gummy grin is the cutest thing since Em's gummy grin. We are enjoying watching it all a second time with this baby...but without the panic that we are doing it wrong.

 Em at the drum circle at the International Street Fair.

Harper gets ready to try some solid food. (She did not like.)

Em gets EXCITED.

I got a sweet new jogging stroller!
You should see how legit I look when I go for runs.

Not as legit as Em's boots.

"Yes.  I can tell you how to get to Sesame Street."

Harper, so far, can only tell me how to get to this block.

Have a good week, everybody!