My Babies...

Are having birthdays this weekend! Yay! My Richie's turning 37 (um, yikes) and my Maddy's turning 3. I already baked Richie's chocolate chip cheesecake and I have a double (or doobley) layer cake to make Saturday night. I'm not so great at baking boxed stuff. I think I do better just making it up as I go along.

Maddy's having an Aladdin party (yes, ALADDIN, not Jasmine). So I'm going to just plop her action figures on top of a huge pile of whipped cream and act like they're flying through the clouds on the carpet. I don't have the time to try and make a carpet, although I had some cool ideas for one. I also wanted to make a lamp shaped pinata, but we decided to keep it all low key this year. On the flip side, the girl's getting a trampoline for her birthday (she's going to share it with the rest of us, I'm telling you now). I can't wait to lie on top of the trampoline with my hubs and stare at the stars. We're thinking of installing citronella torches all around it so the kids can jump well beyond dusk. Good times...

I love you all, but most of all, YOU.

Time is like a roll of toilet paper...the kids are growing up so fast. My son's almost in high school and my daughter's almost out of diapers (hopefully?). I look forward to every age with my kids. I know there'll always be something unexpected, delightful and horrifying.

I like to live with blinders on, but when I happened upon a conversation my son was having with his cousin, I was blind-sided. I heard my son call my nephew "nutless." And in response, my nephew told my son that he had a small "d*ck." His retort was, "Well, at least I have one." I have to admit, once I caught my breath from being appalled, I was kind of proud of my son's comeback.

I know that every kid experiments with the peer vernacular, and my impressionable son's no exception. I know there are worse things he could be doing at the age of thirteen. I also remember my friend Chrissy teaching me how to flip someone off, demonstrating this skill on Candice Scoville at the age of 11. I also remember lacking the coordination to keep the index and ring finger in a prostrate position, so I pinned them down with my left hand, completely embarrassing Chrissy and obliterating what little street cred she had in her neighborhood. So, he could be doing worse.

Maddy's vocabulary, on the other hand, has been a little more lovely and lilting. She sprinkles "my mama" and "my daddy" on the end of her sentences. It's so darling the way her little voice peaks on the second syllable of mama. I really would like to think she does it out of love, but in all honesty, I think she figured out how to work the system. You catch more bees with honey. This bee's all about the honey...I fall for it everytime, a willing victim to her manipulation.

I love you all...