The Aftermath

It took Matthew two days to build his ginormous truck. He didn’t do much else yesterday. He’s quite pleased with himself.

Malia has been riding her scooter all over the house since Christmas. Even Jolly got in on the fun.

It would appear their gifts were wisely chosen this year. Good job, Santa and Grandma!

Poor Jolly!

This year Malia decided to decorate her playhouse for Halloween. She rigged up some fantastic spiderwebs all along the roof line. I went in to check on her after she went to bed last night and discovered this:

Hopefully Jolly doesn’t start having spider related nightmares like I get.😂

Princess for a Week

It has been princess central around here for the past ten days. Malia has had a birthday and this year was the year we threw a princess party. In fact, we invited her friends to come to princess school so they could all learn to be royalty and earn their tiaras. We practiced waving a wand, dancing, making a bracelet, kissing a frog and defending ourselves (against a piñata). The girls wore their fancy gowns and they did, in fact, all earn their tiaras. Malia’s cake of choice was a super simple strawberry cupcake cake, but she was very pleased with how it turned out.

This month’s birthday table day at the elementary was on Malia’s actual birthday which made it even more exciting for her. School had not started for Nathan (though it had for everyone else), so he got to attend as well. We took her a lunch from Carl’s Jr. and even though she was totally hyped, she managed to eat up all her food.

After lunch, Nathan helped me pick out some balloons for her, and I think she was pleased with our selection:

Her presents from us were given that evening. She was happy about the princess Lego from Daniel and Nathan.

She was spazy about the tiara from Kevin and I.

(Yup, that’s my girl-equal parts girly girl, tom boy and spaz.)

The musical jewelry box from us was also entrancing.

But Matthew totally won the “who can choose the best present for Malia” award with his selection of a scooter of her very own.

This past Sunday was her cake day at my parents’ house. She opted for the blueberry cupcake cake for this one. She was also excited to be able to celebrate with her cousin Kate since Kate had been out of town for her princess party.

Even Jolly has had an opportunity to be royalty for a day.

I’ve about had my fill of princess stuff for now, but Malia has loved all of it. She’s such a perfect blend of interests that I’m happy to indulge her inner princess from time to time knowing that she’s going to alternate princess time with baseball time or football time or scooter time…she’s well rounded and a perfect fit for our crazy family.

Here is a translation of Malia’s birthday interview in case your reading of phonetic writing is rusty:

My nicknames are: Squeaker Pants
If I could change my name, it would be: Dot
When I grow up I want to be: a mom
My best friend is: Raylee
My favorite thing to do with my family is: Play games
This is what makes me happy: Playing house
This is what makes me sad: Falling
My favorite thing about school is: recess
The thing I’m best at is: the weed (??? When I asked Malia about this, she couldn’t even remember what it was supposed to mean. She decided her new answer was “to read” which is probably a better answer because I’m pretty sure child protective services would take her away if she was really doing weed. 😉)
If I had a million dollars I would: cheer
If I could go anywhere, I would go: To Space
If I had one wish, I would wish for: I want to be anything
For breakfast, I like to eat: cereal
My favorite thing to do outside is: ride my scooter
My favorite thing to wear is: dresses
Before I fall asleep, I think about: is I read books
My favorite birthday present was: a singing bird

My Favorites
Food: spaghetti
Holiday: Christmas
Book: Another Monster at the End of This Book
Toy: doll
Treat: cookies
Song: I Am a Child of God
Animal: tiger
Movie: Narnia
Color: red
Sport: football
T.V. Show: Sophia

We’ve Had a Tragedy

Malia was understandably distressed. Apparently, Matthew shoved Jolly into his indoor basketball hoop and then used one of his basketballs to get her out. We’ve talked to him on numerous occasions about 1) not being rough with Jolly, 2) the fact that she is not his and 3) the potential broken heart of his younger sister if Jolly gets destroyed. It would seem that none of those things have had any impact on him whatsoever.

So we took a trip to the medical supply store (aka. Hobby Lobby) to acquire a replacement eye and were lucky enough to find one nearly identical to the original. You have to look really closely to notice any difference. We performed the requisite brain surgery in order to replace the eye and since I was in the middle of an invasive puppy surgery anyway, we fixed her broken neck and weak legs. Malia stood by the entire time, reassuring Jolly that all would be well since Jolly was scared.

Post-surgery, she is (nearly) a new puppy and is ready for some more tough love…although I would definitely discourage any further moonlighting as sporting equipment.

Before:

After:

Drive Me Crazy

After having a pow wow with the kids last night and discovering just how important the Space Needle stop is to them, we revisited our plan for today. We still got up and got everything ready to go, but instead of hitting the road right away and having an evening to hang out in the hotel in Boise, we headed back downtown to see the Space Needle. We arrived just as they were opening and as such, we didn’t wait at all before we were able to go up. It was a perfect day, clear enough that we could see Mt. Hood, which we hear is pretty rare due to the frequent rain.

This is our green screen digital picture that was included with our tickets

As we were headed back to the car, Malia told Kev, "Now you're not a dead puppy." We all totally lost it. It was completely out of the blue and without context. This was one of those moments when I really wish I could hear what was going on in her head because I'm sure that in there, it made some kind of sense. ;-)

We were back at the townhouse by 9 a.m. to load up and head out so we thought we’d still arrive in Boise at a decent time. Unfortunately, we hit a big old traffic jam outside of Ellensburg, WA that slowed us down. We ended up eating lunch in Ellensburg and were back on the road afterward. My dad says the drive home is always the hardest and I totally agree with him. The excitement and anticipation that accompany the initial drive are gone and after playing hard, everyone is ready to be home. Today’s drive was rough, all of us tired of being in the car and our anticipated arrival kept getting later and later as the day progressed. At some point in the evening, I looked back and saw this:

That, my friends, is the face of boredom. And we all felt that way. The only one who was still smiling was Jolly, who is important enough that she was part of our let’s-not-leave-anyone-behind roll call (and the subject of many, many pictures and videos taken by Malia in the course of our vacation).

It was 10:30 p.m. by the time we arrived at the hotel. I'm so tired of the car. I think we all are.

I Don’t Know Whether to Laugh or Cry

I can hear Malia playing in the other room and she is saying that Jolly, her stuffed puppy, is allergic to peas, milk and peanuts. Apparently this weekend had already left its mark on her.

Puppy Love

Kev's mom gave Malia a stuffed puppy for Christmas. It is a super soft one with a cute little face. Malia has named the puppy Jolly (first name) Rolly (last name). She was very clear about the names being first and last names rather than all one name. She is also very clear on the fact that Jolly is a girl. If we slip up and call Jolly "him,"'Malia will firmly remind us that she is a girl.

Jolly and Malia have been inseparable since Christmas. Malia is Jolly's mom, Matthew is Jolly's dad, Nathan is Jolly's grandpa, and I'm Jolly's grandma. Don't ask me how all that works because I have no idea. But Malia is not bothered by the inexplicable family relationships and is a good mother to Jolly. This evening I peeked into Malia's room and found Jolly sleeping on her very own pillow, neatly tucked under two blankets I made for Baby.

I have a feeling that Jolly will be going to preschool on Friday for show and tell.