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Anna was a little red picnic ant at her ballet recital this winter. They had a blast.

Anna and Sylvester Kitty, that is. Anna was having a tea party the other day, and decided to invite Sylvester Kitty. I think they both actually enjoyed it! So sweet.

Anna DEFINITELY loves the jewlery, and I have no idea where she picked that up. It's definitely not from me. Don't get me wrong - I love jewlery - but mostly the pieces that have sentimental attachment. A mothers' ring, a sentimental locket, an anniversary band someday, a family ring - those things thrill me. Jewlery for jewlery sake just doesn't excite me. Not the same for Anna. She loves the shiny sparkly stuff. And not the cheap stuff - the REAL stuff. I don't know if she gets it from Grandma, Aunt Linda, Aunt Dani or Aunt Tracy. Maybe a little of each.

The other day, we were walking through the department store and she kept stopping at the jewlery displays ooohing and ahhhhing. She finally decided there was one SPECIAL bracelet that she HAD to have. Now, under normal circumstances, there's probably a 50/50 chance that I'd cave and think of some reason to buy her whatever the 'thing' was she wanted. Life is short. In this case, what she "wanted" was a $400 pink saphire bracelet. YIKES!!!

I tried to explain that that was a "Mommy" kind of surprise, not a little girl surprise.
"I'm NOT a little girl anymore! I'm a BIG girl now!"

I tried to explain that it's not play jewlery.
"I won't play with it. I just want to wear it!"

Finally, I had to settle with her being pissed off at me. But I did chuckle when she went home and told on me to Grandma, Auntie Linda & Aunt Tracy. THEY understood how you could want a saphire bracelet that bad, when OBVIOUSLY I couldn't.

Such a funny little girl. It's fasinating to see her develop her own personality, separate from us all together. We're pretty blessed.

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. Sometimes, we all have a moment when we realize that at the ripe old age of 4, Anna has probably outsmarted all of us.

This weekend, Anna and my mom were going somewhere in the car, and somehow it came up that "Mommy is smart." (I am guessing that my mom said something like "Mommy is a smartASS" and Anna misunderstood - but hey, it's probably pretty close to the mark.)

Anna said, "My daddy is smart too. Not all daddies are smart, but my Daddy is VERY smart."

My mom agreed and then tried to continue the conversation with, "...and Anna is smart, and Alisa is smart, and Grandma is smart."

Anna objected, saying, "No, I don't think Grandma is very smart." Naturally, my mom took offense to that. Anna explained by saying, "Well, you weren't very smart a few minutes ago when you couldn't figure out how to get my seat belt on."

(I'm guessing a few minutes of silence ensued at this point while my mom figured out how to respond and Alisa tried not to piss herself laughing.)

Finally, my mom says, "Well, then I guess I'm not smart enough to take you fun places or buy you surprises either."

Anna quickly recanted, "Oh, actually I think you ARE smart enough to do that, Grandma."

My mom and Alisa took Anna to see the new Charlotte's Web this weekend. We wanted to go too, but duty called. We're sooooo close to getting our next inspection on the house and we needed to take advantage of the break in the rain.

I wasn't sure how it would go, given her long ago reaction to the original, but she loved it. It was a hit. And she learned an important life lesson from Grandma: Popcorn needs to have extra EXTRA butter on it. Hey, it's Grandma's perogative, right?

So, when she came home, she was playing in her playhouse out back while Curtis and I worked on installing the new outside lights and waterproof outlets. All of a sudden, we hear, "Mommy & Daddy - come here! QUICK!! There is a spider web up here!" I laughed and replied, "Ohhh no. Daddy does spider webs, not mommy."

She said, "No silly! I don't want you to tear it away. I want you to tell me what words it says in it. I can't read them." Awwww.....I guess Charlotte was a bigger hit this time than last.

We have always said bedtime prayers with Anna. We used to say the Lord's Prayer, but now that she prays too, I think that one takes too long. For a long time she favored "Now I lay me down to sleep...". Now, she finally 'gets' that a prayer can be anything that you say to God - not a specific verse to recite.

So, lately, we've had our fair share of cold, trauma, etc. The thing is, once you're on Anna's prayer list, you STAY on Anna's prayer list. We suggested that she coulod move some of those people to the "THANK YOU for making them feel better" side, instead of the "HELP them feel better" side, but she's not interested. It's a pretty impressive list she keeps. It goes something like this at the moment:

Dear God, Please help Mommy and Daddy and me and Oma (recent surgery) and Pa (I think just because Oma was there) and Michael (our church friend's son who broke his neck) and Riktor (friend with brain cancer) and Kodi (my dog with an ear owie) and Mariah (my Mom's dog) and Grandma (who knows?) to feel better. I love you, Jesus. AAAAAamen.

She's so sweet, and so thoughtful.

OK - I've been "tagged" by Renee and Karen now, and I haven't done either. So - Renee's is quicker. I'll do your later Karen. :)

tagged!

Page 123 meme –

Pick up the closest book to you. No cheating! It must the closest book to where you are seated at this very moment.

Open it to Page 123 *taddaaa! hence the name of the game, folks* and go down to the 5th sentence. Post the following 3 sentences after that.

**MY ANSWER***

It took several minutes for the cheering to die down, then she began, "Members of the People's Assembly and Fellow Egyptians, with great pride, and your support and prayers, I gladly accept the National Democratic Party's nomination for President, and on behalf of our late President Salaam, I announce that I am a candidate to be your president.

The applause was back even louder than before.

Khalid al-Khan was stupefied.


Hhmmmm.....I haven't read this one yet. But apparently it's about the next Democratic presidential nominee, so it must be horror. Poor Egypt...*grin*

Karen - you're TAGGED!!!

I went on a date with a guy that I'd known for a few years. His name was Curtis. I'd always thought he was cute, but we were just friends. We shot together on the UCDavis Rifle & Pistol Team: he captained the rifle team, and I captained the pistol team. I had to go present a thank you plaque that night to the local Sportsmen's Club for sponsoring our teams. I wanted someone to go with me, because I hate public speaking, and my knight in shining armor volunteered to go and give me moral support.

We had a great time, and talked and talked. He drove me alllll the way back to my apartment before asking if I wanted to go get a beer. I said yes, and we did. I didn't confess until months later that I was terrified that I would get carded and my cover blown because he didn't know I had a fake ID, let alone know that my name was supposed to be "Monique" or something.

That night we made plans to go to the AC/DC concert together. We made a bet on what song they'd open with (I won - it was Back in Black), and ate Subway sandwiches and drank beer in the parking lot. And after that I think we had plans for dinner somewhere on another night. And after that, he invited me to his place for dinner one night because "he had some extra broccoli he had to use up". (No joke, that was his "line" and I bought it.) And after that....we were inseparable. Well - in our hearts anyway. See, we'd known each other for several years before we started dating. And we started dating just 2 months before he left to start active duty...in Missouri. So, we spent the next two years having a long distance relationship...which should never have worked. They never do, do they? But ours did. And when we were finally together again - instead of having all that awkwardness to overcome from have a relationship that had always endured separation...it was just wonderful to be together again.

And now, 11 years layer, we're still living our happily ever after.... Happy "Dating" Anniversary, Sweets. IVU!

The house is taking its toll on our overall health here. We had another trip to the ER today. This time, it was Curtis' turn. He was using 2 wrenches to tighten a fitting and one of them slipped and he wacked himself in the eye with the wrench. It went from a nasty little cut, to a nasty cut with a lump, to a big fat purple swollen shut eye in a matter of hours. Poor baby.

At least we're keeping our sense of humor. They had to close the wound with glue in the ER. I kept muttering, “That’ll teach him to sass ME.” He threatened to confide in the ER nurse about the spousal abuse he suffers. So I asked him why he was flirting with the other girl in the waiting room. He kept WINKING at her. Anyway...it sounds like he’ll live. Unless he loses his voice because Anna and I keep asking him to make pirate noises.

Just after it happened....


30 minutes or so later....


An hour later....


Post ER with superglue attached.....By the way...his eye is OPEN here....

I know we probably should correct these little thing, so that she learns, but what the hell. She'll learn eventually - she's SO bright. And for now, they're just too cute to correct:

Marote: The device used to change the channels on the TV. Example: "Mommy, will you please give me the marote control?"

Our-chothers / Their-chothers: Variations of "each other" combined with "our" and "their". Example: "The brother and sister and helping their-chothers with their chores."