My Dad's 65th Birthday

We decided to celebrate Dad's birthday yesterday with balloons.
We gave Toby and Norah a balloon and a little card to write a message on for Papa in heaven. Then we tied the messages to the balloons and (after singing "Happy Birthday") we let them go.
We watched them soar into the sky until we could no longer see them.
I am thankful someone gave me this idea because it helped to comemorate the day in a small, special way.

Lastly, we asked the kids to mention a memory they have of Papa. (It's hard to hear Toby at the end. He says "...read or draw on the floor or whatever." Then they both say "I miss you.")

My daughter has never been stung by a bee...

But she is terrified of them.
For three days in a row now it has been so beautiful outside that Norah and I have enjoyed eating lunch on the deck. And now Toby and Norah are playing outside (Norah came in to get water to make "mush pies") this afternoon before dinner.
For the past three days Norah has, at some point in her outside playtime, squealed or screamed at the top of her lungs about a bee. Just now she ran to the door, yelling at Toby over her shoulder, "Run for your life!!" Toby continued to play and said "Why?" Norah replied "Well, don't run for your life if you want to get stung by the bee!"
She only lasted a minute or two inside watching Toby play before she braved the outdoors again.

Oh yes, did I mention that I have yet to see a bee outside? I am pretty sure she is screaming about a fly or a stink bug, but if she says they're bees I am not going to talk her out of it.

My Wrestler (Video Commentary)

Toby's wrestling meet (way back in February) was packed with kids and family members excited to try out the skills that they learned over the course of the 2-month wrestling clinic. Each wrestler on Toby's team was paired up with an opponent (hopefully of similar size) from the other clinic and each pairing met on the mat for 3 30-second periods, starting with the lightest kids and proceeding to the heaviest. Unfortunately I think few kids were prepared for the amount of time it would take to give 60 wrestlers their time (all 90 seconds of it) on the mat. (And they went through the lineup twice.)
Toby, being at the bigger end of the team, did a pretty good job of cheering on the 20+ wrestlers that came before him in the roster. Yet I think he was still a little unprepared for his first match, and it was over before he could get his rhythm with his opponent. So by the time the wrestlers had all gone through the lineup the second time Toby had a pretty good idea of a few things: 1) not that many people are watching him, 2) he could remember what he learned in practice and make it work on the mat, and 3) the team uniform is very big!
(I started the video about 3 seconds late on this, his second match, so you miss them starting in neutral position in the center of the mat. There are 3 rounds, each lasting 30 seconds. A guy tosses a towel onto the mat at the end of each period so the ref can blow the whistle. At the end of the match both wrestlers get their hands raised in victory.)

My 3 Day Cake

Sweet and fun-loving  Norah is now 4!

To celebrate the occasion I decided to indulge in a little at-home cookery nonsense. What started as a simple idea ("I am going to make a cake for Norah's birthday!") turned into a three-day-long testimony of my sacrificial love for my daughter (or my gluttony for punishment and an example of over-reaching to please a preschooler).

Norah and I decided together that she would like a yellow cake. I showed her pictures of yellow cake to confirm that she did, indeed want yellow cake. Check. I made the cake on Saturday (Day 1), and it only took about 8 hours to do. (I guess it would have taken less time if it weren't for the fact that the oven was in self-cleaning mode for about 6 hours of the day, which I discovered only after Norah and I had already prepped the batter....) I froze two cakes and we used the extra batter to make cupcakes with which we taste-tested frostings.

Norah said she wanted pink and purple frosting--no chocolate--and sprinkles on top. Colors I can do. Check. I knew that she disliked cream cheese frosting as well as chocolate, so I hunted around for a simple white frosting recipe. I made three different types of frosting over the course of 3 days--all rejected by the birthday girl--before we figured out that just didn't like the "flavor" of the colored frosting. So I had samples of pink, purple, green, and white frosting that had all failed to please Norah--whose preferences had shifted from pink and purple frosting to green and yellow. (Toby had a great time taste-testing all of them.)

By Sunday night (Day 2) I had forgone the taste-testing and just decided that I would assemble the cake as-is on Monday (her actual birthday) and she could just deal with it. Cake is cake. (This is the point where I mention that BJ had already politely suggested (twice) that I just order a cake from the local bakery.)

On Monday (Day 3) Norah and I put green frosting on one layer of cake and white frosting on the outside. With the leftover purple frosting I piped a border around the bottom layer (mostly to cover all the gaping holes where the cake unevenly met the cake platter) and top edge. We tossed some sprinkles all over the top and called it done.

To illustrate the joy on Norah's face when she is served the first slice of this glorious 3-Day birthday cake, please enjoy watching this video. Really, the picture of her digging into a huge slice of cake is priceless...

Did you see? How she just dug right into that huge slice of cake? You missed it?
Well, here's a picture of her plate once she determined that she was done with cake and wanted to move on to presents.

Awesome. Next time, she's getting a bowl of ice cream for her birthday. And I promise I will NOT be making ice cream from scratch.

My Technology Overload

Between the new phone I got in September and the computer I got over Christmas I have been slow as molasses in getting acquainted with my new technology. I never considered all the gadgetry I'd have to learn, and all the software stuff I'd have to re-learn when changing from one piece of technology to another.
I am trying to forge ahead and get my new computer updated with my old pictures, new picture software, old music and ipod stuff, etc. etc. But it's taking me a long time!
I can take pictures with my new phone but haven't quite figured out how to get them coordinated with the bulk of my other digital storage. I know I have great pictures and movies of the kids on my phone so once I figure all this out I'll post them here. I figure it'll get done when Toby's home over Spring Break, because he's the real tech guru here at home. :o)
And don't even get me started on the mess that is itunes. I just want to listen to music while I run and I keep having to update my ipod on my old computer (speaking of slow as molasses...).

Alas, I am reminded that if these are the frustrations that make up my days I am very, very lucky.

P.S. I have figured out how to download library books onto my Kindle (yet another new piece of technology--yikes!!), and it's working great!

My Wrestler

Toby had his first wrestling meet on February 11th. (Hello, MARCH, by the way.)

He did great! If one was keeping points for the two matches he participated in one would find that Toby lost the first match and won the second one. Of course, his coaches and the league were not keeping score, unless you count the green and red scores being tallied on the score board next to the mats....

I think Toby was proud of himself and all he accomplished in this, his first wrestling season. And we, of course, are super proud of him for trying out a new sport and keeping up a great attitude about it all!