my girl can cook.

the sweet pea has said...for several years now...that she is going to be a "cooker" (chef) when she grows up.  she is going to have her own restaurant/bakery...(where we will eat free, by the way)...and she already has the name.  i'll wait and let her tell the world.

unbelievably...my dad plays golf with the owner of the savannah cafe and bakery.  when he told the guy that aiden was asking for a skillet for her 8th birthday, he became enamored with having her come into the restaurant for...what we thought...would be a tour of the kitchen.

this past monday was the day.  we arrived at the restaurant at 9:00 am and was blown away by what they had planned for her.

the owner and general manager were waiting for her...with an official apron that they had made for her.

she learned her way around a restaurant kitchen.

 

she baked cookies.  like, real cookies.  that people ate.

 

she learned the register.

 

she took orders.

 

and ran credit cards.

 

she ran food.

 

and she made fans...

the empolyees...the customers...me...

my girl is amazing.

and the cutest little baker, waitress, hostess, restaurateur i've ever met.

i hope you remember this day forever aiden annee-grace.  it was like a dream for you.

thank you to grandaddy and all the people at the savannah cafe and bakery for making a little girl's dreams come true.  and if you have a chance...go eat at the restaurant.  it's amazing fresh, and delicious food.  you won't be sorry.  plus...the people that work there are pretty cool.

savannah cafe & bakery

located behind the starbucks on hwy 3 and clear lake city boulevard

tooth fairies, piggy tails, meal time and friends

"mom?" aiden asked from the backseat.

"yes, hon?"

"is the tooth fairy real?"

i looked in the rear view mirror and saw that she was looking at me with pure, yet skeptical eyes.

"why do you ask?"

she replied..."i just really want to know the truth."

we had a very honest conversation after that.  one that made me realize she was no longer sold on the truth of this sort of childhood magic.  one that revealed that although she wanted to know the truth...she also wanted the truth to be that the tooth fairy was, indeed real.  she was old enough to know...but young enough to not want to know.  she wanted to hang on to the magic.

after asking her questions like, "do you really want to know?" and "what are you wanting the answer to be?"  and "what do your friends say?"  i told her.  i told my girl the truth because  she said she wanted the truth.  any by golly...if she put it that way...what choice did i really have?

"yes, aiden.  mommy is the tooth fairy."

i saw the disappointment.  hell...i was disappointed.  i held my breath...hoping that the questions wouldn't keep coming.  hoping for that little bit of truth being enough for now.  hoping that she would hang on to the childhood magic a little bit longer.  but since we had the tooth fairy and the easter bunny meet this year, leaving toothpaste, bunny tracks across the counter...she quickly said,

"so you met the easter bunny????"

damn.

i had not thought this through.

****

the puddin' cup had her very first piggy tails.  she was so excited.  she is still working very hard at growing hair.

aiden talked me into this summer hat.  it wasn't hard.  i mean...look at her.

 

chad took his oldest daughter on a date.

before they left...i whispered, "open the doors for her."

 

and this series of pictures capture meal time with flicka.

she's not an eater.

i told her if she couldn't stay still and eat that she would have to sit in the "baby" seat.

she was fine with that.

 

and lest you think otherwise...

ballerina kitty pirates is a super fun summer game.

 

and if you try this at home...

i have it on good authority that it's better watched while surrounding a fire pit with good friends, family and wine.

****

looking forward to talking to you from wolf creek ranch, colorado.

until then...

i'm wishing you wonderful summer days and nights.

cooking parties & wishbone dreams

i just uploaded all of the pictures from aiden's cooking birthday party.  i can't sit on pictures too long...or i feel like they will get lost in the shuffle of life.  it's my blogging format.  upload latest pictures.  blog about them.  memories in the vault.

while waiting for them to upload, i got sidetracked in itunes...downloading songs like auld lang syne and ben lee's whatever it is.  that's a lot of uploading and downloading goin' on over here.  my computer must be tired.

****

aiden's birthday landed on mother's day this year.  it was fun to share the day with her.  we didn't let her go un-celebrated...because let's just face it...celebrating is something i do best.  however...it was a tough day.  it was a couple of days before we went in for our ultrasound that would reveal the fate of our baby.  we had waited a long,  tough week...and i think my heart knew the outcome...even if my mind was playing tricks on me...telling me that everything would be ok.  i was pre-occupied...my mind never leaving the baby in my belly.  and that entire week...i could have done without.  even if it did contain mother's day and my baby girl's eighth birthday.

as a result...her birthday party had to be put on hold.  it was postponed until this passed friday night.  she wanted a "cooking/sleepover."  i tried to appease her with the cooking part...and knew better of my patience and emotional status to okay the slumber party.  i just didn't have it in me.  for a second...i felt guilty.  she had gone through losing a sibling.  she had wrapped up her second grade year.  she had been forced to celebrate her birthday on a day where her mommy's heart just wasn't in it.  she had been missing her friends.  however...i knew what i could handle.  and for one of the first times that i can remember...i paid more attention to that than i did what her heart wanted.  and that was okay.  and it's a good thing.  because by the end of those 2 hours...i was done.  it turned out to be a really cute party.  but let me just tell you...

8 year old girls are crazy.

simple as that.

and they have no business having the entire night to be in cahoots with each other...wreaking havoc on the house...her brother...her mother...and anything else in their path.

lesson learned.

no slumber parties until they are old enough to sneak out and then be appropriately locked out and scared shitless for doing so.  (yeah.  i just cussed.  but that's how serious i am.)  because at least...at that age...they aren't screaming and squealing this high pitched, ear piercing dolphin screech that makes one want to gouge their eyeballs out with a fork.  no.  they are quiet.  because they are trying to be sneaky.  but...i'm onto them already.

aiden's 8th birthday party.

cooking theme.

in pictures:

 

she chose to make cinnamon cream cheese squares.

while they were in the over...we had a taste test game.  seriously.  fun.

chase helped pass out the stuff they "liked" for a snack.

she made a wish...

i just called aiden over here and showed her the picture of her making her wish.  i asked her...

"what were you wishing for?"

she whispered her wish in my ear.

then i sat her on my lap...and told her a story.

a song by delirious came on. (i always blog to music.)  it's called what a friend i've found.

and to that song...i began:

you wann know something?  when colton was little, and chase was just a toddler...we were at thanksgiving dinner over at granna and grandaddy's house.  and...do you know what a wishbone is?

she replied, "yes."

well...granna and i broke the wishbone from the turkey in the kitchen.  i won.

i had wished to have a baby girl.

but do you know the magical part??

granna wished the same thing.

so...no matter who won...

she smiled and guessed,

"it would come true."

i smiled.

"yes."

and then...

i got pregnant with you.

you were our wish come true.

i hugged her tight and she hopped down from my lap...

hopefully having a little more insight to how much she was wanted.

****

happy birthday aiden annee-grace.

you are a wishbone dream come true.

the good night conversation with my middles

 one of my most favorite memories from childhood is when my mom or dad would indulge me in a story when they were tucking me in at night.  and my most favorite stories were the true ones...from when they were little.

****

it must be said...that i do love the perspective that my two middle children can offer me.

tonight...after snacks, a movie, gum, water, bathroom, questions, and any other procrastinating situation that could possibly arise...i told them, "to bed."

one of the benefits of summer...and the lack of schedule that follows...is that someone is usually taking up residence on aiden's trundle.  either chase or annslee finagle their way in there most evenings...for a sibling sleepover, of sorts.  tonight...the trundle was chase's.

as i was tucking them in...chase asked,

"mom?  where you ever in any school plays?

i replied,

"yes."

the room was lit only by lamp light, and i sensed one of those stories that i, too, used to love.  the ones that start with a child saying, "tell me about when you were little."

aiden was listening with interest and chase asked,

"which ones?"

i let my eyes look to the ceiling and quickly started going through the files of memories that my brain held entitled..."school plays."

i remembered aloud,

"well...there was this one in elementary school called roddie riddle from mars...and the little boy who i had a crush on played roddie riddle.  his name was scott spurger."

they giggled and chase perked up,

"did you have to kiss him???  who did you play? were you a main character?"

i laughed and said,

"no!  i was not a main character.  and i didn't have to kiss him!  i think i was a dancer or something."

chase then asked,

"where you in any other school plays?"

the file in my head was pretty empty...besides the senior musical in high school.  so i answered...

"i only remember being in one other one.  it was the senior musical...my last year of high school."

at this point...i was totally engulfed in their mesmerized world of school plays and main characters and learning lines.

i continued...

"it was grease.  i actually tried out for the main character, sandy, and got called back for it.  but...i chickened out of the second call back and ended up a dancer."

hmmmm, i thought.  again with the dancer bit.  i realized the pattern.  what was it with me and the "dancer" rolls?

chase was concerned...and asked,

"so you didn't get the lead because you were scared of memorizing the lines???"

i thought for a second.

"i guess.  i remember thinking that there was no way i could remember all those lines.  too bad...huh???  i should never have allowed fear to get in my way."

chase exclaimed,

"mom!!!  you could have been a star!!!"

"HA,"  i laughed.

and then aiden...

always ready to offer the hard truth...comforted me with this,

"well...you made the right decision.  you know.......to be our mom instead."

and with that...

i kissed their foreheads,

smiled,

and said,

"yes.  i did."

He's old enough for Kenya

It's 2:54 in the afternoon.  They left a little over 2 hours ago...and I am already feeling a small ache...missing those 2 boys.  Colton took my place on the Kenya trip...and how my boy is old enough for a trip like that escapes me.  He just called from the airport...and I brought up all sorts of random things to talk about, lingering over topics like what he ate for lunch and how his littlest sister can't find her earphones...even though she looked in her hello kitty box in her room, just to be able to keep hearing his voice.

Yesterday, we spent the day shopping for the things that he and Chad needed for the trip.  We hit all sorts of stores...discussing what kinds of stickers and bubbles and soccer balls the kids in Kenya would most like.  They can't wear jeans over there...so we had to get Colt some light weight khakis.  We decided to go as a family...and lectured the kids in great detail about what their behavior needed to be in the stores.  We had an unfortunate experience in Academy a few nights back that resulted in leaving a basket in the middle of the boy's athletic clothes and heading home...due to a fight that broke out over who pushed the cart.  Chad had had enough.  (I gave him a break and agreed to come back alone.  He's an amateur when it comes to shopping with all 4 kids.  Well...shopping, in general.)  So...after some serious warnings...we tried again.  This time we went to Sun and Ski Sports to see if we could find some of the clothing items they needed.  I'm fairly certain that our pictures are on the wall in the employee break room in Academy under a "Don't let these people on the premises" sign.  Things were going fairly smoothly until Annslee disappeared from the dressing rooms.  I quickly located her sitting in a kayak...that was up on a display shelf in the middle of the store.  I asked her if she really thought that was a good idea.  I'm pretty sure she did.

Chase was so busy playing mine craft that he barely looked up from his itouch.  When we stopped for lunch...Chad made mention of the Africa trip (for the billionth time over the last several months)  and Chase looked up, interested for the first time in the subject and says,

"Colton's going to Africa????  Can I have his room?"

****

Today marked (what would be) the 12th week of the pregnancy.  When I realized that, I allowed myself to think about what this week could have been like.  I would have had the 12 week ultrasound with the high risk doctor...where we would have found out if the baby was a boy or a girl.  I allowed myself to wonder which it was.  I allowed myself to remember what that excitement felt like...and feel sad that this week won't hold any of that.  I wondered if I would have told Chad whether we were having another son or another daughter via e-mail...or if I would have waited until he got back.  I decided that I would have probably told him on Sunday...Father's Day.  I would have found a way to let him know...and I would have let him tell Colton.

Already being a little emotional made saying goodbye a little harder, I think.  But also a little sweeter.

 

I think she feels the way I feel:  like looking down.  and not smiling.

Now I just have to find a way to fill my time until around 2 am.  That's when I made them promise to call me from London during their lay over.  I wonder if Colt will be in the mood to discuss pleasantries, like whether he enjoyed the peanuts or the pretzels more and what they offered for dinner on the plane and whether or not Chad is using appropriate amounts of hand gel, just so I can keep listening to his voice?