Eight and Too Great To Wait!

Emma is now eight. Well, she will be in less than two hours. I was going to wait and blog after her baptism on Saturday, but she is just too cute. She asked for oatmeal pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs for breakfast. I made breakfast this morning and put some on her plate. She looked at me and said "Oh, I only asked for bacon because someone (Justin) else loves bacon, but I just want sausage. I will just put my bacon back so someone else (Justin) can eat it." I let her open one present this morning because she wants to open presents throughout the day. Then Mia added a present she had gotten Emma. The present from Charlie and me was an outfit. I had her put it on and asked if she liked the shirt. She said "no... I love it." I asked if she liked the skirt and she said it was okay. Just okay?! "Okay is code for perfect." I love Emma. She is just the sweetest little eight year old. She comes up with the funniest things to say. I love her creativity. Like this morning when she said "I wonder if I will get any horse toys today... You know, it isn't too late."

Pictures from Ashley Roberts Photography.

New Favorite

www.smittenkitchen.com I have been going through this website for the last hour and it is fantastic. So many ideas and the pictures are great. I can't wait to try some of the recipes! I found this blog on a list of the best food blogs.


I also found another site from that list and tried a recipe from it today. You can find the recipes here.
Bread, especially freshly baked, is my weakness. And these were delicious!

My Backpack

My friend, Michelle DeCastro, wrote a poem in high school. For some reason I can remember it verbatum.

My Backpack
I love my backpack
my backpack is black
I love my backpack
my backpack loves me back

Okay, so when I was in high school our backpacks were really special to us. All of my friends and I had Eddie Bauer backpacks and we loved them. I remember one day some guy wrote on my backpack with a permanent marker and I lost it. It is probably the closest I have come to getting in a fight at school. (Except that one time I punched a guy, but I warned him to stop touching me...) Well, I still have my backpack. We have been through so much together: school, trips, hikes, more school. When a new semester starts I bring out my backpack and it always makes me smile. I still love my backpack, but last week it was too overloaded and couldn't take the abuse any longer. It gave up and the zipper broke. My trusty friend that I have had for about 18 years has died. I tried to fix it and still used it a couple times, but I know the game is over. I went to the store today to buy a new backpack. I thought this will be easy to just pick a backpack that I don't care about. But I couldn't do it. I kept mumbling "it's just a backpack, it's just a backpack" like a crazy person, but still couldn't pick a backpack. I am going to try another store this afternoon. Wish me luck.

Spitting Image

Mia brought home some artwork from kindergarten. She colored in a tracing of a horse. She drew a girl riding the horse. She showed me the picture and said "this is you, Mom." I said how cute it is and what a great artist she is. Then she told me "yes, Mom. You are the horse." Ouch.

Mac

Emma said she thinks she would like to put up some princess posters on her wall, and maybe some adventure posters too... like MacGyver. I asked if she really wanted a MacGyver poster in her room and she shrugged "well, he is an adventurer."

Could They REALLY Be Listening?

I am always telling my kids that our family is a team, and we have to take care of each other. We work together. We watch out for each other and defend each other. I say it all the time. Last month Mia went to a birthday party and came home really upset. She said she told the kids that Justin liked Hannah Montana. Then a little girl that lives down the street from us, who loves Justin, and loves to tease him, asked for everyone to vote whether or not they thought Justin was a girl. I don't think I've ever seen Mia this angry. She told the girl that she wasn't nice. Then Mia emphatically told me that she doesn't like that girl. I tried to explain that the girl was kidding and she really likes Justin. Mia didn't care and said "she can't talk about my brother like that."

Mia told me that a boy in kindergarten throws dry cereal at her and her friends at lunch sometimes. I asked if she told on him and she said no. I said if it keeps happening it would be okay for her to tell on him. Then she said the boy is her friend's brother and she doesn't want to tell on him. She just wants to ignore him. Okay, I understand that. She seems so young to understand complex situations like that. Or maybe its not really that complex.

No Words