Favorite Quotes From My Favorite People

Abizella and I were sharing a bowl of soup. We struck a deal. She would eat all of the carrots, I would eat all of the broccoli. I said, "You are a little rabbit." She looked at me funny and I told her rabbits like to eat carrots. She said, "You are a broccoli raccoon." The randomness of a raccoon eating broccoli cracked me up (probably as much as a rabbit eating carrots cracked Abizella up). ...and here is our little rabbit now, putting on a "Underwear-head Superman" puppet show.

Superkid said, "[Tadpole's] hair is growing! It is so soft, it is even softer than my blanket!" Relatedly, I have been sick this week. Superkid built me a "nest" to sleep in. Once I was situated with my blanket, pillows, and Superkid's favorite stuffed animals, Superkid asked, "Do you need someone soft to snuggle with?" He then held out his arm for me to caress to prove his worthiness. Superkid happens to be an authority on soft.

Pops said, "If I ever get Alzheimer’s I hope I get stuck here" (me too!).

Attention East Coast Bloggers!

We are in the final days before the first East Coast Bloggers Party. All bloggers, real -live or lurkers welcome. I have it on good authority "Kimmy" will be there too.

The party van pulls out of here Saturday night at 5:30 p.m. Reserve your seat now. Any of you church ladies worried about being out too late, no worries I have a marathon curfew that night. We should be back 9:30. Give me a call, or send me an e-mail for more details!

Mazel Tof Ben!

Today was an exciting day for the Toads, we went to our first ever Bar Mitzvah! We are so proud of Ben and his vast knowledge of the Hebrew language. Today he taught us from the book of Leviticus about Leprosy (don't worry, because we didn't understand anything he said, our appetites were not affected for the Kiddish Luncheon). Some of us gained more from the service than others of us who spent time in the hall, as to not disrupt. We did make a new friend in the hall, though. Ben has an adorable 2 year old cousin that Abizella made fast friends with. We did try to make another attempt at listening, unfortunately we had some bad timing. Right as we sat back down in our seats the Rabbi said we were going to enjoy a moment of silence while they removed the Torah from the Holy Ark. Pops and I looked at each other in distress as the Rabbi shut the doors behind us. Unsure of Torah etiquitte, we rightfully worried about Abizella's ability to keep the silence and not being able to bolt out the back door when (not if) things went ugly. Other than Abizella's unrest, we had a wonderful time. The Cantor had a beautiful voice, the Rabbi was engaging, and Ben was competent and impressive.

And then there was the Kiddish Luncheon! The kid's favorite part was the bar. They enjoyed refilling their drinks over and over again.

Tadpole enjoyed the table cloths.

And everyone enjoyed the food so much that we couldn't put down our forks to take a picture.

Thank-you Ben for sharing this amazing day with us. Your family and friends are so warm and welcoming. We had a marvelous time!

"We the Girls!"

Abizella and I are little shopping buddies. I have to admit, there have been times I would rather gauge my eyes out with hot coals than take her shopping, but I think I have found the secret formula; leave Superkid somewhere else. When we drop Superkid off at pre-school it is "Girl Time". Abizella yells "Let's go shopping!" Which means we go to Target. It is the perfect gig. When I know we will end up going there several times a month (the real cost of pre-school revealed), I am not into high pressure shopping and we just wander around and play with things. And when I only have one kid wandering around it is more fun for everyone. On our last trip Abizella found a fancy pair of pink jelly shoes (did I ever mention that one of her first words was "Shoes!", before she was even 1 yr. old?). She insisted on wearing them through the store despite the fact that they were still tethered together. We shuffled over to the women's section where Abizella bolted (as best as she could with her feet tied together) and snatched up a BIG pair of pink jelly shoes for me! I laughed and lied and told her they were cute. She then insisted I take my socks off and try them on. They were rediculously big, but I did find a clear pair in my size and slipped them on. Abizella was not impressed. She said, "No, Mom. You got to wear PINK shoes like mine!" so together we dug for a smaller pink pair. I tried one shoe on to appease her. But she insisted, "No Mom, you have to try the other one too!" and with that she took off my other shoe and sock and placed the pink slipper on my foot. I was feeling like Cinderella by the time she finished. Then she declared, "It's a match!" And that is how I have come to own my first pair of jelly shoes. I was too cool for them the first time they came around in my youth.

Abizella is really into us wearing our matching shoes. I am really into babying my feet for the marathon. Whenever Abizella catches me without my blister-causing-non-supportive pink jelly shoes on, she says, "Mom, where are your pink jelly shoes? You got to wear them!" Then she proceeds to take matters into her own hands and put them on my feet for me and then tilts her head to the side and diminutively says, " There Mom. Is that better?"

So happy Early Mother's Day to me! Thanks Abizella, I can't think of anything I want more than to be more like you! Now I am just waiting to see what the men in my life come up with for my big day!

The Next Best Thing To Going To Hawaii...

...is having Grandma go to Hawaii and send us a package!

Superkid loves his Ukulele

and Abizella loves to dance to his tropical tunes in her new dress!

Why-Not Satiate That Cupcake Craving?

Ever since Andie and Boo came last Wednesday to hang out we haven't been able to get cupcakes off our minds. It all started after a flyby Johnny Cupcakes. I have to admit I set Andie up. We were heading back to my house after an afternoon of massages and lunch provided by Ironwoman, when I said to Andie, "Hey, do you want to swing by Johnny Cupcakes?" knowing full well I was teasing her sugar tooth. In my own defense, I thought if she was going to be a true East-coast girl and share a "locals-only" private beach pass with me this summer she better not shame me by drooling over fellow beach-go-ers T-shirts. You see, Johnny Cupcakes is a T-shirt shop, not a cupcake shop. And, I might add, it is not a T-shirt shop for cupcakes (as Ners and I found out by visiting the shop this fall and meeting a line of purple headed, black-leather, nose pierced, tattoed T-shirt fans lined up for the latest T-shirt release).

But poor Andie has been going nuts for a week, so when she called and said she was coming back our way, I knew the only humane thing to do was to find some good cupcakes. But first we worked up our appetite at the park...



And once we were good and hungry we all got to pick our favorite cupcake...

Superkid went with Spiderman

Boo went with the sprinkles

Abizella, of course, went for Elmo

And for the bonus adventure Superkid and Andie had with the Spiderman ring click here.

Why Not Get Down To Some Blogging?

Seems like since I started Why-Not-Wednesday I haven't posted a blog on an actual Wednesday, so here we go!

This week, I would like to post on last week's Why-Not-Wednesday. The activity was inspired by my upstanding citizen neighbor boy "Ice". About 3:00p.m. I saw him, in his full scouting uniform, dragging my garbage cans down the driveway and placing them in the backyard. We all ran to the backdoor to thank him. Upon stepping out on the back porch we realized we were missing out on a true Spring day. It was a little pocket of heaven. The kids raced back in to put on shoes, and we played in the back yard for a bit. Then (kill-joy mother form) I broke up the fun and got the kids engaged in some hard labor.


I figured Why-Not finish up raking up those leaves from last fall? And Why not trim back some bushes for optimal spring blossomage? Why-Not stop to appreciate a true sign of Spring, the emerging tulip leaves?



Work or play, it sure was nice to soak up a little sun.

For a truly radical Why-Not Wednesday activity click HERE!

and HERE ( I don't think this acountabilibuddy meeting can be topped!)