I'm not in Amsterdam

But C39 is. Or he will be in a few hours. So, today I went to work in the morning, and spent the afternoon with the girls, which I don't usually do with them on Thursdays.

Thursdays are farmer's market day. We walked over, and first thing bought two HUGE cups of sorbet. Banana & Pineapple. The owner of that stall has a racket going on. Her "small" portions were huge! they looked about 2 cups of sorbet. And $4! The kids each needed about 1/3 of that portion, tops. So about 2/3 of the sorbet melted. But, they enjoyed it, as you can see:



Then we played a bit up at the park, when we weren't playing hide and seek, toddler style (they stand off to the side but 100% in view, I count and when I get to 10 I ask where are my girls and they run back), they were practicing and rolling their tounges:



After seeing 3 MARC trains and one empty freight train, and petting a miniature red poodle (adorable, even if it was a toy poodle), a white and black puppy, and a large dog of some sort, we walked home. Q2 had an accident on the way (oops, we had been out for a while), stripping her down and putting her back in the stroller naked. Her choice, not mine. Well, it was my choice to have her strapped down rather than running down the street nakie. But her choice to be naked. Until C4 got out of the stroller to walk. Then Q2 decided she wanted to get out. And that getting dressed would be an acceptable situation if it got her out of the stroller.

We approached a sign ... and C4 read it, just like that!



I had no idea she knew how to read 3 of those 4 words! I was impressed.

The rest of the walk was unimpressive. One minor fall. A little crying. But we got home, ate dinner, watched Mary Poppins for a few moments and then ... putting them to bed alone.

Bath was smooth. C4 got out first, dressed, and read in her bed, while I took Q2 out of bed, dressed her, and put her to bed. I stayed with Q2 for a bit, visited C4 and told her I'd be back, returned to Q4, stayed for a few minutes and told her I had to lock the door and she asked if I'd be back, I said yes, but kept going ... C4 was already asleep, and I think Q2 was asleep before I got downstairs.

Tea

Today we had a tea party at C4's request. Decaff black tea with a boatload of soymilk to cool and sweeten and load them up with calcium. It doesn't taste so bad.

While drinking tea and eating a PB & J sandwhich, C4 told me she was having CT (see-tea). Sure! And, oh, Q2 was having QT. I agreed, Q is a cutie. And oh, what was I having?

Turns out a mumma has MT. Nice.

The actual retail birthday

Cupcakes and presents were the order of the day.

Q2 gave C4 a dalmation that yips and jumps, we gave her some dog clothes, her maternal grandparents gave her some dog clothes and a dog lunchbox, all well loved. The dog has been in near constant use (partly by Q2) and the clothes went right on.

But in the afternoon she got a camera from her paternal grandparents.



And since then over 400 photos have been taken. Some of my favorites of each of us:

Happy Birthday C4

Happy Birthday C4! At this time on Saturday, September 4, 2004 I was laboring away, almost ready to deliver you (8:14 AM)!

What a wonderful gift you were. And still are.

Happy birthday, my puppy dog, and that's all.

Tender Thoughts

I have a new-found appreciation for greeting card companies. C3 soon to be C4 got a birthday card today, the inside of which read thus:

Hoping lots
of birthday fun
and nice surprises, too,
Will make the day
you're 4 years old
a happy one for you!

Happy Birthday.

C3 read all of the words except "Hoping" and "Will" (and she knows Will!)

They obviously know their audience.

If you are nervous

Walking home from the park tonight the girls got on a giggle fest. Just near constant giggles the whole way home. It could have been because they snookered us into letting them ride on our shoulders instead of walking. Or it could have been the light tickle of the breeze on their legs.

But it wasn't.

As a tall, normal looking guy walked toward us, C39 asked was was so funny. And he got a response: "Because we are imagining that guy is naked."

And I didn't think that was going to be an issue for a while.

Better than I expected

Some years ago my dear husband C39 and I ran across "The Land of Little Horses" in Gettysburg, PA. I can't say that I was entirely interested in going. In fact, I was probably not interested at all. By C39 was VERY interested. But he couldn't bring himself to go until we had one or two children to look respectable and not so pervy-like.

Although I personally never had the overwhelming urge to go, the idea did grow on me over the years. So, five years and two children later we loaded up the car and headed to The Land of Little Horses.

After getting through the gift shop chock-a-block with all types of horses to cuddle and bring home, we made it out to the paddock.

We'd bought feed, which was great fun ... horses, llamas, sheep, goats ... they all like this stuff.


Cats, however, do not. Q2 tried to feed a barn cat the feed and got two scratches and a story to tell the next 20 people she saw.

Two favorite things for the girls to do 1) ride the bouncy horses on the playground



and 2) Ride the tire swing fashioned like a horse. Pure joy.



Riding a statue horse wasn't too bad, either.



The highlight of the day was supposed to be the "show" ... but that was a dud. Too much talking, too little action. 40 minutes of dull. Except for the dog races, which I found extremely amusing for the 30 seconds they were on stage. So we cut out early, causing both girls to cry hysterically at the fact that we were leaving. I guess it was just perfect for small children even though C39 & I were in agony watching a horse trying to subtract 4 from 6 and telling us over and over again that the answer was 3.