Time Flies...

Wow. I can't believe it's been two weeks since the last blog! I guess we've had a lot going on.


First things first. We found the camera. Or, should I say, Eileen finally fessed up! While *helping* her clean her room over this past weekend, I was digging through her toybox. 
E:  Mommy, what are you doing? 
Me:Just checking again to make sure the camera didn't somehow end up in your toybox.   
Cue Eileen disappearing. Cue Eileen reappearing... looking not quite right. E:Mommy, I think you should look in here, near the yellow blanket.


This is the part where she stands next to her armoire and points at the door. I open it. And see the yellow blanket. I root around in it. And POOF! there's the camera! rolled up in the blanket.  It didn't just end up there, it was hidden there. Eileen claims she just wanted to play with it.  We shan't (yes, I said "shan't" - deal with it) go into the battle in my head at this point in time; I was so happy to have the yet-to-be-unloaded pictures back I didn't even bother to discipline her. 

Admittedly, I did consider re-hiding it.. because now that it is found I no longer have an excuse for running out to buy my new camera!


So, in the weeks since I have blogged... there have been loads of Eileen-isms.  There's no way I can remember all of them, but I do actually keep a running list - if and when I manage to remember to write them down. Ahhh. Aging. Fun times.


Over Father's Day weekend, my cousins Bill & Kim came to visit. They live in NH, and come down on their Harley's (OK, well, Kim's is a Honda,.. but it's still ridiculously cool).  It had been a couple years since they'd been here, and Eileen was excited to see them, even though I knew she didn't really remember them from last time they visited. I was also a bit nervous that she'd FLIP out at the sound of the bikes, as they are gloriously noisy. 

I could not have been more wrong. She was over the moon when they pulled in. Running to the door with "MOMMY THEY ARE HERE!"  She actually cried crocodile tears when she didn't get to ride with Uncle Bill (ok- he and I are cousins, but to keep it simple she thinks he's her Uncle).  The thing is, I TOTALLY would have let her ride, but I would have also had to ride. And well. We all know Erin's luck with anything motorized, or that involves, well, any sort of movement. So I was terrified to get on the bike- nothing to do with trusting Uncle Bill - seeing as he's got years and years and years of experience .... I just know better than to curse others with my luck. Or lack of...

Anyway. The video you see here is one that was on the Lost Camera. Eileen and Gracie (pre-Summer Cut) playing in the back yard.  We'll now move on to the Eileen-isms, since I know that's what you really came to see.. 

Everyone knows I'm cute!  Hmm. Perhaps we have crossed the line from making sure our daughter has a sense of self and a good deal of self-confidence to oh crap this little turd is totally high on herself.  Yeah. As she and I left Josh's office the other day, out of nowhere, she just announced her level of cuteness and everyone's apparent awareness of it. 

Wow,that's a lot of PEE ya got there.  No, you can't have my charming little girl. She was at work with me one day last week. On our way to venture through the halls of ScrippsLand, we stopped to use the Ladies Room. She had no reason to make use of the facilities, and chose to stand outside the door of my stall. Making sure I could see her toes, as that is our rule in public bathrooms when she refuses to come in the stall with me, as she is terrified of auto-flushing toilets (yet a bearded man covered in tattoos in a helmet and dark glasses on a heart-thumpingly loud Harley doesn't phase her in the least...)  So apparently the time I spent in my stall was too much for her to bear, and hence, the statement you see underlined here. 


My Room is MUCH bigger than his! Cue the all at once horror/shock/embarrasment/omg how do I handle THIS one phase of mommy-hood. Ryan lives next door. He's about 8 weeks younger than Eileen. So the two of them play a lot together.  Eileen's room is actually our bonus room, and therefore, quite spacious.  Ryan has a 'normal' room. So she'd gone to his house, and came home, and told Bill and I that her room is so much bigger. I froze. Me: Eileen! you didn't SAY that to him, did you? E: Well YEAH. Me: oh. hmm. welllll honnnneyyy.... its not polite to say something like that. It doesn't matter who's room is bigger or who has more toys or...   E: well. my room IS bigger.  Hmm. well, we'll have to work on this one.  I guess age 4 almost 5 is tough to start teaching etiquette with any other reasoning besides "Because I said So."

Do I have a BALL on my head???  This weekend at the pool, after she'd had a small meltdown, she was sitting with me on my chair. And while I was cheering her up, I'd pulled her ever-growing bangs (so close to being all the way grown out) up into a "Pebbles."  She could see her shadow, including the poof of hair on top, and had no idea what had happened to her head. Oh how I giggled. 


BOO-YA!  Yes, this would be the phrase of athletes and frat boys everywhere. And yet my almost five year old princess-y tom-boy knows, and perfectly annunciates, the phrase. Friday night, we let her stay up late. Partly because she was playing outside with Ryan (= wearing her OUT so she'll sleep sooo soo well) and partly because she wanted to catch lightning bugs just as much as Mommy and Bill. So while we waited for darkness to descend on East TN (which, for those of you who aren't familiar, does NOT arrive until 9:20pm in the dead of summer - and I am so very serious about that), she and Ryan rode their bikes in circles, and circles, and circles. And every time she completed a circle, she'd yell "BOO YA!"   I was cracking up. 

WHY is Beezus singing?!? This would be where the worlds of fantasy TV/Movie Characters collide with actual Human Beings. Eileen LOVES the movie Ramona and Beezus, which stars Disney Made Star (singer/actress) Selena Gomez (and is a legitmately super cute movie).  Well, it seems Miss Gomez has a new movie coming out. So this morning Eileen saw the trailer while watching cartoons, and was just perplexed to see Beezus singing. 

Can I sleep INSIDE the sand??   Well, it's been a couple of years since we've been able to get Little Miss to the beach.  So she's very excited about upcoming trips to Nana's house and to St. Simon's.  On the way to school this morning we were discussing the beach, and she squealed her desire to sleep inside the sand.  Hmm. well. that would be interesting, eh? 


I think that covers the highlights.  Try as I might, I imagine there's something I missed. I honestly wish we just had surveillance cameras planted around the house. The other night, while I was drying her hair, she picked up a spare hair brush and was just going to town putting on a show to herself in the mirror. Singing. Chatting. All sorts of intonations. I could hardly stand up straight from the laughter taking over my body.




Hopefully the next entry on my part won't be so long in coming. And hey... maybe I'll have that new camera by then.  A girl can hope. :)


One last video for your entertainment...

Grooming Gracie

Anyone who says that dogs don't have personalities or moods or smile has clearly never spent any time around a dog.

And Gracie may have more personality than any dog out there. She's almost seven, and she's a rescue. She's a full bred Golden, we got her when she was about six months old. Even tho she was still young, and she's been with us for six years, she can still get skittish and a little frightened. But more often than not, she's a Happy Girl.  And she is absolutely my first baby.

Last summer was the first time I had her shaved. And she was seriously MAD at me for several days. It was like she was embarrassed.  I think last year Bill didn't believe me, until he came to the house and saw that she refused to even look at me! She'd stay in the den with me, but would keep her back turned to me.  I have to think she felt silly, that her gorgeous golden locks had been taken away and she didn't feel pretty.  And last summer... after she got over her mood at me, and finally figured out how much more comfortable she was in the heat, minus the fur.. she LOVED it. She was running around like a puppy.

Fast forward 12mos.  We had a super hot second half of May, but I was hesitant to have her shaved too early in case it got chilly again. So I called right after Memorial Day to get her an appt, and the next available was two weeks away! Sheesh. And I knew she was uncomfortable, because she was panting like mad ALL the time, not to mention hogging all of the AC vents in the house.  I sat down and had a heart to heart with her to let her know she had to be patient.  And don't think for one minute she didn't understand me, and oh yes, she was also quite peeved that I hadn't called earlier in May to make an appt for her.

So yesterday was her big day. She was thrilled to be going to daycamp, and of course she was ready to get her hair did.  Bill picked her up after work, and I got home after them.  Coming home to a dog is quite possibly one of the best things in life. I pull into the garage, and POOF! Gracie appears at the door, grinning while at the same time presenting me with her stuffed frog, her tail wagging so fast & hard that it may just air lift her (not to mention knock someone out if they get in the path of The Tail). And she's got on her little pink bandana from the groomer, and she is so very happy.  So not like last year when she was mad. I walk into the house and she just started running all over the house, it was like the somewhat aging pup had morphed into a six month old.   I'm also fairly certain she is now 3-4 lbs lighter.  Last night was the first night in weeks that she didn't sleep smack on top of the AC Vent, and therefore it was the first night in weeks we managed to sleep and not sweat.

So yes, I just wrote an entire blog about my dog getting shaved. But then again, this is the girl who also wrote an entire blog - and took pictures! - about Eileen's dolls.  I'm crazy like that.

Happy Friday!

Chocolate Chip Buns!

Argh. Our camera is g o n e.  I have no clue where it has landed. I know I had it Saturday morning bc I took it to the zoo for a birthday party. And I called the zoo and they don't have it. So it leaves us with two options:

a) it is somewhere in our house, probably in a place that makes a lot of sense... like the freezer or my sock drawer.
b) it got thrown away by yours Space Cadet truly.

Losing the camera stinks bc it is a good camera, but losing the pics and movies not yet uploaded stinks more!  I have some here from the weekend that Bill and I had on our phones.. I guess better than nothing right?

So. Mini Me had so many hilarious events over the last few days I literally had to write them down. As I just said, I'm a Space Cadet - I know better than to think I can actually remember anything more than 6 hours old. 

Smart Phone (I think?)
I picked Eileen up from school a little early last Friday. So we get out to the car and she's all "Where's BILL?"  (apparently Mommy alone is no fun, plus she much prefers his truck to my boring ol' car...).  So I told her he was still at work and she wanted to call him. So the part of the conversation I hear is this:  'hi!.... its ME... it's Eileen!... no. what? NO! EILEEN!.. yes, I called you on Mommy's Raspberry!"   I don't think I have laughed that hard in who knows how long. She was so innocent and so very serious and clearly got her berries all mixed up.

Gangsta Eileen:
Outside playing in the sprinkler. I ask her if she wants a CapriSun. And then in typical Erin mode I went inside and puttered around and then came back out to the back yard completely having forgotten the CapriSun. She throws her hands in the air, skinny little legs sticking out of her bathing suit, and says Drita-style "Where's my Capri-Sun?? Can I get a Capri-Sun??"  That's the moment where as a parent, you want to give a smack down and tell your child to watch her tone. But you're laughing so damn hard it is impossible to attempt any sort of discipline.

The Cinderella Factor
Friday after school, after Eileen had played in the sprinkler, she went upstairs to play. From the top of the stairs:
E: Mommy can I wear my Cinderella dress? 
Me: Yes. Can you reach it?
E: No. BUT just so you know I do have on my 'heel shoes' - now picture a very grown up face and very grown up tone and not a single breath in between words - andtheystillfitmebecauselookiamwearingthemrightnowandipromiseiwon'tcomedownstairs!'   
Well, now. Who can argue with that?

note: her heel shoes are the 2sizes too small black patent leather shoes that are ridiculously noisy on the downstairs hardwoods. She loves those stinkin shoes, too small or not.

 So the pictures you see here.... in the dress, these are from Friday night. We decided to have a 'campout' - which means we decided to cook hot dogs and s'mores in the backyard firepit.  So Eileen went upstairs to get ready for her Big Campout.  The outfit here to the left - makeup and all - is what she picked out. Last year's Easter Dress, red sparkly shoes, flower in her hair, and full makeup.  Isn't that what YOU wear to a campout?

The picture on top.. that was Saturday.  We'd gone to the aforementioned birthday party at the zoo, then spent several hours at the pool. She didn't stop moving the whole time we were at the pool!  She was asleep like this literally within 2minutes of us getting in the car.

Chocolate Chip Booty
So coming home from school yesterday, we're discussing making a Target run. Which of course leads to a discussion of cookies. Which is because Target has free cookies at the bakery counter. Which every child in a 175mile radius of the Super Target knows.  So she's asked the regular "can i get a cookie!?' question, which is answered with the regular "Yes, Eileen, you can have a cookie."  Seemingly content, she is silent. And then,
E: MOMMY! I want to be a cookie!
Bill: WHAT? you can't be a cookie!
E: oh yes I can.
Bill: Ok, cool. I want to eat the hands and feet. Mommy, what part do you want?
E: You can have my butt, Mom!
Me: OH Shew! I don't want your BUTT! That's stinky.
E: But Mommy, (insert singsongy voice), its chocolate chip! 

This would be the point where Bill laughed so hard we nearly drove off the road.  I mean, where in the WORLD do kids come up with this stuff??

So, everyone do their camera dance and hope we find ours. In the meantime.. here's a fun video and have a good week.

Shock 'n Awe...

So, I keep a fairly clean house. To be clear, we do allow ourselves the luxury of a cleaning service every three weeks to do the 'real work.'  In the advent of Clorox Wipes, Swiffer, and Febreeze.. I can maintain in the weeks between.  And.. I do make a valiant effort at keeping the clutter to a minimum. I can ignore a tumbleweed of Gracie Fur for days on end.. Clutter... not so much.  SO...

...the way in which our house is designed.. Eileen's room isn't in my regular line of sight.  Meaning, even if I happen to walk past it, unless I make a concentrated effort, I don't know in what shape it might happen to be.  Hence. The Dolls.

Eileen is at Josh & Sarah's this week. And my cousins are coming to visit this week (YAY) ... so of course I ventured upstairs to spiff up her room.. only to find The Dolls.  Amid the toys she'd recently drug out from their organized storage places (i.e. stuffed in precious little pink & purple canvas squares & her monogrammed toybox...) were The Dolls.   I believe she must have all at once been playing School - as the dolls were situated in chairs lined up in a row facing the room - and What Not To Wear: Doll Style.

A brief overview of the dolls: we have Ruth, she's the dark haired beauty you see just above. She's an actual American Girl Doll from Aunt Jaime, the one Eileen picked out bc Ruth is Jewish just like her. Ruth also happens to be Eileen's great-grandmother's name. We also have Eileen, the Madame Alexander doll from Beanie, here in the pink, who was chosen as she looks very much like the real life Eileen. Lastly, we have The New Doll, also a Madame Alexander doll, from the Easter Bunny. She is currently named Syd.. after Bill's niece, as she bears a frighteningly similar appearance to real life Sydney. Syd is seen below, waving to her fans.

Now, all of The Dolls have smashing outfits with phenominal shoes.  Usually when I clean up Eileen's room.. I suddenly find myself cross-legged in her floor picking out quite the fashionable outfit for The Dolls.  This cleaning, however, I could do nothing but stop and stare. And laugh. And pose the dolls. And take pictures. And come up with fascinating tales of their lives that, of course, would give us answers as to what in the world The Dolls are wearing.

Judging by the Riding Cap atop Ruth's brown curls, she must have spent her day riding Brown Horse (not pictured). My thought is she's starting a new trend in the exclusive world of Equine.. riding one's horse in your best velvet and plaid Holiday Dress (and to be clear, the real-life Eileen has a matching one in Child Size). "But wait!" you say... what of the baby blue open toed plastic shoes? Such a contrast. The spiffy cap, the Holiday Best.. and shoes that may at one time have belonged to Mrs. Roper!  Why not?

Now Eileen. Hmm. First of all, I have been wondering why the real-life Eileen's (large) supply of barrettes has suddenly started to shrink.  I now know the answer. Eileen the doll is clearly in ParisHilton-style rehab for her addiction to barrettes.  Nothing else could explain the furry pink robe and plethora of barrettes in that head of hair. She's clearly in a state.. the glazed look into nowhere.. just sitting in that chair letting the world pass her by.  Sad what happens to Dolls these days.

And Syd. well. as the New Doll on the block.. she seems to have caved to Peer Pressure from Ruth.  Why else would such a young fresh doll also don the Holiday Best (the 2009 version) with plastic purple sandals?? Fret not- maintain hope! The innocence is still there. The bright shining eyes, the shy yet confident smile, the welcoming wave.  I must make it my mission to save this Doll - before it is too late! 

Stay tuned for the next installation of The Dolls: Extreme Makeover.

well now really!

Harumph!
It would figure that when I had plans to blog, the site is undergoing maintenance and I can't upload any pictures.  And what fun is my hilaaaaaaaaaarious writing without ant pictures?

Well. Stay tuned.
I'll be back.

(threat? or promise? you tell me..)