She came home to a clean room and closet, a neat(er) art corner in the kitchen, a freshly organized corner in the living room, and (gasp) NO toys in her mama and daddy’s room! I think I got rid of three bags of trash and have another bag of stuff for my mom’s treasure box for her students.
However, I do have one small, itty-bitty confession to make to you readers (all two of you, ok maybe all four of you)… I still can’t bring myself to get rid of most of her clothes – at least the nicer stuff (which isn’t that much these days considering the strong-willed tom-boy I have on my hands). I did manage to toss of some of the stuff that
But… in her baby room closet… is a stack as tall as the ceiling with those vacuum bags full of her old clothes – mainly the cutsie-pie baby stuff. You know, the things she wore before she had opinions of her own. This stack does not include the dresser that is filling up fast too because I’ve run out of the vacuum bags. When I see the huge stack, I briefly think to myself, “Self – What the heck are you thinking?? Get rid of that mountain!” But, then, my mommy-brain kicks right in and soothes, “Just close the door and no one will see it… You might even need them again one day.” (Disclaimer – NO, I AM NOT PREGNANT!!)
But… I will admit that I did close the door and left all the old baby stuff alone again for now.
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Travis and I are empty-nesters this week as Carissa is enjoying Spring Break with her Pa and Grandma in Florida. They have been to the Magic Kingdom to see Mickey, Pluto, and the gang, to Universal Studios and their Islands of Adventure parks, and to the largest McDonalds in the world (did you know it was in Orlando? Now you do.). The highlight though according to Carissa has been the regular McDonalds across the street from their hotel. She even told her Daddy last night that “Next time, when you bring me and Mommy back to Florida, I will bring you here to show it to you!”
On Sunday, after taking the travelers to the airport early that morning, Travis and I returned home and went back to bed and lost the whole morning! We did get up in time to head out to a crawfish boil (him) and a bridal shower (me) that afternoon. Later that evening, Dee came over, and she and I began watching the third season of Tudors (delicious!) with our standard movie-watching grub of popcorn, M&M’s, and Dr Pepper.
On Monday, Jake had given Dee four tickets to the rodeo to see Lady Antebellum. The boys weren’t interested in going so we made it a girl’s night with our friends Kimberly and Tricia. The show was fantastic! I was a little worried that they wouldn’t sound as good live, but they were perfect! Tricia is originally from Ohio and this was her first rodeo. I think she might have been a little overwhelmed at all the wanna-be cowboys and cowgirls that come out of the woodwork for rodeo, but she gave it a thumbs-up at the end.
Tuesday, we went out to eat Mexican food with Dee and Jake to celebrate her new job that she starts next Monday. Jake came by afterwards to check out our newest addiction – Carcassone. (More expansions arrived yesterday – woohoo!)
Last night, I cleaned out and reorganized Carissa’s Corner in our kitchen. Tonight, I plan to tackle Carissa’s Corner in our living room and hopefully move on to Carissa’s Corner in our bedroom. Tomorrow, I think I’m even going to take a day off from work to clean out Carissa’s bedroom. Is it obvious yet that sweetie-pie has more stuff than she knows what to do with! I plan to have four piles – 1) To keep for her to continue play with now; 2) To put away in the attic; 3) To trash; and 4) To give to my mom for her school’s treasure box. I might add a fifth pile for Goodwill if there is enough to make it worth my while to drop it off.
When Carissa gets back from Florida, I think we’re going to try out this strategy. Do you think it will work? She has eaten raw broccoli and a ham and cheese sandwich recently which would have been unheard of in the past. Wish us luck with our hard-headed little girl!
PS – You might have noticed the lack of pictures on mypics lately… I don’t pretend to know all the details because I am ignorant in the ways of the internet and programming, but apparently google is not going to support ftp which is what the mypics site was built on. Travis found a work-around app that would help, but is not as easy as it was. :(
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As if there were any question that sweetie-pie is my daughter, here is a listing of her birthday activities:
• Tuesday – She was leader and birthday star at school. We had made some cupcakes (chocolate with chocolate frosting with sprinkles) for her to bring for her classmates along with juice and Scooby-Doo plates and napkins.
• Wednesday – Carissa woke up on her birthday with a present from mom and dad. Mid-day, she had a special balloon delivery from Grammy and Pawpaw arrive at Pa’s. I arrived with another gift that she insisted she open right away – she couldn’t wait for her dad! We then all went to Chuck-E-Cheese’s for pizza and games. Ryan and Valerie came and brought her another present. We also brought in another chocolate cake with chocolate frosting to enjoy. She even received a special sticker and birthday crown! She closed the place down and fell asleep on the way home.
• Thursday – Carissa had received a card in the mail from her Uncle Joey, Aunt Loni, and Parker that she opened this morning. It was the perfect card with a big number 4 on it along with two dogs and two cats plus some stickers inside – she was thrilled! Also in the card was a giftcard to Target. Once I explained to her what we got to do with the giftcard, she gasped and grinned and said “You mean I can get a new toy?! Whatever I want? WOW! Let’s go right now!” She has school again today and is planning to take her Chuck-E-Cheese crown with her. She mentioned on the way over to Dad’s this morning that she would really like to stop and show me the new McDonald’s’ playground on the way home because “It is my birthday afterall…” Her words, I kid you not.
• Friday – I am off tomorrow so I’m sure we’ll figure out something fun to do! I had wanted to go to the zoo, but it is likely going to be chilly and rainy. I do definitely foresee a girls’ trip to Target though!
• This weekend – On Sunday is Carissa’s birthday party day. She wanted to have a “Jumping Party” so we are going to be spending some time at Jump-N-Jungle with pizza, a Scooby Doo cake, and loads of bouncing!
She is only four and already has practically a week’s worth of birthday fun! Pretty soon she’ll just take the whole month like her Momma likes to do!
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My baby’s FOURTH birthday is today! Can you believe it?? One part of my brain says that I can’t believe she’s already four, but the other part can hardly remember a time when she wasn’t a part of our lives.
At this time FOUR years ago, I was probably giving Travis the evil eye for getting to eat McDonalds (he did at least eat in the waiting room), looking at the clock wondering where the heck my mother was (she wanted to finish up the school day), and being really confounded at the sensation of no feeling in your lower body due to the epidural (push? Push WHAT?).
In just a few more hours, Carissa will have made her grand entrance and my OB will have made a very lucky catch. I would be left to fend for myself at the nurses’ shift-change (nope, not letting that one go – maybe when she’s 20) while all the visitors who were so attentive on me were all of sudden very keen to be attentive on my mini-me.
Carissa has really grown up so much this year. She is no longer a toddler, but a little girl. She is most definitely not a girly-girl – no pink or princesses in our house! She loves being outside, going to her school, playing with all her stuffed dogs, coloring and painting, baking desserts, digging in the dirt, driving her jeep, and going to Target (heehee!). She is super-smart and has a perfectionist nature, but is also very impatient not to mention bossy! She can talk so ‘grown-up’, but throw a temper-fit with the best of them. She has really turned into a Mommas-girl this year – likely because I give in much quicker and easier than her Daddy. She loves to go on vacation and mentions at least once a week how she’s ready to go on a vacation, preferably back to Disney World to check on Pluto. Southwest Airlines is her airplane of choice and, up until about a month ago, even wanted a Southwest cake for her birthday.
There are days (many days) when she drives me absolutely bonkers… but then she says or does something that makes me completely fall in love with her all over again. She is just the best blessing and I thank God for her everyday.
Happy Birthday Carissa!
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At Carissa’s preschool every week one of the kids gets to be the “Star of the Week”. This week was Carissa’s turn, and she was sooooo excited! She has been talking about Star of the Week and what all it entails since the beginning of the year when the series started.
The week prior, we were supplied a plain, white poster to decorate with her name and pictures, instructed that she bring in some favorite toys for a show-and-tell, and have her plan to tell her friends about the toy and the pictures on the poster.
Carissa and I decided to go to Target (because why go anywhere else to shop??) for the poster board supplies. I clued in on these pretty green letters for her name and a grayish-blue border that would have looked really nice. But, sweetie-pie honed in on some brightly colored, holographic letters and borders that were very flamboyant. Guess who won? The same person who always wins – Carissa. Yes, we went back and forth a few times debating on what to get before I had to chastise myself and remember that this was HER poster to do what she wanted to do with it. *sigh*
We sat down to begin constructing the poster. We picked out pictures of her from Steamboat, a few from Disney World, the park, and her in her Scooby costume from Halloween. We mounted them on colored construction paper and then cut them out using some of my fancy scrapbooking scissors. We affixed the oh-so-lovely holographic letters (reading “Carissa” and “Star of the Week”) and the super-shiny blue border with double-sided tape before moving on to the photo lay-out. We forgot to take a picture of the finished product (yes, bad mommy) but I think it turned out pretty good!
For her favorite toys, she wanted to take her stuffed dogs (all fifty of them), but was talked down to two – Scooby and Henry. The problem was that Henry had been missing since Sunday. We looked everywhere for it on Sunday to no avail; we turned the house apart looking again on Monday; we called Grammy to be sure it wasn’t left at her house; etc.
Then, I remembered an old story that Carissa’s Pops likes to tell that happened oh, about twenty five years ago that involved a missing remote control and a little car with a trunk that Joey had when he was little….
I asked Carissa if she had maybe taken Henry for a ride on Mater. Her eyes lit up and she laughed with an ‘Oh! Yeah, I sure did!’ Yup, Henry was found in Mater’s trunk and the crisis was averted.
The next morning our Star of the Week proudly loaded up her poster, Scooby, and Henry. Dad said that all the kids were ooo’ing and ahh’ing over her poster when he dropped her off so it sounds like it was a success. Carissa will not tell me anything about it. Our conversation was the old “How was your day” --- “fine” ---- “How did your friends like your poster?” ---- “fine”---- “Did Mrs. Kathy like the pictures?” ---- “yes” ---- “Can you tell me some of the questions she asked?” ---- “Um…. not right now, maybe later.”
Stinker.
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