Reading with Gigi

Teaching this girl to read is a hoot. She is very interested, but can drag things out impressively, because she is very easily distracted. Here is a conversation we just had:

Gigi: "llllliiiiiiiiiiicccccck. Lick! Lick me mom. Okay then, I'll lick you. (Rubbing my arm after the licking) It's like lotion! A little bit. Not very.

WAS. WAS goes to jail. That silly WAS is not following the rules. I can make a jail for that naughty WAS with my fingers and he cannot get out no matter what. Look, you can't even see him anymore. He's sleeping in his jail now.

K, k, k, k, Come on, mom, see if you can say this faster than me.

Rock. (curling into a ball) I'm a rock. Hit me and you'll see. C'mon! Hit me! Did it hurt your hand?"

And on and on and on. It is a good thing I am not in any hurry. Oh, and she calls periods 'stop dots' and she won't let me hold the book!

Excellent Birthday

It was a banner year here for me! Dirk made me my favorite breakfast: grits and eggs. But he doctored the grits with Parmesan cheese, sharp cheddar, jalapeños and goodness knows what else. They were the best grits I have ever had. Someday, children will sing songs in the streets about these grits. They will be served to kings (um . . . the grits, not the children). That is, if he is ever able to reproduce them. I think he took a 'little of this, little of that' approach. Anyway, I will move on, for those of you not as passionate as I about this great cuisine of the South. Incidentally, isn't there a festival for just about every kind of food somewhere in this country? I'd like to sign Dirk up for the next grits festival. Moving on.

Dirk took the kids out shopping (while I lounged around luxuriously and read a book) and each got me something special that they thought I would like. So sweet! That meant: nail polish from Gigi, peanut butter M&Ms from Isaac, lip gloss from Brody. Then Dirk gave me the best gift ever, which was a bunch of pictures of all of us that he had edited to black-and-white and worked other magic with that I cannot fathom and put in a sleek black frame for me. It was something I had been wanting for awhile. I used the bacon grease from breakfast to make some roasted butternut squash risotto for dinner. Yum!



In the evening, we painted our toes, the boys helping by choosing the colors and my mom took us out for Nielsen's Frozen Custard (which should also be sung about and served to kings).

Oh, and the pictures! They slaved away in the office doing their top secret birthday cards.






Overall, I think we had enough fun (and saturated fat) to last us 'til Christmas. Thanks, little family. Best birthday ever.