3 out of 4

Abigail had her 5 year well check up today. She weighed 34 lbs, was 44 inches tall and her eyesight was 2o/20. The doctor was impressed that she already knew how to ride a bike with no training wheels and that she could read. The thing that had Abigail most excited though was that the doctor told her how very tall she was. He told her that she was in the top percentile for her age group and that she was taller than 3 out of every 4 kids. She kept telling everyone all day that she was taller than 4 kids!!

Favorite Friday Photo

Momma's Little Helper

Abigail loves to help with the laundry. Normally she'll fold the socks and undies, but today she wanted to do the whole load all on her own. When she was done folding it, she carried everything upstairs and put it away.

Nightstand Blues

Amelia's dress matched the color we just painted the nightstand, so I thought it would be cute to take some pictures of her on it. Needless to say, she was not into it at all. It wasn't until I told her I was done that I got a smile out of her, and then she took a flying leap onto the bed.

Mistaken Identity

Abigail: Mom, is one of your sisters named Jonas?
Me: Nope
Abigail: Yes there is, Robin's real name is Jonas.

Thank Goodness For The Internet

I decided to paint the guest bedroom nightstand today. The girls were pretty excited to help so I got them two little foam brushes. We took the project outside because 1. it was gorgeous out and 2. we were using oil based paint. The fumes are awful. It wasn't very long before I looked over and saw Amelia's forehead and hair.

I normally use latex paint, which washes off pretty easily and wasn't thinking about how difficult it would be to get the oil based paint off skin. We came inside and tried just using soap and water. That didn't work and I didn't want to put any chemicals on her head, especially that close to her eyes, so I googled it.

Turns out olive oil and a little bit of salt work wonders. It came right off.

'Fresh' Doesn't Even Come Close

Abigail was upset with me yesterday because I wouldn't give her something she wanted (I can't even remember what it was). I gave her the classic line, you can't always get what you want. She says, "I know, I got a terrible mom."

Viewer Discretion Advised

Abigail and Amelia were playing the alphabet game in the car (the one where you find letters on street signs, billboards, etc). They played the game seriously for a little while, until Amelia announced she'd found the letter "poo". Abigail was quick to tell Amelia that poo was NOT a letter. Amelia's response: "yes it is, when it (poo) comes out in straight line it makes the letter l. :)

When I Grow Up...

"I'm gong to have 3 hamsters, 3 dogs, 7 bunnies and 8 fish. You wanna know what else I'm gonna do, I'm gonna live in Destin. I'm going to live in a tall pink house. I'm going to have 8 kids. I'm going to have a bakery and I'm going to grow tomatoes, peppers, a sugar plant, carrots, sprouts and onions." -Abigail

"I'm going to have hamsters and I'm gonna live next door neighbor next to you (Mom). I'm gonna have 2 kids. I'm going to do work with Dad." - Amelia

She's A Pro

Abigail is really getting the hang of bike riding. She's learning how to turn around and use the brakes. Will went for a run last night and Abigail rode next to him. She did great! She cruises on the new bike. Will had a hard time keeping up with her.

Lying Around

This is how Amelia spent much of the weekend, laying around and being quite sick. Luckily she's feeling much better today.

All You Need is Faith and Trust and a Little Bit of Pixie Dust

Nanny sent Amelia a beautiful pop-up fairy book, along with another wonderfully enchanted fairy chapter book for Abigail, for the girl's birthdays. (Amelia opened hers early.) The girls love their books. I found Amelia this morning playing with her Tinkerbell fairy pins (from Disney World) while also reading her book. She had the little pins flying into all the little hiding spots of the book. She said they were dusting all the flowers with pixie dust to make them bloom.

Cinderella Ballet

We took the girls to a ballet (a first for all of us) to see a performance of Cinderella today. Abigail and Amelia dressed in their Princess bests and upon arrival were each given their own tiara.

The girls really liked the show and sat very quietly for the whole two hours.




When it was over the girls got to go up on stage and try on the glass slipper. The best part for Abigail was when they got their picture taken with Cinderella.

There was even a tea party (for an additional fee) after the show with sandwiches, fruits and desserts!



A very good day at the ballet.

Just Another Tuesday

So, it's Tuesday night. About 8:00 pm. You're thinking to yourself, I've got some work to take care of tomorrow. The kids are ready for bed. It's been a long day and as you're ready to tuck in for the night, you make the same call many Americans make everyday.

That's right. We're going to Disney World!

We loaded everything up, picked up Uncle Lawrence, the Disney World aficianado, dropped Guinness off at Grandma's house, and headed east. We arrived at the resort at about 4:00 AM, a little groggy, but in great spirits. The girls slept almost all of the way, while Mommy and Lawrence kept Daddy awake. Tomorrow (or would it be today, we're still not clear on this) we would sack the Magic Kingdom.

We hit all of the prime spots first, Dumbo, Carousel, etc. and then headed for the big kid rides. Amelia is just over 40 inches now, so we don't have to bribe the security to get her on the ride. Last time we were here, a kid named Stanislav got me for twenty bucks. His name tag might have said 'From Ukraine, How may I help you?', but the only thing I could understand him say was 'Tway In Tee Dole Ers'? This trip was much less costly in the graft department.

Amelia road Splash Mountain for the first time, after talking about it for months. The girls are both so brave and patient while waiting. We were a bit surprised at the number of people there. Despite the weakness in the overall economy, Disney seemed filled with well-fed people.

We caught up with Jim and Heather and their two daughters Meg and Kate. It was great catching up and the girls had a blast with each other. The highlight of the day was seeing Ariel, 'Raurora', Cinderalla, and Belle in quick succession. Lawrence got his fill of Space Mountain and go karts. We have always been there for the light parade, but this time we saw the fireworks show. We've never seen it before and came away quite impressed. They had star shaped fireworks, a sad face, heart, and an American flag with all 50 stars. Okay, not the flag, but they did have the rest of them. In the end, we piled our five and the four Dahlbys into the Expedition and took them back to their hotel. They paid their cab fare in pizza. It was the end of a great day. Tomorrow would see the fall of Animal Kingdom and Epcot.

We made a quick morning of Animal Kingdom. The animals were very active on the safari, highlighted by a baby giraffe eating very close to us. (Believe me, it was cooler than it sounds in that sentence.) Lawrence and Daddy rode Mt Everest and the girls rode their favorite, the Dino ride. And then we were off to Epcot.

Our first stop was the ball ride, the giant golf ball looking thing. It's a ride through the development of communications technology. Amelia loves it. Abigail describes it thusly: "Why do you think so many people want to go on this slow, unfun ride?" I must admit, she has a point, but she went along grudgingly. Last time we were at Epcot, we snuck Amelia by the first set of guards at Test Trak, but were foiled just before getting on the ride by Disney's version of Jonathan Papelbon. The ride attendant really closed us out. Amelia was disappointed she wasn't quite tall enough. This year though, Amelia was Bill Mueller circa October 2004 and all they had was Mariano Rivera. She measured up, and we were on Disney's fastest ride. The girls loved it! Other than Lawrence falling in the shower later that night, everything went great.

Our last day, always the toughest, would be spent at 'Holly Woody Studios' as the girls call it. The horizon there is dominated by a single, monolithic tower of macabre menace. The Tower of Terror. At first glance Amelia was in. Mommy and Abigail, not so much. With minimal negotiating and a tinge of deceit, we were all going to be riding. Amelia's only scare, "when my legs came off the seat." Our five year old and three year old willingly stepped on an elevator at someplace called the Tower of Terror. I was so proud of them, before realizing what this foretells in their teenage years. In the end, they both loved it and wanted to go again.

As we stumbled out of the park, weak and weary, we knew we had won. How lucky are we that we can saddle up and head to the happiest place on earth for a few days on a whim? Our girls are growing up in front of us and taming their fears. Technology allows Daddy to work from anywhere anytime. (It was a very profitable few days.) Lawrence can consume over 40,000 calories in three days. Mommy can pick out Disney outfits and worry about eating too much fast food. If there is a heaven, I'm already in it. So, if you ever find yourself on a Tuesday night wishing you were doing something else, try and figure out a way to do it.

Tea Party - Take Two

There was a little mix up with mailing addresses for Abigail's birthday outfit and it didn't make it here in time for the party. I was a little bummed, but I knew she would be able to wear it well beyond her birthday. After all, Pink Bunny is on her shirt. I saved what was left of the cake from the party (I had two cakes so only half the teapot cake got eaten) knowing I could use it again for some pictures when the outfits did come. It came today so we set up a little tea party, just us girls.

"Ordinary Looker"

It started off simple, we went to a dog parade with friends today. It was sort of a last minute thing and so we decided not to bring Guinness. In hindsight we wished we would have. He would have loved it. The girls had fun though and collected lots of goodies, most of which were Mardi Gras beads.

There were lots of dogs dressed up there. The girls thought that was really funny, especially Amelia. So when we got home they decided they'd dress up their own dog. They bribed Guinness up the stairs with dog treats and continued to feed him pretzels while they loaded him up with their new beads.

It didn't stop there though. Once they got the beads on him, they decided he must wear a tutu.

And if they could get one tutu on him they figured they could probably get more.
The pink boots were a nice touch.

By the time they were done he had on not one, but three tutus, fairy wings and wand, and a whole bunch of beads.

Guinness was such a good sport for the whole thing. The girls gave him lots of treats and when they were done they were nice enough to take all the stuff off him before Will took him out to play fetch.

Five Years Old Today!

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We had a big tea party for Abigail's birthday. Amelia and I even made a teapot cake for it! She got a big girl bike with no training wheels, princess dresses, build-a-bear supplies, bracelets, and books. It was a perfect day for a little girl to turn five.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

A Few Of Her Favorite Things

Abigail spent the day out with Dad and Grandma doing some of her favorite things, while Amelia and I stayed home working on the cake and the lasagna dinner (another favorite of hers).

Pink balloons

Panera's chocolate chip bagel with plain cream cheese

Dates with Dad anywhere (today was a lunch date)

Build a Bear outings (courtesy of Grandma)

The candy store