Princesses and pirates

Where does the time go?  I meant to write last weekend after Ginny's actual birthday party, but I didn't get around to it.  Can you tell she's the poor middle child?  Anyway, she had her party at 'Bibbidi bobbidi boo' which is where we had Jorja's last party.  It's led by the princess of you choice, there is no prep, no clean-up, it's not in your house - it's perfect.  Ginny had picked Cinderella to lead her party and it just so happened that someone new was training, so she got Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.  Double score!  There were 5 little princesses and spiderman having a blast when I showed up with CeCe half way through the party.  We got there just in time for cake.  CeCe had a blast after that as well - running, dancing, playing.  Here's Ginny all dressed up for the party:

So that was last Saturday.  Last Sunday was a nice day, but there was still a fair bit of snow out, so we went to play in it one last time:

It was a pretty awesome snowman, but it didn't even last until the next day.  Now, one week later, all that's left is a carrot and a couple of sticks on the ground.  It has been a beautiful week out, and most of the snow is now gone.  After we came in from playing in the snow, it was time for a little snuggle:

The rest of the week was fairly normal.  Till Thursday when Jorja had her three way conference at school.  All the frustrations of every-day home life (not listening, seeming to know everything, fighting with sisters) seem to melt away when you hear how great your child behaves and does at school.  She has done great right from the start, so I guess we must be doing something right.  Now, two thirds through Grade 1, she is reading at a Grade 4 level, and spelling at almost a Grade 3 level.  Pretty amazing.  She devours chapter book after chapter book these days.  It's pretty cool, because she would sooner so that than play on the computer or watch TV most days.  I could learn a thing or two I guess.  I've never been much of a reader.  Hopefully she keeps it going.

On Friday there was no school, so I brought the girls downtown to meet Julie for lunch.  We were there early, so we wandered around the mall.  We went to Children's Place where the girls looked at skirts, tried on hats, and looked at jewelry.  I patiently waited.  I think that's something I'm going to have to get used to.  After I finally dragged them out of there, I took them next door to Jersey City.  Well, you'd have thought they were getting their teeth pulled.  I was browsing a bit, but mostly I went in there to visit with an old friend I used to work with who now manages the store.  I tried explaining that we looked at their store and now it was my turn.  It's funny how that logic didn't seem to compute with them.  I think I'll have to get used to that too.  After we met Julie and had lunch, they went to Ardene's.  Julie let them each buy a mystery bag with various hair accessories and stuff in it.  There were many squeals of excitement when they got home and opened them.  They actually got a lot of stuff for $2.50.  The only thing they couldn't use were the pairs of pierced earrings.  I held them up to my ears and then Ginny informed me that 'some boys do wear earrings.'  I said that I knew and that I myself did once.  They looked closely at my ear and saw the spot where my hole used to be.  The Jorja thought she would try to ram the earring into it.  I put a stop to that.  Then they looked at the other ear and I told them that I only had one earring.  To this Ginny replied, "You must have looked like a pirate then!"  Maybe I did.

Julie and I had two nights of freedom this weekend.  Crazy.  Friday night we had a going away party for some friends.  Steve shaves his head, so we had a bit of a surprise when they showed up:

On Saturday we were invited to a murder mystery party.  It was a lot of fun.  Everyone dressed up and really got into character.  I was a bartender and Julie was a waitress (both of us worked at the same casino) and we previously dated and I was trying to woo her back.  She was more interested in the big roller gambler type than the lowly bartender though.  We both survived the evening and didn't kill anyone either.  We didn't figure out who the real killer was though either.

I was Jim Beam, she was Mimi Martini.  We look like we could be Hollywood - maybe we should combine our names to Jimimi.

CeCe chose this time (at home with a babysitter) to crawl out of her crib.  I guess that means it's time for a bed.  Now it's just a matter of figuring out when a good time is.  There probably isn't, so we'll just have to bite the bullet on of these days.  Later.