Get Low and GO

We went to a Blue Grass festival at one of the wineries on the island on Sunday with some friends. The kids played with hula hoops and danced and generally had a blast enjoying the amazing weather and equally awesome music. Ben was not his usual chipper self. He was in a mood, a Mommy-only mood, and sat on my lap pretty much the entire time we were there. Now, I love to snuggle with my boy, but I really was hoping to kick up my feet and enjoy good music and adult conversation with our pals. I got a little of it here and there and certainly laughed a whole lot at the girls going wild, and at daddy who got sucked into the spin me around vortex by 5 girls age 3-7. Daddy woke up the next days with raging biceps and chest muscles, who knew airplane spinning little girls was such a good workout?

Cell pic:  How awesome is Emma?

Burn those calories, Daddy!

As the Mama of a pretty young thing, I often try to stress it's what is on the inside that counts. It is quite a challenge because strangers and friends are always saying, "Emma, you look so pretty today!" or "You are such a beautiful little girl." I try to counter all the outward beauty praise with phrases like, "Em, you have such a big heart!" or "You are such a good friend to ____" etc. Anything to take her mind off of the "beauty" aspect of life. I often feel I am winning the battle because she will regurgitate my phrases when talking to Ben or other friends, but yesterday she said to me, "Mommy, can I wear my fairy dress the next time I see Georgie so he will think I am pretty?" Argh. It was super sweet and innocent, but I am definitely not winning the battle.

Ben regurgitates things he hears often, too. Apparently he has been watching too much tv lately because this morning he heard an announcer say PBS kids and Ben immediately yelled, "Dot org!" If you watch any PBS kids, they always talk about going to the website to play games or view missed episodes... HA!

Then this afternoon as we were leaving BJs, it was a bit misty out and the parking lot was busy. Em was walking all willy nilly next to me and I said (for the millionth time), "Em, we are in a parking lot! What do you have to do?" I was hoping for the reply, "Hold hands." or "Be safe." NOPE. She happily shouted, "Stop! Drop! and Roll!"

Needless to say if there is ever a raging fire in the middle of a parking lot you won't have to worry about Emsadoodlydoo.