Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Conclusion of Harry Potter and the Frist Year Wich

I know you all left the last post DYING to know how "Harry Potter and the Frist Year Wich" concludes.  Well, you're in luck, as I have the author's freshly finished work right in front of me.

When we left off, Gabiey had just trond into Voldimort!  Yikes!  What fate awaits these Hogwarts students and teachers??  Read on in just a moment to see.  But FIRST, the lost pages of the book, which were found today and put in their proper place. 

Chapter 1, last two pages:
"Mabey she dosin't know how to do evrything Hermione.  She seams shiey,' Ron had the same look on his face.  They all thot the same thing.  'She dosin't know enieyone yet."

Chapter 2: intermediary scene between Profeser McGonigel talking to Gabiey and Hermione beating Gabiey to "RUMP BUMP" in Snape's class:
"In the holl they sow Malfooy saying something to Gabiey, her red hare blaseing like fier.  'Stop boleing Gabiey Dracoe,' sade Harry.  'You know your not supost to boliey frist years,' sade Ron."

PHEW.  Aren't you glad you didn't miss out on that content?  What an egregious oversight yesterday, failing to include those passages.

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for, the continuation and conclusion of Book 8:

Chapter 6, continued from where we last left off:
"I knuw not to trust Gabiey,' sade Severs Snape.  'I knuw she was Voldimort all along I was triying to tell Dumbeldor but Gabiey wod interrup't me,' sade Snape."

So, did Snape and Dumbeldor have this conversation in the afterlife, because from what I remember of book 7, both characters are dead.  Or were they somehow resurrected for this new book?  It would perhaps help if the author herself had read more than the first book and a fraction of the second before putting an addendum on the series.  For now, we'll just have to suspend our disbelief.


Chapter 7: "The One Who Gets Voldimort"
"Voldimort, we shall figt you.'  'I'm going to help Voldimort,' sade Dracoe.  No one elts help't Voldimort of corss.  'Wow,' sade Ron.  'All us agenst two.  I think will win,' sade Ron.  'Our not,' sade Voldimort.  Just then, Harry ponch't Voldimort in the face, then evryone elts did two evin Prfeeser McGanigel and Dumbeldor.  It was fun.  Malfooy was the only one who wosin't doing it.  'Start doing it Dracoe Malfooy,' sade Hermione.  Just then Harry did samething eksrdnary.  It made Voldimort get nok't over.  Everyone clapt and cherd."

THE END!

What an action-packed, triumphant ending!  I don't even know where to start; from Harry leading a face-punching walloping of Voldimort to Hermione bullying Dracoe Malfooy into participating, to the mysterious but EKSRDNARY thing that Harry did to fulfill Voldimort's ultimate demise.  Wow.  Just...WOW.  If that wasn't the most satisfying conclusion to the 8-book Harry Potter series, than I don't know what is.

(I kinda have a feeling there will be a book 9 sometime in the near future, though...we'll have to wait and see...)

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Harry Potter Continues!

Attention, Harry Potter fans!  The brand new EIGHTH book of the series is being written as we speak.  Ghost-written by none other than the great Julia Rowe!  While the book is not yet complete, I am fortunately able to provide you with an extended sneak peek of:


Harry Potter and the Frist Year Wich

Take a look onto pg. 1:


Chapter 1: "The Egith Year"
"Harry was siting at the Gryffindor tabel.  Thar was a frist year wich.  Her name was Gabiey Cores.  Harry sade to Hermione, 'Don't you think the frist year gril named Gabiey Cores nos how to do evrything?' 'I don't know."


Desperate for more??  Okay, okay, I'll provide the text to the rest of the chapter:

"Gabiey had red hare and dork brown eyes.  'Oa, hi,' sade Harry.  'This is Hermione this is Ron and I'm Harry.  Harry Potter.'  Gabiey was dilidid.  'Iv olways wontid to meat you Harry,' Gabiey sade in a wihsber.  'Nice to meat you three,' sade Gabiey."

Okay.  Well, we know Harry kind of has a thing for red-heads.  And given Harry's amazing legacy after defeating Voldemort for good at the end of book seven, I'm not surprised that Gabiey is so dilided to meat Harry.

I suppose I can't leave you all dangling there.  Here's more:

Chapter 2: "The Game of Qwidich"
"Harry had just figuerd out that Gabiey got to play Quwidich, plus she got a broomstik.  'But igliest she isin't a secer,' sade Harry to Ron and Hermione.  'Hello you thee,' it was Gabiey.  'Quwidich is fun,' sade Gabiey drimily."

I find it really insightful that Julia's spelling of "at least" is "igliest."  Based on the way she pronounces it, I would have gone for "ack least."  Does that mean that "Acklanta" should really be spelled "Iglanta?"  And what about "ackmired?"  Should it be "igmired?"  Now I'm ALL thrown off.

Okay.  Continuing on with Chapter Two:

"Gabiey Cores,' sade Profeser McGonigel.  'Please just when your fliying just don't put to much presher on yourself.'  'Ohka,' sade Gabiey.  She was vary pleasd with herself.  It was wieyred.  'Hermione,' sade Snape.  'What dose rump and evry flaevrod beans make?'  'Rump bump,' Hermione sade quicle so Gabiey wodind say it.  Ron and Harry including Neavel smield at Hermione."

That's RIGHT.  Go, Hermione!  Don't let that frist year wich beat you to the answer.  Maintain your dominant status as smartest student at Hogwart's.  RUMP BUMP, BABY!


Chapter 3:  "The Spell"
"Gabiey sade a spell to get her food.  It whent like this: 'Food food.  I whant food.  Giv me cholit frogs one and all,' she sade.  Hermione wrokt with Gabiey and Profeer Flitwick to make thinggs go up.  She didin't say 'Limgrodieo levioso' she sade 'Go up' in a lowd voise.  Harry and Ron who were working together biehinde them stopt working for a minot and then whent back to working agen.  The Halloween sesans wore starting.  Gabiey sade to Harry 'I know how to onlok doors.  Onlok!' sade Gabiey and the door was onlok't.  'Wow,' sade Harry.  Gabiey told Ron how to foll in love.  'Foll in love' sade Gabiey.  'Wow' sad Ron.  'Amasing.  That's so good' sade Ron."

So.  If making things happen is as easy as just saying the words, why do all these wizards and witches need to go to school?  Can't they just be like, "Fly!" or "Defeat Voldemort!" or "Turn invisible!" and make it happen??  Good thing they have Gabiey around to show them how it's done.


Chapter 4: "Christmas"
"Wake up Harry,' sade Ron.  'Happy Christmas Ron.'  'Happy Christmas Harry.'  Standing by Ron was Neavel.  'Gabiey's haveing breakfist,' sade Neavel.  'What's that your wareing?' askt Harry.  'Oh, my mom made it,' sade Ron, 'and it looks like youv got one but they say our full names so I dono what they are they just uojoly say R and H."

(Author's note: "Mama?  So, I realized that it's supposed to be their EIGHTH year, and, like I was making it too much like the first book, so I decided to CHANGE it and have their sweaters say their WHOLE names this time, because in the FIRST BOOK, they only say "R" and "H.")

"Neavel and Hermione have one to anyone my mom can think of,' sade Ron.  'Well she cood think of Dracoe but she didin't make one for him."

Yeah.  No love for Draco, even after he and Harry decided to put aside their differences after the Voldemort defeat and all.

Chapter 5: "Gabiey the Wonderro"
"I wandor how meney choclet frogs thar are,' Gabiey sade to Hermione.  'They giv you 5 6 our 7.'  'Oh,' sade Gabiey.  'I wonder how meny evry flaverd beans thar are,' sade Gabiey to Ron.  'P' he said." (Blogger's note: It may be a backwards 9 instead of a "P," or it could potentially be a lop-sided infinity sign.  I can't quite tell what Julia tried to write there.)  'I wonder how much wonds we get,' Gabiey sade to Harry.  'One,' sade Harry.  'Oh' sade Gabiey.  'Of cross,' she sade."

I don't know about you, but I think this book is just starting to get REALLY RIVETING!


Chapter 6: "The 2 Game of Qwidich"
"Harry codint ever guse why Gabiey was so good.  Hermione was woreing that Gabiey was better then her but Hermione was better.  It was time for the 2 game of Quwidich.  'Ow,' sade Gabiey.  'My arm is hart,' sade Gabiey. When no one was looking Gabiey trond into Voldimort.  'Now Iv trick't you all Hogwots.  Evan Dumbeldor and Prfeser McGonigel."

GASP!  That sneaky Gabiey!  That sneaky JULIA ROWE, writing such a wild twist into her story!  And wait - Dumbledore is alive again??

Alas, that's the cliffhanger we readers are left on, as Julia had to go to bed before completing this masterpiece.  More to come tomorrow, I'm sure!

On a final, unrelated note, Madeleine was desperately waiting for Ethan to get home from work tonight, since she had been missing him all day.  She took a peek out the front window to see if she could catch a glimpse of him walking home from the train.

Running to me in delight, she exclaimed: "Mama!  I saw something DRAG ALONG, and I thought it was Daddy, but...it WAS!  Because I saw a DADDY DRAG!"


Daddy Drag.  Interpret as you like.

Monday, July 29, 2013

And More Harry Potter

The Harry Potter obsession continues.

It's not driving any of us crazy that Julia sits around cooing, "Hermione.  Hermione GRANGER..." all day long.

This morning, Julia decided to don last Halloween's witch costume and adopt a faux British accent in order to pretend she was Hermione at Hogwart's.  Most of her game was spent in her dormitory, which allowed her to be Hermione while also laying on the couch watching morning tv:


What could add more to her British impersonation than an American flag in the hand??

Julia's version of Hermione is, I must say, a bit risqué compared to the Hermione of "The Sorceror's Stone."  For one, Hermione is apparently bedding two boys at one time.

JULIA: (in a British accent, to Madeleine) Quiet!  I'm sleeping!  You should go to sleep too.  You're in Gryffindor, you know.
MADELEINE: (obliviously carrying on with her own game)
JULIA: Shhhh!  I'm Hermione, and I'm in my own bed.  Harry and Ron are in here with me, too.

I guess there's no separate girls dorm and boys dorm in Julia's game.  Harry and Ron seem perfectly content to pig-pile into Hermione's bed with her.

JULIA: Mama?  Harry and Ron didn't want to sleep on the FLOOR, so they're BOTH sleeping in my bed with me!

And then, as if the bed-sharing wasn't enough, Julia and I had the following conversation:

JULIA: Mama, I'm so glad I know how to speak with an English accent.
ME: Yeah, you do a pretty good job of it.
JULIA: Why?  Do some people NOT know how to do it?
ME: Yeah, it's hard for some people.
JULIA: (confidently) But WHY?  It's so EASY.
ME: Well, it's not always easy for everyone.
JULIA: (thoughtful) Mom.  The next time we play DOCKING DICKS, like, Jovina and I, I'm gonna be Hermione.

I wonder if Ron and Harry will be there with their own docking dicks sharing Hermione's bed once again.

When Hermione woke up from her slumber, she, Harry and Ron enjoyed a feast of pizza and fruits.  I at first thought the pizza slices were supposed to represent Harry and Ron, but, silly me, I was informed that Harry and Ron were INVISIBLE, and that the pizza slices were there for them to EAT.


Harry and Harry's pizza slice.


Ron and Ron's pizza slice.

Madeleine hasn't quite jumped on the Harry-Potter band wagon, although she does seem to perfectly enjoy watching the first movie with Julia.  However, she can't quite keep these characters straight from those of Julia's previous fantasy obsession, "The Chronicles of Prydain."

MADELEINE: (while watching "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone") Look!  There's Hermione!  But...where's EILONWY?

Julia made sure to let Madeleine know the depth of her ignorance.

JULIA: (exasperated) Maaaaaadeleine.  There IS no Eilonwy.  This is HARRY POTTER, Madeleine.  Eilonwy is from a DIFFERENT BOOK.
MADELEINE: But where IS Elionwy?
JULIA: Maaaaadeleine.  There is NO EILONWY in this.

YEAH, Madeleine.  Get your sh*t together.

Madeleine may not be as focused on the details of the movie as Julia is, though the one thing that Madeleine definitely wants in on is the Harry Potter stick puppet play.  Yesterday, Julia made stick puppets of the three main characters, and, of course, she resolutely refuses to share them with Madeleine, which led to Madeleine making her own puppets today.  Behold, Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger, ready to be cut out and glued to popsicle sticks:


Personally, I think they look more like the Three Wise Men than the Harry Potter characters, but as long as they will satisfy Madeleine's desire to be part of the Harry Potter Puppet Show business, all is good.



Sunday, July 28, 2013

Julia's NEW New Obsession

Can anyone guess what Julia's latest obsession is?  Here are a few of her recent drawings and art projects, to give you a hint:





Now, can you jump out on a limb and risk a guess as to who she wants to be for Halloween?  All I can say is, I'm glad I didn't cave and buy her an Emily Binx night-gown costume when she was in the midst of her "Hocus Pocus" obsession.

Gone are the days of shrines to Emily Binx and endless "Hocus Pocus" pictures.  Now it's all "Harry Potter" and, more specifically, Hermione Granger.  Julia goes around all day mooning over Hermione like a love-sick teenager.

Sometimes she just sits around repeatedly sighing, "Ahhhh, Hermione.  Hermione Granger."

Other times, she tells the world's least obvious and most hilarious knock-knock joke:

JULIA: Knock-knock!
US:  Who's there?
JULIA: Hermione!
US: Hermione who?
JULIA: Hermione Granger.  Who ELSE would it be??

And throughout the day, she reminds me - JUST IN CASE I forget - that she wants to be Hermione for Halloween.  She also makes sure to tell EVERYONE we see, from her swim teachers to her camp counsellors to her school friends and to everyone in between.  "I already know what I'm going to be for Halloween!  HERMIONE GRANGER!"

Seeing as she ALREADY already knew what she was going to be for Halloween back in the Emily Binx days, she hasn't entirely convinced me to buy her a Hermione costume any time soon.  We'll see if she is still Hermione-obsessed in a few months.

Madeleine thinks she wants to be Simba for Halloween, so I guess she's serious about wanting to turn into a boy some day.  However, Madeleine is less Halloween obsessed at the moment, and more just plain creep-factor obsessed.  She was afraid to go up to her room and get her outfit this morning, because she's scared of the darkness when her light is off.

ETHAN: Yeah, but Madeleine, let's think about this.  The light is off, but you know what's in your room.  So what's in there?  Your dresser.  Your bed.  Your books.  What else is in there?
MADELEINE: Uh...uh...
ETHAN: Is there anything scary in there?  Your toys are in there.  Your air conditioner is in there.  Cowie is in there.
MADELEINE: And...and then some creepy, bumpy EYES!

Ah, yes.  Those too.  No big deal, there's just some creepy, bumpy eyes in her room along with her toys and books.

Speaking of creepy, I was cleaning the downstairs rooms today and as I waded through papers on the art table, I found this Madeleine drawing:


A bunch of floating ghoul heads coming out of an orange rectangle.  With some cryptic symbolic writing up top.

I feel scared.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Camp Sing-Along

So, it turns out that even though Madeleine has no stage fright in terms of standing up in front of my piano recital clients and students and performing an impromptu made-up song and dance, she is actually pretty shy about performing with a group. 

Here are the videos from her camp Sing-Along yesterday afternoon:

Song #1: "Swimming"






Song #2: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"




(At least she isn't too shy to scream at the top of her lungs.)



Song #3: "Mr. Golden Sun"




To her credit, at least she sang! (Or, from the looks of it, mouthed the words with the bare minimum amount of energy required to make her lips move.)  But two thumbs up for group participation!

Of course, Madeleine loudly and joyfully sang "Swimming" over and over again during our walk home from camp, but we already touched on her lack of self-confidence as a solo performer!

Friday, July 26, 2013

Songs and Sayings

In the continuing story of Julia: the Composer, we have yet another original song by our young tune-smith, one that is currently getting stuck in the heads of the rest of us Rowe household members.  The inspiration for this song, according to the composer, was simple: it just came into her head one day when she was taking a shower, and from that point on, it became her go-to singing-in-the-shower song.  Now Julia has expanded this song to regular old around-the-house singing as well, to the point that even Madeleine can sing it.

I had thought the opening words of the song are "I say good-bye Mama, I say good-by Dada," but Julia corrected me.  It's actually "A sick-a-bye Mama, a sick-a-bye Dada" (I'm not sure how the composer would spell this, but I'm giving a phonetic transcription of how she pronounced it to me.)  You may be wondering what those lyrics even mean.  In Julia's own words: "Mama?  I don't even KNOW what a sick-a-bye IS.  It just sounded like what the words should BE."

It's as if a poetic muse took possession of her body while in the shower, driving these mellifluous nonsense words out of her mouth.

Here is Julia performing her song, somewhat reluctantly, because she felt camera-shy:




Before I knew it, Madeleine was singing it, and decided to come up with her own additional lyrics as I attempted to video her:




Julia really enjoyed Madeleine's lyrics change.


And in other ongoing blog themes, let's turn to the topic of "Madeleine Says Random Things."

Scenario #1: Madeleine on the potty while I try to ask her what she wants for snack once she's off the potty.

ME: Madeleine, do you want some snack?
MADELEINE: (bouncing on the potty with excitement) Yes!  Yessy-yes!  Yes!
ME: Okay.  What do you want?
MADELEINE: (putting her hands together as if in prayer)
ME: What do you want for snack, honey?
MADELEINE: (dissatisfied with my failure to understand her sign language) Mama.  It's hard to tell you by just putting my two hands together to look like a GRANOLA BAR.


Scenario #2: Madeleine eating breakfast with Auntie Shannon, who is here for a brief visit.

MADELEINE: My bagel is giving me EAR FREEZE!

I wonder if her bagel would be classified as "delicia-rotten" the way ice cream is when it gives her brain freeze.


Scenario #3: Madeleine wanting Auntie Shannon to turn herself into a play structure.

MADELEINE: Auntie Shannon?  Can you make your little...uh, your WHOLE BIG BODY into a little HOLE so I can crawl in it?

And that's how this picture came to be:


Wednesday, July 24, 2013

PB and Pool Play

Last night, when Ethan arrived home from work, Julia got into goofy-excited mode and decided to act completely spastic and nutty greeting her father.  Then, as Ethan sat down at the dinner table, Julia got the dim-witted idea to hide a jar of peanut butter (which, incidentally, was disgustingly sticky with the remnants of peanut butter that had dripped down its sides) behind her back and present it to her dad as a gift.

JULIA: (trotting up to Ethan as he began to eat his dinner) Daaaaddyyyy!  I have a PRESENT for yooooooou!
ME: (spying the peanut butter jar) Julia.  No.  No, no, no.  Just...WHY?  Go.  Put it away and go wash your hands.  It's all sticky.  Why would you ever think that was a good idea??
JULIA: (slinking away to wash her hands with a look of chagrin on her face) Soooorry.


There was a moment of silence around the dinner table before Ethan remarked, completely dead-pan, "Wow, Julia, I guess your gift was a real bust."

Julia didn't think it was funny.

This morning, it was Julia, rather than Madeleine, who was my bright and early bedtime companion, although she at least flipped through photo albums in my bed and let me lay beside her for 20 minutes or so before dragging myself out of bed.

After we had eaten breakfast, Julia came over to me with a troubled expression on her face.

JULIA: Mommy?  Is it almost the end of summer?
ME: No, we still have plenty of summer left.  Why?
JULIA: Well, because it's already the end of July.
ME: Yeah, but we still have all of August before school starts again.  Why are you asking?  Do you want it to be the end of summer because you're excited to back to school?
JULIA: No, I really DON'T want summer to end!
ME: Me neither.  I love summer.  What do YOU love so much about summer?
JULIA: Well, like, going to the pool, and...jumping off the diving board, and...doing swim lessons, and...diving for rings...

So, in a nutshell, we can sum up her various responses and confidently say that what Julia loves about summer is Rosemary Pool.

Given the above, it is no surprise that her latest book has to do with swimming:


"I Can't Stand Here But I Can Stand Thar"
by Julia Rowe

You can tell this is gonna be a good one just from the title.


Pg. 1:

"Thar ones livd a gril named Addy."

Wow.  Addy is one flexible gril, all right.


Pg. 2:

"Addy sade to her swim techre Vilot I can't stand here but I can stand here."

Vilot looks awfully dumb-founded to see where Addy can stand.


Pg. 3:

"When Addy got home she told her sister Abby were she cood stand."

In my opinion, Addy's parents were just asking for trouble in deciding to name their daughters Abby and Addy.  Also, I wonder why Abby is wearing a hoodie and tights when it's clearly warm enough for her sister to be standing around in a bikini.


Pg. 4:

"Then she nodist Abbys friend Rachle was ther."

I nodist that Rachle is taller than the door.  Is she a giant?


Pg. 5:

"Rachle whent out the door."

Did she have to hunch down to get out of there?



Pg. 6:

"Addy stayd in the deap end the holl time."

Do you think Addy swam around at all, or do you think she just stood there the holl time with everything submerged but her eyes and her forehead?


Pg. 7:

"Addy poot on her clods she felt very frod of herself."

Well, of COURSE she did.  I would feel frod of MYSELF if I managed to stand with my mouth and nose underwater the holl time and not run out of air.  Great job, Addy!  I'm so glad you can't stand here but you can stand thar!


And, as I have mentioned before, because going to the pool twice a day isn't nearly enough, Julia and Madeleine continue their home swim lesson adventures.  The latest addition to the game is this kickboard that Julia made for Madeleine to use as she lays down on her belly on the rug:


Madeleine sure loves using this kickbard for swiming around the living and dining rooms.  And it's a good thing that Julia made sure to write "America" on it, too.  I guess that means that during swim lessons, Madeleine can only talk REGULAR, and can't speak in LANGUAGE.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Terrible Threes

Madeleine is going through a bit of a stubborn phase.  (Or, depending on how you look at it, an entire stubborn childhood, thus far.)  I remember some terrible battles of the wills with Julia at age 3, so I'm not really surprised that I am suddenly dealing with contrary behavior and refusal to cooperate over the same issues Julia had fought me on (namely, clothes, food, and hairstyles.)

Madeleine climbed into bed with me early this morning, and immediately started asking for things.

MADELEINE: Mama?  Can you get me some BREAKFAST?  I want some pancakes!
ME: We don't have any pancakes right now, honey.

(I know; who ever just HAS pancakes?  You have to actually make them, which I am perfectly capable of doing, and quite enjoy doing, but not while I'm lying in bed at 6:45 am.)

MADELEINE: But Mama.  We could MAKE some!  We have some chocolate chips!
ME: I know we do.  But I don't think we're going to make pancakes this morning.  I can give you a bowl of Trix if you want.
MADELEINE: Mama.  I prefer Life.
ME: Well, we ate all the Life.  But you can have Trix.
MADELEINE: But Mamaaaa!  I don't LIKE Trix!

Madeleine had, in fact, INSISTED that I buy a box of Trix when we were last at the grocery store.  We hadn't even opened the box yet, as we were finishing the box of Life first before opening a new cereal box.  Yet given the choices of a) cooperating with me, or b) recanting her professed desire for Trix in order to be UNCOOPERATIVE with me, of course Madeleine goes with b.

Madeleine then asked if she could go get her outfit from her bedroom.  And this brings us to cooperation issue #2.

MADELEINE: Mama?  Can I go get my outfit from my room?
ME: Sure.  The outfit we picked out is on your floor in your bedroom.  Remember?  The white shirt with pink shorts?
MADELEINE: (bursting into tears) But MAMAAAAA!  You're RUINING my CAMP!

Yesterday was the first day of an afternoon camp program I signed the girls up for.  Madeleine decided to forgo the outfit we had chosen in lieu of her yellow Georgia Aquarium dress with pink dolphins.  Because: "The camp counsellors will think this is the PERFECT dress for camp!  And...when they get to be three like ME, then THEY can wear this dress!"

So, basically, I was ruining her camp because the only way to truly have the perfect camp experience is by wearing a yellow dress with pink dolphins every day.

Many of you blog-readers probably remember the days of Julia picking out a week's worth of outfits to lay across her dresser so that I couldn't possibly exert any control over what she was going to wear.  Madeleine seems to be in a similar phase right now.  Basically, what she wants to wear is anything OTHER than what we had previously agreed upon the night before.  And very often, what she wants to wear is the exact same outfit she wore the day before, that is now dirty and in her laundry basket.

We started a cooperation chart a month ago as a positive reinforcement aid.  For every day that Madeleine puts on her outfit without fuss, she gets a sticker.  When she reaches 25 stickers, we'll go to the toy store and pick out a treat. So far she has:


6 stickers.  6 days out of 30 of agreeably putting on her outfit.  Go Madeleine!  At this rate, it will be roughly another 3 months before she gets her toy.

Battling for control with a 3-year-old.  Fun times.  Been there once, so I know I will survive it, but I can't say I'll miss this stubborn phase when it passes.

Here is the outfit Madeleine wore today.  It's certainly egregious enough to warrant her tears about having to wear it, right?:


WHAT an embarrassing mother I am, making my child dress like that, instead of letting her wear a dirty dress (that she was sitting down in when she accidentally pooped a little in her underwear last night) to camp.

On an entirely unrelated note, thanks to a bunch of questions from Julia on our walk home from camp, I am currently, with great dignity, googling "Do dolphins have vaginas?"

The answer is undoubtedly yes, but Julia was unhappy with my inability to specify for her where, exactly, on the female dolphin's body the vagina lies.  Furthermore, she was skeptical of the whole dolphin vagina idea because:

JULIA: Well, you can't SEE a vagina anywhere when you look at a dolphin!
ME: Well, if you look at a person, you can't immediately see her vagina either, especially if you don't know where on her body to look for it.  It's the same with dolphins.

A few moments later...

MADELEINE: But Mama.  You mean HIS body.  You mean you can't see HIS vagina on HIS body.

Apparently, Madeleine STILL doesn't know the difference between boys and girls.


Monday, July 22, 2013

Parties Parties

It was a weekend full of parties for the Rowe family!  First up was a family baby shower on Saturday, thrown in honor of Ethan's second cousin.  While the girls and Ethan enjoyed singing along to Beatles songs on our drive to the shower, I unfortunately suffered from acute car sickness, making it hard for me to focus on much besides trying not to puke in the car.

(JULIA: Mama!  Mama!  So, if you think you need to puke, just do it out the WINDOW, okay Mama?  Mama, just PLEASE don't throw up IN the car!)

Says the kid who puked on my face last time she had the stomach bug.

At any rate, when we got out of the car to walk towards the house at which the shower was taking place, I was still in recovery mode, walking slowly and still feeling very dizzy and nauseous.  Julia, who was walking further ahead with Ethan, continuously checked back on me to cheerlead me on.

JULIA: Mama, I'm so sorry you're feeling CAUTIOUS!  Mama, if you're feeling really CAUTIOUS, you can just hold my hand!  Mama, I can help you if you're feeling CAUTIOUS!

Apparently, Julia had mind-melded the words "carsick" and "nauseous" to pronounce me "cautious."

Luckily, the sickness abated by the time we arrived at the baby shower, and I was able to act like a normal human being after being out of the car and getting some fresh air.  The girls wound up having a blast at the gathering, playing with various toys in the play basement, eating all sorts of goodies, and hanging out with Nana and Gramps.  It does seem, however, that both girls had completely different expectations of a baby shower.

JULIA: Mama?  I never thought a baby shower would be at someone's HOUSE.  I would expect a baby shower to be in a church, and, like, the baby would BE there.

Apparently Julia was expecting us to attend a baptism.

Madeleine, as well, seemed to have no idea what sort of occasion we were celebrating.  Mid gift-opening, Madeleine turned to me and asked, "Mama?  Whose BIRTHDAY is it??"

No matter, however, as Julia announced dreamily, upon leaving the party, "That was a REALLY FUN baby shower."  (Even though it wasn't in a church and the baby wasn't there.)

On Sunday, we all got to attend a birthday party for our family friend Wyatt.  Julia and Madeleine had a ball playing in a REAL LIVE fire truck:


Sliding down the Slip 'n Slide:



And getting their faces painted:


Madeleine, of course, requested a dalmatian face so that she could look exactly like Julia.  However, Madeleine became distressed by the fact that in the mirror, her tongue and spots looked to be on the opposite side of her face as were Julia's.  No amount of explanation could convince her that her tongue and stripes were, in fact, exactly the same as her sister's.  I even attempted to take pictures of her face, as well as pictures of the two dalmatians together, to show her how alike they were.

Madeleine was too sad to take any consolation in my picture-evidence, unfortunately:


Thankfully, I was able to distract Madeleine from her broken heart by bringing the kids over to the jungle gym to climb and hang, and so was finally able to get *one* picture of happy dalmatians:


Moments later, Julia was hanging upside down like this:


and then fell off onto her head, so before I knew it, one child had finally stopped sobbing and the other child had just begun.  A little ice on the head and some snuggles pulled Julia back to cheerfulness, but my clothes were definitely the casualty of some smeared-with-tears face paint after consoling two crying kids.

This morning, as Julia engages in Gallop Time, Madeleine is happily playing wither her (now deflated) helium balloon from Wyatt's party.  Asked why she loves her balloon so much, Madeleine responded, "Because!  It's so ROUND!"

Seeing as she was reduced to tears over her perception of an imperfect dalmatian face, Madeleine's sheer acceptance and joy over a round (deflated) balloon is a refreshing change!

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Movie Break, Play Time, and Family Fun

Yesterday afternoon, the girls settled in to watch a multi-episode block of "Strawberry Shortcake" that I had rented from On Demand.  This particular "Strawberry Shortcake" mini-marathon was especially exciting, in that the episodes are from what I believe is the 2nd of 3 incarnations of the television show.  The "Strawberry Shortcake" tv show of yore, from my childhood days, in which The Peculiar Purple Pie-Man of Porcupine Peak is Strawberry's nemesis, is long defunct, and the current "Strawberry Shortcake" series, which my girls watch regularly, bears virtually no resemblance to the older show.  What I hadn't realized was that in between then and now, there was another, short-lived cartoon version of the show, whose episodes have been compiled into hour-long "movies" On Demand.

So basically, Strawberry Shortcake has evolved several times:

1970s Strawberry Shortcake


2003 Strawberry Shortcake (the one whose episodes we rented yesterday)


Current Strawberry Shortcake (the version with which my kids are familiar)

At any rate, Julia has decided she actually prefers the 2003 version of the Strawberry Shortcake show and character, because, believe it or not, the current Strawberry is just a little too much of a goody-two-shoes for her.

JULIA: Mama?  You know why I think I like this OLD "Strawberry Shortcake" a little better?  Because, like, the NEW "Strawberry Shortcake" is just SO sweet, and she always does EVERYTHING right, and she always has to GIGGLE about everything.

I can't say I disagree.  The current Strawberry Shortcake is way too saccharine for my taste.  Pun intended.

At least in the 2003 version of the show, there are some not-so-sweet characters who learn their lessons about how to behave in kindness. Take Lime Light, for instance, who, until Strawberry shows her the way, is basically a spoiled brat. Even Madeleine was able to pick up on Lime Light's diva-esque behavior.

MADELEINE: Mama?  Lime Light thinks that EVERYTHING is about HER, but it's NOT.  Everything is about GOD, but she thinks everything is about HER.

Yeah.  That's right, Madeleine.  Way to get at the moral heart of the story.


ANYWAY, once the movie was over, I expected the girls to start begging me, prematurely, to head over to Family Fun Night at Rosemary Pool, but surprisingly, they both launched happily into pretend play games that kept them occupied much longer than one would expect based on the premise of the games.

Julia's game was "Ice Cream Stand," in which she was hard at work selling ice cream to (mostly imaginary) customers.  Occasionally Madeleine or I would order ice cream, when Julia would shout out in hopeful optimism, "Is there anybody ELSE who would like some ice cream right now??"

The basic premise of Ice Cream Stand is that the stand is run entirely by college students, or, as Julia calls them, "collagers."  Here is her description of the game:

"Each collager does something for, like, each SEASON, and, like, run the Ice Cream Shop.  So they sign up for any season they want, and I signed up for summer, so every day I do SUMMER ones.  And then the rest of the collagers do them in the different seasons.  It's ONLY collagers, because, like, HIGH SCHOOLERS raised money for collage, so collagers need to raise money for, like, if they're going to GRAD SCHOOL, or, like, if they need to buy a house or something."


Julia selling ice cream to Daddy, in today's resumption of the Ice Cream Stand.


Julia also informed me that because the staff is all collagers, they try really hard to talk really politely to their customers.  Julia then occasionally checked in with me to see if I was overhearing how politely the college students were speaking. 

The basic conversations went something like this:

JULIA (as collager): Here you go, here's your ice cream miss.  Would you like anything else with this?
JULIA (as customer): No, thank you.
JULIA: (as collager): Well, thank you SO much for visiting our ice cream stand.
JULIA: (as customer): You're welcome.  Thank you so much for your ice cream stand.  We just LOVE coming here in the summer.  It's just SUCH a special treat for my daughter.

If only Julia could remember these sorts of manners when she's talking to the REAL people in our household.

While Julia was busy selling ice cream, Madeleine began a game of "Don't Let the Ball Touch the Ground" in the dining room, tossing around her yellow soft foam ball (pictured below):


Despite not having a ball-playing partner, Madeleine decided to play with an unnamed, invisible friend after Julia turned her down.  I was in the bathroom at the time, standing at the mirror using the tweezers on my eyebrows, and heard Madeleine visit the Ice Cream Stand.

MADELEINE: Julia!  Wanna play "Don't Let the Ball Touch the Ground" with me?
JULIA: Uh, no, I can't.  I'm busy working at the Ice Cream Stand, because I have to run it in the summer.
MADELEINE: Oh.  Hey Julia!  We're BOTH busy!  (running to the bathroom) Mama!  So.  Me and Julia are both BUSY!  So, we're ALL BUSY!
ME: Great!

Madeleine then returned to the dining room to talk to her invisible friend.

MADELEINE: Hey, where did you go?
MADELEINE: I had to go into the bathroom to tell my mom something.
MADELEINE: Okay, wanna play?!
MADELEINE: Yeah!  Come ON!

So, happily, the girls were able to entertain themselves for most of the afternoon, and were really excited once the time rolled around for Family Fun Night.   And what a blast they had at the pool.  Two hours of swimming, with a break to have pizza for dinner, sitting on our towels, getting ice cream from the (real) ice cream stand for dessert, and the chance to play games like diving for rings absolutely made their night.

As Julia put it, afterwards, "That Family Fun Night was SO MUCH FUN!"

It certainly was.  I mean, it *may* not be as fun as playing "Don't Let the Ball Touch the Ground" with an invisible friend, but I'd say the girls were both pretty fulfilled with their evening pool experience.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Summary of My Day, Thus Far

Here's a general synopsis of our day so far:

Everybody got up early.  Some of us were cranky-pants because we really should have slept longer.

Madeleine went pee on the potty as soon as she was up, and I helped wipe her, although she deemed my efforts insufficient.

MADELEINE: No!  Mama!  You need to wipe the BACK too!
ME: Oh.  Okay, if you want me to I will.
MADELEINE: (whining) Mamaaaa!  It's against the LAW to NOT wipe the back too. 

The girls then had Life cereal and watched Sesame Street on the couch together.  Julia decided she wanted more Life and poured her own bowl.  Madeleine decided she wanted more Life and let me know by walking into the dining room, wherein I was attempting to relax and drink my coffee, and putting her empty bowl over her head.  Except that the bowl wasn't totally empty, because it had all sorts of little cereal shreds in it, which consequently showered all over the dining room floor.

MADELEINE: (cheerfully) Uh, Mamaaa!  You better vacuum the dining room floor, because there's Liiiiiiife all over it!

I decided to NOT vacuum the floor right then, because let's face it: why bother vacuuming at 7am?  The floor is going to be covered in all sorts of crumbs, sand, and what not by evening anyway.  Let's save ourself the extra vacuuming efforts if we can help it.

I told Madeleine to bring her bowl into the kitchen and I would refill it with more Life.  She decided to walk to me while balancing the bowl on the top of her head, which meant she had to take one snail's paced tentative-step after another, pausing to catch the bowl every time it fell off her head.  Or pausing to not catch it, as it clattered to the ground.  FINALLY, the world's slowest kitchen-crossing came to an end and I was able to refill Madeleine's hat.  I mean bowl.

Julia got tired of watching tv and decided to color, so she drew me this picture of a squirrel:


I have no idea why she felt like drawing a squirrel, but I'm very touched that she decided to draw it for ME.  I accidentally left it on the couch and she reprimanded me about it later in the morning, saying accusingly, "Mom!  Uh, did you FORGET about this SQUIRREL picture?  You left it on the COUCH."

It is now sitting right beside my computer.

After finishing her breakfast, Julia suddenly, urgently needed to poop.  She loudly sang songs while playing with My Little Ponies on the potty.  No sooner had she finished up in the bathroom than Madeleine announced, "Mama!  I knew I needed to POOP because my toots sounded like THIS: (making farting sounds.)"

Once the bathroom was free, we all got ready to go to the Y so I could do a treadmill run and the girls could play in the child care room.  After we got home from the Y, I got the girls some snack and hopped into the shower.  While I was in the shower, the girls got into a hysterical screaming fight over the name of the Beatles song "Bungalow Bill."  Julia couldn't handle the fact that Madeleine was insisting that the song is called "Bungarow Bill."  Or, as Julia put it to me, this is why she started shrieking at Madeleine: "Because Mom.  I didn't like it that she kept saying 'Well Julia, it IS!' when I told her it's not BUNGAROW BILL."

We then headed off to swim lessons at Rosemary Pool.  Madeleine didn't want to get out of the pool when her lesson was done and told me she wanted to stay in and swim.

ME: Madeleine, your lesson is all over.  You need to get out now.  That's the rule.
MADELEINE: Mama!  Just let me be what I want to DO!

She then sat next to me sobbing for the next ten minutes while Julia's lesson finished up.  She recovered and was back in cheerful spirits just in time for me to accidentally bonk her head on the ceiling of the car as I got her into her car seat.  She then sobbed the whole way home.

I fed the kids lunch once we were home, which seemed to soothe their crabby moods.  Madeleine guzzled down a juice box like a seriously thirsty girl.

MADELEINE: (brightly) Mama!  I certainly love, love, LOVE juice boxes!

Madeleine then inquired who bought the black fork, even though nobody was actually using the black fork for lunch.  And by "black fork," she means one of the leftover plastic forks I had bought for our backyard party last month.

ME: I bought it.
MADELEINE: Mama, am I really SMART?
ME: Uh, yes, I think you definitely are.
MADELEINE:  So Mama.  Does MOMMY buy forks?!?  Nooooo!  Does DADDY buy forks??  YES!  So Mama.  I think you told me the WRONG THING and I think DADDY bought the black fork.

Hmm.  I'm not sure why Madeleine thinks buying forks is not among my capabilities.  I guess I don't come across as a fork-purchasing kind of person to her.  I have definitely bought a fork or two in my day, but apparently Madeleine thinks I'm lying to her.

Madeleine then resumed her lunch eating for all of ten seconds before announcing:

MADELEINE: Mama?  I think I need to go...(smiling at me)
ME: Go what?
MADELEINE: (walking towards the bathroom) Go to the bathroom.
ME: Okay.  Go ahead.
MADELEINE: But I think I need to...
ME: What?  Poop?
MADELEINE: (in delighted surprise) Yes!!  Mama, how did you KNOW I was needing to POOP?

While Madeleine pooped, Julia began Gallop Time, only to stop after a few laps and announce, "Mom?  I think I might need to POOP."

What is with the girls and their coordinated poop schedules?  And what's with the pooping twice apiece today, before it's even afternoon??

Let's hope that's it for the day, because with only one bathroom and two girls that feel the need to have marathon pooping sessions as they play with toys while on the potty, an unnecessarily long block of time has kept the bathroom out of my own use so far today.

Now we are settling down to watch a movie in our air conditioned living room while we get some rest before the big Rosemary Pool Family Fun Night this evening.  Let's hope it's a poop-free event, filled with certainly love, love, LOVING juice boxes, potentially with black forks that we can toss after eating our dinners, and absolute ZERO fighting over "Bungarow Bill" or any other subject!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Swimming Success!

So, yesterday's huge excitement was the fact that Julia passed the Deep Water Test at Rosemary Pool!  She was extremely hesitant to take the test, and in fact, I had not even planned to urge her to take it this summer, as she has seemed completely content just swimming in the shallow and practice lanes.  However, one of the lifeguards, who also happens to baby-sit for us, came in the pool to swim with Julia and Madeleine when she was off-shift during Free Swim yesterday, and it was this lifeguard who prodded Julia to try the test.

Julia initially freaked out, adamantly insisting that she didn't want to take the test because she's not ready.  The test consists of four elements: jumping off the dock into deep water, treading water for 30 seconds, back floating for 30 seconds, and performing the front crawl down one 50 yard lap lane.  Julia can, in fact, tread water for a full minute, and her back float is solid, but she was worried about her crawl stroke, as she didn't think she could sustain it for 50 yards.

Madeleine, on the other hand, was fully ready to try her hand at the test.  "Can I take the Deep Water Test TOO?" she pleaded, following our lifeguard/baby-sitter around.  "I want to take the Deep Water Test!"

At any rate, I suggested to Julia that she at least try it, and if she weren't able to pass, no big deal; at least then she would know what the test is like, so that when she chooses to take it again in the future, she won't have to feel nervous about what to expect.  So she reluctantly tried.  And passed, on the first try!  Hooray!

Madeleine, however, was devastated.  "Where's Julia going?  I want to take the Deep Water Test TOOOOOO!  Mama, I just want Julia to come back here and swim with MEEEEE!"

Julia spent the rest of free swim over in the 9-ft deep water, repeatedly jumping off the diving board, while Madeleine eventually made some new friends over in the shallow end, occasionally lamenting that she wanted Julia to come back and join us.  Little did I know that by encouraging Julia to take the test, I would be causing separation anxiety for Madeleine.

At any rate, Julia was SUPER proud of herself, and we took the girls out for ice cream after dinner to celebrate Julia's big accomplishment, as well as the fact that Madeleine can now float on her belly in the water and kick to me without touching the ground.



Madeleine's comment, midway through her ice cream cone, was, "Mama?  I think this tastes DELICIA-ROTTEN."

This morning, while Julia bathed in her reverie of Deep Water Test memories ("Mama?  Did you forget that I passed the Deep Water Test yesterday?"  "Mama?  What did I look like when I was taking the Deep Water Test?"  "Mama?  Did I look like a REAL SWIMMER when I was taking the Deep Water Test?"), Madeleine got busy with dress-up.  I don't have any idea what the particular combination of leotard, witch hat, maracas, and play camera was supposed to signify, but here she is, proudly showing off her look:



WHAT a fashion statement.

After posing for her photo, Madeleine begged to take a picture of me.  So I handed her my (real) camera, and she stood poised to photograph me.  Unfortunately, just as she pushed down the button, Julia, who was deeply engrossed in Gallop Time, galloped right in front of the lens, so the picture came out like this:


So, Madeleine can put together a mean fashion-forward outfit, become the youngest swimmer at Rosemary Pool to volunteer for the Deep Water Test, AND she can take a super artsy photograph of a Day in the Life in the Rowe household.  Is there anything this kid CAN'T do???

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Tired Mama

I was awoken around 4:30 this morning by the sound of Madeleine bursting through her bedroom door and beginning to thump down the stairs.  This was unusual in and of itself simply because Madeleine NEVER gets up on her own.  She unfailingly comes in to wake me up and insists I come downstairs with her, even if all she needs to do is pee and then go back to bed.  So being the dunce that I am, I decided to get out of bed to investigate rather than accept my gift horse and go back to sleep while she dealt with her business on her own.

I found her staggering down the stairs, still hazy from sleep, carrying a pair of underwear. 

ME: Madeleine, honey, it's too early to get up and get dressed.
MADELEINE: But Mama.  I need to go pee.
ME: Okay, let's get you on the potty, but we're not going to change into new undies and clothes yet, because it's still sleep time
MADELEINE: (shaky and dazed, still half-asleep, sitting on the potty) But Mama.  I needed new underwear because THESE underwear are a little WET.

Turns out she had leaked a little pee in her underwear and pajama bottoms.  And then had taken the responsibility to get herself clean underwear and go downstairs to the potty on her own.

Why did I get out of bed again??

I put Madeleine's dry new underwear on her after she had used the potty, then watched as her face slowly began to crumple.

ME: What's the matter, honey??
MADELEINE: Well Mama.  I think I better wear some DIFFERENT jammies.

Yes, because I was going to put on dry underwear but then make her sleep in her wet pajama bottoms.  Have a little faith in your mother, here, kid.  I know I'm a dunce but I'm not THAT much of a dunce.

At any rate, I got Madeleine into clean pajamas, climbed into bed with her for a few minutes ("Yay!  MOMMY snuggles!"), and then attempted to get back to sleep myself.

I had barely fallen back asleep when my other little bedroom visitor friend came in to join me.

ME: Julia, I'm really tired honey.  You can go downstairs and play if you want but I'm going to try and sleep more.
JULIA: Well, I'll just lay here and wait for you to get up.

I think Julia really did try.  She laid down beside me quietly while I tried to doze back off.  For a few minutes, at least. 

Then this started:

JULIA: (sighing loudly) Mama?  When are you going to wake up?
ME: Hrrrrmph.

A few minutes later:

JULIA: (sighing loudly) Mom.  I really WISH you would get up now.
ME: Mmmmmmm.


A few seconds later:

JULIA: Mom?  Can you please GET UP now?

I wound up bringing her downstairs at 7:30, putting on the tv, and giving her a bowl of cereal, letting her know I was going to try to sleep until 8, after which she could come awaken me.

And like the vigilant little girl she is, Julia came in promptly at 8:00 to announce that it was time for me to get up.

She also filled me in on her adventures downstairs by herself.

JULIA: So Mom, I was looking through the "American Girl" magazine and I felt like I was, like, TEN or ELEVEN, because, like, I was downstairs ALL ALONE.

She certainly was living dangerously, hanging out downstairs all by herself, watching tv and flipping through an "American Girl" doll catalogue.

Madeleine wound up sleeping until 8:30, and came downstairs in a cheerful mood.  She joined Julia at the tv to watch "Cat in the Hat" and eat cereal.  That is, until Madeleine suddenly needed a drink.

MADELEINE: (running into the dining room to get me) Mama?  I think I need some MILK.
ME: Okay.  I'll get you some.
MADELEINE: (wide-eyed and earnest) So Mama.  I whistled the FIRST TIME, but...now it's getting to STOP being a whistle.  So...I think I need some MILK so I can whistle again.

Maybe she's still half asleep.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Collaborative Mad Libs Attempts

Ethan bought a big book of Mad Libs for the girls over the weekend, and last night they had a blast working on them together.

I don't think I've ever heard them giggle so hard as they did over the finished product of one particular Mad Lib.  Julia and Madeleine took turns giving answers, with Julia going first, and Ethan filled their answers into the blanks and read them the story once it was finished.  The words that the girls came up with are in italics, *just in case* you can't tell which parts of each sentence don't make lexicographical sense.

"Truth or Dare, Part 1":

Q: What is the name of the cookie you like?
A: Julia

Q: What is one jack o' lantern no one knows about you?
A: When I was 100 years old, I swam like that pumpkin place at Storyland in front of 800,000,000,000 people.

Q: If you were stranded on a hot island, what three things would you bring with you?
A: I couldn't swing without my precious Earth, my bad tongue, and a silly bottle of water.

Q: What is the strangest global warming you have ever eaten?
A: Potties dipped in lemonade.


Perhaps second most hysterical to the girls was the second part of the above Mad Lib.

"Truth or Dare, Part 2":

DARE: Pretend you are a red puppy.  Poop loudly and wag your flying dinosaur.

DARE: Put on some muffled music and dance like a muffled Barbie for one minute.

DARE: Hop on one storm while you fly and say the alphabet backwards.

DARE: Take off your socks and Christos Anesti and step into the shower.  Then turn on the cute water and yodel at the top of your stomach for 132 seconds.


The hardest part of the whole Mad Libs ordeal was getting Madeleine to give a simple answer.  Since Julia is finally old enough to understand what a noun, adjective, verb, etc means, she came up with her answers easily.  Madeleine was a whole different story, even when we tried to help her come up with a quick answer.

Our initial tactic didn't work at all:

ETHAN: Madeleine, can you tell me an adjective?  It's a word that DESCRIBES something.
MADELEINE: Um...um...um...
ME: An adjective describes how somethings feels, smells, sounds, tastes, like that.
MADELEINE: Um...um...um...
JULIA: Argh, Madeleine, are you EVER going to say your answer?!

So I decided to just feed her a question that would produce the desired part of speech.

ME: Madeleine, how did your meatballs taste at dinner?
MADELEINE: Um, they tasted a LITTLE BIT great, but...not VERY well, because they were kind of HOT.

It was like a choose your own adjective from the options provided.

My attempts to help her quickly produce nouns were equally as fruitless.

ME: Madeleine, what's a thing in this room?  Tell me the name of whatever thing you're looking at.
MADELEINE: Um...CHRISTINA!

Hence, the inclusion of nouns like "the pumpkin place at Storyland" and "Christos Anesti," because sometimes it was really the best we could get.

Now, for your enjoyment, I will finish this blog with pictures that represent various Mad Libs answers given by our girls.  Can you match the picture with the Mad Libs answer??