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!