2 going on 12

She looks two.

Chronologically she's two.

Countdown Calendars

But she doesn't act two. Within 30 minutes today I was told the following...

"I told you so" and "It's not fair."

Seriously.

Isn't she at least supposed to be in school before she learns these things?
A few weeks back she refused to go to bed because her room isn't pink and if she uses a straw she wants one that matches her shirt. I've got news for her, too. I don't care what color straw she uses, but if I have anything to do with it her room won't be pink for a long, long time. We spent way too long getting it the way it is to change it to something else (especially something I can't stand).

A great fall weekend

I love this time of year! Everything just seems more exciting during Fall. It's nice enough to be outside without sweating, but not so cold that you have to be stuffed into a coat that makes you immobile.

We spent Saturday night at a friend's Fall potluck. I've been great friends with Jen since we worked together at Clear Channel. She and her husband just had a new deck put on to their house, so it was the reason to have people over.


We had some great food. Her husband, Vijay, made an awesome sausage and kale soup and there were lots of other tasty dishes. I brought a sweet potato casserole and there was also a butternut squash casserole, homemade mac and cheese, some other potatoes and appetizers and pumpkin desserts. We ended up coming in the house because it was warm enough that the mosquitoes were out. Jen and I have already fixed up our kids as prom dates so when Jordis and Arjun were voluntarily hanging out we had to take a picture.

Yesterday we took a little road trip. There's a park the next county over that I discovered as an adult and always vowed I'd take my kids to someday. It's about an hour from our house, but gas is below $3/gallon right now and the weather was really nice, so we decided to take a chance and head that way. The kids had a really great time checking out the huge wooden playset...





After playing at the park we went up the road to the local ice cream shop in the city of Granville. There's nothing special, really, about this place. They serve Velvet Ice Cream, which I can buy at the store, and they've decorated with black and white marble and pink walls, two things I really can't stand. But it's an old-time parlor which the kids have never seen, so we thought it'd be a nice treat. We even let Xander have dairy products, just to see if the infraction would cause any problems.
We got some grilled cheese sandwiches first, then ordered ice cream. The kids both wanted chocolate ice cream with sprinkles. We weren't sure the sprinkles would stay on if they got a cone, so the waitress offered to make them a clown sundae. They didn't really look like clowns but the kids didn't care.
Xander's our clean eater, but Jordis is an "in the moment" type of gal. She just does what it takes to get the job done.

It was a great weekend!

Around the house

We haven't really been doing much of anything fun lately, but we have tried to make a few changes around the house.

Jordis has been in her big girl bed for over a year now and we decided the time was right to finally put the frame on, as the mattress and box springs had just been lying on the floor. She has started amassing a few collections that she refuses to part with at night, even though there is barely any room for her little body in there. Books, dolls, cars and hats are her favorites, and she knows if you sneak a few things out. The twin beds we have were built by my grandpa and have a shelf on the headboard, so we thought maybe this would be a way for Jordis to keep her prized possessions, but perhaps NEAR her and not so much all crowded in WITH her. However, once it was up we realized that we can no longer attach the guardrail. It's been a few weeks now and she hasn't fallen out once, but she still refuses to sleep without her things.



Jason has also been painting the office while he's up overnight on his days off. I love to paint and would normally want to help, but there's such limited time to be up in the office without the kids being unsupervised that it's just easier this way. Our desk tops are a speckled pattern of black, brown, white and gray so we got a brownish-red color that is similar to the color of cherry wood. I think it kind of looks like Dr. Pepper. We really like it next to the white woodwork and we're planning on getting white shelves when it's done.



Alas, I'm having issues with my plants. My vegetable plants continue to grow but there are no vegetables. So I'm not real sure what the problem is there. And then there are the gladiolus. I agonized over what colors to buy and kept them separated so I could plant them alternately as to avoid clumps of color in one spot. I've been eyeing them since May and got real excited one day last week when I noticed there were going to be flowers. Upon closer inspection though, I realized they looked pink, and I detest pink. Luckily they have ended up more of a coral color, but the bulbs I bought came from bins that were labeled as being purple, yellow and white. So I guess I will have to live with this combination instead.