Working Girl

Anyone who knows Jordis is fully aware that she loves to be a helper.  Cracking eggs, washing dishes, cleaning baseboards, she likes to volunteer for pretty much anything.  I want her to learn skills, but there are some days that her "help" leaves me more flustered than not.

A few weeks ago she came in quite handy though when it was time to paint the fence posts Jason had put up in the yard.  She is like her momma and LOVES to paint.

Today she decided she was going to go to work with me.  She didn't even really ask, just told me she was packing her purse so she could come with me and have things to do.  Typically I would have to let her down and tell her no, but my boss is on vacation so I called her assistant and she told me she didn't care if I brought her.  So off we went.  Jordis brought some 3D glasses, a mini Santa Claus puzzle, a pencil, a red crayon, an orange marker, a necklace made out of beads and pasta, a miniature bible that came with her baby doll, her DS, and her wallet (filled with play money, of course).

As any typical woman would do, we had to stop in the restroom as soon as we entered the building.  In fact, we had to go to the restroom four times over the course of the afternoon.  Maybe because I taught her how to use the water cooler, or because she became a connoisseur of hot tea while we were there. 

A co-worker gave her a few of her (personal, not stolen from work) file folders to put her drawings in that she created with an ink pen and her one crayon and marker.  I also let her open my mail and will now probably start hiding my letter opener at home.  Whew!  She can wield that thing.

I was very impressed with how well she entertained herself even though she had more fun with my phone than she did with any of her own things.  Apparently she knows how to use the camera.

I think she might grow up to be the girl who goes to work and takes pictures of herself on the copier.

She was looking like quite the professional by the time we left to come home.

 Come on, Mom!  Places to go, people to see.

Girls Day Out!

So after a bad day with Xander on Tuesday, Jason decided I should take Jordis someday soon and go have a girls day. Excited at the prospect yet befuddled at where to take her, I wasn't quite sure what to do. We had a playdate at the park schedule for today so I didn't want to go there, and it was to nice to go somewhere indoors like Magic Mountain or the mall. Then I remembered that the city where Jason works recently got a tea house, which sounded like something girlie we could enjoy together.

Jason has worked in this city for eight years now, it was actually still just a village when he started. The main street has some little shops, all inside old houses, and I've never really been in them. Partly because a lot of them sell antiques which isn't my thing, but also because I don't parallel park. The traffic there in the afternoon is bad enough anyway, but the thought of getting someone to let me on the roadway from a parallel parking spot is too much for me to undertake. Far be it from me to speak ill of said city, but aside from them providing for all of our material needs for the past eight years, I'm not real fond of the city itself or the skills of the people running it. The two businesses I used to frequent (with parking lots of course) are long gone, so I really have no desire to be there if I don't have to, especially now that we've switched pediatricians and I don't even have to go there for that anymore. But with the price of gas being what it is and the fact that Jason informed me of some other parking options, I decided some food and strolling with my little girl could prove to be fun even if it was in a locale I'm not fond of.

I decided to capture the afternoon in pictures which shouldn't surprise any of you. Jordis was quite a trooper considering she didn't get a nap. We had a great time!

Off we go!



Fascinated with yard ornaments for sale.



Hello in there.



Ribbit



Had to see the duck in the pond.



Then a train came by Daddy's work.




Time for tea. Fresh flowers and good food, though the food picture turned out blurry.










The fairy room had boas to try on.



Let's go Mom!



Off to Pink Moon Cupcake Bakery across the street, then to Petland to look at puppies (and some other animals).





We also went to some other stores and to visit Ba and Ba-Dee (my mom and step-dad, named by Xander for reasons we have yet to figure out), but I figured at some point I just didn't need that many pictures.

Today my little girl traded in her frilly dress for shorts, and after falling umpteen times at the park and on my neighbors driveway she looks like she was in a playground scuffle. She never flinched, just got up and kept going, not even accepting my offers of band-aids. Maybe she's not as girly as her mom afterall.