Sasha's Third Birthday

The best thing about warm Novembers is going to the park for Sasha's birthday (this was our second year in a row). I felt bad because "the big day" was none too fun. Sasha was recovering from a fever (meaning mommy wouldn't let her have any sugar) and both Justin and I had to work, so the only time we were together was at breakfast. We did sing Happy Birthday before Jordan left for school, and I managed to dig up a gold party hat and three yellow balloons (the last ones in the party box). We didn't even have her present because we decided to get her a sled and Target (the only store we'd had time to look at) didn't have them in stock yet. Luckily, by Sunday the 7th, which was the first day we had time to celebrate, Sasha was feeling better and the weather was beautiful. Our friends Pete and Beth came over with their two little girls, Mae and Violet and we went to the park. The kids had lots of fun playing in the leaves while the guys played football and Beth and I talked (what else?). Then we came home for supper, cake and presents. Sasha got some new ponies and her own chapstick from the Rozaks (she opened that before we went to the park, and it shows up in almost all the pictures since she wouldn't let me hold on to it for her). I managed to find a very reasonably priced sled at Farm and Fleet, as well as a little red snow shovel and a My Little Pony puzzle. Sasha loves puzzles so much right now that she'll often inform me that she's done all of her puzzles, and ask to do some of Jordan's. Anyway, we had a great time and got some pretty good pictures too!

Sasha on the slide.

Mae & Sasha, ready to go.

Made it to the bottom!

Putting leaves on Violet.

Jordan joins in.

Indian Summer?

Today was such a good day. I got a lot accomplished with a minimum of stress and whining. Admin. asst. work, freelance work, two loads of laundry, made Jordan's bday party invitations, dishes, remembered to give Jordan his allowance and have him take a shower, balanced my checkbook, paid bills, swept out the garage and some other stuff. The best part of the day was after lunch. Since the weather was nice I forced myself to take Sasha for a walk. We went on my favorite walk through downtown, through the cemetery and then to Smithfield Park. Even if it was cloudy, it was a gorgeous fall day with lots of crunchy leaves everywhere. At the park I decided to do some yoga while Sasha played. Don't know why that's never occurred to me before. So I did a Pilates exercise for my imaginary abs, four repetitions of salute to the sun, and every other yoga pose I could think of for about twenty minutes. It was relaxing, invigorating and made me feel both somewhat kooky and fairly cool. Then we finished up with a few underducks on the swing for her and a few leaps off the moving swing for me. Now I wonder how hard it is to do yoga in full snow gear?

I Like Quizzes, But...

Jordan has recently taken to p0lling the family on a variety of topics as a stalling tactic anytime he's supposed to be accomplishing things. I think it irritates me more than anyone else, particularly because his favorite time to do it is when I'm trying to eat. Questions range from "Mom, what's your favorite color?" to "Mom, what do you think the smallest animal in the world is?" to "Mom, what is your least favorite food?". Of course, he asks me the same questions day after day too, and I'm expected to then in turn ask him his favorite/least favorite/etc. whatever. The other day he informed me, word for word, "My least favorite color is tan. Even though I like tan on my skin, that doesn't necessarily mean..."

Speaking of skin color, for a while last year Jordan was very into talking about differences in skin color. Any time the kids bring up differences between people we respond by saying, "Yep, God made everybody different." So while they realize that people are different colors "like crayons" as Jordan used to say, they don't realize that this is a touchy subject for some people. Anyway, before Jordan started kindergarten he was speculating on what the kids in his class might be like, and wondering if any of them would be "brown" like his friend Rolly who is Hispanic. Last year some new neighbors (who happen to be black) moved in across the street. Jordan was really excited to see that they had some children and told me all about the "kids with color skin" (a description he fabricated all on his own) across the street. While I'm reluctant to explain political correctness and racial sensitivity to him because I prefer to have him think about people without regards to their race, I do hope he learns to be more circumspect before he gets his little white butt kicked.