You should see the other guy

OK, well, the pictures make it all look more dramatic than it really was. That plus her obsession with bandaids. My sister (who was visiting this past weekend) started calling her Nelly. (the rapper) (the one that wears a bandaid on his cheek?) (it's getting hot in herre?)

Anyway, so she's been riding her trike and her pedal-less bike (the Target brand fake "like-a-bike") for a while now and we decided it was time she started wearing a helmet. Like every other kid on the block (we're great parents, if I haven't mentioned that lately). The day she gets the helmet, she fell for the first time in a long while. Turns out the helmet does nothing if you fall directly on the side of your face. She had a pretty good scrape under her eye, a smaller scrape you can barely see above her lip, and an egg on her forehead. (me, the next day: how's your bruise? Her: bruise? Me: On your forehead? Her: That's not a bruise, that's an egg.)

And how did she fall, you might ask? Well, she was wearing a skirt, which caught on the bike seat, as she attempted to lift the bike onto a row of bricks outlining a planting box. Yep, she was trying to ride the bike along her 'balance beam.' So really, we probably got off easy - a fall just from the bike versus one in motion along a higher, less stable surface.

Things You Don't Want Your Neighbors to Know

#143. Sometimes, you don't pay your parking tickets.


(and since the neighbors now know, why not the internets?)

So, yep, I've (and yes, it's all me) acquired a few parking tickets in the Subaru. But over the past two years or so. Just yesterday parking enforcement was driving through the neighborhood and Rich asked what was on their car and I told him they have cameras now on the roof, and they drive slowly along taping all the plate numbers and looking up info about the cars. And here's the evidence today of how well that system works - I got snagged. And look, you can't live in a crowded city without getting tickets every once in a while. You should, however, pay the few you get promptly. That's my deficiency.

The city used to be incredibly efficient when it came to tickets - it was the only part of the city that worked. But over the past years as the city has improved, parking enforcement hasn't been as important, but they are ramping back up operations. I was pleased to see, on the notice, that unlike the last time I was booted (in 1994! I don't make a habit of getting booted), instead of treking to the DMV, you can now pay your ticket online or by phone, according to the handy dandy info included with the boot. So I walked inside and pulled up the website - except it couldn't be found. The form had the wrong website address! After searching around a bit I found enough info to suggest you could not pay online. But there was a phone number! So I called, and went through an incredibly detailed menu, paid the outstanding tickets, and the boot was removed within the two hour window as promised.

Again, I was booted back in the day - 1994, I think. I had gone to the Eastern Shore for some reason and stayed over, then got up early and drove straight to work, parking on the street. Came out to feed the meter and found the boot, with detailed instructions of how to get to the one place you had to go to pay the fine, which was not conveniently located. A Metro ride, a bus transfer, and a long walk later, the fine was paid and I was free to go. I remember the actually pretty nice woman had told me the boot would be off before I made it back to the car. So after backtracking the tedious route, got back to the car exhausted, ready to just get home after a too-long day - to find I had gotten a ticket inbetween the time the boot was removed and I arrived back at the car! Ticket writers back in the day were ferocious. So I'm standing there, feeling sorry for myself, after the long trek, early morning, and now an additional ticket to add insult to injury, and I look through the paperwork and they actually had a section that said if you were ticketed after the boot was removed you were not liable, but had to appeal by going in person to the same inaccessible office in some 5-minute window on a Thursday that fell on a full moon or some other such hoop jumping instructions.

So I just paid the fine. By mail. On time.

3rd Aunt Jen is the Charm

Happy (belated) Birthday, Aunt Jen W!

Ok, we're not as on top of things as we need to be. Yesterday was E & A's Aunt Jen's birthday. Yes indeed, the Dynamic Duo has three, count them, three, Aunts Jen! What's even crazier is that their birthdays are all in a row - no other family members in between - over a 3 week period in May/June.

Aunt Jen is my brother's wife, and mother of my little niece, Samantha, who is exactly 9 months older than E. Out of respect for Jen, I will not reveal her age relative to the other Aunts Jen. ;)

Uhhh, I wasn't trying to eat the note. Honest!

Sweetpea being oh so cooperative.

We weren't entirely successful in getting the two of them together. Sometimes certain diminutive members of this household have other ideas of what they should do at a given moment in time. Regardless of how much Mommy & Daddy cajole/scold them.

And a Happy Anniversary today to my brother and Jen. Congrats on 9 yrs guys.

- Rich

little magpie

Two tidbits:

- We never ask Elizabeth if she knows Mommy or Daddy's other name. We've heard too many friends go through their child calling them by their first name phase that we decided we'd just avoid it, or not ask for it. It's just not something we ever discuss. Once in a while she'll call out Rich, but she's never said my name.

- Elizabeth's mimicry skills, thanks to Rich, are slowly developing. She's shy about it - mostly she wants Rich to be different characters, and when you ask her she'll say "Hi! How are you!" in a different voice and then stop self consciously.

So, let's put those two tidbits together - the other morning, she snatched my glasses off my face and put them on. And said, Hi! I'm Susan!

sorta Wordless Wednesday

It appears management has a lot to answer for around here. Things not quite up to snuff for the newest resident. We'll get right on that.

And, in other news, the AC failed me. Elizabeth did her part, sleeping til 7:30 am. The little guy? Up at 3:30 for a snack. Then WIDE awake, ready to party, at 6 am. And totally congested. So much for that theory.

The AC

We've not been posting much lately, I think because we're both just too tired, too much going on. We're finally wrapping up a long period of colds and runny noses and much interrupted sleep. The Sweetpea has been waking earlier and earlier, while Little guy has been up sometimes 3 times in the night.

Spring is usually a favorite time of year - I love sleeping with the windows open, with the sweet cool night air wafting in the windows, stirred gently by the ceiling fans. But it's not much fun when there's not much sleep.

Saturday night we finally gave in to the coming summer and turned on the AC. And Andrew slept til 6 am, and Elizabeth til 6:30. And Sunday - both slept til 7 am. And today - A was up at 5, but down quickly, and E in til 7 again. I'm chalking this all up to the AC. Perhaps runny noses have been allergies. Or maybe they've been warm and uncomfortable. Whatever the cause, while I love sleeping with the windows open, I love sleeping more. I'll gladly make the trade.

My two aunt jens

OK, well, the best of intentions and all that. Turns out it was not our router that was the problem. No, it was the entire Verizon system - or at least one of their servers that serves our neighborhood. As I found out when I called Verizon throughout the day yesterday just to hear we are experiencing a significant outage in the (area code) neighborhood area. (What? When you're frustrated don't you call 7 or 8 times throughout the day just to hear the same message?)

E and A have actually three Aunt Jens (yes, confusing!). My sister and R's sister have birthdays two days apart, and we were determined to put up two different posts. But combined happy birthday photos for this year.

Elizabeth celebrated with a gigantic cupcake. Meanwhile, Andrew decided to bypass celebrating in favor of attempting to self feed broccoli with a spoon.

Success! Spoon in mouth! Cupcake icing inching closer and closer to face for second taste.

Can I just eat the rest of it now, please?
Hmmm, is the spoon itself edible?

Cupcake!
Mmm, spoon!

Speaking of broccoli, here's a recipe for an entertaining evening:
1. Steam fresh broccoli.
2. Serve spears to husband and pre-schooler.
3. Reserve a few spears for baby - using handheld blender and attachment, add a little water and whir to mush.
4. Gross out preschooler with mush. After much giggling and prompting, have her taste it and declare, well, it's just mushy broccoli!
5. Gross out husband with green mush.
6. Laugh + eyeroll when husband taste mushy broccoli and immediately gags and grabs for water.
7. Realize that no, the extreme reaction wasn't for effect - the exact same broccoli he had just eaten was rendered inedible by the water and the whirring!

Good times! I'm sure the two Aunt Jens were/are upset to miss out. Or, maybe not.