What do you do...

What do you do, when the weather is fantastic....but your husband took your car because his vehicle is at the Car Spa getting a new transmission?

You grab your easel, your brushes, and your paints and head to the empty driveway.

 Don't forget your painter's beret, smock, and your imagination. 

 Something about painting out in the sunshine and fresh air makes the experience better.  She had more than one car slow down in front of the house to observe her talent. 

 The wind made painting a little tricky.  We figured out that putting one leg of the easel in side the legs of the stool, it wouldn't flip.  A stroke of genius with a couple of pieces of velcro kept the canvas on the easel instead of flying away in the breeze.  Remind me to ask an artist how they deal with wind while painting outside?

I love her work.  She's keeping this one.  She has given away so many of her paintings, I'm so glad she decided to keep this one for herself.

Carrots.

I don't think I have ever tasted anything better than carrots fresh from the garden. Except for maybe snowpeas.  Or Cabbage.  I dearly adore gardening year round here in The Swamp.

A Birthday Do-over.

Since the Big Apple was sick on her birthday, I scoped out a place to take her this weekend that would TOTALLY make up for the fact that her birthday was a bust. 

I scored.

 The family piled in the van and headed to Folsom, LA to the Global Wildlife Center.  I had heard of this place on several different occasions but wanted to wait until The Little Apple was a little older to go.  Nothing like being stuck on a 2 hour long safari ride with a crabby baby. But this turned out to be the perfect age for her to go, as she was thrilled by every animal she saw. 

 When you go, you purchase your tickets, and of course animal food.  Eben chose the family bucket...which turned out to be an enormous amount of food...but we quickly found out why we needed that much food.

There was an enormous amount of animals.

Most of them would eat right out of the cup.  Some ate neatly out of your hands. 

 And some, of the animals, they open their mouths wide, and you just pour the food right in.  That was The Little Apple's preferred method for feeding animals. She was so good at it.  She learned to shake the cup until an animal walked over to her and opened wide.  Then she'd pour it in.    At other times, the Little Apple liked to toss the food and yell "Mardi Gras!!!!!!!" I wonder where she learned that?

 

 The Big Apple, being the typical Daddy's Girl that she is,  hung out with her Daddy most of the ride, which explains my lack of pictures of her, as I was managing the Other Apples (mainly making sure The Little Apple didn't hop out of the wagon and try to ride a zebra!)

 But the Big Apple kept the wagon train driver busy with her questions about the various animals.  My favorite question of the day "How big is giraffe poop?"

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get up close to the giraffes....which created some tears on the part of the Big Apple.  The giraffes were more interested in the private jeeps that are available for tours instead of the big wagon train.  

I have to admit, I had a lot more fun on this trip than I anticipated, and was glad that we all went together on a weekend rather than a weekday without Eben along.  The Big Apple declared the day "Almost as good as Disney World."  I think that's a pretty big statement. 

It was a very nice Birthday Do-Over. 

Naughty number 9.

The Naughty Number 9. 

The title of this post is a reference to the School House Rock video for multiplying 9's.  It's not referring to my Big Apple at all. 

I called the Big Apple from the grocery store the other day, to ask her what kind of cake she wanted me to get.  "Mama, can we just have a homemade cake?"  Music to this mama's ears. "Well, Big Apple, is there something you want me to get to put on TOP of the cake?"  "No, Mama...I just want to use some of the toys I already have."  More music to this mama's ears. 

"Mama?  Can I make the cake by myself?"  This is normally something I LOVE to do for my children on their birthdays...because one of the things I do really well...it's decorate a cake.  But she really wanted to do it, and I couldn't turn her down. So the night before her birthday, I turned her loose in the kitchen.  She did great!

 The morning of her birthday, The Big Apple woke up feeling yucky in the tummy.  And all stuffy in the nose.  But Daddy didn't have to go into work until later this morning, so she wanted to open her presents. 

 She got her very own sewing basket and her own sewing machine.  I figured a girl who is considered half grown has earned her place at the table, right next to me~using her own machine.  (actually, the selfish part of me says that she needed her own machine so that she would stop using mine!)

I only wish she had felt better today.  We didn't get to sew together like I had originally planned.  She spent the day on the couch, sipping ginger ale and broth.
 
We are demanding a birthday do-over.

But I do have to say, that number 9 is a naughty one.  The way it kind of sneaks in and takes away your little girl in the middle of the night....replacing her with half grown young lady....A young girl who is brilliant, and vibrant, and eager to make her way in the world. 

Yup.  That 9 is a naughty one.