Alphabet song

Gigi loves to sing this song, but this is all I could catch on video. Enjoy :)

Easter Egg Extravaganza!

On Thursday Gigi and I had some friends over to celebrate Easter. First, we dyed eggs. I didn't know how into it Gigi would be, but she LOVED it! I started off by putting the eggs in the dye with a spoon, but quickly she stuck her hands in the dye and got busy. She loved dying and re-dying the eggs. By the time she was done her hands were a lovely dark brown color :) The other girls got into it as well and we as parents were quite surprised at their dying ability. (Pardon the naked shots, we didn't want to get their clothes stained).
Next we went on an Easter egg hunt. Gigi loved running around with the other kids looking for eggs. They would grab as many as they could, but then go and share their eggs with each other. It was really sweet.
We finished off the activity by going back to my house and munching on the spoils of the afternoon. It was really fun.

Girls Day Out

I have to say that I love having a girl. I am sure that someday I will have a boy and then I will say that I love having a boy and a girl, but for now I really love having a girl. I suppose it is because I have always been such a girly girl. I have fond memories of putting on makeup with my mom and sister and going on long shopping outings.
On Wednesday we had a girls day out. We got dressed and went shopping. Of course we just went "to look", but we sure had fun doing more than looking. I had a few dollars left on a gap giftcard so we went to see what they had on clearance. While I was busy looking at the cute dresses Gigi was off looking at other things. When I found what I considered the perfect clearance dress and was ready to grab Gigi and go I found her trying desperately to try on poka dot flip flops and a matching hat. She was so excited by these items that I had to put back the dress and get her what she had picked out. After purchasing the items she wore them proudly. I have to say it was a great moment...knowing that I have a daughter that will enjoy being my shopping partner.
Well the day didn't end there. We found Gigi her first pair of sunglasses and a few cute hairthings and of course a summer dress. After all of the fun shopping was done we went to target where Gigi picked out her own pottychair.
It was a terrific day!

Fun with the birds

A nurse that I work with loves birds. She owns 5 parrots and treats them like her kids. She feeds them organic fruits and veggies and Brita water. I asked if we could visit her and she was delighted so last Thursday Gigi and I went to see her birds.
She has a whole room dedicated to her birds. She has 3 big parrots and 2 little parrots. The little parrots like to squawk and the big parrots normally like to talk, but they were a bit shy while we were there. Gigi was fascinated with the birds. She especially liked it when a little parrot sat on my shoulder. It was really neat to learn first hand what they are like. Apparently parrots are about as smart as a toddler. They like to play with shiny toys. They like to hide and poop on the floor. They even like to yell ;) Who knew? It was a really neat experience, but I definitely don't think that I could handle owning a bird after learning that it would mean having a toddler for a lifetime.

Music confessions

This morning Gigi and I took David to school and on the way home one of my favorite songs came on: Girls just wanna have fun by Cyndi Lauper. I turned it way up and started dancing. I encouraged Gigi to join in the fun and by the time we got home we were both totally pumped! I then took Gigi out of her carseat and placed her in the front seat where we continued to jam to music. It was quite fun.
This even reminded me about all of the music that I love. I realized that I will have a big impact on the types of music that she loves and I hope she won't hate me for this when she gets older :)
Here are some music confessions:

I LOVE CLASSIC ROCK!! David makes fun of me endlessly for this, but I can't help it. I think that my love started when I was a little girl. I have this vivid memory of lying in my bed at night and before drifting off to sleep hearing Ephraim come in with cd in hand (or perhaps it was a tape) telling me I had to listen to this particular song. He told me about this cool band called the doors, put in the music and hung out with me for a few minutes. I was hooked! Something about the beat and the odd way this man sung was intriguing, but what really got me was that my cool older brother liked this music and that he wanted to share it with me! Ever since that event I have loved classic rock!

I love old alternative bands. I am definitely not cool enough to stay up with the latest, greatest bands, but I love the bands from my junior high years. Weezer, Green day, etc... I remember hanging out with some friends up the street listening to Weezer tell me about unraveling my sweater while watching my friends skate on their boards and thinking...wow this is life! I still love this music, however I really can't say that I love all alternative music since I have no clue what this really means anymore.

I love oldies! Oldies anything really. As Candy can attest, I can sing pretty much any oldies song that comes on the radio at any time. The beetles tops the list, but anything that reminds me of "the good old days" (even though I really have no clue what these days were like and if they were good) makes me happy :) I have so many memories of this music it is hard to keep track. 2 that top the list are 1. Working in the garage with my dad, not really helping, but just wanting to be by him while we listened to a very fuzzy version of an oldies station on his extemely old radio that didn't get reception and 2. driving in the car with Candy, not really going anywhere, but just driving and singing :)

I love broadway musicals! One song from a great musical cheers me up when I am really sad. Something about the powerful lyrics and music gets to me. My all time favorite musical is Les Miserables, but I love any clean musical. I have memories of cooking in the kitchen with Alex and Candy on Sunday nights making cookies or something yummy and listening to this music.

I have also come to love country music. This love has taken a long time. In fact growing up I prided myself on the fact that I hated this music, but now I do love it. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that I married a Texan and that he loves country music, but now I am hooked! On our honeymoon we went to San Antonio Texas and then drove to Dallas for another reception and all the way there we listened to this music. The lyrics are totally cheesy and the music is often twangy, but it is fun and very addictive!

My last love is classical music. I would have to say this type of music is my real passion. When I go to a great concert or when I play a piece of great music I feel as if my soul is communicating with God. It is a very bizarre feeling, but it is the only other language that I can speak besides english and I adore it!

One great new song that I really like is called New Soul by Yael Naim.

Playing in the snow...finally!

Yesterday Gigi and I played in the snow together for the first time this winter. It has snowed quite a bit over the past few months, but always during the time that I am working. Snow up until yesterday was just an annoyance. It would snow, for example, on Friday night making the roads on Saturday morning awful and so I would haveto leave an 20 minutes earlier in order to get to work on time. Then by the time I could take advantage of the snow on Tuesday it would be all gone. That is until Tuesday...
It snowed on Tuesday and yesterday was perfect weather for playing in the snow. Gigi and I made a lovely snowman, but her favorite game was having a snowball fight. This consisted of her trying to pick up snow, which was virtually impossible thanks to her huge gloves, and then trying to throw it at me. The snow wouldn't make it very far, but Gigi didn't care. She thought this was the funniest thing in the world! It was priceless. Now that we have properly played in the snow I am hoping that Spring will come quickly :)

Lesson learned

Yesterday Angelique and I went through the drive-through at the bank. The teller gave me 2 dum-dum suckers. I am not a huge candy fan so I put them in my purse.
Today after working out I got in the shower. I heard Angelique saying treat over and over. I got out of the shower and found Angelique eating not one, but 2 dum-dum suckers. She was very proud of her accomplishment. Finders keepers as they say, so my lucky girl got to eat some yummy candy. Today we both learned a valuable lesson. Angelique learned to look for candy in hidden places and I learned that I can never underestimate the ability of a 22 month old :)