the Birthday report

Last Night - The Birthday Fairies decorated the entire front room with streamers and balloons.

6:30 AM - Ella wakes up amped for her birthday. Ella was soooo excited by the decorations. She promptly picked up a balloon, studied the end thoughtfully and declared, "The end of this balloon looks like a penis!" Lovely, isn't it? She has only seen a newborn baby penis and it was almost a full year ago, but it clearly made an impact on her.


7:00 AM - Mommy serves up Ella's breakfast of choice. Scrambled eggs and toast with orange juice to drink. I made the toast, buttered it and then used small heart cookie cutters to cut two heart shapes from each slice. The girls loved it!


8:00 - 10:00 AM - The girls watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs for the 1 millionth time.


11:30 AM - Daddy arrives home from work to take Ella to a Daddy/Daughter Date, which was lunch at Ella's restaurant of choice. She said she wanted to go to the place with the old, white man. We finally figured out that she was talking about Colonel Sanders and she headed off to Ken-ducky Fried Chicken with Daddy while Eva and I munched on PB&J's.

12:00 PM - Evangeline say she wants to use the potty. Her diaper is dry so we take it off and set her down. She uses the potty all by herself for the first time! Wahoo! The singing and dancing begin when the phone rings. It's Auntie Michelle calling to say Happy Birthday to Ella, but since she is still out with Daddy I hand over the phone to Evangeline to share her exciting potty news. It went a little something like this...

Evangeline: Hi, Auntie 'Shell. I went poo-poo and pee-pee on the potty all by myself.
Michelle: That's great! Good job, Lady!
{ ........silence........ }
Me: Tell her all about it Eva.
Evangeline: Well, it was yellow. And brown. You know...like poo is.
Me: That's not what I meant by tell her all about it.

12:30 PM - Daddy and Ella return home and Michelle gets to wish Ella a Happy Birthday on the phone.

1:00 - 4:30 PM - Children fight about everything imaginable. Most of these fights culminate with Ella screaming "You're ruining my perfect birthday!" I put the girls in the bath, hoping for peace, however the fighting continues, but now includes water.

4:30 PM - Mommy and the girls head out to the grocery store to get ingredients for tonight's birthday dinner. Ella says "It's my birthday today!" to each and every person we pass in the store. Against my usual standards I allow both Ella and Evangeline to get a treat of gummy pizzas. Ick. Nothing starts a new year of life like sugar, corn syrup and dye.


6:00 PM - The family sits down to Lasagna and garlic bread per Ella's request. Evangeline melts down and refuses to eat. Gets sent to her room for having a tantrum.

7:00 PM - Ella blows out the candles on the leaning tower of strawberry whipped cream cake. We try, in vain, to keep this thing upright beyond the candle blowing, but eventually it ends up in a bowl and become "Birthday Trifle". It's still delicious. While we eat dessert, Ella gets birthday calls from Grandma and Grandpa Ahern, The Chapmans and Our friend Matt M.


7:30 - 9:00 PM - Then comes presents...Some from us and some from Grandma and Grandpa Ahern. Then family watches Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Mommy falls asleep half way through.