Pearl gets really excited about birthdays - it doesn't matter who's birthday it is either, although she does know that it has to be my birthday then Ricco's birthday before it gets to be her birthday. This time it was mine. After prepping her for a few days, mainly to stop her daily questioning if it was her own birthday - the day finally came. Jeff drug her out of bed half asleep to sing happy birthday to me, which was super cute, crazy bed-head hair and all. Then we tried to tell her how old I was. When asked, Pearl suggested 2 then 5 and at one point that morning, even threw a 20 in there. But when asked at daycare how old her mom was, she told everyone I was 239. I guess it is pretty hard for a 2 year old to understand just how old 29 really is. It's old... at least that's how I feel!
There is an advantage to being 239 though, you get a pretty cool present. A new camera lens - the Nikon 35 mm AF-S f/1.8G. I've had my eye on this baby for several months because all the reviews I've read about it say it's great for low light situations (like anywhere in our house) and I can do some cool stuff with blurring the background of my photos. Jeff took me to the camera store and let me pick it out last week - along with a new camera bag - but with not practicing my photography skills for almost 9 months, I was shocked at how crappy my pictures are and how little I seem to remember about shooting in manual. I figure once Ricco gets out of me and I can actually bend down and chase Pearl around I'll get back into the swing of things. 
So after a day at work (birthdays just aren't that exciting when you're old, are they?) we went to dinner. Reminder for next year, let Jeff pick the restaurant. I really just wanted chips and salsa so we went to this joint not too far from our house and when we got there, remembered we really don't like the place. Even the chips and salsa were gross. Oh well, at least I didn't have to cook dinner! And Jeff signed me up for the Baskin Robbins birthday club and sent me a coupon for a free scoop of ice cream... yummy! My husband knows me too well (so does Pearl because she got the free scoop as bribery for being good at the grocery store). Then my neighbors brought over these beautiful tulips. They were excited because as their 14 year old told me, now they can just come over next year, dig them up, stick them back in a pot, and their birthday present is done. 
And then to top things off, only when you turn 239 can you convince your sister and brother-in-law to come over the day AFTER your birthday for cake and ice cream that you make them bring to you. I can't wait to see what next year brings, that is if I make it!
I just can't wait any longer... my brother apparently doesn't understand what the word "pronto" means. You see, I handed my camera off to my sister to document the Easter festivities and also told my brother it was his duty to share any pictures he took. And yet, Jesse still hasn't sent pictures. Jesse, this doesn't get you out of sending them eventually! So, alas I can't wait any longer... I've already gotten two blog posts waiting in the wings of my brain.
Easter was almost canceled for good this year. I love Easter - it truly is my favorite time of year, even more than Christmas! But Mother Nature wasn't in a good mood and let it snow the week of our family's planned egg hunt, dinner, and ding dong bunny creating. Plus it didn't help that the stress level was at an all time high at our house, with pregnancy hormones out of control and our house in utter turmoil with de-junking, painting, and trying to get Ricco's room finished so we can eventually move ALL of Pearl's crap into her room. So we told my family we were canceling Easter plans for now. After a lot of tears, I decided it was actually a good thing. The stress level went down substantially and we - by we I mean Jeff - even finished painting Ricco's room.
In stepped Nick and Kimmy to the rescue. Their upstairs neighbors had moved out so they had an entire house with no furniture in it. It was perfect! Not only did we not have to worry about cramming everyone inside our house, but we got to crash someone else's place and go through with our original plans. It was loads of sugar-induced fun! 
The loot from the Easter bunny. Had Jeff been excited about Tinkerbell jammies, his basket would have been more full.
And the egg hunt begins... Ruby and Pearl must be blind to the obvious because they left about 30 eggs on the lawn and ran straight for the ones that actually took some effort to find. Jeff had told Pearl prior to Grandpa giving the go-ahead that the objective was to get more eggs than Ruby. Guess we'll be working on that next year. 
Grandpa is always there to lend a hand!
The loot... Ruby walked away with all the good candy. Pearl was more into opening the eggs and pulling out the M&Ms than finding the good eggs with the Starbursts. 
Um freaky Nick. Just to clarify for all you reading, no my brother-in-law is not some weird, pervert as his picture might imply.
I shall not go into the conversation that went along with this picture.... you can only imagine I'm sure what Jeff was laughing at.
Butt crack anyone?
Every year we get more and more creative with the ding dong bunnies. In fact, I think we only made two or three original bunnies. We really should do a contest with some sort of trophy for the most creative bunny next year. We had a lacrosse bunny for Kurt, a fish bunny for mom, a devil bunny, and even a Ricco and prego me bunny thanks to Jeff. I personally feel the Ricco and prego me bunny was the best this year, although the lacrosse stick and net my Dad made for Kurtis was quite impressive. 
So who do you think is bigger at 34 weeks? Me or Ricco/prego me bunny?
If you look carefully you can see Pearl and I waiting for the city's egg hunt to start. Since there was about 500 kids and moms crammed around the course (which seriously was the size of our tiny living room), I decided to help you out by posting the one picture of us both waving. 
Then if you look really, really carefully, you'll see a single pink egg about five feet in front of Pearl.
Now all chaos ensues and I'm not sure where my child is at this point, let alone if she has succeeded in grabbing any eggs. You can probably see several kids getting plowed over and another handful crying though. 
And finally, if you look carefully in Pearl's basket you'll see the one, pink egg she nabbed. I was honestly surprised she got that much. 
Thank goodness Pearl was happy that she got the pink egg she had been eyeing the previous 15 minutes. I felt so bad she only got one that I bought her a pack of Skittles for $1 and threw them in there. It made me feel a little better that I had spent $3 at our city's Easter festivities just so Pearl could come home with about 50 cents worth of candy.
Some planning advice for our youth council for next year:
*Post a sign with how much everything costs. That would save you from repeating "egg hunt, bouncy house, and fish pond are two tickets and everything else (uh, one other thing) is one ticket." The massive line forming (see point #2 below) would actually move if parents had any clue how much $$$ to pull out.
*Start the egg hunt right at 10 am when half the city is there, eager kids in tow, and NOT at noon! Luckily we live within walking distance of the park because there were plenty of parents who were not happy they had to drive back home and then come back two hours later. Or at least advertise when things start!
*Yeah, the idea to have two egg hunts might work had you not combined all the kids five and under into one group. Um... look around... every single kid there was under 5! Hence the one egg, or in some unfortunate cases no eggs (yeah, there were several kids who didn't get any eggs).
*Make the course bigger, like in year's past when it covered the entire park! Cramming 200 kids into an area the size of our living room just isn't a good idea.
Or this. Is having a tea party in just your panties really that exciting? I personally think it might get a bit drafty but apparently not for a toddler. She is quick to strip down too! I went to vacuum up the above said ant feast and when I came back to check on my little tea party princess discovered she was nearly nude in the living room. It's a good thing we managed to put her clothes on (after much wailing and crying) before her dad got home - house rule is you must wear pants.... ironically Jeff has also said shirts are optional though. Hmmmm......
And this. Do husbands really think it's that funny to nearly send their prego wives into labor or getting her to swear and pee her pants at the same time? Apparently so. I walked into our bedroom one night, flipped on the light and freaked out when I saw USU's basketball player Jared Quayle's face staring at me. No offense to his real wife, but not my idea of a good time in bed. 
Oh and another thing. I don't get why we even own a dishwasher. I mean, everyday I still wash dishes by hand and have them stacked up next to the sink. What's the point of that? Sure we'd rather not fill up the dishwasher with tea cups, huge pots, and mixing bowls but come on! It's like doing the dishes twice.
