rolling on down the road

Annabelle and I have yet another solo car trip under our belts. 

I can't say that I really enjoy taking 8 hours to make a 6.5 hour trip but we've done it a number of times now so we've established a routine. Unfortunately it's a routine that requires bringing her in rest stop bathrooms with me, but it's frowned upon to leave her alone with the vending machines while I go about my business. At the first rest stop I did my best to keep her near the door so she wouldn't make any more unnecessary comments about my bum. She looked around the stall, threw her hands up in the air and said, "WOW! What a BEAUTIFUL area!" I'm proud of her for finding beautiful in everything but I couldn't make myself agree with her observation.

We're spending a two nights at Aunt Camp before joining the rest of my family at a beach house. We've been reunited with Ivy and we couldn't be happier. 

We spent the morning at a recreated 19th century village. Not to turn this into the Sarah & Annabelle Show, but welcome to the Sarah & Annabelle Show.

I might be in the market for baby sleeping pills

We're currently in the middle of Nap Strike 2016. 

Not that I'm counting, but Sesame has only taken two naps in the last twelve days. I keep putting her down as I have for the last 30 months of her life but she won't sleep. She'll talk, sing, play and eventually whine and cry but not sleep. It's been taking her more than an hour to fall asleep at night. She's figured out my life doesn't stop when she's asleep and has developed a bad case of FOMO. She's also getting molars which always bothers her so I know her little system is all messed up. Even so, doesn't she know I need her to keep taking naps for the next 3 years?! I can't rest during the day when she's not sleeping because as soon as I lay down she starts yelling, ''Mama! I waked up! I waked up, mama!" NO YOU DIDN'T YOU NEVER WENT TO SLEEP. Between her not sleeping and my insomnia kicking in I've aged 60 years in the last two weeks.

Our friend from Bible study had a baby in June and we finally went over to see her. I was on track to leave the house on time but the muffins exploded, the shelf fell off the wall and Annabelle took the stuffing we used to a make a craft and spread it all over the living room. Just another 10 minutes in paradise. 

Sarah: I get to hold a baby!
Maddie: Where's my mom?
Annabelle: I refuse to look at my mother holding another child.

Speaking of babies, Annabelle is very into them right now. She's big into talking about how she used to live in my belly and what kind of crib she slept in while in Hotel Womb. She's always talking about her "yittle sister Kaferine" and telling me I'm "going to have a baby tomorrow." Between the two of us she's the only one interested in having a baby tomorrow.

For todays edition of trying to tire AB out for a nap we went to the zoo. I thought the weather was beautiful when we left the house. Thirty seven minutes later we were watching the elephants with sweat dripping down our backs. The zoo was approximately as hot as the surface of the sun. Of all the animals to be seen Annabelle likes the polar bear statue best. Every time she seems it she says, "so cuuute! I wuv da mama and da baby! Es so cuuute!" and I have to act like I'm seeing it for the first time.

We sat down to eat lunch near a group of Amish. If there's any people group I like to think I'm an expert on it's the Amish. I tried not to stare too much but seeing them made me so happy. One of the ladies was trying to get something from the vending machine but it wasn't working. Eventually two more women, a men and a little boy went over to help. I'd have offered my assistance but vending machines tend to eat my money and not give me anything in return. Besides, I was wearing shorts so I didn't want to draw attention to myself. By their standards I was basically dressed like a prostitute. 

We found a life size Farmer Brian from her Little People farm.

Our three hours on the surface of the sun didn't make her tired enough. She was in bed for two hours and started yelling that she wanted underwear. I went up to check and she was standing there buck naked. I guess she knows how to take her diaper off. Happy Friday!

wordy Wesnesday

It's been typical summer activities around here. Swimming, praying for the air conditioning to work, drinking from the house and all that.

Mom came to visit last week. She watched Annabelle while I set up my craft room and unpacked boxes that should have been unpacked 11 months ago. Whenever we have someone visit we beg give them the opportunity to babysit AB so we can go out. She's a talking, eating, walking four hour souvenir we love to hand out. We went out to eat at an Asian restaurant then to a paint night. Having just done a paint night with Joanna I felt very prepared and was possibly sitting on a high horse. 

Taken shortly after my shoe broke apart while I was trying to paint a masterpiece.
It's a real shame since I LOVED those shoes. 

Christopher took the B part of BYOB seriously.

It must have worked because look at his masterpiece on the right. Not a stroke out of place. He was the only male among 30+ females and got the most compliments. It looked like I used my hands as a pallet but he didn't have any paint on him. You can't really tell from this angle but I painted the weirdest looking grass. It looks like those ornamental glass balls people put in their gardens.

On Saturday we went blueberry picking. Some people picked berries off the bush, some stole them out of the bucket.

Pigtails mean double the opportunity for bows.

"Hi, yittle sweetheart. You so cute!"

In Olympic viewing news, it's not going well. The first two nights the antenna we just bought refused to work. The third night I got it to work if I squeezed the metal part a certain amount. It wasn't the most comfortable situation but at this point I can't be too picky. I saw a bunch of swimming which means I saw Michael Phelps flapping his arms around. Yawn. Last night I was so excited about finally seeing gymnastics that I accidentally broke the antenna. I snapped it right in two. 

Also.

special shout out to Aaron Lochte

It's that time of year again! For the next two weeks I will be more into sports than I am at any other time. I never watch gymnastics or synchronized diving but now I think I'm an expert. It's only a matter of time before Bob Costas calls me down to Rio to take over his spot.

I pulled out all the patriotic stops for the opening ceremony party. I usually stick to food but this year I added a few extra things using Annabelle as an excuse. I made myself her a torch. 

She didn't understand what was going on but her enthusiasm was appreciated.

I also made us medals that fell apart before the Parade of Nations began. Glitter was falling like snow all over the living room. I'm not big on participation medals so I had everyone choice their own sport. I picked gymnastics and pizza eating (because of course), Mom picked pole vaulting and Christopher said he was the champion of the steeplechase and thumb wars. I gave AB the coveted spot as the three time gold medal recipient for diaper filling. 

I believe it was during the 2008 Olympics that I became anti Michael Phelps. I am not what you would call a Phelps Phan. He was in a final with another swimmer and I FIRMLY WITH EVERYTHING THAT IS WITHIN ME believe the other swimmer won. I don't care that the rest of the swimming world and the IOC say that Phelps won. It was very very close and I think my guy pulled it off. Every time I hear someone bring up Phelps name I bring up that race. I was passionately defending my guy a few weeks ago and I kept saying, "I don't care what Mike P says. AARON LOCHTE WON. Aaron was the real star." Then I realized his name is Ryan, not Aaron. All these years I've been calling him the wrong thing. It's the thought and fierce defending that count.

We don't have cable so we bought an antenna for the games. It was a very poor connection and between the static, the natives running around in loin cloths and Annabelle constantly asking "what going on? What's happening? Is that Nemo? What's that?" it was hard to get the whole picture. I thought the part about global warming and plants was a little unnecessary. You know what I don't want on a Friday night when I'm drinking Brazilian lemonade and hoping for a good show? A science lesson. 

Here's to all the athletes. May their dreams come true and their Zika vaccinations be strong. 

let's go ride a bike

If I've mentioned it once I've mentioned it 38 times. I don't enjoy teaching people to ride bikes. It's up there with pulling teeth and potty training. Maybe it's slightly better than potty training. In a GREAT show of motherly love, I bought Annabelle a bike at the consignment shop.

It didn't start off so well.

Once Sesame Pie was vertical she started taking passengers.

Honeypot was the first customer.

She's still learning how to pedal so I usually reserve bike for when Christopher is home. I bought the bike so I think all my bike riding responsibilities are complete.