2007 Down, 2008 Go!

Well, 2007 went out as eventful as it started.

After a whirlwind weekend of Christmas family celebrations, we got home Christmas night and watched with breathless excitement as the girls ran to the living room to see if Santa visited.

Bella squealed with delight at their new dollhouse (I constantly have to say "yours AND Ava's dollhouse, honey") while jumping up and down over her Sleeping Beauty VHS.

Yes, I said VHS. We figured out long ago that little kids and VHS tapes are AWESOME. She can turn on the TV, push the video in and all I have to do is make sure she doesn't have a Disney movie marathon.

That night, about 2am, I had a rude awakening. Not just that I had to go to the bathroom. Oh, no. The rudeness happened when I (thank heavens) decided that night to peek into the toilet before sitting.

I saw something dark and slammed the lid down.

That's crazy, I thought to myself. Maybe Bella just didn't flush...five days ago.

I opened it again. Looked awfully big.

Turned on the light.

Saw...

Okay, I'm not going to post the picture because it might make you lose your breakfast, lunch, dinner or all thee above.

It was a squirrel.

YES IT WAS. A very real, very dead squirrel. Eyes open, mind you. I threw up a little in my mouth, slammed the lid again and, heart pounding, climbed into bed. Because I am a nice wife and didn't wake my husband to fish out the toilet critter.

I spent the rest of the night half sleeping and half wondering if that was just a freaky dream. Hubby wondered the same till HE lifted the lid at 6am the next morning. By then, our furry friend was a wee bit fluffier. By the time my husband could get in the mindset to retrieve him, Squirrel was...um...easily deflated.

That is all.

----- In Cuter News -----

We cleaned out Bella's old nursery and made it into a playroom. YAY for all involved. We packed up loads of stuff into boxes for the attic and used a Sharpie to mark everything. Several hours into working we couldn't find the marker.

Went looking for the marker and instead found this:

Ava's Doll

At first I thought we'd had our first acting out by Bella on little sister's things. Then we saw that if she's acting out, it was also on her own toy dog as well as our library bookshelves.

I tried not to seethe. Really, I did. Through gritted teeth, I asked Bella why on Earth she colored on everything.

She picked up the doll and said, "But MOM, lissen to me. The baby is an INDIAN and needs her headband."

And the library shelves?

"That's my ARTWORK! Don't you love it? Isn't it buuuuuuuuuteeeful?"

Oh.

So it wasn't malicious graffiti at all. It was a 3 1/2 yr old filled to the brim with imagination. How do you get mad at that? If anything, I'm irritated at myself for all those Crayola washable markers Bella's been using for 2+ years!

Long live the Magic Eraser. That thing probably causes cancer but it wipes away Sharpie in a jiffy.

---- Still Cute News ----

Ava throws temper tantrums now and tattles on her sister by babbling in a tattling tone and a frown. Her tantrums consist of pivoting on her left foot in circle really fast while shaking her head and screeching. Humorous when performed just once a day.

New Year's Day dinner at my MIL's we had spinach. Bella used to love spinach but not that day. An aunt who was there commented how she is allergic to spinach. Intriguing adult conversation about allergies went on as Bella picked at her plate.

When hubby asked Bella to eat, she said "You know, Dad, I think I'm allergic to spinach."

They hear all, see all and apply all.

Here's to a happy, healthy, story-filled 2008!!