Tonight I had the honor of putting the sweet FIVE-year-old to bed for the first time. She was excited. It was a challenge. As we lay in the darkness, trying not to chat, she told me that sometimes it is better to NOT have a kid. She detailed the reasons why: some kids don't listen, some kids always run away, and some kids are j u s t m e a n .

Her Sweet, Sweet Voice

Mommy has been in Milwaukee for business for a long time, missing Genevieve more and more each day. Life with Daddy is so fun and action-packed, there has not been time to miss Mommy, so no need to talk on the phone, right?

Tonight, Daddy had a break. Gigi went to Aunt Kristen's house, her favorite place in the whole world. Mommy had an idea, a brilliant one at that: Call Kristen's house, but asked to speak to Lily.

After I asked Lily about her recent injury, I asked her to do me a favor. I requested that she let Gigi know how much I missed her, and give her a big hug. She put the phone right then, and did just as I requested. Then, she HANDED THE PHONE TO GIGI! Gigi took it without arguement and started chatting! Yay! She told me all about the really fun game they were playing - hospital iceskating in outerspace. Huh?

All Good Things Come to an End...

4 years, 10 months, and 15 days. It was great while it lasted. Tonight Gigi finally realized that she can get OUT of bed, A L L B Y H E R S E L F ! ! ! Sigh. Here we go. I had plenty of time to prepare for this epiphany, but in the moment I had no idea how to talk her back into the bed. We both lost our cool. There were tears, threats, and loss of privileges. Maybe she'll forget the discovery by bedtime tomorrow!

Halloween at Happen, Inc.

Happen Inc had the most WONDERFUL pumpkin patch of all! We selected our pumpkin for carving and found that it was prepared! No pulpy junk, straight to the fun part. Genevieve was an enthusiastic carver at first, but soon found it much more convenient to simply have me carve to her specifications.

Where does she learn these things?

As we were leaving Grammy's tonight, Genevieve raised a concern that we did not visit the ducks. Daddy told her that Grammy said the ducks were gone. Genevieve's question -- did they go on their migration? Really!

We passed a fancy candy store with a pig wearing a tophat. "Mommy - I just saw something really funny -- a pig wearing gentlemen's clothes!"

Maybe the tuition is worth it after all.

Sunflower Power

It's been a strange gardening year - cool, rainy. We had many "volunteers" (plants that come up that we did not plant). Mainly, sunflowers. They are huge, made John look like a short guy.

As an educational tool, John plucked the head of a big one for Genevieve to play with and learn about the seeds. The "head" of the sunflower is bigger than Gigi's (and John's for that matter). She has spent a great deal of time picking at it, making a huge mess (Don't worry, Mommy. I put my hat over it).

Today, she found a new use - Kings Island for bugs! Specifically, the little whip. The bugs had ride after ride.

She gave them quite a bit of variety -high, low, twirls, up-side down.

Kings Island Adventure!

At long last! She has been tortured with every trip to Aunt Kristen's, passing the "Tiny Tour Eiffel" and interesting-looking rides for over a year and a half. Finally, Genevieve got to go to Kings Island with Lily and Alex (Mommy, Daddy, and Kristen too)!

A picture paints a thousand words, but in some cases does not give the true representation of the day. Exhibits A – E, below.

It appears Gigi spent the day out-of-sorts and Alex spent the day smiling and waving. In fact, Gigi had a wonderful time! Lily had a wonderful time! Alex’s time was a bit more variable. He was not so enthusiastic about the rides, and protested often. However at the end of ride torture, he consistently announced “that was really fun.”

Lily’s favorite seemed to be the wave pool. Gigi’s could not be pinpointed so easily.