Should have

This is what I will be looking at Friday morning. Lily and I are taking off on a short weekend trip to the Magical World of Disney.

The planning has been a process. I read of lot of everyone's research from online and from people who have gone recently that I know. You know the do's and don't, best places, best times and things not to miss.Then I started to feel that that was going to take the magic out of the "magical experience". So I made a plan....not to plan.

We are winging it. The only thing I scheduled is the Bibbity Boppity Boutique. Lily is all into the fancy stuff. All though she'll want the make up off within 5 minutes (wait for my blog next week to see how long it lasted).

We have three days there. Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom could all be accomplished or all three days could be at Magic Kingdom. I will leave that up to Lily.

I will get back to a better blogging cycle once we return. We have a huge yard sale and a busy summer of hiking to blog about.

The Prank

So I love watching all those hidden video shows. I especially like the ones where they prank someone. When ever I get a scratch off (like twice a year) I remember the one from funniest home videos where the guy thinks he got the winning lottery numbers. Here is montage of a whole bunch of, "funny to me but not to them" pranks.

I have thought of a great prank.

Victim: You need to find someone going in for surgery (please do  not do a heart surgery patient). They will need to get general anesthesia and be staying the night.  It would be great if they had a young child and if they were married.

Preface:   Now typically people wake up in the recovery room but once they are brought back to their room they will fall asleep again. Once they fall asleep fill the room with photos and find a lot of dead flowers and balloons with 1/2 the amount of air.

Setting the scene:   So when your soon to be xfriend or family member wakes up you pretend 20 years has gone by.  You have a adult at their bedside as they wake up pretending to be their child. You have another adult dressed as a doctor come in, pretend to assess them and then ask them some questions. Like:

1.  Do you know what year it is?     No it is 2032

2.  Do you know who this person is?  It is your child, remember Nicky, she's now 24.

3.  Do you remember any other family members?  Yes, Eduardo was your spouse but a divorce was granted after 5 years.

4.  Do you remember why you came to the hospital 20 years ago?  Welllllll, yes you did come for  gallbladder surgery but after you woke up in recovery they brought you back here. From what the records state you fell asleep and thrashing your head into the bed rail. You caused your brain to swell and well...you've been in a coma since.

I am awful...I feel this would be hilarious. I don't think I will be invited to be with any family or friends at the hospital any time soon.



a mish mash of pride

When you see you child making good choices without any assistance it is golden. I mean all children will make the right choice when you give them the evil mom eyes or when you totally prep them. You hope and pray that when you aren't around or when you aren't within the correct distance to persuade their choice that they do the right thing.

Today at church Lily went up for the children's sermon. So far, so good. Before they sat down the Reverend handed one little girl (new to church) a cute stuffed dragon to hold while she read a book about a dragon. Oh my eyes quickly went to Lily. I was waiting for her to start getting upset that she didn't get to hold the "stuffie". She composed herself. Yeah. I could see she wasn't happy but she got over it so quickly. What a girl.

Then they all sat down. Of course Lily is in a dress and that can not always end up good with an audience. She took the dress and pulled it down over her knees and then put her knees together and tilted them sideways. PERFECT. It was if I had coached her prior to going up there but I hadn't. I saw a sweet elderly lady pointing to Lily. Ah. It was a moment of pride.

The story went on a bit and was a bit beyond the age and attention span of most of the kids but Lily sat there. Slowly things began to unwind. After like ten minutes she decided to rub her face against the stair railing. Then she was putting her hands through her dress pocket and spinning it around. The attention slowly went back to the railing. She worked for about five minutes at getting the perfect grip. Wrapping each finger one at a time.

I am pretty sure that Dora or Barbie do not have stripper poles but that is what my daughter decided to try up front in church. She didn't do anything obscene, just inappropriate. When it came time to "give peace" some of the people gave me smirked smiles (not mean, just like "you gotta laugh about it")

If she wasn't so into death, angels and communion I would probably take a few weeks off from church.  In hope that people forget or more importantly have time to design a way so the next time she goes up front at church she isn't sitting next to the railing. Like tell her the middle of the stairs is the best seat so everyone can see her beautiful dress.

Yesterday I was witness of a 30 minute communion exercise at home. After several times giving communion to her stuffies she asked me to video it so she could show her Grampy (he's a man of the "cloth") because she wants to help him the next time she goes to church with him.

Just so you know she does have actual toys to play with. I am very proud of Lily and her railing dance was innocent but still something I will laugh about for a long time to come.

Random question #1

Author: Lily Faust
Age: 6

"Mom, if you were lost in the middle of the woods, who would you call first, your family or the police?"

This came out of no where. We were just chilling around the house on Monday. It can't be traced to a movie, show or book. I asked her twenty different ways how she came up with that question, her reply, "I was just thinking, like in my brain with pictures".

My reply, "I would call my family and have them call the police". She was fine with that answer and went on playing drawing on her dry erase board.

It was so obviously pointed out to me today that if I was in the middle of the woods with a cell phone....I'm probably not lost.

Since her brain has such an imagination, I should have elaborated and made up a good story.  Ah...they'll be a next time.

Built in revamp

Lily's room has built in book cases that take up an entire wall. The builder of these units (I am assuming the previous owner) also put a nice uneven coat of a dark oily stain. The sides connecting to the walls were left undone (I think a measurement problem occurred) and the top piece of molding had nails hanging out of it along with an odd jagged piece hanging.

The time came to paint the unit.

As you can see with the amount of clutter on there...the prep was going to take a while. Not so bad though. I put everything on her desk and bed.

Look what treasure I found behind the heater....lovely wallpaper. I also found the most terrible smell that I cleaned and then painted with Kilz.  Jojo is getting the last bit of sun in the window time before I keep her out of the room for the day.

So as noted above the unit was painted with a dark oily stain and I am used two coats of Kilz to prime everything. The oil stain on the doors ate through three coats of Kilz and one coat of semi-gloss until I gave up. They will be sanded and I will start over on them.

For less than six dollars I was able to get two pieces of wood to finish off the sides of the unit Finished. Took the nails and and jagged edges out of the top piece of molding...much cleaner look.

Although the dolls are on top, they are played with, it is the only shelf that is tall enough for them.

Off to do some clean up of all the extra clutter that needs to be organized. By organized, I mean put in the trash can outside at the curb.  What she doesn't know won't hurt her.

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parenting mistake

Lily and I traveled to her PCP's office this afternoon for sick visit. Of course we don't mind waiting in the lobby for our turn (very thankful for being squeezed in) but the loud gum smacking person had my last nerve for about an hour. Finally Lily and I go to see the Doctor and after a diagnosis of another respiratory infection, I left just so frustrated. I just wanted to get in the car and chill out to some music on the way home. Lily had other ideas.

MOM, IF WE TAKE OUR FEET OFF THE EARTH ARE WE IN OUTER SPACE? 
            no, outer space is far away
ARE WE JUST IN SPACE THEN, SINCE WE AREN'T ON EARTH?
            we are in the air, space is what you see in the sky and outer space is stuff farther than that
HOW FAR IS THAT LIKE TWO INCHES OR AS TALL AS ME?
            miles and miles
DOES OUR POOP AND PEE NEED CHEMICALS WHEN IT GOES IN THE TANK IN RHODE ISLAND?
            i'm not sure but i think so.
LIKE WINDEX OR CAR SOAP
           probably like Windex (i thought maybe some sort of vinegar)
BLUE WINDEX?
           i really don't know but we'll ask plumber

At this point I thought I was done for the night.......so wrong.

IF ALIENS COME DOWN ON EARTH, ARE THEY NICE?
             i imagine since we are nice aliens would be nice
IF ALIENS COME DOWN DO THEY COME AT NIGHT OR DAY?
             i am not sure, i haven't run into one
REALLY, THAT IS WEIRD

I have no interest in aliens, if they watch us on earth, captured people or even if we live amongst them. I am not being ignorant. There are only some many things that I let in my head, aliens aren't one that I ever made room for. I am not going to get a book from the library or amazon on this because I believe I'll be added to the national weirdo list. So I am not sure what the correct answer is. Big parenting mistake coming up. Wait for it....

Our discussion continued...

lily do  you think there are aliens?
           OF COURSE!
do you think they are nice?
           MOM, THERE ARE NICE ONES AND BAD ONES AND ONES THAT DON'T BRUSH THEIR TEETH AND ONES THAT TAKE MY STUFFIES. THEY COME ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT AND WATCH PEOPLE ON EARTH. THEY ARE GOING TO TAKE SOME OF US BACK TO THEIR PLANET AND MAKE US SHOW THEM HOW TO USE IPADS AND IPHONES. SO THIS IS WHY I NEED TO BE A TEENAGER NOW SO I CAN GET AN IPHONE AND A WHITE CLEAN CAR AND SHOW THE ALIENS....

she said more...I had to tune her out to not freak out.  At this point I am beginning to learn I can't blame her curious mind on her being sick. I can't blame it on a long day at Kindergarten.  I think I need to embrace it but I am uneducated in the world of outer space, poop chemicals and aliens.

Looking back and planning ahead

Looking back at some of last summers picture made me want to start planning this summers events. We have a three day trip to Disney, a trip to Maine and a trip to Tennessee.

The above picture is of last summer at Capron Park Zoo. Lily was having fun but she feels this is an appropriate pose for pictures. When she is 30 she is going to look back and think, "was I a sad child?"

I try to do a lot of out doors stuff because she loves nature and physical activity but I work for a skin cancer surgeon so I can't be a tan or burned. Not so kosher. I know she's wearing a hat in the above picture but it is a struggle every time to tell her how important it is.

Last summer she became a hula hooping expert. By expert I mean she spent a year letting the hula hoop fall to the ground and then one day...."oh move my hips".  At the end of the summer I was convinced she would get a college scholarship in the sport.

Yoga-Ballet. Enough said. So as you can see she is a very active child. Like most children if I believe they have a certain amount of energy inside of them that must be used up. If they don't use it up they become CRAZY.

So I am thinking a summer of hiking.  Great at getting the energy out. Great excerise. Great bonding time.  Ahh..and it is cheap if not free. You can do it in the evening before sunset (no sunburns), it will give us time to chat and explore. Hopefully Grammy will join us. Here is my bucket list for the summer:
Cliff walk
Diamond Hill Park
Chafee Nature Preserve
Norman Bird Sanctuary
Purgatory Chasm (repeat...love it)
Rodmans Hollow
Sachuest Point

Now I must buy both of us decent hiking shoes that deal with sand, water and rough hiking trails. So excited just getting this out of my head and thinking about all the fun we'll have.