Yay!

I have no picture for proof (cause she wasn't in a great mood for most of today... looks like I'm going to have to give up chocolate... =P) but it's true! Rylie smiled at me this morning! Totally made my day.

the good old days

So I was reading Emily and Tyler's blog and it sort of got me thinking about what my sisters and brother used to do as kids. We didn't really have the trendy toys (usually), and when we did, we didn't play with them for very long or at least not in the intended way. Our favorite things to do usually involved being outdoors or, if indoors, included a lot of planning and much building of forts or towns. So here's a list of things we used to do/play/whatever when we were pretty young. Adrien, Shannon, mom... feel free to add stuff on in the comments section! (Oh, btw, I didn't have any pictures from when we were little on the laptop so I used a picture Shannon took when she was at Leucadia a year or two ago with her friends. It's cool, huh?).

1. We played "town", where everyone had a shop or profession. For instance, one person would be the mayor, one person would man the post office, one person would be a doctor/vet, etc. I usually had a curio shop and was gone for half an hour gathering my wares. (Fifty bucks!)

2. We also played Lion King. The couch's armrest was pride rock. One of our favorite scenes to reenact was the "pinned ya" scene. We had to take turns because no one wanted to be Simba.

3. We pretended the floor was lava. Obviously, only furniture and pillows were ok to walk on.

4. When we were really young, our stuffed animals were involved in elaborate dramas, including illness, kidnapping of children and/or eternal loves, and sometimes death by falling from a cliff. It was tragic.

5. We played "orphans" a lot. Whoever was the youngest was the cleverest and most special. I don't know why.

6. Outside, we played wild horses, Indians (I always wanted to be the Chief's daughter... I obviously had no clue that women weren't allowed very much freedom. Disney's Pocahontas was one of my only models.), and pirates, among other things. Sometimes we played war or spies with our neighbors. This didn't often end well, if I remember correctly.

7. At the beach we were often either mermaids, seals, or dolphins. We played in the sand knowing that King Triton would surely punish us for going to the surface (again). So much drama. We usually had Dad dig us a fortress/hole in the sand. He made them pretty big, it was awesome.

8. When we were a little bit older, we girls would "make" clothes for our dolls. Because of our lack of sewing skills, our dolls always looked like hos (sp?). It's a lot easier to make a tube top and a mini skirt than a t-shirt and pants, I tell you what.

9. We played a game called "How Did I Die?" or something similar. One of us would hide and be the corpse and everyone else had to find that person. Then, when they found the person, they had to figure out how they died. And it was never the obvious. For example, if you were lying in the tub, it wasn't because you'd drowned or hit your head, it was because you had been struck by lightning or because the maid had poisoned you.

10. We played hide and seek and kick the can.

11. Sometimes I pretended I was a sad little girl ghost and made my siblings sit around me and listen to me sing. Usually after 5 minutes they would leave.

12. We (but mostly Adrien, Shannon, and Ian) would play stupid duets and sing in extremely high-pitched voices. "Gee We're Glad", for example...

13. We watched Pirates of Dark Water, Duck Tales, Darkwing Duck, Tailspin, Johnny Quest, Are You Afraid of the Dark, and Wishbone. I can't remember others right now. Except maybe Lambchop.

14. When we were kids we thought Heart and Annie Lennox were hard rock.

15. Kitty-skin diapers. We were mean.

I think Rylie might be ready to go back to bed soon so I'm gonna say that's it for now. Any others, guys?

Nathan's birthday

...in video! This is just a little video that my cousin Kelly took and put on her youtube account. Thanks Kelly!


I'll post a couple of catch-up blogs in the coming days...