Eek-A

I have done an absolutely horrible job at taking pictures. In fact, since our trip to the zoo, I've only taken three pictures. I'm not doing such a great job as the official Bright record keeper. It's bothering me. And while we're on the topic of things that bother me, has anyone heard the new song by Kid Rock called "All Summer Long"? It's the song where he samples "Sweet Home Alabama" and then proceeds to sing all about Michigan. I keep a radio on low at my desk at work and every time I hear this song it sound likes they're playing "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon. So then I hear it and I spend the last half of the day singing "Aaaa-OOOOO werewolves of London..." and if you've never had that song stuck in your head before, it's super annoying. And it's not cool to quietly hum it to yourself either.

Things have been pretty uneventful around here. I picked up Ellie's proofs of her one year pictures and they're so cute. I love almost all of them which surprised me because she was rather uncooperative during the shoot. Now I just need to decide if I want one big one... the proofs... who knows. I'm glad I splurged and had a great photographer shoot her because I think that in 30 years, I'll appreciate it even thought it's expensive now. On Saturday afternoon, my company had a picnic. I really love where I work, but our office is one of those offices where half of the people are gung ho about getting together and doing stuff and the rest could care less. I'm on the office's activity committee, so it's discouraging when only a few people show up. But I guess that's true for most things, isn't it? At any rate, we had a really good time at the park and Ellie got to meet a duck close-up. Unfortunately, it bit her about 30 seconds after the above picture was taken. She is recovering, but we fear she will never eat pate.

Sunday was Father's Day and Ellie slept until 8PM. We went to church and then got the house and yard ready for dinner. My dad and mom came over along with Ben and Elizabeth. Lee's parents were out of town. My mom brought an appetizer and carrots, Elizabeth made a salad, and I made a pork tenderloin, spicy veggie cous cous, and a jello poke cake. The poke cake was interesting - you bake a cake and then poke holes in the and pour jello over the top. It was all very good. I made a special dinner for Ellie, but as it turned out, she loved the cous cous, so I could have just fed her that.

Ellie's teachers tell me she is totally used to her new toddler routine and even has a friend named Angie who is tiny. She may be a midget. I can't tell. Ellie is at least 4 inches taller than her. I wanted to take a picture of them the other day, but then the teachers told me something about not being able to photograph the other children because I didn't have a release form from their parents or some such nonsense. I can remember they days when there were no release forms... they were better. Anyway, she and Angie always sit together when they eat and apparently they eat the most in the class so it takes them the longest. Long after the all of the other children have finished, Ellie and Angie are there at the table together. Eating. The other day Grayson's mom told me that she was watching the children at breakfast and Grayson started walking around and taking food off of the other kids plates. Ellie gathered up all of her pancakes and held them to her chest until he passed. That's my girl.

Ellie added to her four-word vocabulary on Saturday night. I was reading a book from the Erwins called Peek-a-Who? There's a cut out that goes through to the next page of the book, but you can't see what's behind the first page until you turn it. Make sense? So there's Peek-a-Moo, Boo, Zoo, Choo-Choo, and You. I can now officially say I've memorized a book from cover to cover. So we were reading the book and as I was about to say "Peek-A... Moo", I heard this tiny "eek-a" from Ellie. Then I turned the page for Peek-a-Boo, and before I could say anything, she did it again - "eek-a". Then I called Lee in to hear it, and she quit doing it. But she's done it since then, so it wasn't a fluke. When you show her the book, she'll start saying "eek-a". I don't know that you can find "eek-a" in a Webster's, but I'll take it!

This paragraph is probably going to gross most of you out... don't say you weren't warned. For the past 2 weeks, we have had to completely strip Ellie's bed, wash her sheets and pajamas, and give her a bath because every morning a little brown fairy comes to visit her. The best morning occurred when I gave her blueberries and it turned her poo blue. The second best morning occurred when I gave her kidney beans, and I won't tell you what happened then. I don't know how to stop her. When I'm giving her a bath at night, she stands there with her skinny little legs and giant potbelly and I know where the contents of her belly are going to be in the morning - all over her crib. I have tried different diapers and different sizes. I wonder if they make a Ziplock bag for the waist down?

For all of you Dallas folks, you should try Cool Thursdays at the Dallas Arboretum. We went with the Hardemans on Thursday night for Danny's Birthday and had so much fun. We took a picnic and wine and saw a band called "Reality Bites" which played covers of 80's and 90's songs. There's a Billy Joel and an Eagles tribute band coming up soon so we may have to go back.