It’s not every girl who gets a birthday post at 2 years 2 weeks (probably because those other parents are more on the ball than I). Can I use the excuse that she has been two for a very long time?  

Anya reveals more and more of her toddler personality these days, type A/alpha female. She can still be so delightful when she’s not yelling for fastidiousness’ sake or assuming she has greater privilege than others in the house… Ah, sounds just like a toddler, no?

Remember back when…..?*

And now, what a big girl she is!!!

happy belated birthday!!

*you can revisit her newborn stage with Twelve Days of Anya and And Baby Makes 8

~ I popped in a new CD Monday night. Richard and I exchanged knowing smiles as the soaring music prompted others to rack their brains searching for the title. A moment later Elena started jumping & shouting for joy. “John Adams! John Adams! It’s the music from John Adams!”  Her enthusiasm waned a tiny bit when she realized it was just the soundtrack and not the DVDs. (If you want a tiny snippet of the title track, it’s on Itunes but those 30 seconds don’t do it justice)

~Ephraim can spell his name, and can write E p h r n i m. His a’s aren’t quite there yet, so he sticks to Eph most of the time. I love it when my children pick something up without me pushing them in that direction.

~I had a double del cheese burger (no tomato, no onion, add bacon) at Del Taco at our Fake-o de Mayo outing Tuesday evening. Everyone else enjoyed stuffing themselves with the 3/ $1 tacos. Macho rootbeers were slurped by all.

~Richard told Emma that we were going out for Cinco de Mayo, and that everyone eats five packets of mayonaise to celebrate the deposing of a dictator. “Do we each get five, or do we have to share?” she asked.  Between giggles I made Richard pronounce Mayo like the spanish month and not the clinic, and she thought tacos might be okay after all.

~Anya lets me know when she wants to watch Lion-O and the gang by shouting “tuhcats ho!!!!” We’ve worked our way up to season 2 now, disc 1. I tell ya, they just don’t make cartoons like they used to…

~Richard’s statement of benefits arrived in the mail this week. It analyzes what his total compensation package is when one adds retirement, vacation and sick time, employer tsp match, employer health insurance portion, etc, to salary. His wages make up only 71% of that figure! It doesn’t take into account the benefits of the work car (like not having to pay for gasoline, insurance, maintenance), the health improvement program and all that good stuff. Let me tell ya, dear reader, the biggest things can’t even be measured on paper–my husband loves his job and he’s very good at what he does.

~Richard & I caught the Star Trek exhibit at the AZ Science Center last Saturday, just a day shy of them packing it up (for Portland?). Loved it, learned a lot, sat in all of the Enterprise D bridge chairs, cursed the occasionally malfunctioning audio guide. I think we’re on the verge of raising a family that loves both great series: trekkies and jedis, we are.

~I pounded out a rotating chart of daily household chores recently–for now Eph & Anya share a slot and Ken is subbing for them while he’s here. We have one copy downstairs on the side of the freezer and one upstairs underneath the hallway thermostat. Everyone is scheduled for each job once during the week, but the number of jobs any one person has varies.

Here’s what Wednesday looks like:

• Upstairs bathroom: Duncan
• Ducky bathroom: Emma
• Hand wash dishes: Cheanna
• Unload dishwasher: Téa
• Living room: Duncan
• Front room: Téa
• School room: Richard
• Kitchen & Dining room floor: Eph & Anya
• Loft–movies & games: Emma
• Loft–toys: Elena
• Stairs & hallway: Cheanna
• Laundry Day: Eph & Anya, R & T whites, special care items
• Bedroom Zone: Floor

~Reading the Book of Mormon around the dinner table eating Lil’ Drums last night was pretty cool. Can’t do that everynight, but we had no trouble getting everyone to sit down with a smile! 

~Now I’m off to eat some grilled chicken, watermelon balls, and steamed corn-on-the-cob.  Yummy and I had no hand in preparing any of it. Wait, no, I did the shopping, and I did use my hands for that  ;)