Lil' Missy's First Sleepover

In preparation to become parents (and because I had been promising for months), we had Lil' Missy over on Friday night to sleep over.  I had created a list of things to do while she was over, and we got right to it when she arrived, making signs to congratulate Mitch on his new job - "Your lucky Uncle Mitch" and "Your gonna like thes sins" (she got most of them spelled correctly, they were so cute!) and making chocolate chip cookies.

Mitch came home with pizza, we had some dinner, and I finished the baking while Mitch and Lil' Missy compared their skills on the Nintendo DS players (Mitch is an experienced player, while Lil' Missy just got hers for her birthday.  She's pretty good at the Pokemon!)  

After playing Cranium, getting ready for bed, and reading the next chapter in "The Wizard of Oz", Lil' Missy went to bed and Mitch began maybe the most important part of child-rearing:

Actually, he was just celebrating the new job.  Yay!  (But I do think this might be part of parenting - putting the kids to bed and pouring yourself a glass of the good stuff...only time will tell.....)

We anticipated an early wake-up call, and it came at 6:30am, when I heard the door to Lil' Missy's room open up and saw her peering into our bedroom.  We got up and made chocolate chip pancakes (yes, I realize we went a little chocolate overboard, but we're the aunt and uncle, and can overload her on chocolate) and bacon, then watched "Enchanted", all the while singing along with the songs.  Too bad we only know a few of the words.  Mitch did NOT sing along.  

After the movie and some more games (Sequence and Jenga), it was bathtime.  Lil' Missy was excited about the bubbles and the jets in the tub, and served up some delicious bubble shakes.

Once we were all dressed, out the door we went to return the kid to her rightful owners, armed with cookies and chocolate cake (which I had managed to keep hidden from her until right before she left.  The girl goes absolutely mad over chocolate cake - the best description for it is the same one for the dad in "A Christmas Story" when they describe his excitement at the Christmas turkey).  

Mitch and I learned a few things while Lil' Missy was here:

• We don't really have any kid-friendly music.  Not that all of our music is obscene, but what do you listen to with a 6-year old?  My solution was Jimmy Buffett.
• We need to tighten our banisters before our kids start running around.
• TV really is the best invention EVER. 
• You have to plan to leave about 20 minutes before you actually want to leave, otherwise you will never be on time.
• You need to lock the door when you go to the bathroom so that people don't open it up to tell you that they got the game out of their DS.  (Mitch learned this the hard way at 6:30 this morning).
• We need better bath toys.  
• We need blackout curtains on the baby's room so that he/she sleeps in LATE.  

Thanks to Mr. Fix-It and Al for letting us borrow their child for the night!  We had a great time!

A Day with her Grandma & Auntie K

On Thursday, Lil' Missy, Grandma M and I spent the day together, since Grandma M was watching Lil' Missy and I was off work.  We started our day at one of the many apple orchards in the area.  

We started out just exploring the area, as there were lots of things to do and look at.  There were lots of cut-outs for the kids, a petting zoo, horse and pony rides, a corn maze, pumpkins, an old-fashioned apple peeler/corer, apple tastings, a store and bakery, and of course, apples.  
After a run-around and a lot of "I want to do that!", we boarded the wagon to go to the orchard.
We had a good time filling our two bags, and Lil' Missy did a great job of finding good apples, although many of the lower ones were picked off.  I ended up climbing into a couple of trees to get the best apples towards the top.  I'm sure it was quite a sight, and am glad that I had my camera in my pocket so that no one could snap pictures of that.

It didn't take long to fill up our bags and head back to the pick-up wagon, which Lil' Missy claimed was her favorite part of the entire day.  She got a quick education on which tractors were the best ones (ALWAYS the green ones, NEVER the red ones).  
Lil' Missy waited patiently while Grandma M and I paid for and loaded our apples, then headed over for her pony ride.  She did a great job of holding on, and shouted a "Gracias!" to the kind man who helped her on and off the pony.
We ended the morning with a snack - fresh apple cinnamon donuts.  Oh, they were delicious.  
Afterwards, we headed for lunch.  Where would her favorite Grandma and Auntie take her?  Chuck-E-Cheese, of course!  I didn't snap any pics while I was there, because I was afraid to bring home all of the germs on my camera.  What a hotbed of bacteria that place is.  Lil' Missy, of course, was in her element, as she enjoyed running from game to game, plunking in her coins and collecting her tickets so she could purchase an Air Head and stickers when we left.  (Load her up with more sugar, is what I always say.)  The place was overflowing with kids, as everyone was off school, and I was relieved when the coins ran out and it was time to go.  I also was afraid the bad pizza was going to make me sick.  As soon as we got back to the house, the first thing I did was wash my hands.  Gross.  

What a fun day!