Guest Blogger Gracie Malone: "A Gracie Flower"

Yesterday, I picked flowers with Mommy.  We found the white flowers in our garden.  We picked sixty.  I like them because they are white.

I love the pink flowers.  I found them by where we turn the sprinkler on.  I need to ask before I go back there again.   

We put them in a little cup that is gold.  Then we put them in my room on my desk. 

Now we are going to talk about princesses.  I like my princess water bottle that we bought at the dollar store.  That is all I want to say about princesses.

Finally some great weather

Today the kids and I had a wonderful day. We ran some errands in the morning, but then spent the rest of the day outside. We finished our planting, went on a really long walk, played on our neighbors swingset, and then ate dinner outside.

Andrew was acting like quite the big boy today.  He kept walking into the bathroom saying, "I pottty!" and trying to take off his pants.  So we would put him on the potty and he would "try" to go. 

Also, Andrew was banging on the china cabinet glass and after telling him to stop twice I asked, "Do you need a timeout?"  Andrew paused, said "Yeah", and walked over to stairs (our time out spot) and took a seat.

Now I know you all are thinking that Andrew is surely a genius.  So I will tell you that he also drank bathwater, repeatedly slammed his hand in a drawer and got ketchup in his eye.



Grace will be guest blogging about today at some point this week.  Stay tuned!

Grace's Last Ballet Class

Last week Gracie had the last ballet class of the season.  The parents could come and watch, so my mom and I came to see the performance.  We had a little bit of drama when Grace decided she didn't want to perform and wanted to sit on the sidelines and watch.  I let that go on for about 10 minutes, then I told her that I was leaving.  She threw a fit and then agreed to perform. 

  She jumped right into the performance and did a great job.  Here she is pretending to be a doll, so she is frozen in place.  She took it very seriously.

She won't be taking dance class this summer.  She will be too busy with her swimming, tennis, safety and sports classes.  But in an effort to increase my chances of achieving my lifelong goal, I will probably sign her up for ballet class after school next year.  My lifelong goal is to keep her OUT of Irish dance, but you all knew that.

Catching Up

My lack of blog posts the last few weeks is due to an extremely busy work schedule.  Don't worry, I am not shutting down the blog.  Whew!  Plus, Kevin was out of town for a few days this week, which makes life a little bit more hectic.  He was in Miami.  For work.  Seriously. 

One night he said, "I am going to head down to South Beach tonight and walk around."  To which I replied, "Why don't you head down to Neiman Marcus and walk around the jewelry department."  I am a very loving wife.  I never ask for anything. 

Anyways, I am able to work on a post now since my work computer just got a virus.  It appears to be quite sick.  I am taking that as a sign to shut it off until next week. 

So what have we been up too? Well, spring is finally here! And we are getting anxious to clean up the yard and get some flowers planted.  That is on the agenda for this week. 

Mothers Day was last week.  I had a great day!  I slept in until 9:30.  I stayed in my PJs until 11:30.  And then I had a drink at 4:00.  Any time Bridget gets a drink before the kids go to bed is a happy day for Bridget.

Anyways, we had some great weather earlier this week and the kids had a ball outside.

"Hark!" As Andrew would say.  (We don't know what "Hark" means, but we think he means park, like play outside at the park.)  They love the slide, cozy coupe, sidewalk chalk and frog sandbox.  By the way, my entire backyard is filled with plastic. 

They are also fond of the new red ball I bought them.  They love it so much, they cannot handle sharing it with one another.

So I decided, it was actually MY ball and they could not play with it unless they were sharing.  I wrote my name on it.

Grace was not happy about that.

After the timeout that quickly followed that little display of attitude, I got out the bubbles.  And it took about 90 seconds for the bottle to get spilled.  I love summer.

Guest Blogger Andrew Malone: More Tips from the Ladies Man

Last fall, I gave you some tips for picking up the ladies.  Here is a quick update. 

1.  Learn to play with their toys.  Ladies don't like train sets and trucks.  They like strollers, princesses and tea sets.  Borrow these toys.  Figure it out.  And act like you like it.

The girls will either think you are pretty awesome (since you like the same toys they do) or they will try to take them from you. Then you can be like, "Hey there sweetie, sure you can play this girly toy, AND me."

2.  Get a good sad face.  Any lady over 12 years old will fall for it every time.  At daycare, when my mom drops me off, I get this big pouty look on my face and stick out my lower lip.  Usually, one of the daycare ladies scoops me up and takes me over to the rocking chair for a long cuddle.  When you do this,  DO NOT cry loudly.  The older kids will hear in the next room and that will totally ruin your reputation.  

3.  Get comfortable showing off your body.  I learned to unzip my jammies and I like to leave them open a bit to show off my chest.  I am getting used to this now, so when I am older I will be confident in showing of my manly physique.

4. Hang out where the ladies hang out. 
Do the ladies hang out at a baseball game?  No. 
Do they hang out at the hardware store?  No. 
They hang out at ballet class and the mall.  That is where you should be, my friend.

5. Chase them.  My mom probably told you that she caught me at daycare chasing a little girl around the room.  I do it all the time.  There is a fine line here, some ladies may find this creepy or scary.  But if the little sweetie squeals with laughter, try chasing her around the room for a little bit.  Not sure what to do if you actually catch her though.  Ideas anyone?