Here Comes the Child Bride

Claire informed me this morning that she had had a sleepover the night before and that they were getting married and moving "next door for 3 years"! (she showed me 3 fingers because she meant business) Don't I have like 13 more years to worry about that crap!? Who is this romeo? None other than..............................

...........................................................................Phineas of "Phineas and Ferb" fame. He's the dreamboat with the triangle for a head.


Before she would allow me to get her dressed for school, she scavanged a costume jewelry ring from my jewelry box and went into the bathroom with her white, longsleeved, flannel nightgown with ballerinas on it to say "I do" to Phineas. And that was that. She said their next step was to move out! I said, well aren't you going to miss me? Claire replied "It's only going to be for 3 years. I mean 3 days!" Where are you going to live? "Next door at Mr. Nathan's house." Who's going to tuck you in? "I won't need that anymore, I'm married now!".

WELL! So I guess we have a new 'family member' to welcome. The happy couple is registered at Disney.com

But I have to disclose that this was the scandalous scene when Mrs. Phineas was dropped off at preschool this morning and saw one Mr. Jack Cason, age 4. I guess the honeymoon is over triangle head!

You are Invited!

Together! Engaging Women/Empowering Girls

Be a Part of the Third Annual Together! Brunch Presented by EkonBenefits

Calling all St. Louis women, ages 10 to 110! Safe Connections invites you to join us on Saturday, May 1 for our celebration of the strength of women. Together! offers a morning of camaraderie culminating with the first-hand stories of successful women who are living exceptional lives. Get ready to be inspired, educated and entertained!

All proceeds benefit Safe Connections and its mission to reduce the impact and incidence of relationship violence and sexual assault through education, crisis intervention, counseling and support services. This event is made possible by our sponsors:

Presenting Sponsor: EkonBenefits • Silver Sponsor: Missouri Foundation for Health • Bronze Sponsor: S.M. Wilson & Co.

Meet This Year's Together! Panelists

Holly Cunningham, owner of Holly Berry Baking Company

Natalie Hornsby, 24-year-old marketing guru behind the wildly popular Zhu Zhu Pets

Kim Massie, renowned R&B and jazz singer

This year's "Oprah style" panel discussion will be preceded by musical entertainment by vocalist Chi Mathias, a silent auction featuring everything from travel packages and one-of-a-kind experiences to great gifts for Mother's Day and Father's Day, a chance to purchase raffle tickets and a delicious and healthy brunch.

When: 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturday, May 1, 2010

Where: Sheraton Clayton Plaza Hotel

7730 Bonhomme Avenue

St. Louis, Missouri 63105

Cost: $50 adults; $25 youth (25 and under)

RSVP: Online now or contact Deb Cottin at 314.646.7500 x101

I've gone every year and I usually fill a table with girls I used to counsel at St. Vincent Home for Children. St. Vincent no longer houses adolescent girls any longer, so this is a good year to host a table of family and friends. This is such an empowering, positive event. Plus you get  to have a yummy brunch, bid on fun silent auction items (Fleur de Liz Designs will probably be featured!), and hang out with me! I hope you will RSVP with me directly to sit at my table. You can send me your check for your seat at my home address: 54 Francis Avenue, Valley Park, MO 63088.

the countdown begins...

look! claire can write her name. she just thought you should know there are 11 shopping days left until her 4th birthday!

Pinkies Up!

After work today I took Claire to "The London Tea Room" for lunch. I told her it would be like a real tea party like in Alice in Wonderland. We had Cream Tea; a real china pot full of tea (Monk's blend) and all of accoutrements - sugar, cream, authentic blueberry scones with strawberry jam and devonshire cream. Claire got a kick out of having me pour her a real cup of tea. I let her add all the cream and sugar she wanted. She didn't really like it, but she loved the scone and kept saying "Can we come back here tomorrow?" and doing these fancy hand gestures like a princess. It was so sweet. We split a croque monsier for lunch and brought a huge piece of chocolate cake home for Mike.

I prefer Jabbawokey

Try explaining to Claire after leaving the theater where we saw "Alice in Wonderland", that although that lady in the lobby's hair bears a striking resemblance to Johnny Depp's 'Mad Hatter', we shouldn't point and scream that outloud.

And if you were Mike, who was the only one not in shock and able to respond. You would start with something like "Good observation honey but that might make someone mad."

Nana asked Claire this morning what her favorite part of the movie was. Claire's immediate response was "the part where Alice gives the big monster his eyeball back and he licks her boo boo." Nana replied "his eyeball back?! That sounds like a very interesting movie!"

Oh! And now Mike wants to name our next kid Alice.

our kid is a genius

Claire had an annual evaluation from Parents As Teachers last week. Our representative, Ms. Karin, whom we love for numerous reasons - one of them being her adorable son Jack who is also in Claire's preschool class, came over to go over the results. I don't have the paperwork in front of me, but if I did I'm sure it says somewhere "Claire is a friggin' genius. Officially." And Mike and I are like "DUH!" :)

She scored at the 6 year range in language and speech! 5 year range for object comprehension (or something like that) She was the only kid that Ms. Karin answered correctly what the picture of a thermometer was AND said it properly!

I didn't realize how quickly my child was learning, she is really smart. We've been writing letter and doing sounds together and she know ALL of her letters. She can write them and knows their names (we're still working on all the sounds. everything usually says "bah or keh". I taught her fun little tricks about C and G, M and W and R and P because those pesky letters can be tricky!

I'm beaming with joy for my little brainiac.

identity crisis

As I was dropping Claire off at preschool this morning she said hi to one of her classmates Noah. I remembered there being another Noah in her class and asked which one that was. She said "There's Noah and Noah Finn. That was Noah". I asked her how she knew the difference? She said "Because they're two different people." (Duh mom!) I said - but how can you tell them apart? and she goes "They're like Sami and Jack. They don't match." !!!!!

I thought that was so cute! and made perfect sense!

On a sour note - I got a call from Cindy this morning that she knocked her teeth on a bookshelf and school. Mike and Cindy had to take her to Mike's dentist because she was complaining that they hurt and her two front teeth were loose. Thankfully the dentist said she'll be fine and she has no trauma to the area. He also noted that Claire obviously takes very good care of her teeth! Mike is so proud :)