O Frabjous Day!

Lilith Fair is returning in 2010!

I went to Lilith Fair in 1999 with my friends Laura and Marilyn in San Diego, and we had an amazing time. The show was great and atmosphere was so girl-power-licious that I am so in for next year. I'm not sure where we'll even be living by summer 2010, but I'd like to extend the invite here and now nonetheless. Who's coming with me? (Or who will let me stay at their house and go with me at a venue near them should we relocate to the boondocks?)

Happy Birthday!

Today was Kevin's birthday. He celebrated by taking a final and studying for another. I know, he needs to find a better way to celebrate!

Here on homefront, Stellan and I made Kevin a delicious chocolate cheesecake (not a true cheesecake, but so delicous you would never notice) and told him we love him lots. We really do, by the way. I know that since this is a Stellan-centric blog I tend to focus on Kevin's wonderful parenting, but I want the whole blogosphere to know that he is an amazing husband as well. He gets up when Stellan wakes up so I can stay in bed a little longer, he does the dishes, he does most of the cleaning (excepting the constant picking up of toys, which I have a greater opportunity to do since I'm home all day) and likes to make breakfast. In addition, he tries to take care of Stellan when I want to watch American Idol, appreciates my sarcastic humor, rides his bike to campus so I can have the car (which can be a sacrifice when it 85 degrees and raining), never minds when I blog instead of doing something more productive, and happily stipulates that sometimes I know more than him about some things.

I got him a super awesome birthday present, but since it hasn't arrived yet and deserves its own post anyway, you'll just have to wait to hear about it. In the meantime, enjoy this fun birthday challenge: Kevin decided that instead of putting the full number of candles to represent his age in his birthday cake, he would simply represent it in binary code. To decipher the code, you need to know that the four candles on the right represent bits - placemarkers to ensure that the other three candles, circled for your convenience, show the correct number easily.

Bonus points to whoever gets the right number first in the comments!

Happy birthday, you big ol' nerd of a husband!

Cheap Thrills

Tonight after dinner, Stellan realized that Kevin's IBC root beer bottle cap makes a funny noise if you drop it on the table. Soon Daddy started hiding the bottle cap in one hand and then the other. Before you know it, that bottle cap was magically appearing behind Stellan's ear. Then Daddy showed Stellan how to spin it on its side. Could the fun ever end?

We spent about 30 minutes sitting at the table laughing and playing with a bottle cap. Will someone please remind me why we even think about buying him "real" toys?

Fire Station Open House

Saturday was the annual Dania Beach Fire Station Open House. This event is the perfect example of how cute the town we live in can be. The fire station is on the same corner as Town Hall and the post office. (Yep, the one and only post office in Dania Beach.) And that is three blocks away from our house. Very cozy, and charming in its way.

The open house was cool, although we didn't take advantage of all the activities. I didn't feel like wrestling Stellan through a tour of the station and didn't want to wait in the long line of kids waiting to paint one of the engines. But the one thing we couldn't resist was to go for a ride around the block on the engine. Totally worth the wait, and Stellan and I even got to sit up front. He got to press the button to honk the horn, which he did with great relish. Definitely a thrill for us all, but especially for our highly excitable Stellanator.

No Explanation Needed

This is how every TV theme song should be interpreted.

Come, They Told Me

Nothing groundbreaking to report, but I couldn't resist these photos. Stellan was somewhat reticent to finish the transition from pajamas to day clothes, but apparently couldn't live without the knit cap he found. He looked pretty awesome marching around the house drumming on his blocks canister.

Girls Camp - Finally!

I made it back from Girls Camp alive, and happy at that. Although we had our fair share of near-disasters (25 mph headwinds while canoeing, the camp forgetting to pack my girls food for 2 days and nighttime temps that dipped into the low 40's - which is like Antarctica to Floridians, just to name a few), we had a great time on our canoe trip. The girls rose to the challenge and learned a lot about teamwork and unity. We also took advantage of Holy Week to spend time studying the scriptures and participating in some great devotionals.

I took the 15-year-olds (4th year campers) with me for the first three days on the aforementioned canoe adventure, and we joined the other 60 girls back at the main camp on Wednesday afternoon. We all enjoyed showers and food cooked by someone else. There were plenty of wild late night dance parties, alligator sightings and outdoor activities. Surprisingly, none of my girls opted to canoe in the lake during free time.

All in all, it was a blast. One of my own personal favorite parts was spending time with the other 4th year counselor, Valerie. She is so funny and awesome. It was like meeting my own best camp buddy. Thanks, Val, for making me laugh harder than I have in a pretty long time. And go Girls Camp!

Happy Easter!

Stellan wants to wish you a very happy Easter! And he also wants you to notice how cute he looks in this new outfit. We've been looking at it hanging in the closet for 2 years - yes, longer than he's been alive - for the suit to fit him. And coincidentally, it just happened to fit him in time for Easter Sunday. Would it be sacreligious to say that it's an Easter miracle?

Just To Tide You Over

I'm ready to hit the road in the morning, on my way to Girls Camp. I'll be back on Saturday with stories of adventure and drama, hopefully more of the former than of the latter, but with 80 teenage girls, I make no promises.

So in a effort to assuage your withdrawal, here's a slideshow of how we spent our last night together as a family. Special thanks to my mother-in-law Susan, who was photographer (as soon as she got her jaw off the floor) and will be helping with Stellan while I'm gone.

Project Runway Is Back!

After shocking the world with my confession that I watch "Dancing With the Stars" (come on, people - we don't have cable!), I'm here to tell you that I love Project Runway. So I am joined by millions of disappointed fans who have been waiting for the verdict on Season 6. The drama has apparently been resolved, and it will air on Lifetime. I know, you're thinking, "You don't have cable in the first place, so why should you care if it airs on Bravo or Lifetime"? The answer is that Lifetime streams all its most popular shows, and Bravo does not. So that means I'll get to watch Season 5, as long as they continue to use the Internet to make my life better. I never thought I'd say this, but [cue sappy music and my sassiest mocking tone} thank you, Lifetime! You really are television for women - women like me!