Jordan versus the Super Buffet

Friday night I had to silence a craving for greasy, salty, junky Chinese buffet. It's been YEARS since I've indulged in such awful food, and Jamie said he'd tried this place for lunch and it wasn't too bad. Ever since, I've been craving it.

Anyway, this is about Jordan, not me. She's kind of going through a picky-eater phase. She's had Chinese food before, but has never been to a buffet, of any sort. When we walked in and saw aisles and aisles of food, I was like uh-oh, Jordan is going to want everything and not eat anything. She did want everything, and she ate it. All of it: beef broccoli, green beans, teriyaki chicken (kids will eat anything on a stick), stuffed potatoes. She ate a large plate of food, some of Daddy's food, a bowl of ice cream with a cookie, another plate of food (fruit and jello), and she made sure she wasn't shorted her fortune cookie when we got home. When we left and were walking to the car, her parting comment was "But, I'm still hungry!"

Friends and Babies

It's so much fun having house guests. Even with our somewhat cramped quarters. Our good friends the Cargil's came to visit us this past weekend. It was their first time to meet Jacob, and my first time to see Greyson since his birth. What a blast that baby is! I think if you look up baby boy in the dictionary, you'll find Greyson. He's happy and oh so playful. He talks and talks, jumps and bounces, and is all over the place. And he's a tank. Props to LaShelle and Jeremy for their upper body strength and stamina; that kid wore me out after just a few minutes of holding him.
We mostly hung out and played with the babies. Jordan is on a Memory Game kick. Morning, noon, and night we played Memory with her. Then LaShelle and I had a game and tied :-) We sent the boys to the casino Saturday afternoon for some fun on their own and walked the kids to the park. Thank goodness we had decent weather for part of their stay. And I had fun playing with LaShelle's camera. She has a beautiful new Canon that I'm trying to forget about (it's so much faster than mine...) That night we stayed up "late" to watch the Hangover. What fun to hang out with adults!

Conveniences

Our family budget doesn't really allow for conveniences, aka luxuries for ME. I cook my own food, clean my own house, paint my own toes. But today, I paid someone else to wash my car, and it was the best $8 I've spent in a long time! We have this super old school car wash called Octopus, and there's a location right by Jordan's school. So after drop-off, Jacob and I went there. For $8 and 15 minutes of my time, they vacuumed, washed, windexed, and dried my car (even the cargo area). Now granted, it was wham bam, but they got my rims clean, which is the most labor intensive part of washing my car (I hate brake dust!) and for this, I was very impressed, and relieved that that's one less chore I have to do today.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is for the kids in our house. We usually make cookies, cards, and take a few pictures. This year was a princess ballerina V-day for Jo. She got some dress up clothes, a magic wand, some books....all PINK PINK PINK.

Jacob got some books and clothes, pictures framed for his room; it's not a big holiday for him yet. Jamie brought us home a bagel treat on his way back from running, and we all have a gorgeous day to enjoy outside after naptime. I wanted to try to get some pics of Jo in her red dress somewhere outside in pretty light. I'd heard that the Albuquerque Academy was a good place. Well, winter isn't its season, we'll have to try another time. And Jordan was not in the mood to stand still, so it was kind of a bust. And I'd packed all my gear! We had a nice, albeit chilly, time running around that gorgeous campus. After a fajita dinner at home, Jacob gave us the best V-day present of all: he slept through the night! 12 hours!

Dentist Disaster

Jordan's 6 month dental cleaning yesterday morning was an event. I'm convinced I will never fully understand kids this age. She's been to this dentist twice already, and has loved it. She calls their toothbrush a tickle toothbrush and likes it when the dentist counts her teeth. She likes the chair. She likes the free pink toothbrush she gets at the end. She doesn't flinch at the flossing. Piece o' cake.

First of all, the office staff in this place is unbelievable. They make the girls from Jersey Shore look professional. Super thick makeup, dyed teased hair, plunging necklines, tattoos, spike heels. The works. Kind of makes you wonder about the two dentists.... (both male) Then when one of them is reading me back my address to confirm that it hasn't changed, and she's like "Wow. That's a cool ass address!" Really? This is a pediatric office. Of course I've said every word in the book in front of my kids, but I think I'd do better in a doctor's office...

Anyway, the waiting area was literally 90 degrees. Maybe that's what set Jordan off. Or the loud Scooby-Doo movie with ghosts and monsters. (Again, probably not the best choice for a kids' dentist office) At any rate, when we were called back and it was time for Jordan to get in the chair, she FLIPPED OUT. Full throttle screaming and kicking (I had to take off her cowboy boots before she hurt someone), hysterical, tried to run out the door. Of course, Jacob had to add his two cents (he was already pissed about the hot waiting room). The hygienist was patient, let Jo feel the toothbrush, push the pedal, told her it was PINK PRINCESS (magic words to my child) bubblegum toothpaste; nothing worked. I had no idea what to do, I really thought we were going to have to leave, which meant next time would be 10X worse. But the hygienist called in a helper, a grandmotherly type, who talked Jordan down. After that, all was fine, she collected her prizes, and "played" dentist the rest of the day. Over and over that afternoon Jordan and I alternated between who was the dentist and who was the patient. I guess that's how little kids deal with scary stuff, they make a game out of it.