OHBOYOHBOYOHBOY

We here at the Drueke & Provost household are all abuzz with the anticipation of Next Week. I know what you're thinking, but while we're very patriotic, we're not that into Independence Day. No, our little Snoopy dances are due to the impending arrival of these three characters:


It's true that we are also excited to get to see Richard, Keith, Chris and Sonya, but we only get them briefly and we know they're only coming for the children anyway. I'm sure it sounds very odd to most rational adults that we would actually seek to have a house filled with teenage girls for a week but it is only a week. Then we'll send them packing. We plan to remind their parents about this when our own little darlings reach their sullen, door-slamming stage, so that maybe we can send them packing, too. At least for a week.

Meanwhile, we're looking forward to all manner of exciting food, trips about town and randomly shouting things like "turn that noise down!" Kate and Sarah are beside themselves with excitement. Especially Kate, who is beginning to grasp the concept of time and gets that the girls' arrivals are less than one week away now. Speaking of that, I have some chores to complete. Safe travels girls! We know you're coming, so we'll probably bake a cake.

PS - check out Ro* and Mikey before they were so uber-cool (bangs!):

Danger

I look in the bathroom mirror and spotted the tip of a tiny blonde head standing behind me. I turned around to find Sarah standing there, wide-eyed. "Good morning, beautiful girl!" I exclaimed moving to hug her. "Mom" she said, putting a hand up. "I have to tell you something." I stepped back. When she was certain she had my full, serious attention, she continued -

"Do not give me any Emergen-C or vitamins right now. It's very dangerous, you see..." I waited. "It's very dangerous because, because, because..." I waited some more. Sarah doesn't stutter but she can take an awfully long time to spit it out. "Because, you shouldn't get too close to me. It's very dangerous, you see, because..." For pity's sake. "Because I have...." I stood silently. Blinking. "Because I have the hiccups." She broke out into a huge smile, hiccuped for real, then giggled for quite some time while I inflicted my hug on her, insisting a hug can cure hiccups. It didn't.

Now We Are Six

Six years ago today, on a Saturday, even, Katherine Louise was born. This year, I decided 2 birthday parties 6 weeks apart was too much. I know, it sounds like a decent amount of time between parties, and indeed, it's what I've thought each previous year. It isn't. So, we will do one big `un, early next month, between Kate and Sarah's real birthdays.

That doesn't mean the real deal can't be special. Kate awoke to a bedroom filled with balloons and a giant, singing card with a song specifically sung to Katherine (none of that stuff ever has Kate. It's always Katherine or Katie, I don't know why). She had a special Birthday Princess ribbon to wear all day, dealyboppers touting her birthday-ness, and, per her request, a great many Tiana-related decorations.

I love to do a big deal of a cake for birthdays, but this year I was kind of thinking I'd go light on myself. Usually I start about 2 weeks out, draw what I want to do, visit Cake Art, make any pre-decor items I can and then spend some time each night of the week leading up to the big day working on it. These past 2 weeks have been insanely busy. Kate wanted Tiana, so I thought I'd get the cake topper and throw some sprinkles on a cake - ta-dah!
Wednesday evening, while I prepared dinner, Kate sat on the kitchen floor at my feet and described in startling detail, each cake she's had since her 2nd birthday. I knew then that previous years me had totally screwed this week me and I cursed that little beyotch. I had no plan. So I pulled out all the goodies I had and decided to make do. Then, the cake I baked last night fell. Oh how it fell. So I had to get up this morning and re-bake. Then I discovered, this morning, that the box that had arrived Thursday was not the cake topper, etc, I thought it was because, in fact, Jeremiah'd forgotten to actually place the order, after asking me to let him do it so he could add a couple things. So I got to go to Cake Art after all! I did my best swamp theme, but what was initially meant to be Spanish moss turned out to be frog mucous. When the container says "gel" it means it. Since I was primarily going with frogs for decoration, I was alright with that. The end result was not what I would have done had I taken my usual 2 weeks, but Kate seemed genuinely happy.

Kate's birthday dinner request was...spaghetti. After caking and cleaning from around 7:00 until 3PM, Jeremiah took over for the extra special dinner. Steve and Joy joined us, and gave Kate her gift, a beautiful homemade Tiana dress (she's showing it off in the photo at the top of this post). Kate sat at the head of the dinner table and after we all toasted the birthday girl she said "Thank-you all so much for coming to my birthday celebration!"

Sarah tells us she wants a "school cake" for her birthday. This is really wide open. I have 6 weeks...I wonder if I'll manage to pull it off this time.

Kate loved all the cards and gifts and phone calls. She had a great day, and passed out hard at bedtime, worn out from all the fun. Now, to plan the girls' combo party. That's Kate talking to Aunt Sonya on the phone. She spent a lot of time on the phone today - yammer yammer yammer.

Kate on Fast Food

This week Kate has been attending summer camp at Glenlake Park, and when I pick her up and head over to daycare to fetch Sarah we pass a McDonald's. Kate has never eaten at McDonald's, but has decided she doesn't like it. She makes puking sounds when we pass it. This is one time when her denouncing a particular food without trying it works for me. Here is what Kate had to say on the topic of McDonald's today:

Kate: McDonald's tricks children into eating their food by giving away toys and stuff with it.
Me: That's true, but lots of fast food restaurants do that.
Kate: I know, like Chic-fil-A.
Me: Yep, they do it, too.
Kate: They do and I love it!
Me: How is Chick-fil-A good for doing that but McDonald's bad?
Kate: Because Chick-fil-A gives away good stuff, not things that poison kids.

Dear Chick-fil-A,
You can drop the cow campaign, I have your new tag line!

Monkey: Terror-Inducing Watch Dog

The bathtub in the guest room has had difficulty draining as long as we've lived in this house. We hate it. Somehow, though, in nearly 5 years of residing here, we have never fixed it. Even when we did the addition and had a plumber wandering around here on a regular basis, we never asked him to fix that tub. I have no idea why.

In a few short weeks, we will welcome Ro*, Abigail and Mikey for a week of teen-age girls. We're very excited, but seriously, it was time to fix that tub. So I called the plumbers with the most recommendations on my neighborhood listserv. It's a fraternal pair, and they came by this very evening. When they knocked on the door, I went and let them in with Monkey at my heels. He did not bark. He danced about in a sort of, developmentally delayed spasmodic manner, but there was no barking. They went directly to the bathroom and as I explained the tub's issue, he sat attentively by, presumably protecting me, his beloved human, from these total strangers.

The Frazier Brothers diagnosed the problem inside of 5 minutes and set to work correcting it. Jeremiah and I were both preparing food in the kitchen, and I could hear them testing the drain. "I think they're already done." I commented to Jeremiah. He rounded the corner to check up on them and I heard him say "is he bothering you?"

Monkey, fearless guardian of the household, the one to beware, sat in the lap of one of the brothers as he ran water through the newly corrected drain. Monkey smiled up at Jeremiah. I have to believe he was trying to show Jeremiah that he'd taken one of the intruders down for us, and was holding him there until the police arrived. This is my assumption. I feel safe.

Kate in Bloom

Today is Kate's last day of kindergarten. They held a "moving on" ceremony on Wednesday, and dubbed the children official first graders. Kate was beside herself. I missed the ceremony. It was at 9AM and I had a 10:00 meeting so I had to get to the office. At 9:30, my 10:00 meeting was rescheduled to 10:45 and I became grumpy. Still, Jeremiah took pictures for me and for you, since you missed it too.


The kids all marched in processional style, and sat up on the stage. They performed a little song Kate had practiced and practiced at home about school being out (not the Alice Cooper one). They did some tribal dance, I don't' know, but it clearly went with the blooming theme.

Then they had a little party in their classrooms, and Kate's teachers presented her and her classmates with a real-live metal of achievement, which in 2 days, Kate has removed from her neck only for sleeping. So now, I have a 1st grader and a Pre-K kid. Yikes.