I'll be the first person to admit it: I am not a fan of balloons in my house. Balloons have a purpose and I'm all for them being decorations at a celebration. They are festive! So is crepe paper -- and no one would ever accuse a person of being a killjoy or a merriment killer for taking down some crepe paper after the party is over. Why is it then, that a person who wants to pop balloons and throw them in the trash after the party is done is a terrible person?

As you can probably guess, I am that person who pops the balloons and is accused of being no fun or called mean (or both). I'm fun. I swear. It's just... Ballooons get in the way. I don't like running into them. I don't like tripping on string. I don't like the kids going bonkers slapping them around (and in the process driving the dog absolutely crazy). So after a day, yes, I pop them.

There was one particular balloon -- a Steelers balloon from the last time they won the Superbowl -- that stuck around FOREVER. Months. I got so sick of it. It was a mylar one and didn't seem to be loosing any helium, so I very ceremoniously threw it out (maybe I went a bit Elaine versus George's toupee on it though). That moment has never left Bridget's brain. It's burned into her mind. I murdered the poor balloon! Plus, Brendan always talks about how I was mean and popped that particular one. There is no forgetting.

It's become a bit of a joke (with an admitted kernel of truth) in our house that Mom Hates Balloons. Fine, it's an exaggeration that perhaps I get a bit sensitive about but whatever.

Of course, this joke has gotten out. Bridget recently went to a schoolmate's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. There was a balloon on the table, but none tied on the back of the chairs. I randomly noticed that the decorations were different for the other parties but didn't really think about it. Well, it turns out that Bridget told the birthday girl at school some point earlier that she wasn't allowed to have a balloon. And that turned into: since she wouldn't be able to have one, it wouldn't have been fair for anyone to have them at the party. Thus, no balloons. So now I feel awful. I mean, it's a bit hilarious to think about, but kids, I'm sorry if I'm the reason there's no balloons at your next party.

We have been pretty darn busy over the past month. 

We took the kids to see The Muppets just after Thanksgiving. Bridget really loved it (and so did Brendan and I), and now we're watching The Muppet Show! thanks to Netflix. Johnny would have made it through the whole movie quite nicely had the previews not gone on so long. He loved Ms. Piggy and her karate chops. 

We went to a fancy holiday party at the National American History Museum. It was pretty awesome. Saw the Jefferson Bible and Brendan totally geeked out. The next morning we were (some of us more than others) reminded that we are not in our 20s anymore.

We did a little bit of decorating, but not too much until...

The basement got finished! Brendan and I put in a lot of time putting up walls (him) and painting and painting (mostly me, but also him) and getting trim up (him). And still more painting. Carpet was ordered and installed just in time...

.. for the MuskoX-mas celebration at our house. And though I mis-read the directions on how long the ham would take to heat up, it was still very successful. 

Now we just have some final preparations for Christmas. I think our artificial tree looks pretty darn good. 

The first day went pretty well.

Last night was our first Kindergarten (preparation) event. Bridget and I went to the school, sat in the "Cafetorium" and met the teachers. About fifteen minutes in, all the kids went back to the classrooms with one teacher and the assistant. While some of the children were hesitant, Bridget was not. She was the furthest from the exit and the first one there. I think it's safe to say that she is excited. It's a little disheartening to know that Kindergarten isn't quite as much fun as it was when I was five - but I know that she's more than ready. I am certain that as we go along, there will be certain things about the system (and certain assumptions) which will annoy me, but I am hopeful that they'll be kept to a minimum.

Bridget turns five tomorrow. I can hardly believe it.

And now -

Happy Birthday!

Thanks to Brendan, January and February pictures of the kids are up. 

Some of my favorites:

There are a lot of photos that haven't been uploaded lately. January. February. 

So here are some taken with my phone the past few months:

pre-Super Bowl

at the playground

Johnny's "mad-face"

an outfit of choice by Bridget.

(I've been busy(ish) over at paperstitch.net, but mostly we've been doing boring, normal family-type stuff.) 

The past few months, Bridget has become completely obsessed with the Transformers. Not the new ones, but the classic ones. At some ridiculous hour (4am or so) the old school episodes are on and so very excitedly, Brendan set us up to record them and he and Bridget faithfully watched them all. And then there were no more new ones to watch. They went back to the beginning and started showing the first (and second?) series again.

So Bren has taken it upon himself to acquire the rest of the classic episodes. Maybe 40 or so of them in total. Every evening it's pretty much the highlight of her day. Today, before putting on another one, I asked (ok, I whined a little) "Do we have to watch Transformers?" and she looked at me and said, "Um, Yeah." (DUH!)

I've been signing the theme song in my head for weeks. It's so damn catchy.

I'm also convinced the Autobots weren't smarter than the rest (Decepticons, Insectacons, Constructacons... so many -cons, I can't keep them all straight), but just luckier.

I do appreciate Bridget's need to be a completist on the subject and to have to watch them all and to watch them all in order.

Maybe we can get her hooked on She-Ra or Voltron next...

Somehow it feels more complicated raising a daughter than a son. Maybe it's just because Bridget is older, but there just seem to be variables.

I try to keep things relatively balanced and to let Bridget decide what it is she's interested in. Soccer? Fine. Wearing dresses and skirts whenever, where ever? Also fine. Perhaps my biggest pet peeve is the dominance of pink in "girl" things. Pink on its own is just fine, don't misunderstand me. I don't mind it in doses. But I do wonder if it has to be absolutely everywhere. (I'm annoyed too at "boy" stuff that has to have firetrucks and heroes and baseball on everything, but that's for another time) When she was a baby I went out of my way to buy non-pink items. (Now there's also a fight against the idea that everything has to look like a glitter factory exploded on everything. )

We've also got a wide variety of toys around: dolls, cars, blocks, Transformers, dressing up clothes, kitchen stuff... Both kids play with what strikes their fancy, but I find myself more concerned with being sure that Bridget isn't consumed 100% by princesses and Barbie pink, than I am that Johnny plays with dolls as well as cars (he does). Maybe it's just because I am a girl, too. Or that he's still a baby. Who knows. Her interests are wide-ranging and I'd really like to keep it that way.

She and I talk about how perhaps Snow White should have at least said "Thank you" to the dwarfs for building her an awesome bed of gold and taking care of her, instead of just hopping on a horse and riding off with a prince she didn't really know all that well. I'm pretty sure I don't have a lot to worry about on the subject for now because Bridget has told me that, "if someone comes into my room who I don't know and kisses me and wakes me up, I'll punch them in the face!" Not quite the point I was trying to make, but I'll take it for the moment.

Recently, I finished reading How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine of all Time and it had me wishing I had some copies to have around in about 7-10 years. I wasn't a subscriber to Sassy myself, but I did read quite a few of the articles (and JANE as an adult) and the idea of the magazine I think is a really great one. Next up on my list is Cinderella Ate my Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture (sidenote: subtitles might be out of control). I think the two will pretty much make the same point: that being "girly" is awesome, but so is anything else so why limit yourself.

She starts school soon, and I know that means giving up a bit of control over influences. I'm trying to pack them in there while I can! (I'm probably over-thinking it all anyway.)