A wonderful birthday

Here's a play by play of an absolutely wonderful birthday.

5:30 am--Penelope wakes up to celebrate. I could have used a little more sleep. Chris got her some oatmeal, and we tried to snooze a little more.

6:15--Opening presents in the living room. Chris gave me an iPod a few weeks ago. He couldn't handle the wait. My last iPod had an unhappy ending with an exploding applesauce in the diaper bag. My parents sent a really nice video camera. They must want me to start vlogging...or maybe they want to talk to Penelope. Nah, they want to see me, I'm sure. My mother-in-law sent a great journal called My Quotable Kid. She even put a photo of Penelope in the front. I already have things I want to write in it.

7:00--Eating at Colossal Cafe. The irony is they can barely fit 14 people. This cafe didn't quite live up to the hype. There's always lines waiting to order, and it has been on Diners Drive Ins and Dives. I didn't find the famous flapper (a yeasty pancake) to be worth the rave reviews.
8:00--Garage Sale Heaven!! We hit the jackpot. I made Chris do a u-turn when I saw a little red wagon. Turns out the wagon wasn't for sale, but they had tons of kid's clothes. I got about a dozen 2T outfits suitable for fall and winter for $4. Score!

10:00--Target Children's Book Fair. It was much bigger than I expected, but the crowds were pretty lite. Penelope was very excited to take a bus from the parking lot to the fair. We watched a half hour of Lambchop. Chris had to explain why Lambchop is a cultural icon because I've never seen the old show. It is the daughter of the creator who now tours with Lambchop. She had a great singing voice, even if her jokes were pretty lame. At one point she called all the kids onto the stage. Penelope started running up there, but once we got there she changed her mind. We stood on the edge and participated. See us below in the yellow box.
Then we spent a couple of hours running around the festival. All sorts of great crafts, performers and books books books. They had great little book nooks all decked out in the Target logo. We had a great time reading books together.

Noon: all of that advertising must have worked because we headed to Target for some grocery shopping. Penelope loves to go "chopping" Every day after day care she asks "We go chopping?!"

2:00 Lacey and I went shopping during Penelope's nap. I haven't seen Lacey all summer so it was great to catch up. She brought me to her heaven: TJ Maxx. I was a little overwhelmed. Sadly, we both fell in love with a Nanette Lepore suit. It was originally $750, which makes the $250 seem like a good deal. Both of us came to our senses pretty quickly. That TJ Maxx can be a dangerous place!

4:00 Back home. Chris has cleaned the house and was making dinner. Great Aunt Janet also joined us for dinner. He made some of my favorite foods: blue cheese stuffed chicken, green bean casserole (hot dish to be a real minnesotan) and banoffee pie. Very few people here know about banoffee pie. My sister and I ate it in Scotland all the time. It is toffee mixed with bananas and whip cream on top. It is a dangerous recipe. Literally dangerous, not just to the waist line. Chris had to boil two cans of sweetened condensed milk for 2 hours to make toffee pudding. If too much water evaporates there's a chance the cans will blow up. I wanted him to wear goggles just in case! It is pretty amazing to see at the end. He opened the cans and out poured caramel colored thick toffee pudding. The cans were obviously expanded...kind of scary.

The pie before the whip cream! yum yum yum

6:30--A call from Aunt Carolynne AKA Elmo. Here's the great part about having a children's librarian in the family. Carolynne started singing Elmo's Song in her best Elmo voice, and Penelope went bonkers. She loved it and was very upset when I took the phone back. What the heck did mommy have to say to Elmo?!
Penelope and Lacey had a great time.
Now here's the funniest part of my birthday. Penelope was running around the room giving all of us high fives. Then all of a sudden she shoved a closed fist at me. Chris said "I think she is trying to give you a fist bump" Sure enough, we spent 10 minutes fist bumping. Even Chris's 75 year old aunt was giving fist bumps to Penelope. I wonder what else she learns at daycare...hmmm