my grown up little girl

Addison astounds me each and every day. Yesterday, her teacher mentioned that while she was playing Disney Princess songs in class, Addison would tune in to the first two or three notes of a song, and proudly declare, "THAT song is Aurora/Cinderella/Mulan/Pocahantas/etc." Miss Stacey says Addison was correct every, single time. Smarty pants little girl has an ear for music.

This week, Addison refused to sleep with a pull-up on at night, citing that they itch her skin. I can feasibly see that they are uncomfortable and chose not to argue with her much to Robert's dismay. All he could visualize was pee-soaked mattress, night after night. Luckily we found avoided the pee-soaked mattress the first few nights (we did not buy a mattress protector until today!). Addison ended up with a few accidents - two at most - which impressed me. Last night was night four of this effort, and I was beginning to feel pretty confident. I awoke around 11:30 and tried to get Addison to use the potty one more time. She refused. Robert tried again around 12:30. She again refused. We conceded. At 4:30, Addison appeared in our room at my bedside. She said she couldn't sleep. I picked her up, assuming that I would find urine-soaked clothes. When I realized her clothes were dry, I said, "Great job, Addison! Your clothes are still dry!" She pointedly responded, "Oh, Mom. I already changed my clothes and my blanket." When I questioned her further, she informed me that before walking to our room, she changed her wet clothes, put them in a dirty clothes pile, changed the protective blanket on her bed, and THEN came to our room. What three year old does that?! She's so grown up sometimes it baffles me.

I recently began a self-study. Largely, this is due to the excess time I have at school now that my fantastic intern is teaching all my classes. (Seriously, I hope my school administrators will hire her next year. She is a gifted teacher, and there aren't many people that are truly GOOD at what I do every day. Most people run as quickly as they can in the other direction!) Anyway, it's given me time to think about my teaching, my organization, me in general. So far, I've realized that:
1. I am a stuff-accumulator.
2. I have a minor addiction to online shopping.
3. I use up all my patience and energy at school and don't have much left to give to my family.
4. I really miss music in my life, singing and piano.

There are other things that I can't remember now, but it's been interesting. I hadn't taken the time to reflect on myself in quite a while...and I'm glad that I am able to know.

We have an exciting weekend planned. Tonight we have dinner to celebrate my mom's dad's birthday. He was actually born on February 29th, so today is his birthday observance. When I was little I would always write on Februrary 28th: "Papa's Birthday (Observed)". I have actually celebrated more birthdays than my grandfather. He's a mere 21 birthdays old! Happy Birthday, Papa!

coins, boots, shopping, V-Day song

That is the sum total of all the change in my wallet. I never use cash. Just debit or credit cards. I guess that's why I get so excited when I have coins. I love to scan them immediately after receiving them to see what dates are on them. Today I lucked out an got a 1965. The others were 1986 and 199-something. The older, the better in my book. I don't DO anything with the coins, other than spend them later. I just find it most interesting to see how old the coins are and imagine what exciting paths they have traveled before they reached my grubby little fingers. Today it dawned on me that soon enough 1986 will be an "old" coin, eventhough it doesn't seem old to me. I remember 1986 pretty clearly, so that coin can't be OLD yet...right?

Today we did a TON of shopping. Robert bought a VERY nice grey wool pea coat. Stylish, and on SALE! It was originally $300 and we bought it for $90. No such deals in the women's department at Dillards. We returned the rain boots that Robert originally bought me for my birthday. Before you think, "Why would Robert buy Nicole rain boots for her birthday?", consider where I work. My school is a series of 21 portable buildings. We have ZERO interior hallways. That means if it's a rainy day, anytime I need to go to the office or another classroom or the lunch building (it is NOT a cafeteria, we eat in our classrooms), I get soaking wet. There are small rivers that rush between buildings, following the slope of the land along our campus. In sum, YES, Nicole really did want rain boots for her birthday. The boots he picked were really cute, but did not fit over my massive calf muscles, which I was blessed with thanks to genetics. I did a lot of research (talking to my co-workers who also have rain boots), and decided to check out Dillard's stock. I got some super-cute black and white polka-dot ones. Addison also NEEDED some rain boots, so we found her some Hello Kitty ones, which also had polka-dots.
We also shopped at Pier 1, ate lunch at our favorite Chick-fil-A, and rounded out the morning at Marshall's. We stocked up on some new dress up clothes for Addy's class at school, she picked out a Tinkerbell outfit, a cute summer skirt set, and I bought two new tables for our living room. It was a great shopping morning. Addison got really mad at me in Dillards when Robert was shopping for coats, but she later said she was mad with me because she was hungry. Go figure.

Looking forward to our family dinner tonight for all the February birthdays! Yummy spaghetti, bread, salad, and birthday cake!

Here is Addison's Valentine's installment of rhyme and melody for you:

BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday to me! I don't feel old. Today I had several people ask me if I was 26, and one person even asked if I was 24. Those failed guesses were music to my ears and calming to my soul. I love life and and cannot believe how far I've come in these 28 years. It's pretty awesome what I've accomplished so far.

Recent Addison-isms:
1. (At dinner) "Hey, Daddy! Wanna see my BUTT?!" (as she gets out of her chair and pulls down her pants to show off her little booty.
2. "Mommy, did you learn you students at school today?" "I taught my students things today, yes." "Ok, but did you LEARN them something today?"
3. "Oh, my, Mommy! That's very clever!"
4. "Mommy, are you ready for your birthday surprise? (whispering) I got you a special Candyland game! We can BOTH go to Queen Frostine today!"
5. "Look at my sticker! Ms. Becky gave it to me because I was SO sweet today!"
6. "Look! I just got 45 on the Wii Penguin game!" Me: "WOW. Didn't know you could read the number 45, Addison!"

Last but not least, Addison drew me a birthday card that I will photograph later when my batteries are re-charged. She drew a spider in it's web (ironic choice for her arachnophobic mother, right?!) that was amazingly realistic for a three year old. Later she drew a cat, complete with whiskers! The card, like my cake, said "Happy Birthday Princess Mommy" and was covered in layers of pink marker and pink princess stickers. (The cake had pink balloons on it, too.)

I had a great birthday. No complaints. Robert cooked me a great dinner, we had yummy red velvet cake, and we even found time to play Wii, which has been a rarity lately. Very good day. Happy girl am I. I'll be even happier when I try out my new rain boots on Friday.

new friends

Tonight we had our neighbors over to watch the SuperBowl. Shea & Nicole are our garage side nieghbors, and have been since we moved in. Addison greets their cat Zeke and dog Maggie every chance she gets. Robert had a bold streak one day and invited them over. We're not really good a making new friends, so that was a huge step for him/us. We learned that Nicole & I have a lot of similarities: our name, we are both teachers, we both like the same kind of Sketchers shoes, and we wear the same size. They both love Disney World (they have annual passes like we do!) and they just found out that they're going to have a baby girl in August. I was impressed with their willingness to play along with Addison's tea party and her insistence for playing Candyland. Addison, of course, thought Shea & Nicole were here to entertain her, not us. I had fun, and I'm glad that Robert helped us make new friends. We really love our old friends, but you all live so far away. It's good to have fun people to hang out with here.

We bought the most amazing new mattress for Addison's "big girl" bed. I have slept on it twice for naps. I want to get the queen size version for our room now. This is the most comfortable bed I have EVER slept on. It's like laying on a cloud. I love it. And she refused to sleep on it tonight. She's in her toddler bed again. Don't really know why...but it's the second time this week. I guess she likes to keep her options open - to know that both beds are available for her use. What a princess!

My intern just called and said she's stuck in North Georgia. She & her fiance got a flat tire as they were leaving, and being that it's Sunday night, there are no tire stores open to buy a replacement. Bummer.

I'm inspired to redo my entry way. I plan to paint the walls blue (not sure what shade) and do a collage of photos from our travels in matching frames. I think I will use 7 (or 9) different images in various sizes. I hope it turns out like I see in my head. I typically have trouble bringing my visions to life...

I cannot believe how quickly the weekend went. It was a fun, busy weekend. Hopefully this will be a productive, fun week at school. I'm looking forward to my birthday! Addison said she's going to make me a card, which is exciting!

Looking forward to big February birthday celebrations on Saturday!

Christmas songs for you!

Merry Christmas to you all from Addison!

The Princess Party last Saturday was a total blast. Here is a pic of all the kids with Princess Aurora.
Princess Aurora painted faces for an hour and had a dance session with the kids that involved more bouncing and jumping than actual dancing. It was a perfect 3 year old party if you ask me. The kids didn't stop moving for three hours and Addison was exhausted when it was over. She seemed quite overwhelmed by all the activity and was worn out by present time. She got lots of great Princess items: games, books, a doll, building blocks, dress-up clothes. There is no end to the Disney Princess merchandise. She got NO repeat gifts, which I though was a minor miracle! Addison was most excited that her friends from school were at her house - she kept saying, "My friends are coming to MY house?! That's CRAZY, Mommy!". It was a really great day. And we continue to celebrate. Today we got THREE birthday gifts for her in the mail: one from Uncle Brian and Aunt Pat, one from Fenella & Mark, and one from Uncle Marcus. She was in love with each item she opened: a new outfit, books, and puzzles. We've read all the books twice already and done one of the two puzzles.

Tonight was the first night we've had at home in a long time. We've been spending two nights a week at Margie & Bill's house stringing paper cranes for Matt & Helen's wedding. It's going to be beautiful, but it's quite time-consuming. We average about 1 crane strand per 45 minutes...and we're hoping for 125 strands total.








And, finally, here is a parting shot of our little fairy princess on a crane folding night....

Three days of school left. I cannot wait for Christmas vacation to begin!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving from Addison

Here is 2009's installment of Thanksgiving songs for you, from Addison.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

As a quick catch-up on the rest of November, we attended Bradley's Country Fair (lots of great shopping and a ride on a white pony) and went to Disney World for Robert's 28th birthday. We explored Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom this time. We all found the cool weather ideal and thoroughly enjoyed the animal exhibits.

As for our two Thanksgiving meals this year: We look forward to our 1st Thanksgiving lunch in Betty & Phill's new house. We also look forward to our 2nd Thanksgiving dinner at Andrew & Evelyn's new house.

Happy moment for the month: A student, who started the year at a 2nd grade reading level, hugged me after seeing a 79% passing score on a reading post-test last week. He was so proud of himself! I cried because I was so touched. Those are the moments that keep me going back to work every day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

photo recap of the last few weeks

Addison's first haircut! Really, just a small trim. We had to maintain the "Princess Aurora" qualities of her hair. Robert held her like the for about 20 minutes. Addison pretty much has the most rockin' daddy ever. In the end, Addison and Miss Natalie made friends. CHEESE!



We made Halloween cookies with Nonnie, Doodah, Uncle Andrew and Aunt Evelyn. They were delicious, as usual.







We made a voyage to Disney World and met Marie the kitty - TWICE! Addison cried both times!

On our way home, we drove over to St. Augustine to visit Stacia, Steve, and Cat. Addison LOVED their cat, Cat.







Then we returned home and found our own Halloween kitties...
And Addison attended at Chuck-E-Cheese birthday party. Here she is with her best buddy, Kelley.

meet Campbell Stokes Bryan!

We got to me baby Stokes today! He was less than 24 hours old, so we feel pretty privileged to be invited to see him!

Here's a pic of the happy little family!

Congrats to Trevor & Jen! SOOOOO excited for you both!

catch-up post

Robert and I went out on a date last weekend. We left "blue Cinderelly" at home with her Memaw and Grandpa to watch Finding Nemo and headed out to see The Hangover. I knew it would be funny, but I was blown away by how much I laughed. I have not laughed so consistently through a movie in as long as I can remember. I wanted to stay and catch the next showing I liked it so much. Absolute hilarity for the entire 100 minutes. If you haven't seen it, you should.

My baby brother Hoyt left today on a 40-hour train ride out West. He's going on a 3 week Rayado at Philmont Boy Scout Ranch. He is going all alone for the first time ever. He will be back one week before we leave on our two-week family trip to California. He is hoping to get on good terms with the staff at Philmont so that next year he can be a camp counselor or trail guide. I'm happy that he's doing something that he loves.

Tonight we had dinner at Sonny's. Addison noticed there weren't any crayons on the table, so we asked our waiter for some. Our waiter, John, handed a handful of crayons to Addy and I pretty immediately asked her how many crayons she had. Without taking much time to think or count, she said, "I have three crayons, Mommy." She was right, there were three crayons. I am of the belief that she inherited her Daddy's mathematical skill. Thank goodness!

Addison had a 2 1/2 birthday party. We gave her a blue Cinderella dress, dress-up shoes, and a princess puzzle. We put the puzzle together but we aren't allowed to take it apart. She likes to see the picture and gets upset if one of the pieces comes loose. She lived in the Cinderella dress for a few days, and still lives in the shoes. She got four pair of shoes, and she actually alternates which ones she wears based on the color of her outfit. I find this very funny. She's fought with us about wearing them out, and only once did we give in. She wore her blue Cinderella shoes to Publix on Sunday. When one of them fell off in the parking lot she said, "Uh oh, Daddy! I lost my glass slipper!". It was quite adorable!

Summer school has been so great that it borders on boring. I am not used to days that go exactly according to my plans. I miss the chaos. I miss the activity. I miss the unpredictability. I know now that - at least at this point in my life - I could not work at a mainstream school. I love my students and the challenges they present - stolen Ipods included! I think in the end, it's good to have this down time. It's refreshing and relaxing. But I wouldn't want it for the long-term.

True Blood is back on and I am a happy camper. Our cable was out on Sunday night, so I patiently waited until Monday evening to watch. It was well worth the wait. I LOVE that show!

mom really does know best

I'm feeling guilty this morning. I have nothing to do today, but I sent Addison to school. I kept her home with my on Friday, but decided that I wanted to today to be a "me day". In my younger years, I didn't understand why my mom liked having alone time so much. Now, it is crystal clear. That being said, I already want to go pick Addison up from school and she's only been gone for an hour.

In other news, I'm going shopping today for 2 1/2 birthday gifts for Addison. We plan to get her some dress-up clothes because at school she LIVES in a Cinderella dress. She told me that she wants to have a princess party for her 3rd birthday. "I want my favorite princesses: Princess 'Rora, blue Cinderelly, and Ariel, and Snow White, and Jasmine." She has totally bought into this princess mentality.

robert rocks

Tonight I was shopping online for a new entry table. I found one I really liked, so I decided to go ahead and order it. I got all the way to the final review of the order stage before I thought about if the table would even fit in our entry way. Robert went to measure and found that the table would stick waaaaaaaay out into the hallway. Points for Robert. Reason #362 that he rocks: saving us from wasting money on furniture that's too big for our house.

Yeah for Andrew & Evelyn - they have a contract on a house! Very exciting!

Addison is the sweetest little child ever. She always responds to questions with polite answers. If you call her name, you'll hear, "Yes, Mom?" or "Yes, Dad?". When she asks us questions, she always begins by saying, "My mommy, can I __________?". She melts me. I dread this time of day when she goes to bed. (Which, by the way, when we told her it was bedtime tonight, she got a pacifier, grabbed her two kitties, said "night night guys" and went straight to her bed, on her own! She doesn't need us anymore!) I wish I could spend all my time with her. She's growing up far too fast for my liking.

Currently debating the "need" for a 1/2 birthday party this year. She certainly knows what birthdays are, but I'm afraid she would think that she's turning 3. Decisions, decisions.

8 days of school left. I cannot wait! Though, I realized today that out of 10 days "off" between end of regular school year and extended school year (read: summer school), I really only have 5 days off. June 1 & 2 are mandatory teacher planning days; June 3, 4 & 8 I have a training so I can supervise interns; June 11 is another mandatory planning day for extended school year. So that leaves me with free time on June 5, 9, 10 & 12. I am really looking forward to those days off. I'm going to plan some fun stuff for me & Addy to do!

Happy Birthday to my baby bro, Hoyt! He turns 17 tomorrow!

kids' parties

We went to Zoinks this morning for Thatcher's 3rd birthday party. (Thatcher is one of Addison's classmates). She was extremely overwhelmed by the huge inflatable bounce houses and slides, but once Thatcher took her around and showed her how it all worked, she hung in there with the toughest of the tough boys. She liked the Disney Princess bounce house the best, but tried almost all of them in the end. We are hoping that she may know how to jump now, after so much practice this morning. We'll cross our fingers....

I failed to take my camera to the party (boo), but luckily Thatcher's parents are professional photographers, so there were plenty of cameras around. Linda (Thatcher's mommy) says they will post pics from the party on their blog soon.

Busy weekend for us: visiting with Trevor & Jen & Yoshi, Mother's Day dinner with Robert's family (and "MY cousin David"), Mother's Day dinner on Sunday with my family. Plus, last night we had to get 4 new tires for my car (yes, i assumed one of my kids slashed my tire, but no, they did not. It was a screw. Since the tires were almost down to the wear bar, we got a whole new set instead of just patching the flat). Luckily for us, Costco is open unti l 8:30 on weeknights AND they had a $70 off four new tires discount! The Browns sure do know how to party on a Friday night. :-)

miss us!

We're off tomorrow morning for our Spring Break cruise! We will be cruising on Disney's boat, Magic. We'll be back on April 4th....so, Happy early Birthday to my brother Andrew!

Hope you all have a great week!

Happy Birthday Evelyn!

Today is Evelyn's birthday! Happy Birthday Evelyn! Hope it's a great day!

I got my new USAA Debit Card today. Sadly, it's not the checking account that I use, but I guess it's better than having no debit cards for another day. Hopefully the CCBG one will come in soon. I really want to get a credit card that has some kind of cash back option on it. In retrospect I guess I should've asked about that last week when I called USAA to tell them my wallet was stolen. Oh well.

Robert & I stupidly stayed up and watched the entire Oscars telecast last night. I did pretty well today considering I only slept for about 6 hours, but I really hit a wall around 1pm. Unfortunately, that's during my most attention-intensive class, so I was completely wiped out by the end of the day. Then I had two meetings: 1) about the $12 million dollars in cuts Leon County Schools has to make for next year and 2) about the field trip my team is taking on Thursday to Romano's Macaroni Grill. Both of those were exhausting to sit through. Notes on the meetings: Hopefully I will still have a job next year. I'm still an annual contract teacher since I took off half a year after Addison was born. It is entirely possible that I will be on the chopping block with all the other annual contract teachers at my school. Wish me luck. In happier news, we had 9 kids out of 18 make the field trip criteria. 50% is pretty good for my babies, so I am thrilled! I get to stay behind at school with the kids who didn't earn the trip - YEAH! (yes, that is sarcastic) - and do work. Wish me luck on that, too.

Addison just set her cup down on our end table & she was thoughtful enough to use a coaster. She actually moved the coaster to the place where she wanted to put her cup. She's the bestest daughter ever. Probably even more awesome than I was...

missing wallet, Happy Birthday Mom!

Today at breakfast, I realized my wallet was missing. I'm embarassed to say that my initial reaction was the think that one of my students stole it, but that's where my mind went. We searched at home, I went to school to check my room, I watched yesterday's video of my classroom (on 32x speed & yes, my classroom is continuously monitored by video), but no wallet. By 1pm, I decided to call & cancel all my cards. I spent a lot of time trying to decide what in my wallet was replaceable and what wasn't. Mostly, I'm sad about the photos that I can't replace. Thankfully, all my cards got cancelled quickly and there weren't any fraudulent charges on any of our accounts. I have no idea where my wallet is. Maybe I dropped it (the last time I remember having it was Monday at a Doctor's appointment), maybe one of my kids found it & took it, maybe one of my kids found it & threw it away. Who knows? All I know for sure is that I'm sad that I'm having to rebuild my wallet. It's a lot of time & energy I'd rather spend on other things.

On the upside, today was my Mom's birthday & I got to see her twice. Happy Birthday/Valentine's Day, Mom!

Birthday news

I had a GREAT birthday! Robert sent me flowers at work which was exciting. The kids were amazingly well-behaved today. FCAT Writes went well (Read: No one refused to complete the test!). Addison sang "Happy Birthday dear Mommy!" at least twenty times! I got some great gifts (thanks everyone!). My mom & dad came to have cake with me tonight. AND there was beautiful weather all day! I couldn't have asked for a better day.

And then something not-so-awesome happened. My camera card died. All my special birthday pictures and videos are now lost in computer/digital camera oblivion. Thankfully my mom & dad took some pics when they were here. Hopefully they will email those pics to me! (Please and thank you, Mom!).


Happy Birthday to me!

big girl pants, tv

Addison's potty training is progressing nicely. She's been hit or miss at school using the potty, but she keeps trying. She's done really well at home. I think she just gets distracted at school by all her friends and forgets. We bought her big girl pants today. We'll try them out this weekend. Wish us luck.

Very excited that Hell's Kitchen is back on now. Also enjoying American Idol. The guys are out-performing the girls by far this year. We've already got a favorite - Danny Goeke. He's outstanding - good tone, good control, he's a music teacher and church music director in his real life which would seem to give him a slight edge with arrangments later in the competition. His best friend, Jamar something, is also quite good. And there's this Indian guy (who's name I can't remember) who has an amazing voice...nothing at all like you would expect at first glance.

I keep looking forward to my birthday until I realize how old I'll be. Then it doesn't seem so cool anymore.

Thanks to those of you who'd checked out Heather's website and blog. She's had to take them down for legal reasons, but will hopefully get to put them back up before too long.

Thankful kind of day.

I am happy to report that Addison has been sleeping better since her night terror episode. She's gone to bed more willingly and has not awoken as often or as early in the morning. The night after her episode she slept in her bed all night (well, if 6:30 AM counts as all night!)...and last night she slept in her bed until 1:30. Not great, but better than 11, which is what we had been dealing with.

I have had three awesome days at work. I haven't been cursed at or called any disgusting names at all! Believe it or not, that's a very good week for me. And for my kids...they've actually all been present & in class. That makes it all that much more amazing that I haven't been subjected to verbal lashings! Whoo hoo for good days at Pace! I just hope I haven't jinxed myself by writing this today...crossing my fingers that tomorrow is a good day, too. :-)

We got our mini-notebook computer yesterday. It's tiny. It's an Asus Eee PC. We got the plain black one. I didn't know they came in green and pink, too, otherwise we'd have one of those colors. It's awesome now that we have two computers...we can do all our computer stuff at the same time & have more time to have actual, real conversations with one another! What an idea!

In really, really big news for our family today: Addison got invited to her first friend "birfee" party! It's for her bestest friend at school, Madelyn, who is almost exactly one month younger than Adds. It's next Saturday & we are very excited. I'm going to the Florida Educational Technology Conference in Orlando on Wednesday. I'm supposed to stay until Saturday and drive back with my co-worker, Joanna, and my boss, Robin...but I'm thinking of driving down by myself so I can leave on Friday afternoon. That way I won't miss Madelyn's birthday party. I HAVE to be there for Addison's first friend birthday party!

Thank heaven the weekend is nearly upon us...

Addison turned 2 today!

Don't know why this picture is sideways, but it's the best I can do for now. I think it still shows how adorable Addison's birthday cake turned out. It's a milkshake - because milkshakes are Addison's most favorite thing besides horses, painting, kitty cats, and any number of other things. :-)

Her party was wonderful. She got far too many gifts, as usual. She is so loved & so fortunate. I only hope she understands that as she gets older. Probably her favorite gift of the night was a giant stuffed horse from Aunt Evelyn & Uncle Andrew. She has already played with everything she got, but she carried the horse with her to bed, so I'm guessing it's up there on her list of faves. Speaking of bedtime, Addison had a complete meltdown around 6:15. She cried for about 30 minutes, refusing to eat, play, color, paint, change clothes, bathe, everything. She finally settled on a movie, and went to sleep with very little protest at 6:45. It's going to be a very, very early morning at our house tomorrow!

Here is a picture of Addison & Amaly, just because I think it's cute. And - YEAH! - Amaly finally came back! We'd missed her SO much! We're going to have lunch with Amaly & Heather Hutchinson tomorrow. Should be fun. Amaly is going to serve Addison's most favorite food - macaroni. (Though Addison says it "mack-ee-roni".

Four days until Christmas. I cannot wait!

Last but not least, CONGRATULATIONS to Fenella & Mark! They got married today!

Addison freakin' LOVES kitties!

Addison got several birthday cards and gifts in the mail today. She opened a cute outfit and a kitty card from Aunt Pat & Uncle Brian (Betty's sister & her husband). Then we opened a cuppycake card from Papa with a check. We must've had ESP today 'cause we definitely saved the best for last! Aunt Evelyn's mom & dad, Evelyn & Dick, sent Addison her favorite card of the day! She said, "OOOHHH! Kitty! Pretty kitty!". She carried it around for a while, the ended up in the dining room, sitting in a chair, looking at it for what seemed like 15 minutes. Thanks to all the people who sent her something today (or earlier!). She is very, very excited for her birfee!