Today I'm upset that I have to eliminate another pair of maternity pants from my wardrobe because they no longer fit. Mark wanted to know how it is that you can outgrow maternity pants that are made to grow with you??? That's easy. Gain weight in areas other than your belly, that's how. I can't talk about it anymore, it's too depressing.

Today we decided to take Gracie out for a special family birthday lunch....

Mom: "Gracie, where do you want to go for your special birthday lunch?"

Gracie: "What's that place where you pump the gas?"

Mom: "Huh?"

Gracie: "What's the place you go to pump the gas?"

Mom: "You mean A-1 (our local gas station)?"

Gracie: "Yeah, A-1."

Mom: "You want to go to A-1 for your special birthday lunch?"

Gracie: "Yeah!"

Mom: "Why?"

Gracie: "Cause I want cheese balls."

Well there you go. Did you know cheese balls constitute a special birthday lunch? Me neither.

Tonight our 5 year old has her preschool Christmas operetta. In between curling her hair and trying go convince her to wear the dress I pick out, I'll try to remember to throw my camera in my bag so I can post pictures tomorrow.

I need to digest that my 5 year old will go off to kindergarten in 8 months, she'll have spelling tests and school lunches and an opinion about everything...actually, she was born with that last one.

What I'm saying is that my baby isn't a baby anymore, and that makes me happy and sad all at the same time.

While Gracie is growing up, Ella is too. The terrible twos have kicked into gear full force around here lately. There has been lots of screaming, kicking and fit-throwing. We've been working on potty training. She has good days and bad days, but at least she's making steps in the right direction. Potty training with her is three steps forward, two steps back.

And one last thing on my mind today, toy packaging. Who on Earth comes up with the packaging for toys? Why does it have to take so long to actually get into a toy, and why does it have to produce so much trash?