Sunday, May 04, 2008

KISSING FROG WINNER / DIVA B'DAY TRIP RECAP

Congrats to B, at B's Blog, Running with Scissors, because she has won He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: A Memoir of Finding Faith, Hope, and Happily Ever After by Trish Ryan. Trish chose her entry from more than 45 entries on first/worst/best kisses!

This is what B. wrote about her first kiss:

I'll go with first kiss. It was with a boy I was "dating" in 8th grade. We walked to the local elementary school's playground and sat under the slide. After a long while of awkward silence he said, "I want to kiss you." I said, "Ok, is this going to be one of those kisses that I need to take my retainer out for?" He replied, "No, you can leave it in." How much of a dork was I?!?!? He then gave me a very sweet kiss on the lips.

Trish said this about the contest and why she chose B. as the winner:

Omigosh, this was a fabulous contest idea ... what hysterical stories!

In the end, my heart is still with B., who asked if she should take her retainer out. As a girl who spent seven years of my early life squirming in an orthodontist's chair, this story hit way too close to home for me not to declare her the winner!


So congrats B, and please email me at manicmommy@comcast.net! There were sooo many great kiss stories though! I have to say I'm really glad I didn't have to choose the winner to this contest!

Now, about our little weekend getaway--

Diva and I had such a fun trip! We went to CONNECTICUT! They sang Happy Birthday on the flight to her and everyone around us wished her happy birthday and were sooo sweet to her she felt famous! On our way there, we sat next to a really nice man (who I later discovered told the flight attendant about her birthday so that's why they sang to her). I was telling him about how we were visiting my sister because Diva said for her birthday she wanted to go visit her cousins.

I was explaining how my family is all about pulling all sorts of silly surprises, and how my sister's father-in-law was supposed to pick us up from the airport, but her husband had let it slip that my sister was actually going to be able to leave work early to pick us up. I then explained how our family is nuts about these types of surprises, like the one time when we were living in Philly, but went to Chicago to visit MY in-laws when I was pregnant with Tukey. I had gone to take a nap and when I woke up, standing over the bed were MY PARENTS, who came to Chicago from Florida to SURPRISE US! I told this whole story to the guy sitting next to us on the plane. I'm sure I bored him to tears.

I told him this, fifteen minutes before we landed: "Knowing my family, my parent's probably arranged to be here this weekend too."

Sure enough, we get off the plane, go outside to find my sister (who I'm not supposed to know is picking me up), and a car door opens and it's MY DAD!

MY PARENTS TOTALLY FLEW TO CONNECTICUT TO SURPRISE DIVA AND ME FOR DIVA'S BIRTHDAY!

And it was so cool! And it made me so happy!

We had a very quick but very fun weekend, which included watching, believe it or not, soft porn on HBO (The Bunny Ranch--have you ever seen it? I haven't--we don't have HBO!) with MY PARENTS and CRACKING UP!

My brother-in-law and I had a Pancake Throw-Down Saturday morning, which I almost lost only because he uses the batter where you actually have to put eggs and milk in it, and I don't so I almost screwed up the consistency. But my secret? Chocolate chips, vanilla and cinnamon, and yes, I am still the champ, thankyouverymuch! We saw Nims Island, drank some wine, ate some filet mignon, cracked up watching 40-Year-Old Virgin.

I bought matching High School Musical jammies for my niece and Diva, and of course, Spiderman jams for the little man. And we totally got to bond. I am IN LOVE with them. I don't get to see them nearly enough! I snuggled up in bed one night with G-man, and he's all like, "Tell me a story about Captain Hook." I'm like, Cripes, I haven't made up stories in like forever.






But then one totally came to me! About how Captain Hook was at the grocery store and he wanted some Peanut Butter Captain Crunch cereal but he couldn't get it down from the shelf because of his hook arm but then Tinkerbell came flying by and even though they didn't really like each other Tinkerbell totally helped Captain Hook get the Captain Crunch cereal and then they fell in love and got married, and then they went to the peanut butter aisle and got some PETER PAN PEANUT BUTTER!

Isn't that a GREAT MADE-UP STORY!?!?

Then he asked me to tell him to tell him a story about a freaking CURTAIN!

So I did. Cuz he's like three and way too adorable for words.

Then we flew home today and Diva had awesome balloons from her Nana that said Happy Birthday so again she got all this attention of people asking her if it was her birthday and we got front-row seats on the plane and sat next to a very cool prego chick from San Diego (Hi Tara, if you're reading this!), who the flight attendant thought we were friends cuz we talked the whole flight!




At home, Mr. Manic, AJers and Tukey greeted us, and one of the best compliments I could have had was when Mr. Manic said to me, "You know, I can see how some days you get frazzled with them. They get wild."

SEE! They DO MISBEHAVE! They can get crazy! It's NOT ME WHO'S CRAZY ALL OF THE TIME! It's those crazy wild cub bear boy children of mine!

So Mr. Manic said he "lit it up" a few times to get them in line. They had a huge balloon for Diva, and we went out to dinner for her birthday and then took a family walk, and now it's Sunday night and everyone's in bed, and I'm on my way.


Happy Birthday Beautiful Diva Girl! Thanks for wanting to spend the weekend with me! And yes, in case you couldn't guess, she had her fair share of chocolate this weekend!

Peace UP!

19 comments:

Texasholly said...

The kissing stories were great. I love the winner too.

What an amazing birthday adventure!

Mary said...

Those photos are the best! Happy Birthday!

I'm taking name suggestions since we are having a tough time naming our new baby. Check my blog and leave me your ideas! We should name this child something!

Laski said...

What a glorious day for you both! And how cool that your parents came!!! Awesome . . .

Lisa said...

You went to Connecticut for the weekend!! I am so so so jealous! That is were I am from and my sister and parents live there and I have not seen them in a year. That is why I am so excited about moving back east. California is way to freaken far from CT. I miss my friends and family so much. What part of CT? I am from Norwich. My sister lives near the coast in Chester. I am so glad you all had a great weekend. Family ROCKS!!

Amanda said...

Looks to me like you all had WAY to much fun! And thanks Diva for eating my chocolate ration, I needed that! (the mind is willing but the body ain't!)

Melisa Wells said...

Awww, fun! Happy Birthday to Diva!

MaBunny said...

gratz to the winner, that was a funny story. Well that shoots the idea that you and Diva went to visit Michelle at Semblance, lol. Oh well, I'm not good with riddles, so guess I have to wait like the other pions to figure out her contest, hehe.

the photos are great, looks like yall had a great time!

hope your monday is great!

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh...still laughing about the retainer. I don't know what's funnier, that she said it or the boy had a ready answer.

B. said...

YAY!!!! Thanks, Manic. That made my day!

The Gang's Momma! said...

Good for you for creating a birthday experience your daughter will NEVER forget! In the long and the short of the life we share with them, it's the memories and the TIME that will make them who they are. And you, even at your Manic-iest!, are shaping children who are learning that people come first - loving relationships matter. That's what I read here.

Anonymous said...

No one can have too much chocolate... especially when its surrounding a birthday! What fun.

I love contest idea too and B's first kiss story was just too perfect... :)

Kate said...

Awesome kissing story and about your trip. That sounds like so much fun. Happy birthday, Diva!

Um, I've seen that Bunny Ranch show-- when we were in NOLA last year. We were laughing and kind of horrified and once it was over we looked at each other and were like, um, did that, you know, get you hot? Um... ;)

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a fantabulous trip! Glad she (and you) had such a great time!

So will I see you tomorrow night?

Kim Rossi Stagliano said...

Yanno, I THOUGHT my state felt a little Manic this weekend. Now I know why! You were 25 miles away from me!! Glad you had a blast. I'll be in Chicago later this month speaking at Autism One. Of course, you will be out of town on your honeymoon part something or other, right? Sigh. Ships that pass in the night we are, Manic....

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

KristaB--I am not sure about tomorrow night! On the fence about it right now. Kids have a bunch of shitola going on...

KIM--I was totally asking, "How far is Trumbolt??" If I was there for even just 16 hours longer, and if I had a car of my own, you can bet I would have road-tripped to find you. And yeah, bummin' that I have to go to a B&B with hubby when you'll be in Chi-town, but you only celebrate 15 years once! (At least once with the first husband! LOL!)

As Cape Cod Turns said...

Happy Birthday Diva!

Looks like you guys had a great time in CT! And your parents came too? Lucky!

Next time come a little further East. I have plenty of chocolate at my house too!

My Two Army Brats said...

What a fun birthday! I would have killed for that kind of bday when i turned 9 (or 19) maybe for 29 I will!

You're an awesome mom!

Unknown said...

It sounds like you both had such a great time! And you know, it's memories like this that she will remember for a life time. Her special b-day weekend with mom. What a lucky little girl!

Story about a curtain? I would love to hear how that one turned out!

Anonymous said...

Happppy (late) Birthday to your Diva girl! Sounds like you had a blast. What a fun mom!