My Silly Valley

Doing the Cha-Cha-Cha

She's officially 8 years old.  From being this teeny baby in my arms just a few minutes ago to doing the cha-cha with her friends in the mall, Kayla is every single bit as wonderful as I thought a daughter can be.

Sigh.

Her birthday was quite a series of bashes. We started as usual with birthdays in our family with breakfast at our local coffee shop. They always add candles to the waffles, this time with strawberries and whipped cream. She made a couple of wishes (we relit the candle) and charmed everyone. We sang out loud and turned heads and had a lot of fun.

Then it was off to the Makeover Party at the mall.  Whoever thought of this idea was brilliant, but they bring the girls in, do elaborate hair designs that involve a lot of twisting, hair extensions and glitter -- lots and lots of glitter.  Fingernail glitter, a stroke or two of eyeshadow, add a boa, some sunglasses and a little dance instruction and they were off.  They danced to the Cheetah Girls (a current favorite of almost every single one), then out in the mall to learn to cha-cha. It was quite a show, with people stopping to laugh and the girls giggling all the way through.

Cake, candles, wishes, presents and lots of sighs of contentment and everyone went home.  Kayla played fashion model with a girl down the street, showing off her fancy hair and doing poses.  I took a nap.

Kayla wanted spaghetti for dinner so we were off to Frankie, Johnny and Luigi's where we met up with her dad, Walter and Granger. Walter had been at the zoo all day with George at a friend's birthday party that was also apparently to die for.  Good food, ANOTHER candle and wishes, this time on ice cream, then off to bed.

She will go to school today with glitter in her hair and wear her new birthday dress (with her beloved pink hightops). A good time was had by all.

George on the playa

The Anything Machine

From my throne of a chaise lounge the other day, i asked Walter to bring me a Diet Coke.

He did (such a good boy), but a few minutes later he told me that when he grows up he is going to make me an "anything machine."

"You just talk into it," he said. "Tell it what you want and it will make it for you."

Wow, I said. I could really use one of those. When can you build it? He gave me one of those looks and said "Well, you know, I'll have to be bigger than THIS to make one."

He asked for three weeks.

I asked him for a picture of the machine and here it is. Patent pending. The interesting shapes in the middle are actually expansion panels, so the machine can grow big enough to make whatever I want.

"You can even ask for a mansion," he said, illustrating with his arms how the machine will get big enough for a big house. "You could even  make a PLANET!"

I told him he could have a month.