We are Virus-Free

I'm talking about our computer. I don't want to sound like an idiot, but you know that feeling when you probably shouldn't click on an attachment? That little voice that says, "Hmmm...that sounds odd, but it came from someone I know..." Yeah, well you should listen to that voice. Otherwise, you might be without a computer for a week. We are finally virus-free. Now we just have to figure out how to get all our programs back. I'm so confused right now. Our dishwasher lights stopped working. Our van's maintenance light is on. And I can't figure out how to edit my pictures on my computer. Must be an election year.

To catch up my dear blog readers, it's been a busy week. Big Sissy turned 4. That's the biggest thing. It has been magical, actually. Now that she's 4, she wants to do everything by herself (wipe her own bottom, pour her own syrup on her pancakes, open the car doors). I think it's messy, but I like it. Thanks to Dora the Explorer, she can count to ten in Spanish. I've probably heard, "I'm cuatro!" a bazillion times this week. Oh, and "I'll never be uno, dos, or tres again!" Now that Big Sissy is 4, she also suddenly figured out that coloring can be realistic. Her thinking used to be something like, "I like pink. Here's a monkey. I'll make him a pink monkey." Suddenly it's changed to, "This is Belle. Belle wears a yellow dress. I should color her dress yellow." Maybe she should have reached that stage already. I don't know. It still makes me proud.

To celebrate her birthday, we had a Fancy Nancy party. If you have little girls and you haven't read Fancy Nancy, it would be worth your time to check it out. It's about a little girl who likes everything fancy (French words, frilly toothpicks, parasols). Her favorite colors are fuschia and lavendar, and she likes to decorate with things like feathers, Christmas decorations, and tiaras. Her parents are very plain, and so she gives them lessons on being fancy. Then they go out to a burger joint called the King's Crown in their posh clothes, and everyone thinks they are movie stars.

My sister took some great pictures and posted them on her blog, so I'll just post a few more and fill you in on the party details. I'm finding that I LOVE doing kid parties. I just don't like dragging all the accessories to the party place or cleaning up. We tried to serve chili, but I burned it. Oops. I need to just start my own website called chiliwrecks.com. We still had fancy hot dogs with parasols in them and ice cream with sprinkles in very fancy waffle bowls. All of the plates were lavendar, and we decorated with the tables with multi-colored feathers. The girls got their fingernails painted with sparkly polish, and they got to decorate their own crowns with markers and stick-on jewels. The treat bags had jewels on them and contained plume pens, fancy rings, princess stickers, and boas. The best part was that the whole family got into the costumes. We had everything from truly fancy to...well, me. I had a HUGE gold sparkly bow in my hair and Christmas ornaments in my ears. Fancy Nancy would have been proud. And here's our own Fancy Nancy, the birthday girl herself.