well, i am definitely becoming a real mom. i have a 'gift wrapping' section in my basement--with a box for wrapping paper/bags/boxes etc, and a box for bows/scissors/tape. and i am efficient too. i floored myself this evening by coming home and wrapping ava's presents without even a twinge of urgency or stress.

this may have something to do with the fact that we are spreading out ava's birthday celebrations over the course of several days, and i am still 6 days from the big 'friends' party on saturday.

today we went over to nana's and da's for their presents and cupcakes--and it went very smoothly. ava got a thomas the train addition to her collection (as she opened this, she kept saying "oh boy. oooooh boy! oh boy" --it was very cool, it is supposed to be a rollercoaster, and it is a big hill that turns around in a 180 under itself. it provided peter and da with a bit of a challenge, but they figured it out. and she also got a bead stringing kit, that she immediately set to work on. we now have one lovely chunky necklace, with more to come, i am sure. and also, non-popping bubbles that made a disaster of the screen door--they must have a LOT of glycerin in them. or something. glad nana bought them and not me--though they are neat.

tonight i set up ava's new doll and her doll bed, put a red bow around it, and put it in her room for her to find tomorrow morning. this is a BEAUTIFUL doll and bed, and i am so excited--it is from a german company, and the doll is all fabric and the bed is all wood, and both are handmade and i hope she loves them. and then there are several wrapped presents for her in the living room. it should be fun.

and then we are going to bake a carrot cake together, because she insists that her cake HAS to have a carrot on it.