Highlights of the Day (Saturday 11.12.2005)

1. Woke up and immediately started getting ready to take Hannah to my parents' house and go choose our granite slab.

2. Took Hannah to Grandma's and thankfully, she didn't cry when I left. MUCH less guilt going on there.

3. Came back home, put Grace's booster seat in Steve's truck and we all took off for the granite place (I followed in my car).

4. Found the granite place and chuckled a bit to learn that Grace had cried ALL THE WAY DOWN (30 minutes) because she decided she would've rather rode with me.

5. Walked around the granite place and was thrilled when we both agreed on a color and particular slab within 10 minutes of being there. It is the record for a decision in this kitchen remodeling process.

6. Because we didn't take long to pick granite, I now had an hour to kill before Grace and I could go to the birthday party.

7. This was good since I still hadn't bought the poor birthday boy a card OR a gift yet. (Because I suck like that.)

8. Grace convinced me we should go to ToysRUs to get Danny a gift. [sigh]

9. Grabbed him a cool set of Lincoln Logs.

10. Grace used her tooth fairy money to buy herself a Rescue Pet dog that whimpers constantly while wagging its tail and bobbing its head. Because we certainly needed another noise-making stuffed animal in the house.

11. Went to the party where Grace was thrilled to see they had rented a bounce house for the day.

12. Was pleasantly surprised to see how many dads had brought their kids to the party. I always think that's cool.

13. At the party, I met the wimpiest, quickest to cry kid I've ever met in my life. I seriously don't know how his dad kept his patience with him. Oy.

14. While standing at the party, realized I'd bought the kid a Happy 4th Birthday card, when in reality, he was turning 5. Oops.

15. Informed the mom about the card before he opened it. She already knows I'm an idiot, so it was all good. [sigh]

16. Was pleased to see that the Lincoln Logs thrilled the mom. Every single other gift was some plastic, flashing Power Ranger toy and I'm sure the mom has got to be sick of stuff like that.

17. Had to argue with Grace for about an hour that no, she could not continue to jump in the bounce house and yes, we did have to leave now. Dear Lord...

18. Came home and had to leave immediately again to go pick up Hannah.

19. Grace decided she wanted to sleep over at my mom's, so I went there and did a "kid exchange," taking one and leaving the other.

20. Hannah and I went and bought Steve more drywall screws.

21. Admired Steve when he worked over 10 hours straight, drywalling the ceiling in the kitchen, finally finishing at 10:00 at night.

22. My nephew slept over again. He's such a good kid. I can only hope mine are half as great as he is.

23. Finally got Hannah to bed at 9:45 and sat down to drink my beer and watch my Saturday night TLC lineup. Life is good...