High Five Friday II

The sun is shining (!!!!) for maybe the third time in 2011. I know what you're thinking: that must mean it's time for High Five Friday. Doesn't sunshine make you just want to give away free high fives to everyone you see? Yep. Free. Before we get started on my top five list, there is something about Nashville winters you have to realize. A quilt of clouds covers the entire city for all of January and February. I don't know how that is possible, but I think it has happened all eight winters I've spent here. In fact, a little known fact about us who live here is that our eyeballs grow a little smaller each January and February from lack of sunlight. Oh you didn't know that? Well, also our eyes stay eerily dilated that whole time just desperately trying to find something resembling sunshine. Either way, we're not much to look at, us Nashvillians, with our pale skin, dwarf eyeballs and hyper-dilation. What is with the two-month cloud cover, yo?

Well, we are not here to discuss that [anymore]. My current top five reasons I want to hive somebody are:

First: I did not have to cook tonight. In fact, going forward, we may or may not have decided to designate Friday as pizza night. I'm fine cooking every other night of the week, truly. But there is something about Friday that I cannot bring myself to do it. I can have a meal planned, and have it be an easy one, but I just can't do it. Leftovers might be okay if they are good. But there is something special about Daddy showing up at the door with a hot pizza on Friday night that makes us all want to jump up and down. Word? Word.

Second:  I, against my will, let the girls paint this morning. In honor of Valentine's Day, I asked Peyton if she could paint a hug. She said sure. Here is how that went...

The middle one is the one Peyton said was a hug. The one on the right is Harper's.

Third: Harper is doing something we are calling the Squishy Kiss. This is something you must know about her, so you can get her to do it to you when you see her. She slaps her hands on your cheeks (and when I say slap, I mean slap), rolls her lips out a little and presses them onto your lips... for a long time. It's squishy, a little painful, and awesome.

Fourth: This has become a common sight around our house the past two weeks:

That's right. Little sister wants to go potty. And big sister wants to cheer her on. P sits with H and they read books about going potty. That's about as far as it gets, but still worth a free high five, don't ya think? This was little sister's idea, one day, completely out of the blue, and continually since that first day. I wanted to discourage it, because--let's just be honest--no one enjoys potty training. But I'm letting them have their fun, for now. I even let her wear a pull-up once in a while. Truthfully sometimes she refuses to put her diaper back on after "going potty" so a pull-up is the compromise. One day I will be in charge, though. :|

And fifth: I have gotten up early every day* since I started my 2011 resolution to become a morning person! I have been showered and dressed by 6:30 a.m. every day. Also, after two weeks of going to be around 9:30 and waking up by an alarm at 6:00 a.m., I have been starting to naturally (!) wake up before the alarm, which is awesome. I was secretly hoping I would want to get up even earlier once I got this show on the road. That's all kind of crazy for someone like me, someone who's boss once brought a painting of a moon in my office because he knew how much I liked to sleep. True story. What will happen next?

So, there you have it folks, my weekly top five. I hope you have a weekly top five somethings too. Maybe you'll even tell me in person or otherwise.




*every day does not, by definition, include Saturdays. Duh.