During our cross-country trip this past summer, we stopped over in Ocean City, Maryland.  You can’t go to Ocean City without walking down the boardwalk.  So that’s pretty much what we did one evening.  This is Ken’s video of that night.

Before you watch, you should know that Edie’s dancing was completely spontaneous and on her own.  As she passed by a body piercing stand, there was music blaring, and she just couldn’t help herself.  She BECAME the music, and she just had to dance.  Lucky for us, Ken just happened to have the camera already rolling.  Enjoy!

Since I became a mother, I have given into some “motherhood” stereotypes. For example, we bought a mini-van not too long after Edie was born because of its practicality, and I eventually cut a good bit off my hair and now have a layered mommy bob. I know all the shows that come on Disney between 6:00 and 9:00 a.m. and have a Tivo box full of them. However, there is one domain that has remained sacred and untouched, that I have refused to let her penetrate.

I might drive a mini-van, but as we go down the road, we are not jammin’ out to prepubescent kids singing “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” I have not replaced my CDs with different Disney soundtracks, and up until now, Edie has really had no opinion on the subject. Until the fateful day I put in a Billy Joel CD left over from my college days. I know, I know, it is my punishment for even owning the CD, but sometimes a girl just likes to hear Billy belt out “She’s Got a Way About Her.” It does something to me.

Well, as I let the CD keep playing, Edie remained unphased. Until she heard the chorus to “Uptown Girl” that is, and she realized she could sing along. She then requested that it be turned up “LOUD”. Ever since then, if my hand goes towards turning on the radio, she’s in the back saying, “Play the ‘Oh Oh’ song!” And I give into her every time, not because I have officially let my guard down and decided she can now command the radio as well, but because I like the view in the rear view mirror as the song plays. I like listening to her sing along as she bobs her head and feet to the beat. It makes me laugh as the chorus comes around and she’s back there singing the only words she knows…Ohhhh Uptown Dirl. It just doesn’t get much cuter than that!

I know you are going to feel terribly sorry for me when I say this, but ever since Ken and I have returned from our two week vacation in Italy, we have had very little time alone with each other. It has either been traveling for work, building a deck, or just the munchkin’ eating up all of our time lately. Well, this week we had the opportunity for Edie to spend the night with some friends that graciously decided to take her at the last minute when Ken’s friend, Daddy Warbucks, invited us for another fabulous dinner at his fancy restaurant.

I don’t use the term “graciously” very lightly. First I called about an hour before I needed to drop her off and basically said, “Hey, by any chance can you cancel any plans that you have and let my kid come over because what I have the opportunity to do is way more fun!?”

Well, not only did they go for that then as Edie and I walked into their house, she proceeded to puke French fry bits and apple juice all down her chest. On a side note, this is a true testament to how well the anti-nausea medication is working because I am telling you right now as the regurgitated apple juice dripped off my hand, I would have been convulsing and running towards the toilet myself had it not been for that medicine.

Now, a more compassionate mother would have probably seen this as fate’s way of cancelling her plans for the evening, but not me. I calmed Edie down, cleaned her up, and then gave my sweet girl hugs and kisses for the night and was off to jump into my carriage before it officially turned back into a pumpkin. (Of course, I did weigh my options for several minutes and then made this decision at the insistence of my sweet friends-I am really not THAT selfish.)

Ken and I made a night of it. First we had dinner, followed by a show featuring singer/songwriter Drew Holcomb and his lovely wife, Ellie. As we were walking out of the restaurant, Ken was feeling extra saucy and throws out the idea of going to see a late movie. You should just know right now, this is very unlike us. I was actually kind of shocked-first that my husband would voluntarily invite me to a movie seeing as how this treat is only saved for special date nights such as an anniversary or my birthday, and second that it was already after ten! I mean, we are parents for crying out loud, are we allowed to stay out past ten?! We decided to throw caution to the wind.

We had a great time just getting to spend some time with each other, and of course, making out in the movie theater was a nice change from the couch-I’m totally kidding! We don’t do that anymore–we are married for crying out loud! And you will be happy to know, Edie has been puke free ever since her incident.