With a grand display of self-aggrandizement, let it be known that today is the 22nd anniversary of my 21st birthday.

The day was off to a good start when Eliana sang 'Happy Birthday' to me with no prompting from her mommy. Her serenade and accompanying smile made me forget all about the extra aches and pains I felt when we first rolled out of bed.

Carmi and I still haven't settled on a name for Eliana's little sister. However, a goody box from Amazon arrived in the mail today and inside was yet ANOTHER baby name book. If you are ever in the market for one, call us! We're guaranteed to have it in stock.

I don't know what it is about these kinds of books but I simply can't stay awake when I start to look through them. My action plan is to take one letter each night and write down my faves. At that rate, I should have my list by the time our I-171H arrives in April.

I know this much. If we don't find a suitable name this time around, we'll just call her 'Jane Doe'.

I took Eliana to a playground after work today. The girl has no fear and is especially fond of the monkey bars. Occasionally she finds herself in a sticky situation.

We were planning on a nice picnic today at one of the local parks and wearing Eliana out letting Eliana play on the equipment. She was quite excited.

We ran by Kentucky Fried Chicken, picked up some lunches-to-go and headed to the park. But by the time our meals were done and the Empress got in about one minute of 'swing' time, the rain started falling.

Ended up being another 'lazy' day at the house.

Eliana spent the afternoon at Gran'mommy's house. When she came home, we discovered gooey stuff in her hair that felt and smelled like tree sap. Guess the Empress had been climbing? This called for a warshin'...

I'm gonna start calling Eliana 'Super Snooter'.

We always have a fair share of cocoa confections in the house. Case in point: there is an opened bag of Hershey's Kisses in the kitchen. I was helping myself to one when Eliana called for me in the living room. Since a 'Dora the Explorer' video was coming on, she wanted me to pick her up and dance with her which I gladly did. All the while, that marvelous Kiss was tucked in the corner of my mouth and melting into a heavenly goo. Never once did I chew so as to give away my secret. At about the third spin, the question came.

"What are you eating?"

"Dang it!", I muttered in my mind. Then I lied. I looked right into my daughter's eyes and with raised eyebrows said, "I'm not eating anything."

"But I smell chocolate."

"Double dang it!" Busted. Game over. I had to share.