A good idea in theory . . .

I've noticed in parenting there are many good ideas in theory. One great idea I had this morning was to have a birthday tree for Analese. Kind of like a Christmas tree. I thought we could just pile her birthday presents under the ficus tree in our foyer. So lo and behold she gets a birthday package in the mail. It is from my super talented friend Carrie. I know it is a hand-knitted doll blanket, but I tell Analese that we are putting it under the birthday tree and she can open the package on her birthday. I have a couple more birthday gifts for Analese hidden in the closet, but luckily I have not wrapped them yet. Because here is where this birthday tree idea kind of fell apart. Today was bill pay day in my house. It is the big, once-a-month day that Lee and I sit down together in the office and run all our monthly expenses through our budget. I had Analese in the den watching some PBS kid's programs that we had on the Tivo. After a while I thought she was being pretty quiet, so I went out to check on her. I called her and she answered back, "I'm upstairs, mommy!" I asked, "What are you doing upstairs?" She said, "I'm having a beautiful picnic!" So I thought, uh oh, and I went toward the stairs and there in the foyer was the evidence that she had ripped into the package that Carrie sent. Sure enough, she had the beautiful pink blanket spread out at the top of the stairs and she was having a pretend picnic on it. I guess that nixed the birthday tree idea!