“Catch me, Elliora!”

Heh. Not really, of course. But doesn’t it look like Elliora is getting ready to catch a mini-Annalie!? This cracked us up when we saw it.

Can anyone out there think of a better, more hilarious caption? There might be a prize in it for you if you come up with a really good one. Maybe some dottery or something crocheted. Wow me, I dare you!

(DISCLAIMER, because I know some of you are looking at this photo and thinking, “Aack!”: No babies were harmed during the taking of this photo. It was safer than it looks. We have a king-size bed, and Elliora was on one corner with me right next to her, while Annalie jumped straight up and landed on the pillow in the opposite corner, about six feet away. Elliora wasn’t even jostled.)

“She’s as happy as a clam…actually, I’m not sure if clams can even BE happy.”
9:51 AM Feb 1st

Singing, “So I came to Alabama with a banjo on my knee, a banjo on my knee, a banjo on my knee, oh I came to Alabama with a banjo on my knee!”
3:06 PM Feb 3rd

“Mom, if you gave Elliora that bracelet when she’s older, then she would have an accessory that was her birthstone.”
1:33 AM Feb 5th

“Glab is a secret word, meaning GLAMOROUS.”
12:17 PM Feb 6th

“You might not be aware of this, but throwing up when you have no food in your stomach really HURTS.”
4:03 PM Feb 8th

“I really am a complex girl, because I’m an American.”
5:22 PM Feb 9th

“Ooh! Stunning flavor on my tongue.”
8:31 PM Feb 12th

“Who can resist the cheesy goodness of a cheese puff!? I certainly can’t.”
11:32 AM Feb 14th

“You know what they say: that dry-erase board ain’t gonna erase itself!”
10:47 AM Feb 15th

“Huh. My pine-cone-wild-onion air freshener didn’t work out the way I thought it would.”
1:10 PM Feb 16th

“Aw, that chicken joke is a cluck-sic. Get it? Instead of ‘classic’ I said ‘CLUCK-sic, because it’s about a chicken! Hahahaha!”
12:12 PM Feb 17th

“Ah. Nothing like eating some dry toast in your Snuggie.”
10:52 AM Feb 18th

RT @bethanyactually: “Mom, can I borrow your camera, go outside & take pictures?” http://twitpic.com/41633o
12:54 PM Feb 18th

(after going into the men’s room with Troy to wash her hands) “It smelled like a zoo in there!”
1:57 PM Feb 20th

“Oh dear. My dolphin has red eyes, a fever of 100, and tired tail. She’s going to need bandages, lots of rest, and ice cream.”
2:45 PM Feb 22nd

“You know, for an Australian, Lauren is pretty all right.”
10:56 AM Feb 23rd

“I think I better have Joe-Joe’s for lunch, because the cans are stacking up!”
9:15 AM Feb 24th

doing modern dance in my pj’s with a four-foot plush dolphin
4:32 PM Feb 24th

“I’m an everywhere veterinarian. That’s a vet who travels around the world to help animals.”
4:34 PM Feb 27th

“Elliora, will you be my sister FOR LIFE?”
12:43 PM Feb 28th

Here’s something weird that happened today. Annalie called my mom from the phone booth downstairs to let her know she was feeling better today. I wrote my mom’s cell number on a piece of paper for her and told her I’d be downstairs in a minute.

By the time I went down, Annalie was already chattering away on the phone. I waved at Annalie through the glass door of the booth, she smiled and gave me a thumbs-up sign, and I went back upstairs.

Several hours later, our land line rang. When I glanced at the number on the caller ID I noticed that the prefix was 402, which is Omaha’s area code. I thought that was funny, but didn’t otherwise recognize the caller, who was calling from our 703 area code.

I answered the phone, and the woman on the other end gave me her name, then said someone from our number had called her and she was wondering why, since she didn’t recognize our number. I had the fleeting though that it was odd for her to have called me back, in that case. Out loud, I replied that I didn’t think anyone had called her. I asked her to repeat her name, and confirmed that I didn’t know her.

Slightly confused, I asked what the person on the message had said. She explained there had been no message, just a number on her caller ID.

Then the 402 prefix of her number on my caller ID flashed into my mind, and I realized what must have happened. I apologized and said that when my daughter was calling her grandma earlier that day, she must have dialed the wrong number.

After I hung up, I asked Annalie if she’d dialed a wrong number earlier before she called Gramaw. She said, “Well, I was dialing the right number, but the first time I dialed it, it started ringing before I was done dialing the number!”

I checked our caller ID again. My mom’s number is 402-XYZ-ABCD. This woman’s number was 703-402-XYZA. Because Vonage doesn’t require you to dial a 1- before a long-distance call, it must have read a pause in Annalie’s dialing to mean it was a local call.

I told Annalie, from now on when she calls Gramaw, dial a 1- before the area code.

.