fire station 1

Cousin A. spent the night on L.'s birthday which was a HUGE treat. Then, we woke up and walked over the main fire station in town for a guided tour.

they have this great big truck with all the tools you could ever need to rescue folks in collapsed buildings, or cars that fell in rivers, or whatever. It was so cool! I have never seen so many different sizes of saws and jaws

and axes and also really intense audio and camera equipment to located stuff under rubble. I was impressed. I think the kids were more impressed with the helmets and boots.

(thanks to Mer for the photos!)

Par-tee

The party was a success! We had a fish pinata, a white cake with white marshmallows on it (as per L's request), and games with prizes. The mini-marshmallow relay was especially popular, but that was not a surprise to anyone.

L. got a phonecall from Great-Grandma S. during dinner but she wouldn't let that distract her from her pizza-eating. Friends and family who attended: Aunts Mer & Kay (Viutus in-utero), Aunt "Sassy" and her girls, E. & her family and Isabel and Addison.

five years ago...

and just look at her today:

Happy Birthday, L., we are so proud of you!

getting ready for her big day...

since tonight marks L.'s final night as a 4 yr. old, she decided she ought to prepare for tomorrow. So she wrote "A list" and laid it out on top of the clothes she set out for herself, right next to her bed.
this list is actually a few fish-shaped post-it notes that she taped together in a long string. it was too long for one photo, so i had to take two. It reads from right to left, like Arabic, and it is numbered for clarity, but the numbers are all backwards, too.

1. be quwit= be quiet

5. (note the helpful image of what she would like for a snack: a cherry yogurt!)

8. = buy pinata.

(ps: birthday post to come tomorrow. please wait to post any birthday wishes)

"Mommy! A' pants a' falling down!"

(phew. much better.)

outdoors

Aunt Mer is living about 1 hr. 1/2 away for the summer, so we decided that between the three of us, we could manage a camping trip at some point (our last one was back in 2006 and well, a little bit traumatic for everyone). so we decided Monday was the day.

we finally got out to see the spring flowers up in the mountains. so does it look like we went camping?

well, we kinda did. we got a little nervous about the forecast, so Mer and the girls camped out in the backyard. but we roasted marshmallows over candles so it was, you know, an authentic experience.

(the other pictures are of a picnic we went on before it did indeed pour down rain.)

thanks to kit...

...we now have an effective and totally adorable way of keeping A.'s bangs out of her eyes while they're growing out.

and thanks kit for this great idea: when your teapot breaks, use the French press for that loose leaf tea!

Finally, thanks to Gramom for the cute little tea set (i mean, espresso cups) so our tea party dinners can be sophisticated, if still a little pathetic...

gift

Grampa brought L. a new fridge magnet set. She was very proud to show off the words she spelled out immediately.



(huh?)

more things i love...

...that they call those guys "daddy spiders,"

and,

...listening to them talk in their "robot" voices

Grampa is here!

mr. manners

BR has been sleeping in my room while Grampa is visiting. Apparently he's even polite in his sleep. I overheard him talking in his sleep the other night: "Thank you!"

a patch of sunlight

It's been cool and overcast with scattered thundershowers.

Here are some moments from a rare sunny morning.

you've got to see this

There is a link to my niece's blog on the right sidebar. Go take a look at today's entry.
(ps: her name is Eloise and she lives in Paris)

so polite

BR.: "Mommy, a' Daddy a' coming home?" (=when is Daddy coming home)
Me: "Not now, late tonight."
BR: "Oh, okay. Thank you."

so confused

Grandpa lives very far away, across the ocean.

Me: "Kids, did you know that Grandpa is coming to visit next week? On Wednesday!"
L.: "Uh, what kind of Grandpa?"
Me: "The skype kind."

shrimps

We measured them (roughly) the other day:
L.: 3'8
A.: 3'4
BR: 2'11

bubble wrap

sweet music to her mama's ears

A. (on the pot): "Mommy! Come see, I made a worm poopoo!"

It is hard to express how happy I am about this new-found ability of A's. The weeks leading up to this have been, um, quite eventful.

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In other news, L. poured everyone's cereal for them yesterday and helped me pour the milk. And that about concludes the report. :)

thank you, Minnie

I would like to take back my harsh and cruel comments about Minnie Mouse.
One of A.'s favorites is about how Minnie and friends are convinced that grown-ups have more fun. Then they try doing the work of a grown-up one day only to discover how exhausting it is. This has apparently inspired L. to take over my work for me tomorrow. She tells me that she will be making breakfast for all of us, for starters.

I look forward to reporting on what will no doubt prove to be a day of perfect serenity and refreshment for myself. Stay tuned.

good reads

BR's favorite book is what he calls, "Ni-nite MOON!" He especially likes the part about oatmeal. You probably missed it, Margaret Wise Brown mistakenly calls it "mush," but he knows she meant oatmeal, so he shouts it out and points every time we get to that part!

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A.: any of the dozen Minnie Mouse books she received for Christmas. Jeremy and I are quite sure that we are getting years off of purgatory for each time we read one of those.
She also likes to read along out loud in "Ni-nite Moon" and drive BR c-r-a-z-y.

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L.: well, she has a variety of favorites. But her favorite things to do while I'm reading is to correct all my mistakes since she can now read along. Which is pretty fun, but not quite as fun as reading it herself. She likes to switch the last word from each line and trade it with the next one, because it would be WAY too boring to read it the correct way. And if there is an uneven number of lines on a page, she just switches around the order of the last two words from the last line. Like this:

When evening came and Henry bed

had to crawl into finally,

he could hardly wait to finish the wait.

He could hardly castle

for more of the weekend fun.

tea party dinner

We are not so good at dainty tea parties (who am I kidding---like I'm going to be able to teach a kid how to do those), but we're good at tea party dinners.
That's when mom needs a break from making those gourmet meals she usually makes (ahem), or the car's been the shop and you haven't been to the grocery store for awhile...

Now, usually, this would mean pancake dinner, or french toast dinner, but these are desperate times. There are neither eggs nor milk in the fridge, so you know its serious.

Tonight's menu: popcorn, veggies & dip, some nuts & dried fruit and cracker sandwiches. And don't forget the tea!
Our favorite is the one Kara introduced us to called "Evening in Missoula." No actual tea in this one, so it's perfect for kids.
According to the package, it does have: chamomile, rosehips, raspberry leaf, lemon grass, papaya leaf, peppermint, spearmint, strawberry leaf, vanilla, passion flower, red clover, star anise, wild cherry bark, lemon peel, wintergreen, lavender. Everything but pure gold. It's delicious.

When it comes to preschoolers, it's all about presentation. Oh, and that candle centerpiece.

BR's favorite part of the meal:

what does A. think about all day? well, we have some clues...

"Mommy, why do some people go and some people come back home and some people stay?"

"Mommy, why do some people call their popcorn 'popcorn'?"

"Mommy, sometimes I like peanuts and sometimes I like raisins."

"Mommy, BR likes to say things like 'happy-doh'!"

"Mommy, I can even see you in the dark" then "Ooh, look at her eyebrows!"

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And here's a good example of the differences between the way L. sees things (extremely logically), and A. (there's a little more mystery...or is it confusion?):

A.: "L. get your magic coat on so we can go out in the rain!"
L.: "Is it magic?"
A.: "I don't think so."
L.: "Well, why did you say it was?"
A.: "Uh, I dunno. I was just pretending."

more indoor fun

Blogger didn't let me upload two videos within the same post, so here is part deux to our rainy day amusement. Actually, it was rainy day #4. And our car has been in the shop for that time, so we were all getting a little stir crazy around these parts. Bet you can't tell.

rainy Memorial Day

Kay, Dave (& Viutus) had us and a bunch of other folks over for an indoor picnic.

earlier in the day, we amused ourselves indoors:

\

In this (silent) video, L. is saying, "we are BEST friends! Now put that on the ba-log, mommy." Then she instructed me on the proper spelling of her name. A. is saying...uh, what is she saying? What is she doing?

This last one is for Billy. This snack was inspired by the leftover filling I had from a fruit & cream cheese tart I made the other day. We dipped this fruit into it and it was really delicious, and um, extra healthy.

genius

Me: "L., your sleeves are all wet, did you get them wet while you were washing your hands?"

Her: "No, I think it's from licking them."

sometimes...

...I can hear the girls laughing maniacally from the other room.

"Ha HA HA HAHA HAA!!"

things I don't notice while I am checking my email:

the milk dribbling happening right behind me!

What a pro. He managed to spit it all over the table and simultaneously soak through his shirt and pants. Are there awards for this kind of thing?

what's that you say?

It's been warm so we've pulled out the kiddie pool. It has provided some opportunities for spiritual reflection.

A: "Mommy, is Jesus still in my heart while I'm wearing my bathing suit?"

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L. didn't want to miss a teaching opportunity. Inspired by the cereal box during breakfast, she decided to give A. (who doesn't even know her alphabet entirely) a reading lesson.

L.(pointing): "Try to read: 'High in Fiber' right here."