It's Magic

Adrienne really likes bandaids. I mean REALLY LIKES BANDAIDS! They heal all wounds and then some. Yesterday she went to wash her face after eating chocolate pudding. She used soap and got it in her eyes. She came to me for help, but was not impressed with my offer of a hug and a kiss. The only alternative...A (self-applied) bandaid of course.

What we hath wrought

Saturday was pretty productive. Annika had been invited to a birthday party that was in a Peter Pan theme. Kids were asked to attend in costume. We didn't have any costumes like that so I just thought she could go as herself. The kids and Burke all voted me down with some major Booing, so I whipped up a costume in about 15 minutes. Honestly. She went as Tiger Lily, with a skirt fashioned out of the leftovers from the teepee I made about two years ago. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out, and am feeling a little bit like Martha Stewart, except maybe a bit more harried, oh, and I am not a crook.
Anyway, here is Tiger Lily:
After the party, Nathan finally coerced Burke into building that go-kart they have been talking about for years. The engineer and his cohort built a beauty. It was finely crafted out of 2x4's, OSB, wheels from the old lawnmower and Nathan's old car seat. They were both thrilled with it and allowed all the neighborhood kids to take a ride. Don't worry though, there is no danger of breaking the land speed record.

Thinking Outside the Plum Box

We went down to my parent's home on Sunday to visit and wish Grandma a Happy Birthday. While we were there, we got to pick some fruit. We brought home some plums because Burke really liked them. Monday morning I got up and all the plums were gone. I figured Burke had taken them to work for a snack.
I found them later that afternoon in Adrienne's room. She had taken her socks out of her drawer and put the plums in the bottoms of about four pairs of socks and then hid them behind the small rocking chair in her room.
I still can't figure out what possessed her to do such a strange thing, but in case you were wondering, the plums were just the right size to fill out the sock of a 3 year girl.
The band-aid is from an "incident" at breakfast. Those of you who know the magic power of the band-aid will understand.
And yes, if you look closely in the picture she is wearing the famous orange dress AGAIN.

I forgot

Today was picture day, but I forgot. I think school pictures are a complete rip off and turn out horribly, so I usually take the kids to a photo studio somewhere else and skip the school pics. The school still takes a picture though to keep with the kids' school record.
I don't really care too much, except that I can't remember if the boys are wearing something "picture worthy" to school, or if I actually got around to combing their hair. Usually I keep it really short so I don't have to worry too much about bedhead.

I did do Annika's hair this morning, but it wasn't really a "school picture" type 'do. Still, I think it turned out fairly well, and lasted the whole day. This picture was taken after school.

A Dancing Queen

Okay, I have tried for two weeks to figure out how to flip this movie I took of Adrienne at her first dance class, but alas, no luck. It is too cute to leave out, so just rub your neck really well when it is over.

Striking Fear Into The Hearts of Mothers Everywhere

I heard Adrienne using the bathroom the other day, she is pretty independent, but when I heard the toilet flush four times in a row, I knew it was trouble. This is what I found:
No, you don't want to know what those dark spots on the rug and the toilet paper and everywhere else are...


The other day Burke gave Nathan the responsibility to mow the lawn.

Seven more years until he is legal for a car...Yikes!

Missing the Bus...

By looking around at my friends' blogs, I have recently discovered a treasure trove of cute hairstyles for girls. Since my girls are young enough to still let me do their hair, I have tried a few styles. Some have turned out better than others. I tried this one on Annika this morning and it turned out fairly well. Unfortunately, I am not too speedy and the kids missed the bus, but it was worth it. (They did get to school on time.)
I put the link to one of the hairdo blogs on my favorite websites list on the sidebar, so if you have girls who will let you do their hair for them still, check it out. Here is today's hairdo.

A Kindergartener's Book Review

Annika came home from school today shocked at the behavior of a character in one of the stories her teacher told her. I asked her to tell me about it, and it went something like this:
"This lady made a boy cookie who came to life, and then he told the lady 'You can't catch me!' and he ran away from his mom. What a jerk!"

Getting their groove on

It was the big day for Adrienne. All that "going in the potty" finally paid off and she was able to go to dance class for the first time today. She and Annika got all dressed up in their dancin' clothes and we headed out the door. Adrienne was so excited and was thrilled to be able to wear her tap shoes on the hard floor and make lots of noise. Annika was a little too excited and had some difficulty with doing what she was supposed to do without checking herself up close in the mirrors, among other things. I was shooting daggers at her, but she wouldn't look at me, and the observation area is a separate room enclosed with glass, so I couldn't say anything. Needless to say, we had some words on the way home, so hopefully we won't have the same problems next week...

Weekend Update

We had a lot of fun with the family this weekend. (Which is good, because every other weekend this month is dominated by "church stuff").
We went north for our fun this time and went to the parade with the kids,

went to the car show for Burke,
and then came home and canned some peaches for me.






It was a fulfilling, if sticky, day.
After the peaches were done, we moved on to salsa with the peppers and tomatoes we grew in our garden.
The kids weren't as interested in helping with the peaches or the salsa as they were when we did tomato juice. They were very helpful once it was time to taste the salsa with the chips, though.
Most of the time it was just Burke and I, but we were able to spend some time catching up. It seems like we haven't seen much of each other recently, with church, karate, working, and helping his parents out.

Finally....Kindergarten

Annika finally had the big day she has been waiting for. She finally got to go to Kindergarten! She was beside herself with anticipation. There was the bus ride to get there, the excitement of new friends and the joy of trying to take over the class from her teacher. I am thinking of getting caller ID, just to be able to steel myself for the phone call...
Anyway, here she is on the first day.