Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

Lauren showed me a picture of a volcano she had drawn and said, "Do you know what that stuff coming out of the top of the volcano is?"  "Lava," I replied.  "No," she said.  "I didn't know how to draw lava so I just drew a mustache instead."  I looked again and sure enough it was a handlebar mustache.

We were at the dentist office for the girls' cleaning and Anna was looking around the office.  She asked the dental hygenist what the Sharps container was for.  The hygenist responded it was for needles.  She then went on to say they used the needles to help take away the pain in case anyone needed a tooth pulled.  Anna perked up and said, "I know a girl who had to have her tooth pulled.  Afterwards, she took it home, put it in a jar and named it Rachel."

As you may have guessed, Lauren can be rough and tumble.  She tends to give Jacob a hard time but now that he's a little older, he tells on her.  The funny thing is though, that now he blames her for everything, whether she did it or not.  He fell on a toy the other day and came over to me, rubbing his back saying, "Ow.  Back hurt.  Low-reen (his pronounciation of Lauren) scratch.  Hurt."  The next day he got the knee of his pants wet in the dog's water dish and said, "Low-reen did."  This morning, he was scratching an owie he had on his knee that he gave himself.  I said, "C'mon, Buddy.  Let's put some neosporin on that."  He responded, "Low-reen scratch.  Low-reen did." 

Sitting down to a dinner of shrimp and rice, Anna asked, "Did God say it was OK to kill shrimp?"

Some older tidbits I'd written on post-its that I came across while spring cleaning:

At the end of drama camp this past summer, Doug asked Lauren if she'd made any friends during the week.  She responded, "No."  He asked, "What about that little boy sitting next to you?"  Again, she responded, "No."  He asked Anna the same question.  She replied, "Yes, a ton!"  Doug looked at me and said, "Well, that about sums it up."

Conversation upon turning on the computer and seeing a pop-up that says it is a non-media day in America:
Anna said, "Lauren, today is No TV day.  It says we're supposed to turn off our tvs, video games, and cell phones and go outside to play."  Lauren thought for a second and then said, "Yeah, just click the X."

We're still alive.

Believe it or not, we're still here.  We've all been sick.  We recovered and then had a houseguest for a week.  It's rained non-stop for two weeks and I finally finished one of the on-line classes I've been taking.  Since the sun is finally out, I'm busy with a little spring cleaning this week.  Just thought I'd pop in to say "Hi" and share some photos from Saturday night's Daddy Daughter Dance at the girls' school.  The ladies that put this event on, do such an awesome job.  It just melts my heart to see the girls dancing with their daddies.  I got to take pictures at the event last year and this year I was back again but working a photo booth.  The booth took 4 pictures of the girls and their dads and spit them out in little film strips right there.  The theme was "Beach Party" and the girls had such a great time.  There was a lot of dancing going on!

 The ladies had the school gym all decked out for a beachy fun night!

 There were lots of contests and prizes, and cotton candy and ice cream.  There was a fierce "twisting" competition and Doug and Anna made it into the finals!!

They didn't win but they sure had a good time.  The "twist" was followed by a hula-hoop competition.  The girls didn't make it to the end in this one but we had to go out the next day and buy 3 hula-hoops for the family.

It's really worth volunteering at this event just to get to see the girls and their daddies together.  What a great PTC we have!!

Seussicality!

Read Across America is being celebrated today in the girls' school.  Very appropriate as it's being held on the birthday of the brilliant Dr. Seuss.  The kids were encouraged to wear a crazy hat or to dress as their favorite book character.  We put together a couple of Dr. Seuss-inspired outfits in honor of the day. 

I wanted to make Stuart-Machlachlan type hats to go with the outfits; a fish in a bowl for Anna and swirls/bands of colors for Lauren but just ran out of time.  It was supposed to start raining last night and rain all day today so I was rushing around like a madwoman trying to get the skirts and shirts finished so I could take a picture before they wore them to school.  You moms know how it is.  It's virtually impossible for wee ones to wear any outfit to school and have it come home without at least a remnant of lunch, snack, or art on it somewhere.  (Sorry, momentary distraction as Lauren is pretending to be the Lorax behind me.  Hahahaha!)

We'd had to jump an electric fence to get into this field.  It's normally open but the grass-mowing goats are in town and a small fence had been put up to keep them in.  They weren't around and so I tossed each girl in and then did a karate-kid ninjitsu type move to get in myself.  I started laughing because Anna looked like she was trying to hold in her big, funny toddler belly.  Granted, she's almost 8 but she still has a toddler belly.

I told her she looked like she needed to find a bathroom and then everyone started laughing.

It only got crazier from there.  Everyone decided to spin and although they had an entire field at their disposal for spinning, they couldn't seem to do it without bumping into each other!

They decided to stop before they hurt each other and instead began to jump and balance and make funny faces.

I just love my goofballs.



Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

If you're interested in making your own t-shirts, see this post!

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

It's been a busy week.  Doug and I are finally coming down with the cold that the kids had and are feeling a bit under the weather.  It was another crazy 7 days in class, but after 2 discussion posts and replies, 6 supplemental media quizzes, a lab activity quiz,  two tests, and a midterm, I'm only one paper away from being done for the week...just in time to start again next week.  In my spare time, I've been working on a Queen Elizabeth I dress for Anna.  Her class is doing book reports on famous people and she's read 3 books about Queen Elizabeth.  The students are supposed to dress like their character and present their book reports as if they were that person.  I still have a few weeks to get the dress done so I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can get it finished and that it will fit.  I'm still new to the whole sewing thing.  I decided it was probably about time for another CWTPG.  The wee ones are coming up with new stuff all the time.  I need to put aside one notebook just for their "funnyisms" because I tend to write their sayings down wherever I have a piece of paper and then have to search around when it's time for a new post.  Here's the latest.

While watching the Super Bowl:
Lauren:  What's the Super Bowl?
Anna:  I don't know but if you win you get to go to the World Series.
Lauren:  C'mon Pack, go!  I want you to go to the Super Bowl.
Mommy:  Jacob, say "Go, Pack Go!"
Jacob: Balls.
Mommy:  Jacob, say "Go, Pack Go!"
Jacob:  Doe, Dat, Doe!
Tyler to Doug:  Did you hear that one of the guys in the group that has never missed a Super Bowl is in the hospital and can't go?
Anna:  What happened?  Did he get hit in the head with a football?

Eating dinner and playing the 20 questions game:
Anna:  Okay, it's a person.
Me:  Is it a girl?
Anna:  Yes.
Lauren:  Is it a boy?
Moment of silence.
Anna:  No, it's a girl.  Here are some more hints.  She is Jewish and she's from Amsterdam.
Me:  Is it Anne Frank?
Anna:  No.  She's also Indian.
Me:  Huh?
Anna:  And she helped Lewis and his buddy find their way across the United States.
Me:  Do you mean Sacagawea?
Anna:  Yes!!!  You got it.

Trying to get Jacob to the table for lunch:
Me:  Jacob, it's time to eat.  Do you want to eat?
Jacob:  Outside to bounce.  (He loves the trampoline.)
Me:  No, honey, we need to eat first.
Jacob:  Shush!  Outside to bounce.
Me:  Do you want spinach pizza or grilled chicken?
Jacob:  Bock.  Bock.

I showed the girls a picture my stepmom had sent of my dad with a deer he killed during hunting season.  This is the conversation that ensued:
Anna: Awww, is that PawPaw?
Me: Yes.
Anna: Awww, is that a baby deer?
Me: No, it's an adult. Look at how big his antlers are.  It's an 8-point.
Lauren: Let me see! Man! PawPaw killed that deer...with a gun.
Anna: Yeah, that's an elephant gun.
Lauren: No, it's a BB gun, right?
Anna: No, BB guns are smaller.

Me to Jacob:  Say Granny.
Jacob:  Granny.
Me:  Say PawPaw.
Jacob:  PawPaw.
Me:  Say Nana.
Jacob:  Nana.
Me:  Say Poppy.
Jacob:  Woof.  Woof.

Overheard from the family room:
Lauren:  Help!!  He's eating my project!!!!
I walked in to find Lauren in tears and Jacob eating the marshmallows and pretzels off of her snowman picture she'd made in her kindergarten class.

Tyler came out in January to spend 3 months with us.  The night before his arrival, the girls were busy making welcome signs and presents for him.  He came in around lunchtime the next day.  When Anna got home from school and got to see him for the first time, she gave him a huge hug and said, "Tyler, I have a present for you."  I assumed she meant one of the pictures she had been working on.  Instead, she took Tyler by the hand and led him over to her backpack where she had 8 french fries wrapped up in a greasy napkin .  She said, "Tyler,  I saved my french fries from lunch for you.  C'mon, let's heat them up, so you can eat them."

Looking at baby pictures of Lauren:
Anna:  Look at how cute Lauren was.  Now she's all grown up and has stinky feet.

After the girls' Starstruck Showcase perfomance at school:
Anna:  Lauren, I saw your dance and I was clapping for you very rapidly!

Anna's song at the dinner table inspired by her readings about Queen Elizabeth:
Anna:  I'm a princess.  Tyler's a prince and Jacob's a prince.  Alaina is a princess and Lauren is a princess.
Lauren.  Eww.  I want to be a prince.
Anna:  Daddy is the King and Mommy is the Queen.  Tyler and Jacob are princes.  I am a princess and so is Alaina.  Lauren is a slave.  La, la, la, la.

Overheard from the family room:
Lauren:  Anna, have you seen those pajama jeans they've been talking about on TV?  I'm going to get Mommy a pair of those for Christmas next year!!

The many faces of Jacob

Happy.

Surprised.

Scared.

Sad.

Confused.

Mad.

Or at least these are the faces he made when I said each of those words.  He's a character!

The tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds...

Tyler graduated from the University of Georgia this past December.  In January, he came out to California to spend some time with the family and work on his private pilot's license.  The weather has been cooperating and he's been busy flying or snowboarding most days.  On Sunday he completed his inital solo.  We were so excited for him.  He did an amazing job!  I really think he's just a natural.

Ty had his solo in the T-41, 24 years after Doug. 

The girls couldn't wait to get out to the plane and immediately hopped in.  Lauren has been working on flight sim quite a bit lately.  Could she be the next pilot in the family to follow her dad and now Tyler?

Maybe it will be this one.

The kids love their big brother...a lot.

Congrats, Tyler!