All Four

Not in the same picture, but all within a half hour of each other.

Owen, showing me his map/maze of this earth that he made at Nana and Grampa's today. Drawing has become one of his favorite pastimes lately, though legos are probably number one.

Claire, with peanut butter on her face, mesmerized by Princess Ariel.  Her hair is crazy these days.  (Claire is watching me post this and she says, "Oh, look it's me, it's Claire.  She's so beautiful, but she has a lady bug dress; she wants a Cinderella dress.  Mom, she wants a Cinderella dress.  Where's her Cinderella dress!?!")

Bryn and Ella, who fell backwards onto the couch while hugging.  You can see all of Bryn's damaged parts from last Friday are healing up nicely.

My Phone Needs Help

So do my expired coupons, and my messy desk, and and and.....

Chinny, Chin, Chin

Poor Bryn fell off her scooter tonight.  She landed smack on her chin.  We weren't home.  She was with her friends.  Their parents weren't home, either. (Parent/child communication breakdown is a post for another time.) Fortunately, a kind stranger driving by saw what happened, called me, and helped them to a neighbor's house.  Then that lovely mom got Bryn all calmed down and all the blood cleaned up.  That's when we finally showed up.  Our other neighbor who does wilderness camps and has much first aid experience cleaned it out properly and taped her up while telling us it was a definitely stitch worthy cut.  Andrew took her to instacare where she finally quit freaking out.  You'd think the stitches would be the scary part, but it was all about anticipation for her.  And now she's home again, home again, jiggety jig.

Who needs a brother?

Having the kids back in school has been hard on Owen.  I anticipated Claire being bored and needy without them, but she's fine.  Owen is the one who spends his days pining away for when Ella comes home.  Today he attacked her (literally) when she walked through the door.  She's a good sport and happily wrestled with him.  Who needs a brother when Ella will fight, play Batman, make paper airplanes, etc?  I never thought my boy and girl who are over four years apart would be the closest pair out of all my kids, but I'm very grateful for their relationship.

Claire on the Stair

No good can come of a toddler knowing how to climb out of a crib, and this picture is late-night proof of that statement.  She doesn't look very contrite, does she?

Lunch with Dad

It's always exciting and fun to meet Dad for lunch.  Who knew you could see your dad in the MIDDLE of the day?

Claire, now: "Oh look, I have a pink bow.  That's bee-oo-ful, Mom.  I'm so pretty.  Where's my backpack?  It has princesses on it. Can I pick my nose?"

Hmmm, maybe lunch with dad isn't the important part.  She obviously has such high level concerns to attend to.

Snugglebugs

Some days that whole sweetness and cuteness of my children thing just kills me.  I love these kids!

Greek Festival

None of the kids liked the food, but they all liked the dancing.

Painter's Assistant

Owen and I repainted an end table today.  He was thrilled to get his hands on the brush instead of being told it was mom's turn which is usually what happens when the paint is out.  Thanks, Buddy!

We got a surprise visit in the middle of our project when Claire decided she wasn't going to take a nap, and then figured out how to climb out of her crib.  No thanks to you Claire!

Classic

This is Claire.  She's half naked.  Her hair is crazy and a half.  Her pants are falling down (but hey, she's wearing them!) She's gotten herself outside and up on the trampoline.  And she won't get down.  This is classic Claire.

Cool Tricks

Owen thinks putting a pencil behind your ear is some pretty cool stuff.  I think Owen looks like an alien or a bug.  But a cute alien or a bug.  Maybe the humans attacked when he landed and that's how he got the cut on his head.  No one can figure out where it came from.  Owen must have a hard head to not notice things like that.

"I got ponytails!"

Claire loves ponytails, but she's not so boring and fashion backwards as to think they should just be for hair.  She's a true trendsetter, going for the layered toe ring look.  Very fashion forward, and by totally hindered by her parents.

I walk in the room.
Claire:  Ponytails don't go on toes, huh, Mom?  Ponytails go in hair.  NOT on toes!"

Yes, it's a lot like that drawing on paper thing.  You say it to make your parents happy, but when their backs are turned.....

Windowsills are Fun

I have no idea why, but Owen loves to play with his toys on his windowsill.  Claire likes to join in with Owen more and more now that the girls are in school and he's the default playmate.  It's sweet to finally see them playing together happily.  (Claire is known for her history of torturing Owen.)

The Batcave Fort

Owen has a loft bed in his room and he calls the space underneath the Batcave.  He's been wanting to sleep in there forever, so I finally told him he could, thinking that would mean we'd throw a pillow and blanket on the floor and that would be the end.  Nope, he needed a whole fort with a flip down blanket to hide under, etc.

Fireboy and Friends

Owen chose his own outfit today--red pants, red shorts, orange shoes--and proclaimed himself Fireboy since he was dressed just like fire.  How is a mom to argue with that?  Here he is with his trusty sidekicks, DogHat and Plokalots.  (Okay, I made that part up, but since they all got in the picture, they need some kind of names, right?)

"I know you...

I met with you once upon a dream."  Claire loves all princesses right now, but this is her favorite song.  She likes to pick the mini roses from our bushes, jump and throw them in the air and sing this song.  She'll also go on about getting married and finding a prince and being a hero and true love, and every other Disney platitude ever thrown our way.  I'm sure this is all normal and fun, but I do worry about just what messages I'm sending when she watches these shows over and over.

Bird, Branch, Backyard