Packing for Grandma's

I went upstairs today to find O like this.  He's packing to go to Grandma's house.

I applaud his initiative and the fact that he had all the right categories of clothes (plus two piggy banks) ready to go.  Unfortunately, no one is going anywhere, and especially not 800 miles away to Grandma's house until after this baby is born and then some.  After that explanation, he told me it was fine to wait, but he wanted to leave his things packed until we do go.  Sadly, his mean mother crushed his dreams and made him put it all back.

At least I still let him jump on the couch.  That should count for something, right?

Biography Day

Can you guess who Ella is?  All month the third graders have been reading biographies.  Then they each picked a character to study in depth.  Today was the day to dress as your character, tell other students about "yourself", and see if they could guess who you're supposed to be.

Jane Goodall and her apes

If you guessed Jane Goodall, you're right!  If you also guessed we don't own a lot of khaki clothes or any fishing vests, you're right about that, too.  I thought my paper bag safari vest wasn't too bad.  Ella liked it, though she did tell me no one else wore a bag for a costume.  Hmmm, guess a little more advance planning would have been a good thing.

My favorite part about Ella's costume is her hair.  She told me when getting ready in the morning, that she had written about Jane Goodall's hair in her report because Jane Goodall only wears her hair in scraggly ponytails and messy buns.  Totally takes a girl to notice that in all the photos and then include such info in her report.

O man builds a snOwman

This isn't my idea of spring, but Owen was thrilled.  "Mom, I saw little white things falling from the sky, and you know what that means?  It's snowing, it's snowing, it's SNOWING!"  There was even some jumping up and down to accompany his statement.  

Not too many minutes later he and Claire were out in the backyard.  Claire licked some snow off her mittens for a few minutes and then came back inside for a movie and cantaloupe.

Owen built a snowman all by himself.  He's always had big sister help before.  I think the little guy's pretty cute.  Yes, I'm talking about the snowman.  We already know I think Owen's cute.

After the little one, Owen decided he should go big.  There's definitely a certain point of too big, and while I think Owen has reached it, he's still out there trying.

What's wrong with this picture?

Besides having a face made out of food, of course.  Have you ever seen strawberries so huge and clementine's so small?  The strawberries are some of the best I've had in years.  (Oh, tiny little fraise de bois--our week together those many years ago was so good, but why do you live overseas?)  Get thee to a Costco and buy some of these gigantically good berries now!  And the asparagus was so yummy, too.  I ate it all and didn't share.  I can't wait for summer produce and gardens and fruit stands.  Yum!

 

Reality Check

Today we went to the children's hospital and met the cleft coordinator nurse.  I really thought I had a lot of information and had kind of processed everything up to this point, but nope.  Now I'm all freaked out again.  Hands on training for feeding a cleft baby and pictures of actual kids someone knows are somehow much different than reading about it on the internet.  I know these are things parents learn to deal with every day and that this is a fixable and temporary problem, but it still makes me sad to think of my little guy going through all of it.

And also in the reality-based-news-that-I-don't-like category, it snowed today.  I like the daffodils better without the snow.  Owen and Claire just thought the horse was exciting.  You'll also notice O wearing his straw hat on top of his sweatshirt.  He needed to wear it, "so all the people in the hospital that will fix my baby brother know how cool I am, and they will be nice to my brother."  And here I thought Claire was the fashionista!

Dog, Dog Hat, Doorbell

Ella loves her dog hat, her stuffed puppies and anything even remotely related to animals.  That is, unless they're real.  Then suddenly they become scary and are all out to get her.  I think it comes from the dog that jumped on her and knocked her down in the park when she was little.  In any case, this is Ella confronting her fears.  She rang the doorbell to get Bryn, even though Harley the dog was outside at the same time.  Go Ella!

POISON!

We got our fruits and veggies from the co-op today, and while I was unpacking them Owen kept asking for bits and pieces.  He arranged them all nicely on a plate.  I was getting kind of excited that Mr. Picky might actually want to try something new.  Nope.

"Mom, this is poison.  We have to leave it here for a long time, then we'll take it camping and burn it in the fire and then we'll put on people to be poison!"  Oh well.

4-H leader for a day

Somehow Bryn talked me into taking over the 4H group today while her leader was out of town.  I think it would have been easier if I had any idea what 4H groups were really supposed to do and what kind of projects are appropriate for entry in the fair.  I just went with a generic craft and figured they could find a way to make it fit later.  The girls had a good time, and Bryn was thrilled to have me do it so I guess that's what counts.  I'm just hoping it's a long time before Bryn realizes that gluing a few things on a pre-made frame doesn't really make me crafty and cool!

Senor Eyeball

Though he does still answer to Owen...for now.

Waiting

At the pharmacy in Target, Bryn kept herself entertained by playing with my phone.  End result below:

This is pretty typical.  Ella in a dog hat, Claire sucking her thumb and snuggling when she's not busy running around.  Owen and Ella being goofy together.  That's us.

What kind of parent lets their kids get away with this?

I think the answer is me.  I just get out the camera and take pictures.

But really, how long do you get to jump on couches before you just get too big?  Not long.  I don't do it.  Bryn and Ella don't do it.  I figure O gets a few good years and he can just enjoy it....until we go to someone's house.  Okay at home; not okay elsewhere.  I don't think it's sinking in.

Pigtails and Peanut Butter

Today is Claire's first day having full pigtails without having to resort to extra clippies and such to keep them in. It's pretty exciting stuff for me, though her take on it was, "Quit squeezing on my hair, Mom.  I'm all done!"

She also got herself dressed today.  That's not so unusual, but today she put on tights (I still have to convince Ella to do it herself!), bloomers, a skirt, a shirt and her shoes.  She was done from head to toe and pretty much correctly.  The bloomers were backwards, but no one sees those, and I'm the mom so I say that doesn't count.  And she got lots of compliments on her outfit at church.  Go Claire!

The peanut butter gets a mention just because she ate a  PBJ and had the best little goofy mess face smile.  Cutest kid ever seems like a reasonable assessment to me.

Abuela Takes the Stage

The Spanish Club at Bryn's school did a play in Spanish.  Bryn played the grandmother.  After the play some other parents were talking to her (one who was Hispanic) and they were all shocked her parents were total gringos and hadn't been any help to her since her accent is so good.  We're very proud parents though we obviously can't take any credit.  It's all Bryn :-)

Owen was particularly impressed with both the grey hair (baby powder) and the Spanish.  He spent the first few minutes of the play enthralled, then looked at me and said, "I totally don't get this.  I have no idea what's going on?  Can we go now?"  You can see he played games on the phone the rest of the play.

Claire currently has a big love for Dora and Diego and has picked up some Spanish phrases from the shows.  She tells us "gracias" and asks for help in Spanish, too.  "Ayuda me!"  I thought she'd get a kick out of the play and was a little worried she'd shout out some of her own phrases in the middle.  She spent the whole time snuggled on Daddy's lap instead.  Probably a good thing, even if it is less entertaining.

Multitasking Claire

This girl is so impressive. She's having a joyride, reading a book and grocery shopping all at once.  I wish I could manage so much.

Cookie Monster

Or maybe that should be Dough Monster.  Claire likes them better unbaked than baked.  I pretty much agree.

Dr Suess' Birthday

Our local grocery store held a Cat in the Hat party.  The kids absolutely loved it--cookie decorating, balloons, bookmarks, story time, cake walk and on and on.  I love free events that are well done, fun, and even have some educational value.

Diving Board

This is the exciting culmination of swimming lessons and O's absolute favorite part.  Yet again, someone needs to tell his mom to bring a real camera. I promise that really is Owen.