Kindergarten Kid

Owen comes home from school with the best kindergarten stories.  There was the bad guy who came into his class and threw pans at his teacher.  O caught the pan, rescued the teacher and chased the bad guy away.  He got paid a dime for this service.  His class also has half time outs.  That's where you put your hand in a box and it magically opens up and sucks you in down a hole.  Then you stay in the bottom of the hole for half an hour.  Half an hour--that's why it's half a time out.  Clearly, we can't quite trust his version of events, so I never know exactly what happened at school. I love the imagination and how interesting he makes things, but I can't wait for volunteer time to start next week so I can get the real scoop on K.

Today was the first treasure box day where they traded in tokens for prizes.  Here's O with his haul, his apple glasses and a pose ("Mom, did you get my elbow in the picture?  Make sure you have my elbow.")

Gee-gee, Softie, Fuzzy and Pinky

It turns out I didn't take any picture today, but Owen did.  Pretty impressive subject, composition and lighting, right?

This is Owen's blanket named Fuzzy.  Owen's name comes from the Kevin Henkes book, and that Owen has a fuzzy yellow blanket he takes everywhere.  Bryn just had to find Owen a yellow blanket when he was born so he could be like the Owen of the book.  It seems to have worked since he does love his Fuzzy.  

The big girls also have their loveys.  Bryn's is a striped fleece blanket my mom gave her as a baby called Gee-gee.  Ella has her Softie which took her at least a year or so to fall in love with it.  Claire has always slept with a soft blanket, but doesn't have a favorite.  She's recently decided it's not fair that everyone else has a named blanket in their lives, so she's taken to calling her blankets Pinky.  It works well for all of them since they all have pink.  "Pinky is really special to me, so I need to hold it," or, "Pinky is really special so don't let Max drool on it."  I wonder if Max will claim a favorite and name it?

Mini Golf

I totally won even though I had a wiggling 17 pound handicap on the first eight holes and a sleeping-so-don't wiggle-too-much handicap on the back eight.  Owen was a little disappointed, but he did beat Bryn.  (Shhh!  Bryn doesn't want that one broadcast to the world.) 

The School Carnival

My kids love these things.  I have to admit it's good cheap entertainment and goes toward a great cause. The popular items of the day were hair dos, candy, bounce houses and pizza.  And Max even behaved, which made all the difference for me.  It's so weird to think that last year I didn't know I was pregnant.

Double Take, Take Two

So after yesterday's double cuteness, I guess Owen and I decided to take it to a new level.  We wore matching shirts today.  I have to laugh since it was not at all purposeful, but it totally made Owen's day.  Sadly, I did not have a little bear on my pocket, but Owen still thought it was close enough for us to be twins for the day.  He's even talking about saving up his money so he can buy me some shorts just like his.

In keeping with a double, double, here's Mr Max doing a drool and stare routine on Ella during dinner.  Drool is one of his major talents these days, and it looks like dinner might be next on his list of accomplishments.

Twice as Cute

Owen walked up to me today while holding his two stuffed giraffes and said, "Look, Mom, when I do this I get twice as cute! We should take a picture."

While I do think Owen is adorably cute, my version of twice as cute means seeing both my boys.  Max is having some super cutie-pants moments these days.  His giant screaming fits are getting further apart, he smiles more easily and is just generally more fun as we watch him figure out the world.

Something to Smile About

My new camera lens arrived today, so I'm happy.

And Ella's happy, just because she's Ella and that's the kind of kid she is.  When Ella was little tiny, she'd take the blame for anything to keep Bryn from getting in trouble.  She'd look at me and ask if I was sad, just because I wasn't grinning and smiling like crazy.  She thanks her teachers and parents constantly (and we don't tell her to!)  She just seems to have been born kind and with the ability to express and share it.  What a lovely gift to have.

A Singular Harvest

This year's garden was a joint project by the grandparents.  My mom planted at Easter.  Then it froze.  Goodbye garden.  Andrew's parents added a few things.  Then some of the frozen things started to grow again.  Then we went to California and left Andrew in charge.  More things died.

In the end, we have a single cabbage, single ear of corn, and single red pepper.

(And lots of tomatoes, but we're just ignoring them since they don't fit the theme.) The cabbage was Ella's pet project.  They sent the kids home with cabbage plants near the end of third grade.   Ella planted it with Grandma and has faithfully watered, fertilized and weeded all around her cabbage all summer.  She's pretty excited that it got so big.

Take My Picture

Andrew wanted a new FB profile picture, so Max got in on the action of course.  It only occurred to me much later that it was my birthday, and maybe the pictures should have been of me.  That's okay.  I really don't like pictures of me.

Lego Mania

I love Legos. I only love them because all of the kids love them.  Then they all play together and are quiet and nice.  Life is peaceful for me.  Lego should pay attention to this and start marketing with this in mind.  I'm pretty sure their sales would skyrocket.

The day Max gains a pincer grasp will be a sad day for me indeed.

Cute Little Sleeping Baby

The Sugar Smax sleeps in some slightly odd positions, but oh is he ever so cute in all of them.  I just love it when he sleeps.  And I love him.

9/11

Sleeping babies give you faith in the world, faith in possibilities and faith in good things which are yet to come.

Max is not the most content baby on the planet.  We have to bounce and jiggle and sing and talk and shush and sway and so on in order to keep him happy.  Thank goodness he's the fifth kid and other kids are such good helpers.  Ella is doing deep knee bends and walking in circles around the living room while baby talking Max.  And it was working, even in the super fussy just before bed time.  Aaah, thank you, Ella!

Smacky the Pants and Me

I have a habit of creating nicknames for my kids completely at random.  Owen walks by doing something and suddenly he's "O-zee Bozen, the Singy Head" or whatever comes out of my mouth.  It drives Andrew a little crazy, especially when the cat sometimes shares names with the kids.  And sometimes the names stick.  I've been calling Max a few different things: Sugar Smax, Maxer, Maxman, Smacky, and Smacky the Pants.  And if I need it to roll off the tongue just a little bit more than that, he sometimes turns into Smacky the Smackypants.  Try it, it's fun to say, and then maybe you won't judge me quite so harshly.  Besides, it sure beats Fathead the Flathead, which has also been known to come out of my mouth.

Nana/Grampa/Nerd Day

Wednesdays have a long tradition of being Nana and Grampa day.  It's kind of strange right now to just be sending Claire off with them. When they bring Claire back, we have to try and get all the visiting in since the kids are used to seeing them all day during the summer.  It's crazy, but a good kind of crazy.

Today was also nerd day at the Jr High.  Check out Bryn's nerdalicious specs.