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.