Little Star Poetry Cafe

Ella's class just did the cutest event ever.  They held their own poetry reading, complete with dim lights, snappy fingers and an audience wearing black.  These types of public performances can be very tough on Ella as she's not one to take the spotlight in general.  But she did a GREAT job.  I was so proud of her and excited to see all the poetry she'd been working on over the last few weeks.  So fun!

Ella and Mrs. Sorensen

"I wanna go Tar-gitt!"

Claire kills us with cuteness and busy-ness.  She's got her shoes on, her hat (hair clip), her "neck-iss" and the all important purse and wants to go bye bye in the car and get a cookie.  It's kind of sad how she recognizes which stores give out kid cookies and knows to demand them just from driving by.  Thank goodness Target is my happy place, so Claire can stay entertained and cookied up and then come home tired for a nap.

Swinging into Spring

Some people go by a date, some people go by the weather, but we go by the start of soccer season.  Today was the first practice.  Not so bad.   The weather was decent, the kids had fun in the park, and Ella enjoyed her friends and running around again.  This is the easy part.  Soon we start having our Wednesdays with two soccer games, two dance classes, two different cities and the times all overlap. I'll spend hours in the minivan carting kids and gear and earn my "soccer mom" title for real.

Hi!

Geek Squad Does Home Repair?

I'm kind of mean, but I really do enjoy mocking my husband.  Here he is working hard on last minute home repairs and getting the stairs stained, and I'm laughing at the nerd pen behind the ear.  What kind of wife does the poor guy have?

Jumping for Joy

Our house is under contract!!  Now here's hoping everything else follows smoothly.

Big Brother

Owen isn't exactly fond of Claire.  I don't blame him since she can be loud, unpredictable and aggressive--all things Owen doesn't like in general.  But Owen does take his big brother role quite seriously.  He tells me when Claire is being naughty or goes to check on her when she's out of sight, and lately he's been helping to hold her hand when we walk places.  I think it's about the cutest thing I've ever seen, and Claire absolutely loves it.  Here's hoping it's a sign of a relationship yet to come.

Bubble Blowin' Babies

Grampa is the best guy in the world.  He took Owen and Claire to the grocery store where they ate cookies, got balloons, bought Captain Crunch and a bottle of bubbles.  This picture won't win any photographic awards, but I think the kids' expressions are pretty funny.  And I love that my kiddos get so much hands on time with their grandparents.

After the Nap

Claire is hungry, Claire is cranky and Claire has crazy hair.   But she's still cute!  She's also 21 months old today, which means I need to start thinking I have an almost two year, instead of a 1.5 year old.  How did that happen?

I'm so slack

So I took pictures today.  They were just all of the house to go on the listing.  Poor family is neglected in both photos and in attention since I don't seem to do anything but clean anymore.  The proof is in the pudding: here's our office all cleared of Andrew's ever present computer crap (almost).

Good Night, Sweetheart

Top Secret Recipe

Bryn likes to create some rather new and interesting recipes when left to her own devices.  Today's recipe was banana applesauce sandwiches: two slices of bread, layered with sliced bananas and strawberry applesauce.

Sisters

I should really post the whole series of shots I took.  Bryn and Ella look about the same but Claire has a totally different face in each one.  It's pretty funny to see them all in a row.

What I found on the couch this morning

New Roof Day

Owen and Claire were completely fascinated with watching the old roof come off.  They couldn't believe Daddy, who belongs on the ground, was up there and that he was throwing things down.  It was all kinds of naughty at once, and Claire was really wishing she could participate.  Fortunately they had a safe viewing spot from inside the kitchen for all the fun.

Nach-yo Nachos

This was my dinner order tonight.  Why am I not the one trying to eat it?  Andrew backed off right away, but I had to fight Claire to get myself some dinner!

Fun Dip

My kids are candy hoarders.  I think they just forget about it, but as part of my decluttering effort I pulled out the leftover Valentine treats and told them to use it or lose it.  Here's Ella showing off her green tongue from Fun Dip.  Owen was super impressed and wanted a green tongue, too, and then Claire just wanted candy.  Fun Dip certainly lives up to its name in the opinion of my kids.

I had Claire look at some  pictures, because she's often so entertaining when describing what she sees. Well, she usually is.  Instead she said, "UGGGHHHH!  Stretch.  Baby Care stetchhhhh!  Uuuuuhhhh!"  So I figure I can lead the witness at this point and start asking her questions about having fun, playing, etc, to which I got nothing but, "I don't know."  So much for lasting memories, huh?

Update: Claire walked in and saw the computer and yelled, "Yay, see Care play!  I wanna go play.  Play fun. I want fun."  Yeah, of course she did. 

Decluttering with Ella the Pack Rat

Ella loves everything she has ever owned.  And I do mean everything--a scrap of paper she folded over a pebble, a tiny bent photo (that we have another dozen of in good shape), a chewed on eraser, and the list goes on.  Her rebuttals go something like this--"but I found that pebble on the bus with my friends," "but that's a good memory of when I took that picture to school in my pocket," "but I remember when I won that eraser on a fun day at Incredible John's with Grandma and Grandpa!"  I don't want to deny the girl her happy memories, but I think she can probably survive with just the memories and without the pieces of paper.  It's hard to be ruthless around Ella though since she's so sweet and well-meaning about all of desires to keep things.  Today ended up with me taking pictures of things she finally agreed to throw out, so she can keep the pictures instead of the stuff.  I think it's a pretty good compromise.

It's (almost) official

We signed all the paperwork tonight to list our house.  It will be up and ready to show on Tuesday.  Guess that means I have some cleaning in my weekend plans!

The Bedtime Blues

I love it when the kids find something they can all play together.  And I'm even happier when they do it quietly and peacefully, and then clean up after themselves and get ready for bed.  I'm not so thrilled when they're just about to get in bed, pull out the blocks and start building again.  Claire really didn't care for my veto powers tonight.  Poor girl!

Sunset and Vapor Trails

Ella and Owen both love vapor trails, so when we saw this one right by the house they wanted a picture. It almost looks like we folded the paper or drew an eraser across it right there.

I'm more a fan of the pretty sunset and silhouettes of the tree branches, but I appreciate their sense of wonder over something I don't take the time to notice most days.

When Bryn is away...

How the Claire does play. Poor Bryn's room is the holy grail of Claire's world. There's a desk full of pencils and rubber bands and tape. There are papers and stuffed animals and drawers. None of these things are baby appropriate or baby proofed, so we keep Bryn's door closed most of the time. Claire is a watchful little girl and makes her move any time the room is unattended.

And as a side note, this is one of her favorite outfits, but she does usually carry a purse. It's just a little hard to climb on chairs while carrying a bag!

Baby Beyonce?

Claire's post-nap look is often pretty interesting. Crazy hair, sitting on a bear, shoving a book down her pants--all normal for Miss C. But I think she may be taking it a bit too far with this one shoulder look. Perhaps we should limit her time with Beyonce and youtube?

C is for Cookie

"That's good enough for me, oh, cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C!" Thanks to Cookie Monster for that rousing little ditty that I can't get out of my head.

It's that time of year when Girl Scout Cookies start showing up on street corners and outside the grocery store. These things are lovely and addictive and home to a jillion calories. I keep thinking that if I'm paying this much, I should get a whole lot more cookies than I do. Really it's a good cause and my C isn't just for Cookie, but for Courage, Character and Confidence all over the Girl Scout world. Now I don't need to feel guilty if I eat a few too many :-)

Ella's Big Day

Here's the star with Grampa and Daddy. I don't think she could get cuter or sweeter.

In the Yard

But isn't it March?

So said Bryn today when I picked her up from school. She was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, a skirt and crocs, and she didn't have a coat. "I thought March meant it was springtime, and I could wear short sleeves?" Yeah, don't let the 48 degree days of last week fool you into thinking spring has sprung. Didn't you listen to the groundhog?

Sunset Reflected

It's amazing to me that I can forget to see this some days. This is the view from our house, looking East.

Dancing in Denny's

Don't you do this when you're waiting for your food? Obviously, you're not nearly as entertaining as "put a ring on it" Claire.

Batman

A last minute snapshot as we were leaving Nana and Grampa's house....just so I can say I did take a picture a day. It was all worth it to see those BIG muscles!