The Chef and the Magic Turtle - Chapter 1

Once there was a chef named corlos. He worked at a seafood restront and one fine day some costermes came and said, " We would like some crab". Corlos made some crab but he didn't no that he cooked a magic trtoll and so when the costermes aet a bit thay ternd into a...

To be continued...

Making Lemonade

Annora and I are enjoying our time at home while Maddie enjoys some time at school. Here was our lemonade making day.

Special Day

Not only was today Maddie's first day of Kindergarten, but it was also Grandpa's birthday! Betcha wish you were half a century :)

Welcome to Kindergarten Kid

Our sweet Madeleine is starting Kindergarten tomorrow! I love this kid. She is enthusiastic, brilliant, creative, and thoughtful. I'm glad she's mine, and I'm excited to see how she grows this year.

Last Summer Adventures

End of Summer Camping

• We had a lot of fun this summer, and we're having the best weather of the season at the close. I had wanted to head to the beach for sunset on Friday and maybe snag a last minute camping spot, but not all of us were feeling very well by the days end, so Ryan came up with the super idea to camp in the backyard. We had hobo dinners and ate s'mores and all of us slept in the tent. One of us would like to sleep there for the rest of their lives I think. Can you guys which one of us that is?
  

Ingrocerients

Kids are pretty neat. One of the things I like about them is the way they make me smile. I am not a parent to correct my child's grammar. Someday perhaps...but for now it makes my day happy when I'm in the kitchen making something and my kid runs in and says, "Can I put the ingrocerients in?". And when we go to the store they ask if they can walk by the cart so they can put the ingrocerients in. Pretty great word, huh?!

ingrocerients [in grohs ree uh nt] noun
1. component of a whole item, such as flour in bread
2. items bought from a grocery store.

Toothless

Maddie lost her first tooth at Olive Garden. She was super brave and just pulled and twisted. The blood apparently freaked her out because when it came time for the second to come she wouldn't pull it. It literally just fell out of her mouth while shopping at Walmart...well, not out of her mouth, it just sat inside her mouth, and when she realized it was just floating there she got a little hysterical, but then when she realized what had happened she was okay with it.

Look Ma! Something New!

My mom keeps checking our blog (she's not aware of RSS feeders) and has been disappointed to find it has nothing new. So here is something new. Will I keep up with it? Will I continue to bring new material for this lackadaisical blog? Who knows. Maybe. Maybe not. I've struggled for the last few months with what is important enough to have a piece of my very valued time. I like to do most things, and dabble here and there, but I've learned that even little things take time. Like putting batteries in toys. Where are the batteries? Next to the bread. (I don't know why...that's just where I put them) 10 seconds to walk to the pantry...Where is the screwdriver? In the junk drawer. (Why don't toys have a tethered screwdriver attached to them? I despise toys with batteries and most are in our garage sale pile) 20 seconds to get the screwdriver, find the flathead - no wait, the phillips, and unscrew. 15 seconds to get it all put back together...to find out that it's broken. I could have tickled my child purple. Something I value so much more.

Anyway...on with the show. Kelly - you are my hero. Your theme days, the way you entertain 5 children - they make me covet your mothering. My kids are often well entertained, but I love theme days because I feel it's special. And kids need special. Unfortunately I don't always plan ahead. I'm actually very good at planning. And making lists, and scheduling...but for some reason, theme days have not happened because I can't plan it well. Finally I decided to check out Kelly's blog and do what I do best - list. I found all the theme days I wanted to do, listed everything I needed for all the food and activities and now I have my go-to theme days planner. I'm swiping. Because my life only has so much time for so many things. And the planning part is now out of the way. Thank you Kelly.

On Spring break we did "Very Hungry Caterpillar Day" which i have no pictures of, but I do have the Maddie quote upon seeing her lunch of Swiss cheese, salami and pickles "Mom you always make me the best lunches that I ever like!" Really. That's how she says it. Makes me smile. We also did "Build - It Day", which we borrowed legos for and was a huge success. Just so everyone is aware - the legos we borrowed were only HALF as many as these 2 boys own. Remember that when you see the picture of the tub. Crazy! Ryan wanted to sort them. I wanted to make myself REEAAL tiny so I could climb lego mountain. We built marshmallow towers and built a fort. Life is an enjoyable thing.

Being a SuperHero is Tiring.

The girls have a new love - "The Justice League". I love that our girls are open to more than pink princesses. It has a lot to do with the Dad and his childlike nature and reliving his wonderful childhood again with his kids. Previously we were watching the Tailspin shows, but recently some friends came over and their boys brought "The Justice League" shows. Madeleine was captivated by Wonder Woman. The very next day she started asking me for some blue star panties and a red bra. Ummm...no - but I will give her the next best thing - the wonder woman dress. She still wants some star panties for some reason. And I have to tape paper stars to her ears...I sure do love these kids. Annora is as quirky as Madeleine. The sweater you see her wearing is a 0-3 month sweater in my "to be made into dolls" pile. She REFUSED to have me cut it and DEMANDED to wear it then and there. What the hay - I pick my battles, and this was not one of them.

I was asked today to make Annora a Hawk Girl costume. But think instead of a 4 and 2 year old saying it - which sounds a lot like "hot girl". (me snickers) Two days ago the girls watched a show and the green lantern said something like, "Why do I feel like a hot dog". This is what the girls heard, and kept saying and laughing hysterically over for the last 2 days. I love it. Tonight, Madeleine requested the hot dog show. I watched it with them this time. Guess what - Green Lantern ACTUALLY says (after being beat up) "why do I feel like a hockey puck". Ha! I love these kids and I love superheros. Poor Annora got zonked last night from all her superhero superheroing. After she fell asleep under the table naked I just let her be - don't wake a sleeping bear. :)

Proud Owner...

...of her new pillow pet! It's name is her usual "Pretty Princess (insert name of animal)". In this instance, a unicorn. She's been wanting one of these since we happened to let her watch Nick Jr. -not realizing that they have commercials for Sketchers and Pillow Pets every 10 minutes.

Last week while we were watching Maddie during swim lessons, Ryan decided that he would give Maddie a pillow pet if she held her head under the water for 5 seconds. (She's a face-in-the-water-phobe)Without realizing the power of the pillow pet, he told her this while she was in the water and BAM! She did it. We told her after lessons however that she had not been a good listener with her teacher(truth), so she had to prove herself obedient this lesson. And the teacher gave her a task as well - 3 dives. She did great. A bonafide swimmer. Maddie got to ride in the truck with her Dad to pick out her special friend. Welcome to the family Pretty Princess Unicorn.

Summer's Last Gasp

I'm glad we decided to head out for an adventure yesterday as it may very well be the last bit of summer we'll have this season. We decided on a hike, and I was thinking of something more the kids could do with us, so decided on Tumwater Falls. We'd never been, and I read that the salmon were running - sounded exciting. The hatchery was full of the largest salmon I'd ever seen. We saw plenty of salmon in the river making their way to the final ladder too! It was a good choice. We learned that Maddie is afraid of bridges and falling into water. We tried to get a good family shot, but Maddie was hysterically hysterical about being dropped in the water. We then had a nice picnic lunch and Ryan came up with an adventure all by himself. It was a surprise he said, so when we neared the destination off Reservation Rd. in Shelton, he had us close our eyes, then open them once we were in the middle of the High Steel Bridge. We parked the car and walked to the middle of the bridge and peered over. I think we'll be back for a nice hike sometime. It's gorgeous out there. -Surprisingly, Maddie did not get hysterical and actually enjoyed peering through the guardrail.

Can you see the worry on Maddie's face?Our attempt at a family photo with two ill-coping children.Long way down Dad.

Outdoor Playdates

I love getting the kids outside-someplace different than the backyard. We are so blessed to live in such a wonderfully rich area of nature. A couple days ago we had the opportunity to visit one of our favorite beach parks close to home - Tawanoh. We met some friends this time, which adds even more fun to the adventure. The kids inspected the rocks and oysters and clams. They showed each other things, ran with one another, and made up games and ways to play. We found a great picnic shelter that I have GREAT ideas for this fall and winter. It has a fireplace! Can you imagine some outdoor preschool!? And at the end of our visit there were hugs to go all around. Okay-at the absolute end there were tears all around, but I'm pretty sure it was because everyone had so much fun no one wanted to leave. :)

Tea Anyone?

Art Smarts

We love art! Thank you Kelly for the wonderful painting idea! -pudding paint turned body art. We came up with a new way to get paint on paper.














































This project I discovered through Crafty Crow was wonderfully colorful! I used water and a dab of artist watercolor to make liquid watercolors. They are so lovely that I've had a hard time dumping them out. They sit on our counter looking lively. We used some for coffee filter painting which we are going to make into flowers. I'd like to put the rest into spray bottles so they can each paint a bed sheet, but that means I have to remember to buy the spray bottles...which is unlikely.