Budding Photographer

Thumbelina usually wakes up first. Then, she will let herself and Munchkin out of their room into the dark house. The first thing she does is head for the computer.

I wake up to silence through the monitor and I know they've made a break for it.

Nearly everytime I download the pictures from the camera to the computer, I am greeted by pictures of this nature:

I can't even count the number of pictures of my computer/desk/floor/wall there are on my computer.

So when she asked to take the camera when we went to pick up ET from school, I said okay knowing full well the type of pictures we would get.

This is me telling her to get some shoes on. (Please note the empty laundry hamper--YAY!)

This is the carpet in her room where she went to get shoes.
This is the ceiling in her room where she went to get her shoes.
This is the wall.
????

This is ET's room where we store the stroller.

This is me getting the stroller.

This is the side of our house.

This is the view down our street.

Then the batteries died...which is really too bad because at the end of the block, she fell into the mud at the orchard past her ankles and nearly lost her shoes. Then we got to wander down the street trying to find a neighbor home who would let us use their hose to rinse the mud off her legs, feet and shoes.

But we were still on time picking ET up from school.

Thunder?

As we were walking home from dropping ET off at school, Thumbelina passed some gas.

"Excuse me. I farted. Wait, did you hear that thunder? Oh, no. It was just my butt."

We are raising one classy lady over here!

Happy Birthday to Nobody

"Let's have a birthday party!"

"We need balloons, and party hats and a cake."

"But, who's birthday is it?"

"Nobody."

And, of course, being the ever accommodating mother that I am ( and having a very large craving for some cake), I obliged.

I Have a School Boy

Today was ET's first day of school. Every Monday is a minimum day so he had to eat lunch at 10:45 to be to class on time.

He was so nervous and was hoping that he would know someone in the class. It turns out that there is a little boy from our ward in his class. He doesn't know this boy very well because he is in the next higher Primary class. But it didn't take him long to become friends with him. We walked home with them and just a few steps from the school they started holding hands, and held hands all the way until we parted ways.

I don't think he'll be nervous anymore.

Clothing Manufacturers SUCK!

Remember the shopping trip where my head exploded? Well, I found two pairs of pants: one was size 7, the other 7X. ET tried on both pairs and I could not find any difference in the size. I wondered about the 'X.'

I washed both pairs of jeans. I might not have until he wore them but the clothing manufacturers put these stickers extolling the virtues of their products all over said products and the stickers? They don't come off. So into the washer both pairs went. I followed the care instructions--something I usually only do with my clothes. I washed them in cold water. The tag said I could dry them, I decided against drying. I want these pants to last. Just once with this kid I would like for him to wear out his clothes instead of growing out of them. (I understand my feelings will change on this later.) So I hung them up to dry.

Now I know the difference.

Apparently X is a non-shrinking factor.

Now please excuse me while my head explodes again in the saga of the incredible shrinking pants.

First Night of College Freedom

My brother just moved in with us. He is going to BYU in the Fall. He is 17. For almost a whole 'nother year.

I am not sure if my parents are more worried about him being off to college, or living with me.

So we ushered in his first night of college with all the bells and whistles:

Pizza.
...And falling asleep on the couch in front of the TV.

Oh, isn't college life grand!

Ruby Tuesday

My sister came to town. She brought her baby. (and her husband, of course.) I am thinking maybe it was not such a good idea.

Since Ruby came to visit, this is what I have gotten:

5 "Mom, is there a baby in your tummy yet?"'s

3 "When are we going to have a baby again?" 's

1 "When you have your baby, can it be a boy, please?"

GREAT!!!

But it did give me an idea about how it would be with another one.

UGGGHHH!

I took ET (and Munchkin) shopping today to find ET some school clothes. The punk has grown out of his size 6 jeans, and he waited until a month before school started to do it. I am afraid to try his shoes on him because they are probably too small too. His short sleeved shirts still fit, but he will need all new long sleeved ones. So his torso and bum aren't growing, just his arms, legs and feet. And boy clothes aren't as cute as toddler clothes!

I hate shopping for school clothes.

Too many people.

Not enough carts.

Or room.

And it's only my first time!

So we will be going next week while everyone else is in school.

A Bad Case of Nerves

ET is starting school in a little over a week. He is nervous about it.

I, on the other hand, am not nervous about anything but his behavior.


You see, for the past two weeks, my nice, sweet, loving boy has been an angel.

Then, the next minute, he is the opposite.


Back and forth, round and round we go.

I know that it is just his nerves but I don't know if I can handle it.


Today at his Open House to meet his teacher, he wouldn't even talk to her.

Then he came home and yelled at his sister.


He got me a cool cloth (???) because my head hurts.

Then he shoved his sister off the couch, pulled her out of the chair and smacked her back.


I know he's just nervous about how it will be and how he'll fit in. So we've talked about how he was nervous when he went from Nursery to Primary, but it was still fun. How he was nervous to start Karate, but now he has lots of friends and loves his teachers. We have talked about how his school teacher is cousins with his Primary teacher, and how she is his friend's Grandma. None of it seems to help for very long--so can we please just start school now?!

Death Trap

...Or fashion trend?


You decide.

Pow! ZAP! Bam!

ET likes Spiderman. He has the posters. He has the coloring books. He has the underwear.

But a new superhero has come into his life. He took down all the Spiderman posters. The coloring books lay untouched. The underwear is no longer his first choice.

Even his Spiderman costume is just hanging in the closet.

Now this switch isn't recent. But I though it would be fleeting.

I was wrong.


I bought his Halloween costume early.

Now he just better stop growing before he goes trick-or-treating as skin tight Batman.

Hair-ific

For those of you who don't know, there is a whole hair blogging community out there. Moms who have done their daughters' hair and are sharing inspiration.



You know Moms who have daughters that haven't just cut off all their hair.



There are some real artists out there. Some of the styles they do are just amazing. Amazing styles and amazing that the girls will sit still for it. I still check out all of them, hoping that I will find something new that can be adapted for 2 inch long hair. Or I will learn of some new product that I can use to wrangle 2 inch long hair into a fantastic style.



I really think that my facination for doing hair comes from the fact that I NEVER got my hair done as a kid. My mom had her hair done and hated it or something like that. Oh how I coveted those ponytails and twists and bows. But my hair was too "thin" for long hair so this was my haircut growing up:

Grade 1

But that isn't even the worst of it--Look at what the next year brought:

Did you notice the lack of flowers in the second grade picture? Do you know what that means? That means they put me in the boy pose instead of the girl one. And really-who could blame them.

MaybeI am going overboard with Thumbelina, and by so doing, her daughter will look like this, but can you really fault me?

So I will continue to troll all of these great, super, fantastic, wonderful, inventive, cute, creative, fun, exciting, amazing, phenomenal, and just plain cool hair blogs. That and pray for my daughter's hair to grow.

Sharing the Love

My kids are great. Now I think it may be a miracle that I feel this way on a Monday morning, but I really do. Oh, you would like me to back up that statement with some facts? Okay.

1. While I had to take each child out of Sacrament for a potty break, I got to sit through both Sunday School and Relief Society without any interruptions. (But I am totally sitting on the inside of the bench next week!)

2. There is a man in our ward, a great grandfatherly type of man, who loads his pockets with Smarties rolls before he comes to church. He is known simply as The Candy Man. All he requires is one high five. Now if only one of my children is lucky enough to find him, the other will kindly share the single candy roll.

3. I love laying in bed listening to the girls through the monitor in the morning. Thumbelina orchestrates everything and Munchkin repeats almost every word. And then, "Come on. Let's go find Mom." It's like my own personal wake up call.

4. For the most part, the older two include Munchkin in all of their games. Right now they are using our popsicle sticks as light sabers.

5. They are always sneaking things to any child who has the misfortune of getting sent to time out. Now while that annoys me sometimes, it is just so cute to watch. "Here's a book for you." "Do you want a pony?"

6. I woke up this morning at 7:15 with the horrible feeling that the girls were awake and I just thought of everything they would get in to. The monitor was silent, which usually means that they have long flown the coop. After I came up to check, and their door was still closed and everything was quiet, I got to go back to bed for almost 30 minutes.

7. And the top reason why my kids are great: They haven't knocked down Munchkin in over a week. They are actually watching out for her!

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles.

Playing Catch Up

I have been so incredibly tired lately. I go to bed around 11 and the kids wake me up before 7. That's plenty of sleep right? Apparently not, because I am tired! This is throwing me off my game! Which makes me more tired and frustrated.

You see, Munchkin is rambunctious. She is fast as lightning when it comes to getting into stuff she is not supposed to. As I clean up one mess, she can make two more. Now I blame it on the other kids a lot because they are supposed to keep certain doors shut, and they forget. But sometimes, I think this is a game for Munchkin.

Her new favorite is playing with the salt and pepper. It involves two plates, the salt and pepper shakers, and mixing. Now sometimes she mixes with a spoon. Monday she used the broom, and Tuesday while I was gone, she used a steak knife. So you ask, how does she keep getting the salt and pepper? Well, Thumbelina and ET keep leaving the stool by the counter and Hubby keeps leaving the salt and pepper on said counter.

She does stuff that the other kids never did. You know the cupboard under the sink where you would keep cleaning products and dishwasher detergent and dish soap? I never had to move anything or lock the cupboard because the other kids were just not interested in it. ET's favorite was pulling all the VHS tapes out from under the TV, and Thumbelina's favorite was the dish rag drawer. I am not used to my child trying to poison herself by eating my Electrosol Tabs or Ajax.

Then there is the fact that everytime I leave any sort of project to do something else, she cannot resist. Whether it be a blog post, a TAGtile ball, or card making, she is right there seconds after I have vacated the seat. She loves the mouse at the computer (for future reference--a wireless mouse is not a good idea with a toddler), she loves the buttons on my sewing machine, but best of all she LOVES glue dots. I have never picked so many glue dots off of everything. And the crazy thing is she usually does the glue dots the day after I cut my nails. It's like she knows...

I don't remember it being this hard to corral a toddler with the other two. But that's probably because I didn't have so many people working against me. Before if I shut the bathroom door--it stayed shut until I opened it again. I miss that.

The Weirdest Place You've Ever...

Munchkin has been tired lately. She sleeps in her bed She falls asleep in her highchair almost every lunch and dinner now. This was a snack I gave her to try to get her to hold out until dinner.
She falls asleep in the laundry pile.
I can understand all of those. But the kitchen floor?!

That can't be comfortable! Now I am going to have to mop more often...

Big Day for a Little Girl

Thumbelina had her 4 year check-up today. She is still below the 50th percentile for everything. She got all of her immunizations to keep her up-to-date until she hits Jr High. Thank goodness for a doctor that understands. She screamed her head off and kept yelling, "Take it off! Take it off!" But of course, two bandaids, one princess sticker and a bag of gummy bears and everything was all better.

Then...

And she had a blast at her first Karate class. The teacher even said she had great focus. I had to finish up an Etsy order so I didn't get to go--but I am definitely going next week.

She got at least 7 compliments on her hair yesterday. While I am glad that random people think my daughter's hair is cute and are reinforcing that she does indeed still look like a girl, I am worried that she will think it is okay to cut her own hair again. I am not sure I could take that!

But you know what my favorite part of her short hair is? What it looks like in the morning.

Something About a Mouse...

Two pizzas, 4 drinks and 100 tokens = 1 happy girl!

She wore her new fairy dress from the McKinneys, but not the wings. We had to go to the dollar store to get matching princess shoes; she only had purple-not pink. A polkadot bow completed the outfit. Two hours later, the tokens were gone, the pizza had been eaten, Munchkin had gotten stuck in the playplace, and everyone had a prize.

ET's favorite part was the tickets.

Thumbelina's favorite part was all the rides.

Munchkin's favorite part was the flashing lights during the show...oh, and baby Ruby.

My favorite part was that ET was able to get Munchkin out of the playplace by himself and I didn't have to climb in.

They Say It's Your Birthday

Happy Birthday to you! Good thing you made it to 4 and Mom didn't kill you for this:

The cake:

The presents: (and Ruby in the background.)

The big one:

And the biggest present of all--no more intricate hair styles. The only thing we can do now is variations on the puffy braid. Quick and easy---just what you wanted.



So much for being Cinderella for Halloween. Maybe we should just shoot for Tinkerbell.

Friday Funny

Just in case you didn't get a good laugh out of yesterdays post...