car times

I'm not sure if it is the fact that the kids are in daycare just down the street and they don't have to drive as much or if they are just going through a phase, but driving with them can be SOOO obnoxious.  They don't really like the radio playing, but they don't like it quiet either.  They like the windows down but the noise is too loud.  We resorted to giving A. 25 pennies in a bag and every time that she asks,"are we there yet?", she looses a penny.  If she makes it there with all 25, we give her a quarter.  Let's just say that only a few quarters were given this summer.  

 One car trip, she asked me how much longer.  I told her about an hour.  "How many minutes is that?"  Obviously, I replied with 60. She thought if she counted to 60 that would mean we were there.  When I told her that she would have to count to 60, 60 times, she took me up on the offer.  I think that she made it about 25 times.  So long, that I think K. can count to 60.  Really, so long that I think the car itself can count to 60.

One of the kid's favorite car games is "I spy".  The problem is that K. only knows yellow. But, if we skipped him, he would just keep yelling, "My turn, I py."  Here was an example

K: I py my eye lello

Me: the only yellow thing is the lines on the road (that was his answer the past 3 times)

K: no

Me: ummmm a sign

K: no

Me: umm the sun

K: no

Me: there is nothing else

K: holy night

we will slow down when I'm 5

This has been the busiest summer of our kids short little lives for many reasons

• This is the last summer before A. goes to kindergarten.  
• It's also the first summer that I could cut my work schedule to a theoretical 3 days a week.  
• K. only has 1 nap and its a flexible nap
• I have awesome people in my life that don't mind traveling with my kids and I

So, the kids and I made a list on Memorial Day of the things that we wanted to do this summer. 

Well, we either accomplished it all or have plans to accomplish them in the next few weeks.  So, that means that we have been gone A LOT and we have been really busy.  So busy that A. referred to us as the Berenstain Bears in Too Much To Do.   She also said, "don't worry, Mommy, we can slow down when I"m 5." Now, bear with me because this is the only way that I'm scrap booking the pictures and memories these days.

My girl went from only playing on the steps of the pool to jumping in the waves of the ocean.  She still needs some swimming lessons, but she is definitely on her way.  When we were at Bethany Beach, she found an 8 year old boy and I think was a little smitten.  She played in the waves with him for at least an hour.  I was happy to just watch but was the most proud that she stayed behind him in the waves.  She was challenging herself just enough but not going too deep.  A. please keep that confidence in kindergarten but know your boundaries.  So So So important.    

 K. was happiest in the sand this year.  He went down to the water once or twice but he cried almost the whole time. He was scared of "darks" and "water take me away"

Again, A. wanted a bit of a challenge and K. needed something nice and quiet.  He played with wood pile for hours.  Nan and Pap just hung out and watched.  

 We are lucky to have an orchard about 1 mile from our house.  Peaches, plums, and pears galore.

This is how K. put on his glasses all summer.  Who needs them on a nose?

I remember summer reading every summer when I was a kid.  I remember counting all of my books and getting stickers for every 10.  This program was about the same.  We wrote down most of our books and the kids counted each one for stickers.  By far, the kids favorite program was the Fancy Nancy Tea Party. Judging by the number of minivans exiting our neighborhood, every single little girl in our town was there. The librarians weren't expecting to be so busy; they ran out of crowns and had to send someone out for more food.  

one whole hand

 How is it possible that this sweet little peanut is now 5 whole years old?  How did this sweet peaceful baby turn into a smart, confident, yet often bossy and directive little girl?

According to A., this is her life--

I'm one whole hand old!"

1. What is your favorite color?  "Blue, actually pink."

2. What is your favorite thing to do?  "help cook."

3. What is something that you learned?  "If you get paint into other paint, it will still turn out pretty because it makes everything look different."

4. If I were invisible for a day, I would--- "miss you"
5. Something Mommy always says to me-- "It's ok if you make a mess but you always have to clean it up."
6. What is the most amazing thing about you?  -- "I get to live with you."

 7. If you feel sad, what cheers you up?-- "Momma's hugs."

8. What makes you a good friend?-- "Kennedy saying that I can come over."

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?-- a vet

10. Where is you favorite place that you have been?  -- Oma and Papa's house

11. What is the grossest thing that you can think of?-- mud

12. If you could do anything in the whole wide world, what would you do?-- "I would go to Dutch Wonderland with mama."

A., 

Thank you for still being a mama's girl (even though you told me that I was the worst mom ever only a mere 2 nights ago).  I am incredibly proud of you.  I love your honesty, how intensely you love, and your amazing faith.  Since you have to keep growing older and older, please also keep growing kinder and kinder.  I love you!! Happy Birthday!

Love,

Mom

how does this not bother a person

According to K., food on a face is cool.  He doesn't care if he has ketchup, ice cream, or clumps of pasta.  It apparently adds character.

The drips from his face do not bother him.  But, finally, something actually phased his pretty little face.

 It turns out, ice cream mixed with sand from your hands is not fun.  It means that you should start spitting everywhere.  You should run mischievously toward your unsuspecting mother and spit on her.  Then, you should try to rub off your sandy, ice cream covered hands on your shirt and her dress.  Finally, as she is chasing you with a wipe to try and remedy the situation, you should again, fall flat in the sand until your entire being is covered in a sticky mess making her regret the ice cream and the beach all together.

But, once you are cleaned up, you should go and find something else to get into and put all over your face.  Because, it really isn't all that bad, it's the cool thing to do.

the warm up ride

Whenever we go skiing, we go on a green run first.  It's the warm up run.  So, when we went to Funland at Rehobeth beach, we thought a nice warm up ride would be helpful.  The whole family jumped on the carousel.

 It was low key and fun.  The kids were smiling and laughing.  Then, A. moved onto bigger and better things with her daddy.

 My girl has a need for speed and with anything spinning, B. is the person to take her.  We searched for something for K. and thought that the swings would fulfill his spinning need for speed.

I mean, they were fun and all, so fun that A. had to join in, but they weren't really his limit.  

The mini Ferris[o wheel... not so much.  The 3 of us smashed into the ride because K. had to have an adult since he was under 3.  I think the reason he had to have supervision was to entertain him; even without me in there, he and A. were touching knees.  It was the slowest thing ever so we started telling knock knock jokes have way through the ride.

Obviously, that was not the ride to end the night.  They were both still "looking for more surprises", according to A.  OK... I will buckle my giant 2.5 year old(I guess it is an advantage of being a tall kid) into the up and down flight ride.  I will take off my shoes so they don't fly into the head of the person standing below and pretend that I'm not going to grip him with all my might because I'm scared he is going to fly off.  

I'm not so sure about this

The face isn't so much fear but more of a you are hurting my knees and ankles face

Yes, this is fun!!!

 I guess we have some thrill seekers on our hands.  No more steer the truck and boat rides, they are the new warm up rides.

fireworks

It turns out that when living in the country, July 4th fireworks start in June and end in August.  We have had the privilege of seeing neighborhood fireworks that rival any public show that I've seen.

It also means, that loud fireworks have woken K. up at least 4 nights.  So, fireworks conversations are a huge part of his limited repertoire.  We have 2 options.
Option 1:
K. "Mommy, you like firework?
Me: "Yep, I love them.
K. "You like spakleee ones"
Me: "Yep. What do you like?
K. "I like lello"
Then we argue and I tease him with things like, "no, I like yellow ones."  He is very adamant that you can only like one particular type of fireworks.  My favorite has to be sparkly ones.

Option 2:  usually before bedtime or when we are going for a walk in the neighborhood by the "firework house"
K. "Mr. Dak do firework?
Me: "Nope, Mr. Jack is all done fireworks."
K. "I laugh. ha ha ha." (B. taught him to fake laugh whenever he hears fireworks and thunder.  After the initial crying, it typically works)

K.,
I like shimmering fireworks, I like purple fireworks; I even like yellow fireworks.  I don't, however, like you waking up and crying.  So, please sleep through them and we can talk about it in the morning.

Thanks in advance,
Mommy

dance like no one is watching

I was waiting to write this blog because there was a chance that A. was getting her first glimpse into her 5 minutes of fame, but, it didn't happen...

After A. was gone for a week with my parents, we were headed home via a stop with Gramps. Well, the stop just so happened to coincide with Alexandria's birthday.  We planned to go to the festival for a little while, have some dinner, and get my very tired children home.  Well, we went to the festival, had some dinner, and just as we were getting ready to head home, got a phone call from my parents that A. had forgotten her most loved blanket. They, being amazing grandparents, volunteered to drive the blanket up to meet us in Alexandria.  B. decided to go ahead and head home with tired K. but A. and I stayed to wait for the blanket.  A.'s exact words were, "well, I guess we better be ready for some fun then."  I guess so.

 We marched ourselves up to the grand stand and had some fun. We started by listening to the music, then A. was grooving in her seat a little bit and I decided to take my any and all fears of looking like an idiot in public and teach my daughter some confidence.  We danced like no one was watching.  We spun, she spun, she spun me.  It was awesome.

A few minutes into it, Aunt Stacy moved away from us.  I thought that she was embarrassed by us so I started calling her name.  Nope, she was backing out of the way of the cameras.  Yes, plural.  2 newspapers were taking pictures of us.  It turns out that we lost out to about 15 redundant pictures of the fireworks, but my beautiful, fun, and happy girl felt special.  She was interviewed by one of the photographers and it made her feel more beautiful, fun, and happy.

A.,

I hope you always dance like no one is watching.  I hope you always feel as beautiful and carefree as you were that night!

Love,

Mom