petting and feeding stingrays.

painting outside=something different

bleeecccchhhhhh!

My kids are fascinated with throwing up lately. Not sure what brought this on since non of us have had the flu lately. Every animal, every baby doll is set up with a blanket and a bowl and then the sound effects start. Some of them are remarkably accurate. This happens almost every day.

In the light of the moon....

a little egg lay on a leaf. One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and....


pop! Out of the egg came a very tiny and very hungry caterpillar.

Okay, I did that from memory so forgive me if it isn't quite verbatim. But we do have monarch butterflies laying eggs in our yard and we do have teeny weeny caterpillars munching away on the milkweed. Cole was grossed out to learn that the caterpillars bust out of their skin, including their face masks, and eat it, but who wouldn't be? I don't know why critters keep reproducing in our yard, but they do.

little kids in the big city

My new photo taking trick: when the kids won't cooperate by both smiling at the same time, or don't want their picture taken, I have them turn around and hold hands so I can take the picture from the back. Years from now, hopefully, I will forget that they were arguing and complaining, and I will just see a sweet moment they shared, captured on film...

The tiniest green pepper ever, plucked prematurely by curious little hands.

robin update

This is the last time I will post about these birds. But you have to understand that they are hugely entertaining and fascinating to the kids (read: uh, me). I know you have probably been on the edge of your seat wondering what their names are and after much careful thought (or spontaneity) we have come up with the names. Hubs named the dad, me the mom, CT and Lil' A got to name two babies each.

*Mom: Esmerelda VonPicklebottom
*Dad: Glucose (VonPicklebottom by default. Assuming they are married.)
*CT's babies: Funny and Not Funny (names to live up to...)
*Lil' A's babies: Pillow and Leaf

nut tree

Be careful when you walk under the trees in our yard...you never know what might fall out...

Memorial Day Parade

Both the babies loved the parade on Monday. There were probably 20 marching bands and neither of them were upset about the volume, which is *huge* for them, especially CT. (We have actually had to leave parades because of this in the past.) I think some of their favorites were Cub Scouts on scooters and the emergency vehicles of course. But CT's very favorite was the last vehicle of course....

the street sweeper!

CT loves color mixing....

Riding without training wheels.

mother's day at radio shack

If you ask CT what we did for Mother's Day, he will excitedly tell you about the five minutes he spent at Radio Shack. (We needed a new battery for the garage door opener- also VERY exciting.) Here he is by a large collection of switches and buttons, all organized by type and color coded. I love that he appreciates the organization of them. He had to open almost every drawer and examine, and test, each one. Prior to this Exciting Event we had been at Starbucks, with grandma P, playing Connect 4 for 2 hours. I thought that would be pretty cool for him but all I needed to do was let him poke around the Radio Shack I guess.

after the rain....

Well, we made it through the last day of preschool. And although I cried behind my sunglasses, I never openly sobbed or wailed or threw myself onto the ground, so I guess that's good. The last few minutes of CT's day were really cute, he had very thoughtful teachers this year. They made a class book called 'When I Think of You...' and inside was each friend doing their favorite thing. For example, on one page it says "When I think of someone who likes to sharpen pencils..." and then you turn the page and it says "I think of Cole!" and has his picture. The teachers had one made for each student and it is a very sweet keepsake. I'll probably cry every time I read it.

In regards to the picture, it is corny and symbolic somehow I suppose but there really was that huge rainbow by our house this evening. I was excited about it so I sent it to 'Brant's Weather Photos' on the news, too. I hope they put it on.

Today Is The Day

Today is CT's last day of preschool. Well, until summer camp in one week but still. His last day of learning in an environment where play is priority and the natural world is the backdrop. His last day where it is okay for a little boy to play legos dressed as a beautiful bride. (He has never actually done this, but another little boy did and that was okay with everyone.) His last day where he is known and loved by all school staff, because there are only 80 kids in the school and they can do that. It feels like it's his last day to be little. His last day before being thrust into the world of public elementary school, where there will be 800 kids in the building and he could get lost going to the bathroom. Or locked in a locker. Or misunderstood. Or ignored. Or forgotten. Or given no time to be five, to play, to be *little* anymore.

Oh yeah, and here's a bunny update: they all got ripped apart by hawks.

*The picture is of a card I got at the arboretum for CT's teacher...I don't know who the artist is but if did I would give her/him credit here....*

:::sniff:::

My little baby leaving preschool after our 'Mother's Day Tea'. Two more days to go. Then comes the waterworks (mine) and saying goodbye. Then comes the severe depression and hopelessness (mine), having to face the harsh reality that my baby is all grown up. Then comes summer camp at school so for those 3 weeks, we'll be fine. Then we'll have to say goodbye again and get back on that rollercoaster. Driving out of that parking lot for the last time with him and hearing the gravel crunch beneath the tires... leaving the sweet smell of the woods... and the sound of those 100 year old oaks swishing their leaves as they bid him farewell...that moment is coming and it terrifies me. Xanax, anyone? Then Lil' A starts in the fall and we'll begin all over again...

What is it?

You might think it is a desk calendar that got crumpled by a two year old. Or maybe a big piece of paper that met a large amount of packing tape in a tornado. Or maybe you see garbage. But to a five year old....

....it's a wonderful hat!

The party' s over.....

Well, our 4 day birthday celebration (see below) for CT is now in its last day. And here are the pictures of the cake that so many of you have heard me talk (fret) about. It was a huge hit and the kids *loved* watching the marbles go through. Most everyone ate the marshmallow fondant, which I was not expecting. The party was a hit in every way, I hope that the parents who stayed had as much fun as I did with their kids. We are so lucky that CT has so many nice friends and nice families to match!

Oh...so why is there a donut in the picture? Well after working on this cake for 3 days I was not about to take a chunk out of it on CT's actual birthday (Thursday) nor was I going to bake another cake. So he settled for a donut, he was actually quite excited about it, and even cut it in half to share with Lil' A.


Our Birthday Week Itinerary:

*Wednesday*: CT's special day at school. He wanted both Husband and I to attend, so of course we did.
*Thursday*: The Actual Birthday. We were planning on heading to the Museum of Science & Industry or Sears Tower (not so much for the Skydeck as to count the elevators) but a snowstorm forced us to reconsider. So we hit the Children's Museum and went for lunch at Noodles & Co. which was just as exciting for the babies and far easier on us. Realization that I now have a 5 year old child. Yikes!
*Friday*: The Party! Spent the day cleaning and decorating and cleaning. Kids came in their pj's at 5 and danced and played and ate pizza and ran around and ate cake and went home at 7. It was like a big tornado of little kid birthday goodness blew right through our house, leaving a rubble of cake crumbs and crumpled wrapping paper.
*Saturday*: Family party tonight, which is way easy after last night. Also because we have such a small family. The plan is to have the kids go sledding and do some eating and finish up the last 2 cakes. And then it's over. :::sigh::: Next stop, Six. :::Ug!:::

Crowned

This questionable image is actually a pretty new silver tooth that resides in CT's mouth. Look again. See it? Yup, he got a crown today. And it was totally no big deal to him. It was a way bigger deal to us because we had to pay the bill (read: no dental insurance) but it was totally worth the money to go to the best pediatric dentist in town because he said it was *fun* and he got a goody bag! And (if this doesn't spell trouble, what does?...) he loves "the Gas" and wants to "get some more each day!" Yikes. His new favorite toy is the little thingie the nitrous came out of (is there a name for that? Mask, maybe?) Do we still need to get him a birthday present? Happy birthday baby CT!

Deep thoughts....

So I'm making cookies- real cookies, in the real kitchen- and I see this going on in the family room. CT built a cookie machine. "Know what? It has.... ummmmm.... well, it has the actual oven thing at the end and it has a conveyer that brings the cookies into the oven part at the end and a tube for the water to spray on them and then that is all that you need to know. And ummmm, what do birds eat in Mexico? Probably popcorn." Huh? I don't know why I even bothered to make real cookies when all the fun was clearly in the other room. Less calories, too! Yesterday he made a beer machine that delivered you beer and put the rest on the shelf. I'm not sure which one I prefer.


This is the oven at the end. We have only the most high tech appliances in our home.


Like mother, like daughter!

20 knots....

After school today, my 4 year old CT asked me to tie his shoe. I noticed his teacher smirking knowingly as I bent down to fufill the request. That is when I noticed that his shoe was not in need of tying, as it already had 20 knots (yes, we counted...there were exactly 20). Later I asked him why he had 20 knots in his shoelace. Legitimate question, right? Allegedly he had asked a teacher to tie his shoe and no one heard him. So he decided to tie it himself. I would say he succeeded tremendously.