Elaine

Little close girl.

Although this is the most accurate depiction of you. You are always near and helping and seeking me out and finding me even when I'm in the bathroom.

Yes, even when I'm in the bathroom.

Goofy lady.

That's it sweetheart.

Sunday Afternoon

Laundry done.

We Can't Stay Away

From

The Good Stuff Guide

They are going on our Friends and Family list.

Our Character

Still eating tomatoes straight out of the fridge.

And drawing grenades on his calves.

Saturdays

When the sun comes up, we begin fresh.

When the sun goes down, we leave a mess

It's Hot Here

So we headed to Bass Pro on a free afternoon to amuse ourselves.

We looked at tents, and then we laughed--alligators and hundred degree temperatures. Perhaps we'll re-think that later in the year.

We'd like to put cousin Noah next to that bear.

The 4-Year Stats Are (finally) In

This photo before 4 shots each and a nasal flu mist.

Alida: 38 1/2 inches, 30 pounds, failed the hearing screen, cleaned out a gob of ear wax, and found an ear infection.

Elaine: 38 inches, 29 pounds, failed the hearing screen, hated the shots.

Two days later they passed the hearing screen at pre-K. Onward.

Doctor read our paperwork as he walked in,

"Am I reading this right? You have two that are 5 and two that are 4?"

"Yes."

"I feel like I need to give you a hug."

"I would just cry."

And he laughed.

We like him.

Well, Not Quite Right

We've been wanting to get some rockers for the front porch, so we can sit and sip lemonade while they run in the park across the street.

More good parenting skills shown here when we were out and saw the rockers we wanted, and so we made do with the room we had in the car.

Unbelievable

This came home from school with Nicholas yesterday.

This came to me in an e-mail last Friday. Nicholas also brought home a his first red note from school regarding the described "incident."

Hi Mrs. Stuber,

I wanted to let you know that Nicholas kissed a student on the hand this afternoon. He also attempted to do this earlier today and I spoke to him about keeping his hands, feet, and etc. to himself. Please speak with Nicholas regarding this incident. Feel free to contact me if you have any further questions or concerns. Have a great weekend!

Best regards,

Ms. Bluntson

When I got this e-mail last Friday, I laughed and laughed and laughed.

When I saw that picture last night, I got mad. Still mad almost a full day later.

We'll talk about Benjamin's "Behavior Docmentation Chart" later...

Hmmm

Now this is interesting.

School starts and the paper starts rolling in.

You are instructed in one sheet that you can refer your own child to the gifted and talented program.

Do you do it?

Is your kid really that smart?

Do you really want to find out?

Or do you wait and see how much trouble he gets in once he has the hang of the rules and gets bored?

Do you think maybe this is a crazy system?

What parent doesn't think their child is gifted and talented?

How low does the threshold go for gifted and talented?

Aren't the teachers supposed to have some input here?

And the real question, do I really have time for/want to deal with all of the extra homework?

Do I really want to deal with any standardized difference in their education?

And the real heart of the matter, aren't they in Kindergarten? Can't we all just enjoy Kindergarten?
Bleck.

Works For Now

On the rare occasion that I just have to take them to the store with me, in this instance to shop for school supplies,

I get rid of the "I wants" by making our Christmas list.

Now I take a picture of them by the things they really seem to want.

It keeps them happy to get to pick out something special,

and I might even remember in the end what they really said they wanted for Christmas.

Tangled

The plastic trailing out behind her headband, which I had to tape on there after she came up with the idea but it just wouldn't stick is her Rapunzel hair. It would help if she would just stop clopping big chunks of hair off of her head. While a little trim seems to stimulate a little growth, Elaine just can't keep herself from taking big chunks out of her hair with the scissors. She currently looks like she stuck her head in the lawnmower.

Then, she just puts plastic on her head and flies away in a cardboard airplane.

Oh, to be four.

Picture By Ben

Found on my phone.

When we re-organized/expanded the movie holder to put all of their movies in one place last weekend, Ben re-discovered Star Wars.

Seeing the movie, he exclaimed. And then, he knelt down and kissed the movie about ten times in a row. You can bet that if he is first up on Saturday morning, that is the movie that goes in the DVD player. Alas, poor guy is usually last out of bed these days.

My Toys

Now their toys.

Kindergarten, And Now

Our first loose tooth.

Nicholas has his feelings hurt that Ben was first for this milestone. He claims when it comes out he will fake sleep all night long so that he can see what the tooth fairy looks like. Then when Ben wakes up in the morning, he'll tell Ben all about her.

"But Nick, she won't come if you don't go to sleep."

"No Ben, she won't come if you don't go to sleep, right mom?"

Crap, I don't know.

Years Ago

This piano was on sale somewhere.

Literally, years ago (I know the boys were not yet three, which was why we didn't put it together).

We finally put it together.

It sounds a little like it's more than three years out of tune, but I suspect it may have started out that way.

And yes, we went to the movies this weekend in the skeleton pajamas. I love watching people watch us when we're out. They don't really know what to do with what is in front of them.