Look no further for good parenting

Christian cried an especially long time before going down for a nap one day.  I peeked in later to find this.  Oops.

He forgave me when I gave him free reign on the marshmallows later.  Because that's how good parents say "I'm sorry," right?

Fashion

I took this picture of Christian on Mother's Day.  He was tromping up and down the hallway, wearing one of my shoes and pushing a stroller.

I am always delighted when he puts on my shoes.  I don't know if it means he loves my sense of fashion, or that he wants to be like me.  But either way, I'm flattered, and I love this kid.

And, while we're speaking of dressing up, Lily's latest favorite look is to wear her swimsuit cover up, and that's all.  There is no event that she doesn't want to wear it to: as a substitute for PJs, a lovely dress to wear to the school/the store/churh, even a cover to a swimsuit (imagine that).  It has proven to be quite the multi-purpose frock in her mind.  I feel less enthusiastic about this than Christian wearing my shoes.

Notice the addition of biker gloves to the ensemble.  Classy.

Decorating by Lily

I just found this unposted Christmas blog in my archives.  Better late than never, right?

They say two's company, and three's a crowd.  But what about four Nutcrackers on one branch?

Decorating by Lily

Dance terminology

Eliza was doing dance moves to a Tangled song and she did something and I said, "What's that called?"  She replied quickly, "It's an arabesque."  Then she did another move and I asked, "What's that called?"  She thought for a second and replied, "It's called a huge leap."

Sisters are good for teaching life lessons

Older sisters are the best for teaching their younger siblings important life lessons.  How else would I have known how to use hot curlers or to have the guts to play basketball with the boys at recess, but for my older sister, Krista?  And how lucky my younger sister, Danielle, is to have received "Pointers on Boys" from her experienced, 3rd-grade older sister (me).

This week I overheard Eliza (6) giving Lily (4) some advice.  And this is an exact quote because after I heard it, I walked straight to the computer to type down the exact wording, because, well, I couldn't make this up if I tried. 

Eliza: "If someone tries to tickle you, don't tell them 'Stop; I'm ticklish,' because then they'll tickle you more.  Tell them 'I have explosive diarrhea' and they'll totally run away."

Which leaves me with so many questions.  Does she have a tickle tormentor at school that I don't know about?  Where did she learn the phrase "explosive diarrhea"?  Did she use that excuse at school?  Did it work?  Did it freak anyone else out?  Should I be freaked out?  Is it bad that I'm still laughing about this, three days later?

And most importantly, why didn't Krista teach me this important lesson years ago?

HAIR

I volunteered myself and my mom and sister to run Sage's class "Fun Day Friday" just before Halloween.  We did five or six Halloween science projects with sixty kids.  And did I mention that we dressed up?  Ratted hair and all.  Becca worked her magic on our lovely locks. 

 

Sage decided to be a mad scientist for Halloween, including ratted hair.  We certainly could have used Becca's help with the ratting.   (And the detangling after, for that matter!)

But Eliza is a natural--she woke up with these "rainbow bangs" earlier this week.  I couldn't have gotten them like that if I had been trying!  (She is my only kid to sleep face down into the pillow, and thus graces us with some awesome morning 'do-s.)

 

And after Krista called Christian's lovely locks "old man hair," he met the shears for the first time.  I asked Eliza to take a picture of me cutting his hair, and this she did EXACTLY that. 

The End Result.  (I can't show you the back, because there are sort of two cut lines back there. How does anyone cut straight lines on wiggly babies' heads?  And don't say "with a sucker and a movie" because that was insufficient for us!)

Okay fine--here's one of the back--Christian got a hold of the phone and went charging down the hallway to get away from me.  (Where Lily may or may not have been wearing pants, but definitely had mittens on.  Which pretty much counts as fully dressed in her mind.)

Trick or Treat?

  Someone left me this little treat (or trick?) near the computer today.
 

Mischief Managed

Christian has been so busy lately.  Consider the evidence.

This was so cute, until it made the dishwasher pop out of its little cubbyhole.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3.  

These curtains will NEVER be white again.

I know, I was dumb to give him an ice cream sandwich in the car.

What a goof.

He kept bobbing for apples long after his sisters lost interest.

We love this kid to death.