Train ‘em early

(Not really.)

Madeline has been BEGGING me to allow her to hold Arianna while walking around. I always say no.

Here’s the thing, Madeline is c-l-u-m-s-y. And still too little herself. Her arms aren’t strong or long enough for Arianna’s bulk and weight.

But I did agree she could try to hold the baby in my sling and that actually proved to be a good solution. It looked funny though, I just HAD to snap a few photos:

Alternate title: Sisterwearing!

Sister love

I somehow pinched a nerve in my neck and spent yesterday gritting my teeth trying to make it through the day.  So I’ve really got nothing for today except this photo I took sometime last week.

Madeline wanted to hold Arianna and as soon as they were all snuggled, the baby fell right asleep.

Precious.

Oops. Sort of.

So I um, sort of (Mom, don’t freak) choppedMadeline’shairoff.

{exhales}

She wanted a haircut.  I wanted to cut it too, just because it was too long and the tangles painful.  The problem was she kept moving and I had to keep cutting it shorter to even out the sides.  It’s still not perfect.

She likes it… and even though I would have left it a few inches longer, her hair grows like a weed and will be back down her back in a wink.

(And yes, she’s wearing a size 3T dress I got down from the attic for Adelaide to wear. Silly girl.)

Here’s a before photo, just for kicks (also one of my favorite photos from Christmas):

DPP Day 4: Good Morning, Sunshine!

I’m posting today’s photos straight out of my camera. No editing, no cropping.

This was during my coffee hour, after I got Drew out the door to school.

Posted in conjunction with the December Photo Project.

A little country style

I know I haven’t blogged lately — we’re all fine, just busy! And a wee bit braindead (me). There are a few things I’ve been meaning to post about but I’ll get to that later.

Today was hillbilly day at the preschool. (Her 4th of July top sure came in handy!)

(Yes, a cheese stick for breakfast. Don’t you do that in a pinch?)

Madeline’s First Day of PreK

Alternate title: One Very Excited Little Girl

I am not an overly sentimental person, I tend to take things in stride and I rarely cry.

I know there’s been a certain amount of sniffling around the blogosphere about the first day of school, but I have to be honest and admit I don’t feel sad at all.

Madeline has hardly been able to contain her excitement.

She’s been talking about preschool for an entire year, ever since the day Drew started.

Every day she would snatch his bag as he walked in the door and rifle through his folder of crafts and papers, dreaming of her day. ‘Four’ was the magic number, “when I turn four I get to go to school!”

That kind of excitement is infectious.

(And I also have to admit, it was really fun dressing her this morning.)

Madeline and the Fish

I’ll blog more about our weekend at the cabin later, probably when we’re back home. This will have to do for now since we’re leaving this morning.

Madeline and the Fish from Please Pass the Salt on Vimeo.

One of my sisters took these pictures after she got someone to release the poor fish from its hook:

And then one of them dared her to kiss it:

But she didn’t.

(I may or may not have had any influence on that decision.)

(Right after that picture was taken it started flailing around; Madeline jumped a mile and tossed it.)

Cherries!

On Sunday my neighbor came over and invited my kids to their church’s VBS program that runs this week. They’re in the same denomination as us and doing the same program my kids will get at my parents’ church when we visit them next month. (So maybe with the repetition, something will stick.)

Which meant I found myself last night with just Adelaide and we wasted no time in getting to the fabric store. I had finished up some projects before the in-laws were here last weekend, and uncovered my sewing machine in the process. Hello, old friend.

You may remember from last year the pillowcase dresses? Well, Madeline’s legs have been growing like weeds and hers are now too short for that style. (They fit Adelaide though, which is convenient.) So I set out to make her a couple of new, longer ones for this year.

First up, Cherries!

And yeah, I totally bribed her with a mini Kit-Kat for smiling in those pictures.

Up next, Adelaide’s. I’m going to do hers a little differently, stay tuned!

Miss Four

Since we had Madeline’s party on Saturday, we let her open the rest of her gifts this morning in her pajamas, without fanfare.  Here are a few of my favorites:

I love Adelaide’s face:

The dress she has spent months asking for:

(And yes, I realize nearly all of her gifts were Disney Princess. It’s what she asked for.)

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home and taking naps. This evening I took them to the free play area in the mall (had to get some camis at Motherhood; two birds, one stone), Chick-Fil-A for supper (in honor of Madeline’s birthday of course), and to Target for bigger socks. It was high time; I think Drew’s would’ve actually fit on Adelaide.

Socks are one of those things I never actually think about, yanking and tugging and pulling onto kids’ feet, never realizing that maybe it’s because they simply don’t fit anymore. Shoes are so much more obvious when they’re outgrown.

But with socks, you can fake it.

Birthday Princess

From Saturday:

Please, let’s not keep it

We’re stranded today until I can find my keys. (Yes, I already checked Madeline’s purse.) She got a ride to a princess party yesterday and I haven’t seen them since we switched out her carseat in the POURING rain. I do have a spare but it hasn’t been re-coded yet.

But, never fear, we’re not suffering for cheap entertainment. Look what Madeline just found:

That would be a turtle, in case you can’t tell. I’m crossing my fingers she doesn’t ask to make it her pet. A puppy is enough, thank you.

***Edited to add: I FOUND MY KEYS! They were under the sofa, pushed waaaaaay towards the back.

Madeline’s Purse

I took the kids to the park one evening this week and Madeline left her purse with me on the bench, (most likely as safekeeping from Adelaide).  I got a little bored and peeked in it, curious about what she deems worthy of toting around.

(And then I secretly thanked her for this blog post.)

When she went to bed that night, I dumped the contents out and snapped a few pictures.  When she’s in high school we’ll have a little laugh at the contents of her purse when she was almost four:

Jam-packed with junk treasures:

First we have the empty cardboards from the hair clippies folded in half, a remote to a broken car, a piece of folded construction paper, and a doll bib:

Some magnets and bracelets, band-aids (smart!), her phone and shades, the Southwest Airlines wings my mom gave her, and a couple of pilfered cars:

Fake flowers (they came from my Mother’s Day paper basket Drew made in school), some used princess stickers, and a ratty old tissue:

And finally, a pair of doll underwear and a sundress (you never know when you’re gonna need a spare):

Don’t you wish you could see what goes on in their heads sometimes?

Or not

Madeline got sick a couple of times in the middle of Sunday night so yesterday we pretty much laid low, waiting for the other kids to show signs of it and for her to recover. (And when one is in relaxation mode, one doesn’t do the laundry.)

I’m thinking it was something she ate because today she’s completely back to her normal self. We had met our fellowship group (and two others) for a picnic Sunday afternoon at a park and maybe she ate something that didn’t agree with her there. Or she just ran around too much.

Anyway, I’m just thankful that it appears to be over and no one else was affected. We haven’t been sick in a very long time, either, so there’s that.

Late in the evening yesterday she was feeling fine so we ran over to Wal-Mart to get a few things for Drew’s school lunch and to finally pick up some BUBBLES! The only problem was, I went to pay and realized my wallet was still at home on the counter. Doh.

Two trips later we had everything we needed. Except Madeline left her monkey in the store, so we had to run in a third time. Of course I was still wearing my pajamas and had assumed we’d only be running in quickly ONE TIME. Live and learn. (At least I had some makeup on.)

We did bubbles outside for a few minutes before I started Adelaide’s bath. Then Drew walked in the bathroom with his open bubble bottle and leaned over to blow bubbles into her bath, but unfortunately the bottle leaned with him and half the bottle dumped out onto his feet and all over the floor. Clearly it was past time for everyone to be in bed.

Okay, OKAY. I’m off to fold my five loads of laundry from last week. (I know, I live a glamorous life.)

The Ballet

My sisters had their birthday over a month ago but they were home on spring break and I never did anything for them. But then a few weeks ago I saw an ad for our local ballet company’s spring production, and asked if they wanted to go with me to that. (And Madeline, too, of course.)

So last night we went to the Ballet.

Madeline was HILARIOUS. She’s already asked me at least thirty times if she can be a ballerina when she “gets bigger.” She also put her hands above her head and twirled in the aisle the whole intermission, bumping into chairs and even a few innocent passersby.

And when I took her to the bathroom immediately before intermission (she absolutely could not wait), the first thing out of her mouth was, “IS THIS SO FUN AT THE BALLET?!!!”

Really, it exceeded my expectations. It was stunning. And the perfect length for a little girl to sit through, (which is helpful).

And yeah, I wasn’t kidding about the week-long birthday thing!

Madeline, The Storyteller

(I just want to warn you that her stories make no logical sense. And the “crab” part at the end? I STILL laugh out loud when I watch it and I’ve seen it many, many times. She’s referring to Sebastian from The Little Mermaid.)

Who knew "th" could be so hard?

On Sunday after church we were all sitting at the table eating leftovers and Andy started asking the kids about what they had learned in Sunday school.

“The boat.”

Andy: “The boat? What about the boat?”

Madeline (in the most condescending, you’re-the-dad-you-should-know-this voice and gesturing with her hands): “When God? was sleeping in the boat and the funder came!”

(Yes, we died laughing.)

Sleeping Beauty

I haven’t posted anything today because I was too busy chasing my kids around parking lots (do they ever learn?) and not-cleaning my house. (Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?)

I took this picture of Madeline napping in my bed the other day. Don’t mind her dirty monkey. (The poor thing has a very tough life, trust me.)

Sometimes I still stare at her and can’t believe she’s mine.

Pardon me while I ramble some.

Last week was really a lot of fun. I’m thankful because a) it was freezing and we were mostly forced to stay inside and b) I’m susceptible to the winter blues. Staying warm AND upbeat is a bit of an accomplishment. For me, anyway.

(Friday it was 26 degrees here; I really mean FREEZING. This is the South. Not Alaska.)

Some highlights: Sarah and I took our girls and her little boy to the museum on Tuesday, which is always a great time. (Except I did get a(n unfair) parking ticket.)

(Just realized I never told Andy.)

(Oh well.)

On Wednesday we had some friends here to play and eat lunch. It was good to finally catch up with her. Wednesday night my college friend Kristine (who lives in the area) came over for dinner and to hang out with me and the kiddies. Can you tell I like to have people over? And hey, it usually ensures a cleaned house.

(Unless it’s Nicky or Dolly because they no longer count as guests. Overflowing laundry bins on the kitchen floor are fair game. Enter at your own risk.)

On Thursday I finally got to meet another college friend’s brand new baby. Drew was in preschool so Andy only had to care for the girls – prime time to visit friends and get some errands done. Except I ended up being late-ish to pick up Drew and another little boy because I took a (couple) wrong turn(s) from her house and got (really) lost.

On Saturday I had an appointment with my hairdresser friend and finally got a real haircut. A new haircut (and color!) always helps to lift the spirits (and you know it’s true).

Last night my sisters came over for a while. (I don’t clean for them, either, by the way.) They even helped me fold some laundry and get the kids ready for bed. Andy and I had planned on going down to B’ham for church this morning and spend a day there but decided last minute we just couldn’t swing it and stayed home. (Sorry again, D. Hope you found takers on your extra food!)

I tried to get some photos of Madeline in her dress today because it’s one of my favorites. Clearly she wasn’t in the mood to be photographed:

But what can you do?