DPP 7 – Twirl

She never stops.

(December Photo Project)

DPP 2 – Before & After

This afternoon the kids were walking around trying to balance various items on their heads. Then they’d stand on one foot or attempt a scale.

Adelaide’s hair has been driving me more and more crazy. Finally tonight I pulled out the scissors and took care of business.

She looked in the mirror and goes “oh, that’s cute.”

The back…

Okay, I feel better now.

December Photo Project

small style – 1st day of PreK

Today Adelaide starts PreK. She is soo excited. (Remember when she brought me a pile of change – “money so I can go to school, Mom”?)

Dress is Matilda Jane, shoes are Simple. (When she got dressed this morning we found about 20 little sticky burrs inside her dress from the last time she wore it – good thing we noticed before sending her off! That would have been one miserably itchy first day!)

(For more mini fashion, visit Small Style at Mama Loves Papa.)

twirl factor

I’m guessing she drove her Sunday School teachers nuts this morning.

haircut!

When Adelaide’s hair grows out it starts driving me crazy with all it’s scraggly thinness. I tried to put little piggy tails on her but she wasn’t havin’ it. I’ve been warning her all week “we’re cutting your hair on Thursday!” And Thursday we did.

Much better.

(Although, poor baby, she smashed her nose on a friend’s playground yesterday so her nose is more on the purple scabby side now.)

Well, I sure am glad we went back for THAT

Last week the little girls and I took advantage of the bigger kids being in school and ran a few errands one morning. My parents had given Andy some shorts from Old Navy for his birthday (that I totally picked out) and while the hanger proclaimed the right size, the tags didn’t — which apparently I never checked, oops! So one of the stops was at Old Navy for an exchange.

I usually don’t let my kids bring toys into stores. You can imagine why. This time I’m not really sure what happened or how she snuck it past me, but Adelaide brought in a little (cheap) jewelry box she got for her birthday a month ago. All fine and good, whatever.

Problem is, she ended up wanting me to “hold” it, but then decided to put it in the little velcro pouch on the outside of the Old Navy cart. I didn’t pay it that much attention and, unfortunately, it wasn’t until we were picking up the big kids from my sisters’ apartment that I realized that box was still in the (now abandoned) cart, 20ish minutes away.

The other problem is, I had no idea what was actually IN the box. It could have been anything. The kids are not typically allowed to play with my jewelry but sometimes they still do. I had no idea if there was anything valuable in it and that alone forced me to figure out how we could get it back. I called the store and the VERY SWEET manager found it and put it up at the counter for us. We were going to be out that way again later that day so it wasn’t too much of a hassle.

Take a peek:

Yeah. I sure am glad I went all the way back for a broken Nerf dart, a knob off one of our glass-doored bookshelves, and a stroller clip. I’m sure my life could not have gone on without such treasures in it.

a Saturday morning laugh

Andy was reading to the kids one night this week and discovered Adelaide calls this particular character The Crack Head.

(Yeah. Dare you not to laugh.)

now or never

So, like I mentioned, Adelaide’s park birthday party got rained out so we just did her festivities at home. I was going to collage all the photos but yeah, that didn’t happen. (I only finished two.) I’m gonna post this anyway so at least the grandmas can see! :) Nothing fancy, it was a crazy day and I didn’t have time to make a pretty table (long story). But she didn’t notice and loved all the birthday attention.

We made pancakes and bacon for breakfast (fresh strawberries, too!) and then we let her open some gifts from my parents.

Watching the street, waiting for my sisters and Ellen to come over… (found the matching headbands at Target.)

We had the worst time with these cupcakes! From Publix and yummy but SO top-heavy. One toppled off the cupcake stand into Madeline’s hair when I was carrying them to the table. She was sportin’ a thick streak of sugary pink.  Whoops, sorry! And that was only the beginning – icing was everywhere by the end of the party.

Don’t try this at home, kids:

FOUR!

look! some words!

I hope y’all are enjoying the December Photo Project as much as I am! I’ll be back later with today’s photo.

But, sometimes during a project like that the real blog fodder gets forgotten. So, a couple of things I wanted to jot down… (for record keeping and grandparents and such).

Like, we were running into church Sunday morning and behind me Drew yells “my tooth came out!”

Fourth one. (Ew.) I thought they weren’t supposed to look awkward until junior high. ;) I think it got lost somewhere between the “just put it in your pocket” and changing at home. (Hope Arianna isn’t the first to find it.)

Oh, and a little conversation I had with Adelaide… “Mom, why’s Arianna eat our food now?”

“Well, because she’s a big girl now.”

“She’s not a boy anymore?”

“No, she’s always been a girl, she’s just not a tiny baby anymore.”

“Yeah, she’s a BIG, FAT BABY!”

(Nice to know what the sisters think.)

Speaking of Adelaide. Yesterday – actually the day before that – I ran to get a paci for Arianna, came back to the kitchen where Andy and Adelaide were. I kept trying to stuff the paci in Adelaide’s mouth – WHILE she was talking to Andy. I kept thinking “why isn’t she taking it?!” and she’s spitting and trying to move her head and Andy is looking at me like “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” I finally realized: WRONG KID! He goes, “uh, we officially have too many kids.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only mom that has lost her mind. No offense!” – Gretchen.

(Sympathetic friends I have, I know.)

DPP #5

Soooo I’m bending the rules a little bit with this one. My friend Gretchen actually took this photo. I don’t have a zoom lens and so all my pictures were too dark or blurry (sad).

The kids had their Christmas program last night and, well, CUTEST THING EVER. Adelaide… so hilarious to watch her sing and do all the hand motions with her over-the-top enthusiasm and spirit.

(May have to bribe her with candy to get a video clip of a song or two. So worth it.)

Here’s some of my not-great photos, just because.

(Adelaide’s right to the right of the director, front row.)

Sing it!

It was a perfect day for sitting in planters

Hope your yesterday was as beautiful there as it was here.

Haircuts and babytoes

One of the things my sisters always do when they come over is paint my girls’ finger and toenails.  (It even gets fancy with the French-tipping.)  This last time they got a hold of the baby, too.  SO funny.  And cute.

Also, I cut Adelaide’s hair again last week. I thought we’d try growing it out some but then it just got thin and stringy-ish and drove me crazy. So back to bob it went. This photo isn’t a great shot of the cut but I love it anyway. And you can still see the little braid my sister put in her hair.

Hope everyone has a good week!

Ah, summer

My kids call this playing “hosing.” I rarely let them do it but Andy was off yesterday and gave them the green light. (Yeah, as long as you’re still around to pick up the pieces, Mr. Daddy.)

(Alternate Title: Brothers.)

You Capture: Get Outside!

Tuesday cheers

I feel like we’re starting to hit that end-of-summer wall where everybody’s hot and everybody’s cranky. We haven’t had any plans the last several days, just trying to avoid the heat as much as possible – which makes for very long days at home. On the flip side, since I HAVE been home, I knew that the charge from Saks Fifth Avenue, keyed in downtown New York, was fraudulent and was able to alert my bank immediately.

Much as I wish I was, in fact, shopping in New York. Sigh.

Today is going much better. I broke down the co-sleeper that has been residing in our room for the past 9 months and got it carted up to the attic. She hasn’t slept in it in about two weeks so it was high time and I cannot tell you how nice it is to have the space back. I feel like I can breathe in here. There’s one tub of cloth diapers left and once that’s gone, there won’t be any baby traces left in my room. (But there’s PLENTY to be had in the girls’ room. So I’m okay with that.)

CHANGING GEARS.

Occasionally I blow-dry Adelaide’s hair, usually after I cut it. She brought me the hairdryer last night after her bath, and then Madeline begged me to do hers, too. I was wondering if her it would look terrible since I don’t take that great of care cutting her hair – waves are SO forgiving. But it didn’t look half bad! She LOVED her super-straight hair.

Of course, Adelaide had to have her picture taken, too.

She calls me her Sweet Mommy

(in her ruffle pants!)

because I ask her ALL THE TIME if she’s my sweet Adelaide.

Apparently two puppies live here

Cupcake, dollhouse

We had a little family brunch for Adelaide on Saturday morning. Several of my favorite shots:

We gave her a Fisher Price dollhouse (consignment sale find for $8, yeah!) and my mom gave her a few rooms’ worth of furniture (buy-one-get-one at Toys ‘R Us – yeah!):

The one about Adelaide

Sometimes I wish y’all could know Adelaide like we do. Even at three she is such a unique personality, full of lively energy and free spirit. Marches to her own drum, that one.

You know that old saying, ‘girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice’? Undoubtedly in this house, Madeline is our sugar and Adelaide is our spice. She sort of flits around; skipping, hopping, dancing as she goes. She’s also our resident entertainer, loving to be silly and always trying to make us laugh.

And her singing! Her Sunday school teachers all have commented on her wholehearted approach to “deep and wide” and the other five favorite songs. She sings plenty at home, complete with proclaiming “good job!” to herself at the end. She will not, however, perform on demand. (She can be a stinker that way.)

She can be so caring and sweet (“can I pet your face, mama?”) yet so full of mischief (sneaks in the fridge to dig her fingers in the butter). She will eat ANYTHING doused in ketchup, is my hungriest kid in the mornings, and won’t go anywhere without her “lanket.”

I love how she calls teacups “tea parties.” And while Madeline loves to talk about princesses, Adelaide is certain that she IS a princess. (But only if/when she’s wearing a dress.) She totally fits her pixie haircut and bright red shoes.

Happy birthday to my enchanting, delightful, lively girl.