We Have a Thing for Moustaches Around Here

Enough said.

Sweet Face

That's my girl...

Bubbles!

We took out the bubbles today and got some fantastic results! We haven't done bubbles in a long time, and I am not sure why, but I do know the weather was super bubble weather. They were HUGE and lasted forever. I got some pretty great shots of Lilly and Allie enjoying them, I love the looks on their faces. It is such a nice surprise when something that seems so simple makes the entire day.

The Fair

We have a family tradition of going to our local county fair. We have done this every year since Lilly was a baby. We now take the kids out of school on the Wednesday of the week long fair, as there is a rides deal for twelve dollars unlimited rides. The day doesn't get crowded until after three o'clock when schools are all out, so we have most of the day to enjoy the fair without waiting in lines or worrying about losing someone in the crowd. We had a blast and the weather was perfect. Will and the kids went on all the rides multiple times, Lilly won many prizes at the games, and the farm animals were really cool. I wanted to but a mini horse, but I think that sort of thing is frowned upon in the suburbs. Everyone is exhausted tonight, myself included, but county fair day is my favorite family day of the year.

A Few from the Lake

We are happy to see Fall arrive, and sad that Summer is gone. The girls were pleading to go to the lake yesterday. I tried explaining that it was too chilly, but all they could talk about was swimming and boat rides. Unfortunately, I think we have had our last lake trip for the year, as we had a frost last night. I guess we can just look forward to next year and maybe piles of leaves to jump in and snowy days will prove to be as much fun as the lake. Only colder.

Last Day of Summer Ice Cream Trip

It was a beautiful day here today. The girls and I walked to a super yummy restaurant for breakfast. It was brisk, and definitely felt like Fall was here. We all shared a little of everything for breakfast, yogurt, fruit, bacon, sausage, toast with lots of jelly, eggs, and home fries. It was delicious. We took our time walking home, stopping to look at every little thing along the way. We went home, picked up the car and took it to the do it yourself car wash. I did it myself, they watched from inside the car...it was a bit too chilly to risk the accidental/intentional soaking with the hose. We decided to go to the bookstore as Lilly has developed quite an appetite for chapter books. She read an entire one in a day! She really is becoming quite a reader. We picked up my Mom and took her with us. We love hanging out with her, and today no one had anything to do so it was a perfect day. We spent about an hour at the bookstore, and got Lilly a new Junie B. Jones book, but honestly I think that character is a pretty rude little kid, so I also looked for a new series for her to start and found a (seemingly) great one; Ivy and Bean. It seems sweet, so I hope she likes that series more. I will let her read whatever she wants, though because reading should be enjoyable, and I know she can handle reading about a bratty kid without turning into one. Allie and Maya picked out new Halloween books and we were off. I had to run an errand which would have been boring for the girls (read- Maya would have tried to displace every object in the store...two is an interesting age) so they waited in the car with my Mom. When we were done there, we went for ice cream. It had warmed up so much that it was a welcome treat. I think we are ending the days of enjoying a cone outside, so we lingered an extra long time. We had a wonderfully relaxing day together, I wish there were more days like today.

Gangsta Pre-school

I found Maya and her friend Ryleigh dressed like this when I walked into the living room.

Gangsta Pre-school anyone?

Sugar in the Crust?

Allie will not eat the crust of bread. Any bread. She used to, but now she won't. I always said that I would never cut crust off bread, that my kids would eat the crust and like it. Well, I do cut off the crust and no, they don't enjoy the crust. Another one for the book of things I said I'd never do as a parent. I have been baking my own bread lately, as I have been inspired by London, who is always interesting. She posted a super bread recipe which simple and really tasty. As I was taking the steaming bread form the pan, Allie asked if she could have a slice with butter and no crust. So I used my mommy trickery and said, "but Al, I made this bread and I cooked the crust to be extra yummy just for you." She replied with a scrunched up face, "but Mommy I don't like the crust." I look at her and say, "I baked this crust with sugar, just special just for you." She pauses and takes a long look at the bread and takes a bite, a tiny bite and proclaims, "This is so delicious, can you make this for me again?!"
I love that she is four and believes that I would actually put sugar in the bread crust, after all she could taste it.

Apple Picking

We went apple picking this weekend for the first time this year. It was a blast! The trees were so heavy with apples that we didn't have to walk into the orchard at all. The girls picked the first five trees we saw, and picked half a bushel in about eight minutes. There were tons of apples down so low that they could actually reach down to pick the apples. When our bags were full, the girls spent about five minutes searching for the perfect apple to eat. We all found our eating apples for the ride home and then polished our apples until we could almost see out faces in the apples they were so shiny. We each ate probably five apples that day, and they have become the go to snack of the week. I am also planning an apple pie for later in the week. fall is definitely in the air.

Our Dog the Fashionista

I took a page from Dooce's blog http://www.dooce.com/daily-chuck/2008/09/10/portrait-two-little-shits and wanted to see if I could dress up our dog. He is a pretty cool dog and will pretty much let you do anything to him. I wanted to see if he would sport a feather boa and hat. He did, but he looked pretty embarrassed.

Vampire

Maya is practicing to be a vampire for Halloween. Note the two tone teeth.

The Highway

Driving to dinner the other night, we were on the highway. We were in a rental car with automatic windows the kids can actually reach, so of course the whole trip it was up, down, up, down, windy, still, windy, still. Will had the girls convinced that the windows voice activated. Every time they would say up he would use the driver side controls to follow directions without letting them know that he was doing it. They think this rental is the coolest thing ever. Finally after about fifty rounds of up down with the windows, we were off the highway and onto a regular road at a fairly slow speed (read less windy during the up down game). Allie noticed that we were travelling much more slowly and said, "are we off the highway?" I told her that we were, and then she asked, "so, are we on the low way now?" I love how my little people label the world.

Allie's Haircut

Allie's hair has been growing out for quite some time. She has always loved it long because of the whole princess thing, but since Lilly got her hair cut, Allie has changed her mind. She saw how easy it was to wash and comb and do, so she decided she wanted it cut just like Lilly's. I loved Allie's long hair and was sad that she wanted to have it cut, but now I love it. I think I even like it better this way. She definitely likes it better and it is so much easier.

I Never Thought I'd Want to Purell Her Tongue

Of course I never would, but it was tempting! We were in the bathroom at Target for the second time that trip. All of the girls know the bathroom chant and say it repeatedly during any visit. "Don't touch anything because there are germs that can make you sick!" So I am in the big stall with Allie and Maya who both need to go potty again. Allie goes first and then goes to stand by the stall door with her hands behind her back. I am helping Maya with her potty business when I see Allie making faces in the shiny door handle. Okay, that's cool I think, she's entertaining herself and not touching anything. I turn to Maya and then back to Allie just in time to see her lick the handle of the stall door! "Allie, did you just lick the door handle?!" I say in a slightly hysterical voice. "Yah, but I didn't touch anything." "Seriously!? You licked the door handle? Why would you do that?" I say. "I don't know, just because" she replies. So I launch into the "now you have all the germs from everyone who has wiped themselves after pooping and peeing, on your tongue" lecture while simultaneously trying not to vomit and laugh and cry and wanting to wipe off her tongue and make her gargle with Purell, while listening to the lady in the stall next to us trying to stifle her slightly horrified laughter.
I guess I have to change the bathroom chant to, "don't touch or LICK anything because there are germs that can make you sick."

Buttersly

Maya, walking across the yard spots a butterfly.

"Oh, butter-sly, butter-sly! Catch him! Catch him! Butter-sly butter-sly! Where ard jew? Oh! Butter-sly! There you ard, catch him catch him!"

Butterfly flies away.

Lilly's Sixth Birthday

Today my oldest girl is six. I simply cannot believe that this is true. I feel like the math is wrong or some years were skipped. Wow. Lilly is growing into a more amazing girl everyday. From the day she was born, there was something different about her. I swear she was born a sixty year old woman. She was never fussy, always very aware and looking introspective. She studied and still does study people quietly and carefully before deciding how she feels about them. She is a very forgiving person. She is one of the most giving young people I have ever met. Lilly never went through the jealousy that usually comes with new siblings. She has always been extremely caring and compassionate toward her sisters and everyone else for that matter. Even as a two year old, Lilly never had issues sharing. I don't think the word 'mine!' ever crossed her lips. She is a very sensitive soul and is shy when meeting new people, but once she knows someone she invests all of her feelings in them. Lilly is always thinking about other people and even let her little sisters open some of her birthday presents so they wouldn't feel left out (although they each had a small gift to open too). I have been amazed daily at the things Lilly can do. She is the girl who takes everything in, even if you don't realize it, and she will tell you about something weeks later that you didn't even know she knew about. She sure is a special little person. I cannot wait to see what she becomes, but I am sure looking forward to the coming years. Happy Birthday my Lilly girl, I Love You with all my heart.

Lilly's First Day of First Grade

Today is Lilly's first day of school. I was nervous that she would be nervous, but she wasn't...much. She chose her outfit, a butterfly shirt, skirt and fun socks. She chose her breakfast, toast, eggs and juice. We headed out to wait for the bus. Now, Lilly insisted that she take the bus to school. I wanted to drive her for the first day, just to make sure that she got in to her class without incident, but she wanted no part of that plan and I figured she should do what made her most comfortable so she took the bus. Will followed the bus. All the way to school. He said the bus driver seemed to get a little nervous having someone follow him through all the stops and strange turns, which is totally understandable as the bus driver didn't know he was going to do this. Lilly got to school and ended up seeing one of her friends from the meet and greet at school yesterday, so she was happy. Will said she took her teacher's hand and trotted into school. I hope she is having a fantastic day and cannot wait to see her this afternoon.

Allie is Four Today!

Four years ago today, my very sweet, sweet girl was born. She kept me up all night and made her appearance at 6:59 am. I remember her eyes were and still are as blue as the sky on the most beautiful day. She is the only one in our immediate family with blue eyes, which she likes to remind us of often. Al was a very easy going baby, rarely complained, and reached all of her milestones early. She was crawling at six months, and walking at nine and a half. She is a very down in the dirt princess. I know, the two don't usually mix, but Allie will wear her princess dresses out to play in the sandbox or to dig in the dirt. She is a very sensitive and intuitive little person who has a slight preoccupation with The Blessed Mother, princesses, bugs, and naughty words. She loves to try the monkey bars, to swing really really high, and vanilla ice cream. She is a snuggle bug and a TV lover, a wonderful artist and a sweet soul. I am so proud of the little person she has become, her caring nature and her odd sense of humor. She is a wonderful addition to our family and I feel so blessed that she lights up every day we spend with her. I Love You, Al...Happy Birthday!

(Here's a picture of Allie describing the face our cat was making when he came face to face with a dog!) She said, "Wilson put his ears down flat and scrunched his nose up like this!"