I can always tell when certain persons of a certain youthful age have had fun with mommy's phone. And markers. They always seem to leave evidence behind.
Evidence like this...

That would be Kaitlyn's leg, by the way.

When I Grow Up

We made a family outing to Wal-Mart yesterday and at one point I found myself walking alone with Emily. Or maybe Kaitlyn was in the cart and I was too busy laughing at listening to Emily to remember her being there. We passed a display full of backpacks and Emily became very animated.

Emily: "Mom, when I am 9, I am going to buy my kids backpacks!"

Me, amused: "Haha. Emily there is no way you are going to have any kids when you are 9."

Emily: "Okay, then when I am 19 I will buy backpacks for my kids for school."

Me, alarmed: "You definitely better not have any kids when you are 19, especially school-age kids!"

Emily: "Okay, I will when I am 29. I can have school-age kids then, right?"

Me, relieved: "Yeah, you can totally have kids in school when you're 29."

Emily: "Because you are 29 and you have a kid in school. Me!"

Me: "Yup. That's right."

Word to the wise- if you are sensitive about your age, don't tell Emily what it is. She has the memory of an elephant.

Emily's First Day of School

Emily is officially a kindergartner. She was very excited that her daddy wasn't going to work so he could take her to school and pick her up on her first day! She picked out her clothes the night before, but in true Emily fashion tried to back out of her choice and fight getting dressed that morning. It didn't work. Getting to listen to stories on the ipad on the way helped calm her down.

On the ride to school.

Walking to the building with Daddy.

In front of "A" building.

Emily is in the Children's House. Her class is a mix of 3, 4, and 5 year olds. For these classes, they had staggered start dates. On her first day, it was just the kindergartners. Her teachers, Mrs. Yenny and Mrs. Amy talked about the classroom materials and prepared them for the younger students that would be joining their class over the next few days. They reminded them there were going to be a lot of younger children and of their important job to be good examples for them. Emily was very proud of being a good example.

Emily and Mrs. Yenny.

After we picked her up, we surprised Emily with a trip to a delicious little frozen yogurt place called Local Yogurt. It was Josh's first time trying it. They generally have 3 or 4 flavors of yogurt and all different kinds of toppings. One really fun topping is popping boba. They are little fruit juice filled gelatinous balls. But in a good way. You really just have to try them to understand. Emily chose chocolate yogurt with Lucky Charms. Kaitlyn chose watermelon sorbet with blueberries. Josh chose chocolate yogurt with brownie pieces (we were disappointed in their dry brownies). I chose plain yogurt with blackberries (the berries were pretty flavorless; I should have gotten popping boba). But the yogurt was still top-notch. 

Mmmm...  LoYo serves good froyo!

And for some reason, Josh looked at that corner every time I took a picture. 

Emily had a great day that will (hopefully) be the start of a great year!

Watch if wiggle, See it jiggle

That's right, I'm talking about Jell-O, people. One of the joys of childhood. For a fun summer snack / dessert, we decided (and by that I mean Emily has been begging me for ages) to make some jello. As it turns out, cookie molds make good jello molds, too. We made raspberry and berry blue. 

Love the lips!

Kaitlyn's first taste of Jell-O. She loved it.

Jell-O is maybe the only slimy thing Emily doesn't mind touching with her hands.

Sound of Music Sing Along

 Girls in white dresses 

with blue satin sashes.

Believe it or not, I did not realize Kaitlyn's outfit could have been a costume until after we had been at the theatre for several minutes.

Snowflakes that stay on 

my nose and eyelashes.

It was H-O-T, hot. Non-melting snowflakes would have been one of my favorite things, for sure!

Emily's carsickness got the best of her just a few blocks away from the amphitheatre. She made it into a container, but then spilled it on the floorboard. She was fine the rest of the night and the car was fine after airing out for a few days. Once we got in, we found our spot to eat our dinner and watch the show.

Emily also got to play an alphorn. She probably won't be the next Lisa Stoll, but she did eventually made some noise.

You know. An alphorn.

The girls had alot of fun blowing bubbles, wearing their edelweiss in their hair, singing along to "Do-Re-Mi", and watching "The Lonely Goatherd" puppet show. But they were done by the time intermission started, so we packed up and went home.

Trip to the Dentist

Emily and Kaitlyn went to the dentist last week. The both did very well! And no cavities! They each got a goodie bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste and flossers. They also got to pick a toy out of the treasure chest.

Emily went first.

She kept her hand like that the whole time.

Then it was Kaitlyn's turn.

She loved Mr. Thirsty (aka the suction wand).

Beautiful Smiles

The Biggest Blueberry

One Saturday morning, I popped in a movie and left the kids at home to go pick blueberries. Don't worry, Josh was home, too. I had called the berry farm the night before and their message said they had plenty of berries to be picked. By the time I got there, there wasn't a ripe berry to be found. So, I headed to the State Farmers' Market instead. I found a stall selling sweet baby watermelons for $4. The melon I picked out weighed in at 19 1/2 pounds! (They are usually 6-10 lbs.) As soon as I opened the door, Emily exclaimed, 

"That is the biggest blueberry I have ever sawed!" 

Bedtime Conversations

The other night's bedtime story was Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy. For those who don't know about Ladybug Girl, she has a dog named Bingo. Naturally, the conversation turned toward Emily's desire for a dog of her own. So, I gently reminded her (again) that we can't have a dog. At this point, I don't even have to repeat why.

"Okay. Mom. Okay. If Daddy dies way before you die and you are living with me, can I have a dog then?"

"...Yeees, I suppose then you could have a dog."

"And he can sleep on my bed with me."

"..."

copyright 2009 by David Soman

Where's the Fire?

Yesterday, Fireman Matt helped Emily and Kaitlyn explore a real firetruck.  They tried out the headphones...

saw all the different hoses and fire extinguishers...

and even got to sit in the driver's seat!

 What an exciting day!

Emily, Fireman Matt, & Kaitlyn

4th of July

  For the 4th of July, I decided to take the girls to the Koka Booth Amphitheatre. They had a few activites planned, such as: frozen t-shirt contest, ice cream eating contest, face painting, magician... That evening there was supposed to be a concert by the North Carolina Symphony ending in a fireworks show. Did I mention the free admission? Josh stayed home to work, but I did get him to take a few pictures before we left the house.

Emily entered Lumpy's Ice Cream Eating Contest. She was super excited about it! 

No, really. She chose the ice cream eating contest over face painting!

She wasn't expecting such a large crowd, and honestly, neither was I nor, apparently, Lumpy. They started off with only one table and had to add two more for the kids to crowd around.

I am so proud of her! She was able to work through her anxiety over the strange crowd and dig into her ice cream. She didn't eat her ice cream the fastest, but she definitely won her own battle.

Then we took a shuttle to the bounce house...

We were settling in for the show and just as the symphony was beginning to warm up, the rain started and they wound up cancelling it. Naturally, the rain  stopped before we got to the parking lot. All in all, it was a good day. 

Pink Milk

  The girls were awake until almost 1 AM again last night. You may think you have all kinds of great advice about how important a solid bedtime routine is or how putting them down earlier is the answer to my problem. 1) That's not what this post is actually about and 2) I had them in bed about 7:30 after their usual bath and story, thanks.

  I opted not to even try to wake them up, get them dressed and out the door to try to make it to church by 9. I may be a bad mother because of it, but I know my children and have gone through it enough times that I know what kind of battle I would be fighting. Kaitlyn often wakes up alot like me. If she's not ready to be awake, it's tears and screaming and meltdowns until she gets over it. If she gets over it. With Emily, it's tears and whining about how she can't get up because she's tired and how she shouldn't have to go because Daddy isn't and is still in bed. It's also much harder to forcibly dress her now that she's 5 than it was when she was 2. 

  So, even though I wasn't willing to deal with that today, I did make at least part of church since I needed to drop some things off that I had promised someone. Which is a good thing because I also found out one of the sisters I visit teach decided this weekend that they will be temporarily moving to California in nine days.

  And when I got home I found that Emily had just made pink milk for herself and her sister (and eaten about five packages of fruit snacks). Only she used an almost full bottle of strawberry syrup in about 3 cups of milk. There are about thirty-one 8oz servings in a bottle of syrup, people. The milk is actually a bit darker than it looks in the picture. So, tomorrow I will be buying another couple gallons of milk and diluting it down to a reasonable shade of pink. Cheers!

Objects in picture may be darker than they appear.

Carousels

I have possibly found one of Emily's weaknesses. Carousels. The promise of a carousel ride got her to cooperate and behave way longer than she should have had to. Don't you hate it when appointments take way longer than they are supposed to? Normally, offering incentive to Emily to do something doesn't work. It can be something she has been asking for for hours, days, weeks, even. If she has to perform a task in order to reap the reward, forget it. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture because even though I had my camera, there was no battery in it. Next time, though. If there is a next time. With Emily, you never know.