Reading with Clare

Clare: "Then we played Twister and Bingo and Chinese chicken"...what!  Chinese chicken what's that?  Oh I know it's a game you play with chopsticks and pieces of chicken.

Me:  No it's not a game with chicken, look at the word.  It's checkers.

Clare:"Chinese checkers and Tic-Tac-Toad" !!!  Tic-Tac-Toad!  Mom!

Me:  Yes, you're right, I don't know why the author wrote that, it should be Toe.

-We're reading from Junie B. Jones is a Party Animal by Barbara Park

Random Monday Activities

Thomas is king of his throne.

Gregory's recreating Toy Story 1, but in this case the monkeys are working.

(We've seen that movie a few too many times. If you don't get the reference, don't worry.)

I don't even know what Thomas is doing here, but it was a funny picture.

Please Mommy, can we have...

Clare and Gregory both want more siblings.

Clare:  I really want a little sister.  Can we name her Rose, Gianna, Teresa, etc.

Gregory:  I want a girl baby.   I want a boy baby.  I want a Thomas baby.

At least we've already met the Thomas baby part of Gregory's request.

Simple Pleasures

Little boys have such simple pleasures.

They like to eat apples and explore the properties of extra egg yolks

Little toddlers also have simple pleasures, they just happen to be more destructive.

He likes to clean off tables

by throwing everything onto the floor.

He also enjoys playing with zucchinis

and then clubbing mom with them.

Thomas' thought on school

I spend a lot of time in my car seat.

School for Gregory

Gregory woke up early for his first day of school and ate a good breakfast.

He then waited patiently for his day to start after we dropped Clare off.  He seemed very excited.

Then the pressure kicked in.

I'm pretty sure he had a good day, after those first few minutes.  It's a big deal for him.  He told us about sitting on the floor, being nice to the other boys and playing in the sandbox.

He is looking forward to his next day on Thursday.

Free Puppies

Not really. That's what the boys reminded me of playing behind the gate.  They both even started barking.

VA Vacation - Girls' Night

I can't imagine having better friends than these wonderful holy ladies.

Friday Quick Takes

1)I love the beginning of the school year, and the order it imparts in our house.  The boys have fallen back into their old routines, and Clare is enjoying herself.  It may sound silly but I am looking forward to keeping the house cleaner with my school year cleaning routine.  I feel like everything has a time and place when we plan around school

2)I'm behind Kate in posting this, but I want to post it on my blog too.

5 Families, 17 kids, the oldest is 6 for a total of 27 people!  It's so much fun to get together.

3)Gregory's school orientation.  I am so afraid that he is going to be a bully.  A little boy came up to him and started talking and Gregory hit him.  We're working hard on teaching him to be nice so he can have friends.

4)Funniest thing is that there is a boy in Gregory's class who is called John B----s.  He has a different last name from us, but is called the same thing as Gregory's dad.  There may be some slight confusion for Gregory in this.

5)While it is still hot in Dallas, it has actually cooled off a little.  Now when it's 90 outside, or our A/C isn't failing to maintain 78 degrees, it feels very pleasant.  The children have actually told me they are cold with the fans on.  I find it amazing how quickly humans acclimate to extreme temperatures.

Cheap Deals and Thrills

6)I found Clare a pair of Soccer cleats, shin guards, ballet slippers and tap shoes all on Craig's list for $38.00.  I consider this a great deal.  I pretty sure a new pair of tap shoes is more than that alone.

7)We have also been in need of some new kitchen chairs.  Our old ones were very unsafe for little ones.  They would flip over backwards in an instant if a child so much as leaned over the back of the chair.

I've been looking and looking, and finally our local thrift store had 4 solid wooden chairs for $110.00.  Seeing as Thomas has just learned how to climb onto the chairs, this was the perfect deal at the perfect time.  Nothing short of climbing over the back of these even makes them wobble.

Hope you have a nice weekend and for more quick takes, head to Jen's.

VA Vacation Part 2

We had a family portrait with John's folks while in VA.  Everyone wore white shirts, and I love the look.

I love how the pictures before and after the session has a consistency too.  Even if we might have looked silly all matching out in public.

"With the Boy She Loves"

One of Clare's favorite parts of  our vacation was spending time with Paul.

They both still insist that they are going to get married.  It appears that distance has done nothing to cool this relationship.

Toy of Choice

They say it's very telling what a child will choose to play with.  Both of my boys choose to play dangerously.

One as a warrior.

One with something he's afraid of.

VA Vacation Part 1

Fun in the Sun with the kids, Grandma, and Aunt Jennea and Corrina

The younger the child the less they were interested in getting soaked.

Clare's First Day

Clare's a 1st grader!  And Gregory's counting down the days until his first day next week.

Clare had a wonderful day and loves her new teacher,

Brain Misfire

Gregory is peeling an clementine.

Gregory:  Mommy, I dropped my peach.
Me:  Gregory, that's not a peach, it's an apple.

When I have my thoughts more together, I will post all about our vacation to VA.  Needless to say, it was wonderful!

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

No more ear infections!  I feel great and love eating my yogurt with my fingers