First Tooth!

Little Miss Shark Tooth finally lost that baby tooth!  It was very exciting. She came downstairs late at night, blood dripping down her mouth, very excited that she had almost gotten it out.  I asked her if she wanted me to take it out and she was so excited she hopped up and down.  I yanked it out and Kyla couldn’t have been happier…or braver.

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Happy Mother’s Day to Me!

My real Mom’s Day was yesterday, when Dwayne took the kids to get some building blocks, and then didn’t come home until 9 hours later.  (He took them on a very spontaneous adventure to Deception Pass for the day.)  I worked outside non-stop for not quite ten hours, wanting to get as much dirt hauled and blocks placed before the kids came home.  I can’t wait to show you pictures, but it’s not quite done, so I will wait to show it picture perfect. 

Here’s my tribe at a Thai dinner:

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Followed by ice cream:

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But the best part of Mother’s Day?  Having this guy as the dad…

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And a quick shout out to my parents—

Happy 40th Anniversary!!

Really, Disney?

Hey, I have Disney Princess issues and I’m going to make my reader deal with it.  I am not pleased with this makeover. 

Princess Merida (from left) in 'Brave' & from the Disney Princesses collection (© Pixar; Disney, http://aka.ms/meridamakeover)

Disney gives the heroine of ‘Brave’ a Barbie-style makeover

Young girls looking for a positive role model in Pixar’s animated adventure “Brave” will soon find a much slimmer, prettier version. The film’s star, Merida, will soon be officially dubbed a Disney princess. She has gone under the Disney knife and has been given a skinnier waist, higher cheekbones and a liberal supply of hair conditioner, making her more Barbie than Artemis. No longer the frizzy and fiery protagonist that both girls and boys identified with, the new Merida has come under fire by parents who prefer strong female protagonists with a more earthy look. There’s even an online petition asking Disney to please keep makeup and liposuction away from the feisty Scot.

http://now.msn.com/brave-princess-makeover-has-parents-furious

Look What Wes Can Do Now!

Riding his bike sans training wheels! 

I decided that he was more than ready to ride a two wheeler, so before we went to our friends’ house tonight, I took them off without him seeing and threw the bike in the car. 

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When I got his bike out later, he wasn’t too happy about the new look, and the first two times he tried it, he went a few feet with some help.  Then he took a two hour break and came back to it.

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The third time he got on, he told me to let go and anyway he went!  He needed help getting started for about five more minutes, and then he figured that out, too.  He’s riding with the big kids now!  IMG_2219

We’re now out of diapers and done with training wheels.  What’s next?  Afternoon cocktails instead of popsicles? (Okay!)

Happy Mother’s Day to Me!

I’ve got to do this differently next year—nothing can ruin a sunny Saturday like getting 3 kids ready to spend hours at the mall to get pictures taken.  I didn’t put Wesley into his white shirt until we were ready to get in the car.  Then he picked his scab and bled all over his face, hand, and white shirt.  Sigh…

But look what we came home with!  (I do usually curate better than this, but I’ve got a lot of cute pictures of the kids.  Not so many of me.)

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Sunny Days

Between the sun, the new camera, and just the way kids dress, I got some pretty colorful shots today at the skate park, where we met some Kindergarten friends for lunch and play.

 

I distinctly remember my mother telling me that red and pink do not match, while I wore my pink shirt and red shorts as often as Mom would wash them.  Mom, I’m sorry.

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Wesley’s Busy Day

Wes was in rare form today.  I began well, starting my day 5 minutes earlier than usual.  Which I immediately wasted by spending 2o minutes putting a nylon sock over our vacuum cleaner and suctioning toys out of Wesley’s vent today.  (Brilliant way of fishing for small items without having to go through the dirt bag later.) His preferred item to put down a sloped vent was, appropriately, cars.   Yep, things with wheels.  My right arm bears longs scratches from the jagged metal edges.  Wesley can now say, with a perfectly straight face, “I will not put anything down the vents.” 

This is what I pulled out of his air vent.

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This is what he looked like as he was announcing his intention of traveling the straight and narrow path.  (The nasty cuts are from a spectacular bike crash at the skate park that actually cracked his indestructible bike just 15 hours earlier.  More later.  But he had already asked to go back to the skate park to try again.)016

 

Then an after-lunch conversation we had.

Me: Wesley, where do we go poop?

Wesley:  In the potty!

Me:  Why did you poop on the sand box lid out on the back deck?

Wesley:  Uh, I just wanted to.

Me:  Where are you supposed to go poop?

Wesley:  In the potty!

 

Later, I had six yards of dirt delivered, which was like have a whole new play set brought right to our front yard.  025

 

For some reason, Piper decided she needed roller skates and wood scraps to climb Everest.  Wesley saw the wood and raised her two badminton racquets.

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You didn’t see this coming, did you?

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Yep, down to their underwear.

 

And then I stopped taking pictures, because they got a hold the full water barrel and chaos really reared its head.  I literally hosed them down outside before carrying each child at arm’s length into the house and dropping each in the bathtub.

 

Wesley at 3:30 in the afternoon.

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