Duck, Duck, Goose

-OR-

Things to Do When All Your Siblings Go Back to School

 

 

I have to admit, I was kind of impressed with the soon-to-be-preschooler's creativity this morning.  So much so, that I actually got out the camera.  Probably one of those moments that would only impress a totally biased mother (um, ME!), but I had to marvel at both his ability to set it all up... AND stay self-entertained!

 

Duck...

duck...

 

duck...

 

GOOSE!

 

Note how he holds the stuffed animal behind him so that it can actually "chase" him around the house.

 

 

P.S. I realize that your first thought may not be, "How cute and clever!", but rather, "Um... that is a grotesque amount of webkinz for one family."  Please know that I agree with both sentiments.





Back to School 2013

I cannot, CANNOT believe that it's time for the kiddos (well, three of the four, at least) to go back to school all ready! I mean... seriously?  Are these the same kiddos that when we moved here were going into preschool, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade?

                                             first day of school 2008                                                             first day of school 2013

 September 2008

 



 August 14, 2013

 

 

Why Big Sisters Are Awesome, Part II

(If you missed Part 1 in this series, it was back in June 2010.)

Halloween... Was It Only a Week Ago?

Why does it seem like Halloween was a month ago, when it was only last week?  Maybe because it was, technically, last month?  Maybe because we plowed through all of the candy so quickly?  (It seems like it should last longer...)  Regardless, I should certainly take down the Halloween decorations from our house.  Maybe tomorrow...

In the meantime, a few photos of kiddos and costumes:



• The Almost-Teenager as a devil (headed to a friend's party on October 20)
• The Eleven-Year-Old as a gypsy (prior to Trunk-or-Treat on October 26)
• The Eight-Year-Old Ninja (huge props to him for being willing to wear the same costume 2 years in a row--hooray!)
• The Just-Turned-Four-Year-Old as a skeleton.  (Muchas gracias, WalMart, for selling darling pajamas for only $6 this year!)

Clearly I'm biased, but aren't they adorable?!  There is only one thing that I think is cuter than our kids: our kids in COSTUME!!

Post Halloween Picnic

Because, sometimes if you have too much candy to eat all by yourself, it helps to share with "friends".  Or in this case, Webkinz stuffed animals.

Um, so yeah, that actually IS taking place in a child's bedroom.  The only thing that would make it better would be if each "friend" got his or her favorite type of candy from the pile.  Not to worry!  That situation was remedied about 1 minute after the original photo was taken:

(Note how in the first picture,  Monkey is kinda glaring at Pug.  But once Monkey has his licorice, he happily looks at his own bounty!)



I love the creativity of four-year-olds!

Unanticipated, Part II

Apparently, I was not specific enough yesterday after the, ahem, "incident".  I was very clear that toys are NOT to be flushed down any of the toilets in our house or any house.

It did not occur to me to mention that toys should not actually be put down ANYTHING in the house, including, but not limited to, air vents in the floor:

I know that doesn't look like many toys, but here's what actually came out once I finished the spontaneous scavenger hunt:

Unfortunately, it also did not occur to me to mention that the ONLY things that are acceptable to put in toilets are toilet paper and the category of things-that-come-out-of-your-body.

So the boys figured the bathroom hand towel was fair game.

In their defense (though why I'm defending the Almost Three Year Old and Cousin at this point, I'm unsure), I did, technically, ask the Cousin if it would be all right if the next time he used the bathroom the Almost Three Year Old could watch, to get an idea of how "big boys" use the toilet.  The Cousin sweetly obliged.  It just seemed odd that they were laughing so much after using the bathroom.  But I guess when you are 3 and 4 years old, it is hysterically funny to make multiple attempts to flush a towel down the toilet....

So we had to have a bath:

Luckily, they are all ridiculously cute.

If you are interested in seeing the Cleanest Bathroom Floor in America, please feel free to drop by our house.  After two days in a row of being scrubbed, it is spotless.  We may eat dinner off of it tonight...

Unanticipated

Child-proof knobs on most of the doors in the house? Check.

Stationary bike hidden in a locked room? Check.

All choking hazards picked up off the floor?  Check.

Baby gate reinstalled at top of stairs? Check.

Instructions about "rules in our house" (arguably, there aren't a lot) dispensed ? Check.

We're watching our nephews (aged 4 & 1) for two days to give some MUCH deserved R&R to our brother- & sister-in-law (he just returned home from a 6 month deployment in Africa).  Their baby is a dream--super easy, super good-natured, and more importantly, not a super-screamer. :-)  And our Former Baby, the Almost Three Year Old, adores playing with his "older" cousin.  They are thick as thieves.  And just as sneaky.

This morning, while I snuggled with Baby Nephew and gave him a pre-nap bottle, I listened to the boys play delightedly.  I realized, belatedly, they sounded a little "too" delighted.  Sure enough, they had found a new game to play that was WAY more fun then any of the others they'd all ready come up with, such as empty-out-the-linen-cupboard, empty-all-the-toys-onto-the-bedroom-floor, or see-who-can-gleefully-scream-the-loudest.

It's called: Flush-Toys-Down-the-Toilet-Until-You-Flood-the-Bathroom.

On the bright side... the bathroom floor is now cleaner than it's been all summer!