Growing

Allison has grown 2 inches since her last birthday.

Carter has grown 2 1/2 inches since his last birthday!

 

Footloose and Fleecy Free

This is Allison watching a movie....

Do you notice what's missing?

Fleecy!

Fleecy now stays in her bed all day.  She can go up and visit with fleecy anytime she wants, but it has to stay in her bed.

For several months we've talked about how fleecy was going to have to stay in her bed before she started Kindergarten.  Last week, during her third or fourth frantic "fleecy search" for the day, I declared, "Starting next Monday, fleecy will have to stay in your bed!  That way you will always know where it is and you won't have to look for it anymore!" 

Was she ready for it? 
Did she know it was inevitable?
Or did she misunderstand my deadline? 

Whatever it was, she started leaving fleecy in her bed last week.  And so far, so good, she doesn't seem to miss it during the day!

Downstairs is a fleece-free zone!  I can WASH fleecy, now without it being an ordeal!  (Not that I have actually done that yet... but it's good to know that I can!)

Woo-hoo!

 

Lunchtime Conversations

ALLISON:  I am going to have two kids when I grow up.  A boy and a girl.

DADDY:  Well, you never know what you are going to get.

ALLISON:  I'm not going to have them come out of my tummy.  I am going to go to that place where Aunt Cathy went to get her baby.  Mom, where did Aunt Cathy get her baby?

ME:  South Korea?  You want to go to Korea to get a baby?

ALLISON:  No, not that.

ME:  Adoption?  You want to adopt a baby?

ALLISON:  Yes, that.  I am going to adopt a baby when I grow up.

ME:  I think that would be very nice.

CARTER:  Well, I'm going to have nine cars when I get married!

DADDY:  We passed by a house today that had three garage doors.  Carter was enamered.

CARTER:  And we saw two lizards!

 

Summer Bouquets

Handmade by Allison

"I make things out of real things from nature."

 

The NEXT Karate Kid (and His Sister)

Finally, Carter has his own gi for karate class!!  Today is his first day to go to the Little Dragons karate class in full uniform!  Way cool! 

 (Actually, he's wearing Allison's and Allison is wearing the one we got from a friend -who isn't taking karate anymore- and is a size bigger.  But who cares about technicalities!  Carter gets to wear a Gi to karate today!)

 

He's been waiting patiently since the beginning of June for his own gi to wear - and despite wearing only his street clothes, he's been a very good student!  It's so funny to watch his clumsiness as he tries to master some of the rather complicated moves!  But he tries really hard and is very good at paying attention to the instructor!

Allison is also doing very well.  It's fun to see how much she has improved in her coordination since she last took karate September or October last year!

The kids are both in the same class and are looking forward to testing for a new belt sometime next month!  Carter will be testing for his yellow belt and Allison is working for her brown belt!

 (CARTER:  Note to self... when in doubt, always look to older sister to see how it should be done.)












 

Meet the Inmates

Duckie robbed a bank.

Hop-hop and his pal Froggie wouldn't rat out their friend Duckie, so they've been handcuffed, too.

And Abigail (the kitty) is accused of having a master named "Hop-hop".

We take the law seriously in this here neck o' the woods!

 

Broken Track - Again?

My darling son brings me this Hot Wheels racetrack - which has been broken into pieces...

You see, it folds up. Easily. It is not designed to be taken apart into pieces.  But Carter can always find a way!  He brings it to me and says,

"Mom, can you fix this?"

Hah!  Like I haven't heard that before!

And I'm sure I will hear it again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again... and again...

 

Elephant Girl

Allison came crawling out of the playroom wearing this get-up...  In response to my puzzled look, she announced:

"I'm an elephant!"

Uh-huh.  So, she is wearing her brother's toy welding mask - backwards - and several wiki-sticks are attached to it to make the ears and a trunk.  Yep.  I see it now!

 

A Weekend Visitor

This little guy hung out on our screen all weekend.  Allison saw him first.  He's little!  I hope he found his way to the garden to eat the bugs out there!

A Very Young Praying Mantis

 

Vacation Bible School

Here are my two little blessings ready for a morning at
Vacation Bible School!

It's a High Seas Expedition!

 

The Great Brownie Debate

...Well, it wasn't really a debate.  More of a conversation between "experts" that I overheard.

I made brownies today. 

And this simple motherly activity brought about all kinds of excitement!

ALLISON:  Carter, do you know why they are called "brownies"?  They are brown and they are square.  See?  Bown-ee.  Do you get it?  Brownie.

CARTER:  Brownies are chocolate and they come from chocolate chips.

ALLISON:  Brownies are made from the kind of chocolate that I am allergic to.  Some chocolate I am allergic to and some I am not allergic to.

Ahhh...  The wisdom of children.  No quite right on any account, but I like how they are thinkin'!

 

Fashionista

She dressed herself...

Beautiful girl.

 

YIKES! We have an eggplant!

Our little backyard garden has been a lot of fun.  It took us a year to get things to grow to the point of yielding any fruit, but it's been a fun year, regardless!  Last fall I planted several things that I got from the nursery...  Cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, cauliflower, squash, and a "mystery plant" that was missing it's identifying tag.  It was too late in the season for them to prosper, but most of them survived the mild winter and they are finally sprouting some fruit!

Our "mystery" plants have been a lot of fun...  The nursery guessed that it was yellow squash...but it didn't look like that to me.  More recently, the gardener who planted our orange tree guessed that it was eggplant.  The plants are growing well with a lot of purple flowers on them...but no fruit.  finally, I decided to do a little internet research - and indeed the pictures of eggplant plants look just like our "mystery" plants!  Later that same day, I was out watering the garden and then I saw it... 

An eggplant!

And Eggplant #2

Now, how cool is that?

 

Carter Jumps!

After a watching a fun show with friends at the Great Arizona Puppet Theater yesterday, we decided to take the kids to the nearby Childrens Museum, where they could run and climb (and we could sit and talk).

The Children's Museum has just completed their "Climber" - and it's amazing. Perfect for kids to run and climb - and lots of seating for the parents! Carter was a bit timid about climbing, so he sat with me for a while...then he wandered over to a platform under the climber and started jumping. Over and over for 15 or 20 minutes, he climbed up on the bench, flapped his arms, and jumped down. It was the perfect height for a my little guy... Just high enough to be a little bit daring, but not too high to be dangerous.

I had to capture it on video so I could show Daddy later. It's a cell phone video, so the quality isn't good, but you'll be able to see him... and it will probably make you smile.

Carter and Buzz

At the Children's Museum there is a new fort building room. Lots of pillow, cushions, sheets, etc. And a small "tree house". Buzz built up the tree house and he and Carter posed for a picture.

 

Monday

On Monday...

We finally did the SAND ART craft that Grandma left for us back in October. 

    

     And we did it outside

          in 80+ heat

               at 7 o'clock in the morning

                    before Mom had any of her coffee!

Then mom gave us our allowance and we were so motivated that we agreed to do EXTRA CHORES for even more money! 

     We cleaned the kitchen floor

          and we cleaned the garage door.

 

Then we played with the PUPPY Uncle Brian gave Allison for Christmas two years ago.

     Allison named her "Flower" 

          because of the flowers on her bandana.

               And she needs new batteries

                    but we only have three...and she needs four.

                         But we played with her anyway.

We played with the MARBLE game.

     Mom would only let us have it
          after we cleaned up the entire play room.
               We did a good job cleaning up.
                    And Mom built this tower!
                         (Our Mom's the greatest!)

And then Allison opened a package from Great Aunt Julie and it had a DRESS-UP DRESS in it!

     Look at me in my new play dress!

    And I danced while Mom watched
          "So You think You Can Dance" on TV.

     And Carter danced, too.

     And I almost smiled a real smile
          (instead of a smirk)
               for a picture in my dress!

The End.

Pasta Salad

From High-5 magazine:

Shells, corn, garbanzo beans, peas, cherry tomatoes (from our garden!), salt, pepper, olive oil, and red wine vinegar.

The kids love it and they especially love helping make it!

Carter Says - Scribble

While Nana was looking at this original artwork by Carter...

Carter declared, with pride,

"I know how to scribble!"

 

Carter Says - Canoe/Rowboat

Carter, at almost three-and-a-half years old, is very informative these days.  Or at least he tries to be.  We hear new words and complicated sentences from him every day as he tries to match his sister's large vocabulary. 

Today I was schooled on boat terminology by Carter...

"It's called a canoe.  But for short, they call it a row boat."

Well, not quite, but he does get an "A" for effort!

Carter Says - Be Happy

As Jim was leaving for work this morning and kissing us all good-bye and saying "Have a good day," little Carter piped up and said,

"Have a good da-ay! Be happy! Even though you miss us at work."

Awwww.  My sweet boy.