In Charge

So last night Rob took the kids to see a Duke Football game with his family. Sounds like fun, right? Well, the game didn't end up starting until after 8:00 and it's a two hour drive home, so even though they didn't stay for the whole game they still got home after midnight. Not great for my kids who go to bed at 7:00. And, of course, they were up bright and early this morning (before me...eek!). All of this would be fine if it wasn't for the tired whiny behavior I had to hear all morning. Right around lunchtime Camille had a total breakdown because she didn't like the food I fixed. Through her tears she tells me in no uncertain terms that she hates her lunch and (get this!) "I want to be the ruler!"

That's right. She wants to be the ruler of our house so she can eat what she wants and do what she wants all the time.

Gotta love her honesty!


(They got their second wind after lunch and were fine and remarkably non-whiny this afternoon. They went to bed early. Hopefully we'll be sort of back to normal tomorrow.)

Why doesn't the Tooth Fairy have a theme song?

So I was just thinking...Santa has a theme song...the Easter Bunny has a theme song...I've never heard any songs about the Tooth Fairy. Why am I thinking about this? Well, Caleb lost tooth #2 tonight!

He's so funny because it happened really fast. I remember as a kid wiggling my loose teeth for ages before they fell out. This morning Caleb noticed it was loose and tonight, right before bedtime, we popped it out. He actually wanted to leave it in because he was afraid it would hurt and bleed, but I promised the Tooth Fairy would come if he would just hurry up and get it out before bedtime. He didn't want to do it so I yanked on it myself (aren't I horrible?). It came out easily and is now awaiting a visit from the Tooth Fairy.

I wonder what she'll bring. I think our Tooth Fairy is going to bring a gold $1 coin that she got as change from the stamp vending machine at the post office. At the rate Caleb's losing teeth, she may want to stock up on them!

I'll post pictures tomorrow.

I need you!

Camille has been going potty by herself for forever, but lately she's been doing this thing where she cries "I need you!" and makes me or Rob drop what we're doing to watch her pee. This morning Caleb and Camille were both up before me and were playing nicely in his room so I sneaked past them into the living room. A few minutes ago, I heard Camille cry, "I have to go potty! I need you!"

I get ready to get up and help when Caleb calls back, "I'm coming, honey!"

Camille replies, "I need you!"

Caleb answers, "Do you have the potty disease?"

Camille says, "No. I just need you to turn on the light!"

The whole exchange made me laugh! He doesn't usually call her honey, so they must be playing house or something. And who knows what the potty disease is, but I sure hope no one in our house catches it!

Who's the best dancer?

Today the girls and I were dancing in the living room. Camille has always loved to dance and Chloe is starting to enjoy it too. Chloe is the funniest - whenever she hears music she starts grooving. We like to be sure to have music on in the car so she can bop along to it in her car seat.

Anyway, in the middle of dancing we had this exchange:

Me: Camille, you're a great dancer!
C: I'm better than you!

Playing in the Rain

It rained this afternoon and the girls had a blast playing outside in it.

It rained enough to have a few inches of water in the pool. They played "fishing" with some leaves...

And splashed...

Until it was time to get out and pick raspberries!

Camille picked a big handful and even shared them with everyone!

Chloe likes to pick raspberries too!

Cute Camille

This girl is so photogenic we always have a ton more pictures of her than the other two. She likes to ham it up for the camera while Chloe makes goofy faces and Caleb runs the other way!

Sweet Sisters

Aren't these just the sweetest sisters?

First Day of School

Caleb started first grade on Monday. So far he really likes it. His teacher, Mrs. Spencer, is really nice. She has red hair too, just like Caleb! He gets to sit at a desk (they're arranged in groups of four throughout the classroom) and his set of desks is the Lion Team. This week he has been the paper captain - he has been the one to collect his team's papers and give them to the teacher. A big responsibility. So far he likes first grade!

Something different this year is that the county has instituted a uniform policy. He has to wear khaki, black or navy blue pants or shorts (with no cargo pockets) and white, gold or royal blue collared shirts. Here he is on the first day of school in his uniform. The funny thing was that on Monday, even given the choice of three colors, all five kids on the street all wore gold shirts!

So excited for first grade!

Waiting for the bus with Daddy and Chloe

Chloe wonders where her brother went

Camille's chicken recipe

So today Camille was eating some rotisserie chicken and announced, "I know how they make this chicken." Are you ready?

First you to a farm and get a big chicken. Then you bring it back to the chef and the chef takes a knife and cuts it in half and squeezes out all the yucky stuff - but not the bones - into the garbage. Then you put the flour on it then put the dough in and mix it up and cook it for three minutes and then get the potholders on and get the chicken out.

Tasty!

Silly Song Singing

So on the nights when Rob is working and it's just me and the kids home for dinner, sometimes we have what I like to call "Dinner Theater." I used to do this when I was a kid (my to my parents' dismay). It's where the people who are done eating sing silly songs to entertain those who are still eating. Usually that's me. (Although sometimes, if we're feeling really crazy, I make the kids sing and dance for me if they want more food. Isn't that awful...I wish I had a video of the crazy cheese song and dance they did some months ago - it was hilarious!)

Anyways, most of the songs are old goofy ones from before I was born. Purple People Eater, The Locomotion, Wake Up Little Susie, Who Put the Bomp... The kids love it. (You should hear Camille's rendition of Who Put the Bomp...it's so great. I had the big kids sing it a few months ago for the Primary talent show.) We were brainstorming silly songs I could have the kids sing for Auntie Su's wedding next month and I thought of Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis. So here I am in the kitchen, singing and dancing up a storm, much to my kids' delight, when I am startled by a knock on the door. It was my neighbor popping by for a quick visit. Not only did she catch me being all crazy, and then being all startled when I turned around and saw her face in the window, but she revealed that I was so loud she could hear me halfway down my driveway. Yikes!

So the next night at dinner I'm singing that song from the movie La Bamba, the one that goes something like:

All my love
all my kissin'
You don't know what you've been missin'
Oh boy!
When you're with me, Oh boy!
The world can see
That you were meant for me.

I'm having a fun time singing, the kids are having fun when Camille busts out with, "Mommy, I wrote that song."

M:"What?" I was totally laughing! "No, you didn't!"
C: Yes. I made up all the words.
M: You did?
C: I made up other songs too.
M: Like what?
C: Like the Curious George song?
M: What Curious George song? Do you mean, "Curious George, a curious little monkey" (you know, the old Curious George theme song)?
C: Yeah. I wrote that song too.

The next thing you know she'll be claiming she invented the internet!

Playing in the Sun

So yesterday it was reasonably cool enough to spend an extended period of time outside. So we filled up the pool and the kids had a blast! Here are some action photos from the first few minutes.







Wouldn't you love curls like this? I would do just about anything to get my hair to be this curly!

Photo Catch Up - Warning: Lots of Photos

Consider yourself warned!

While Caleb and Camille were in Vermont, Chloe commandeered Camille's bike. She loves to sit on it while someone pushes her around the driveway.

Making a cute face

This is how Chloe does a lot of her communicating - pointing accompanied by the necessary grunting to get her point across. We're working on trying to get her to say some real words. Here I think she's saying something like, "Daddy, I want to go over there! Keep moving! I'm not done riding yet!"

Chloe also has a habit of picking not yet ripe tomatoes from the garden and eating them. Yum!

Doesn't this tomato look tasty?

Chowing down!

While the kids were gone, Chloe discovered animals. Here she is watching Baby Einstein's Neighborhood Animals, pointing and making noises at the dogs. I'll have to put up the accompanying video at some point. It's really funny.

She also discovered books. Here are Chloe and Daddy reading one of her favorite animal books.

And the big kids are back! While they were gone, Rob picked up these el-cheapo fake phones from the store. (Chloe is crazy for telephones and we were trying to save ours from falling into her grasp!) Anyway, the big kids found them and sat for probably a half an hour pretending to play video games on them. Are they ready to be teenagers or what? Just look at how Camille is sitting!

I love it

So I totally had a flashback this morning of being a kid. Camille got mad at me about something - I made her get dressed, the mean mother that I am - and screamed at me, "You are never allowed to come in my room ever again!" And then, for good measure, she yelled the same at her brother.

Caleb had the exact reaction I remember having as a kid - he ran straight into her room and taunted, "I'm in your room! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I'm in your room!"

Fortunately Camille is easily distracted and Caleb realized it wasn't any fun being in her room if she wasn't bothered by it. Five minutes later they were playing again like the best of friends. Gotta love it!

Caleb Describes His New Teacher

So this morning during breakfast I mentioned to Caleb that on Thursday night we get to go to school and meet his new first grade teacher. The school district doesn't announce class assignments until Open House so we don't know yet who his teacher will be. You can imagine my surprise, then, when Caleb announced, "I know who my teacher is going to be."

Me: You do? Who is your teacher going to be?
C: Well, I don't know her name, but I know what she looks like.
M: What does she look like?
C: Well, she has hair that's bl...well...actually, I don't know what color her hair is. But her skin is white. And she has black shoes.

That completely narrows it down. I mean, really, how many white-skinned teachers who wear black shoes can there be?

Just two more days and we'll find out if he's right!

Chloe's favorites

Here's Chloe at lunch today eating one of her new favorite foods - broccoli!

I'm not kidding. She really likes the stuff. She had a huge piece with her lunch and then asked for more (and that was after I even gave her a chocolate cupcake. She seemed to prefer the broccoli to chocolate...is this really my daughter??)

Happily eating

Caught mid-chew

She really does like it - I swear!

And despite having full run on the house and full access to everyone's toys, she has been playing for the last thirty minutes with our sneakers. I think she thinks I'll eventually give in and take her outside, but it's going to have to wait until it's significantly cooler out there. She may tolerate humid 100 degree days, but her mother can't today!

New Shades

Yesterday Chloe was really interested in my sunglasses so I dug up a pair for her to wear. Here she is trying to put them on herself!






(I finally gave in and gave her a little bit of help. Putting sunglasses on is kind of tricky.)