The Contest Winner!

On Saturday, we decided to take a drive down to Rockford to visit their mall and enjoy some Chipotle for lunch.  (FYI--Chipotle is worth the 40 minute drive all by itself!)

When were in the Barnes and Noble at the mall, the Jaycees were hosting a coloring contest in the children's section.  Of course, Allyson was very much interested in participating in the contest.  She colored her picture and proudly submitted it and we moved on with our shopping.

About an hour and a half later, we were on our way out of the mall and looking forward to our Chipotle lunch when we hear a lady calling out to us.  It was the lady from the Jaycees who was chasing after us to let us know that Allyson had won 1st place in the coloring contest!

Allyson could hardly be held back as she followed after the lady to receive her prize!  She received a pail and shovel that was loaded with Easter goodies.  She also got her picture taken with her prize and her "prize-winning" picture.

Allyson was beaming and we couldn't help but make a big deal out of her "major" award!  It was definitely a fun addition to our day!  It definitely made hers!

For the curious, here is a photo of the award winning picture!

That's What She Said....

Natalie's little 2-year-old vocabulary is flourishing in recent weeks, and we are constantly entertained by the things that she says. So, in honor of Michael Scott of "The Office", we decided to start a new post series on the blog that is called, "That's what she said". These will be short posts with quotes that we hear from Nat and Ally. 

Here is post 1: Tonight at Target, we saw a lady riding in a "hover round" motorized scooter. She parked near us in the Target snack area. Natalie did not even appear to notice her until we were getting ready to leave, at which point, she started saying, "Bye bye motorcycie, bye bye motorcycie" repeatedly.

She has become infatuated with motorcycles (motorcycies) lately and notices them everywhere. Apparently, a hover round qualifies as a motorcyle in her mind.

Are You Smarter Than a....Kindergartner?

This conversation took place sometime in the haze that was last week.

Ally:  Mom, did you know something special about the word "shower"?
Me:  What's that, honey?
Ally:  The word "shower" has three digraphs and nothing else.
Me:  (Trying to clear the fuzzy brain and remember...)
Ally:  Did you hear me, Mom?
Me:  Yup.  Uh...so tell me how smart you are and explain to me what a digraph is.
Ally:  It's when two letters come together to make a sound that one letter does not make by itself.
Me: (Quickly)  That's right, honey!  Great job!  You must really be listening in class. I'm proud of you...

Yes, for the record, I was a kindergarten teacher (seems like a lifetime ago).  But I swear to you I did not teach my kindergartners the word "digraph."  I think I may have done them a great disservice. 

(In my defense, I had had a VERY long day and was physically and emotionally spent.) 

Today, Ally told me that she used "organic shapes" to make her horse for cowboy/cowgirl day at school.

Uh-huh.  (Just go ahead and repeat the above conversation, because that's basically how it went.)

So, be truthful.  Did you remember what a digraph was?  How about organic shapes?

(If you read the comments and see that everyone is saying, "yes, of course I knew that," please have mercy on this mommy and write, "No!  I had no idea! I never should have graduated kindergarten!" or something like that.  Thank you.)

A few too many irons...

Have you ever had one of those weeks where things just kept piling up?

I know I have no room to complain.  I have the pleasure of staying home and parenting my children full-time.  I don't have to juggle the responsibilities of a full-time job and the pressures therein. 

This was one of those weeks that I had more than a few moments of questioning, "How do working moms do it all?" 

In February I was introduced to a writing job from my sister-in-law (thanks, Bonnie!).  Since then, I've been writing articles for websites.  You'd be amazed at the crazy titles I've attempted.  David's boss, the business-owning web developer found out I was a "writer" (yep, that's in quotes.  I'm really NOT a writer.).  He jumped on the bandwagon and assigned me some articles of his own.  So, there you go.  I'm a freelancer.  When the little ones are napping or down for the night, I'm camped with the laptop, writing about stuff I know nothing about.  So think about that the next time you read an article online...some mom of three with puke on her shirt wrote that article during her kids' naptime.

And then the school calls and asks for goodies for the school carnival.

And then the preschool alma mater asks for a scrapbook-page memory for the retiring director.

And then you remember you have to find a solid colored, pastel shirt for the musical in which you're singing on Sunday.

Oh - and it's cowboy/cowgirl day at school and Ally MUST HAVE a cowboy hat.

And you're in the midst of painting some sweet little wall hangings for your son's as-yet-unfinished room.

And you're trying to plan your daughters 6th birthday party (WOA).

And I really need to clean out the winter stuff and bring in the spring stuff in the closets. 

And I haven't cleaned the upstairs bathroom in I-don't-know-how-long.

And Natalie's been waking up the whole house at about 5:45 AM, every day for the last 3 weeks.

And David's boss called with 5 more articles, any chance I can get them done before Tuesday?

And Natalie may be potty-training herself, as she pooped on the bathroom floor today.  

I think that finishes up today's issues. 

So I haven't been blogging lately.  Sorry about that. 

But I have so many fun things to share!  I'll be back.  There are three little people that are spoon-feeding me content for this little internet storybook...I just haven't had a moment to write it down.

For now, I need to deliver a surprise to Ally's bedroom mailbox because I promised I would if she'd let me put her hair in braids. 

And then I need to shower and do my Bible study.

And then...



 

The Days of Kindergarten Lives

Ally has two close friends at school.  The three of them have been tight since the school year began.  However, we all know that friend groupings of three can sometimes get complicated.  At any one time, two can pair off and leave the third in the dust.

The other day I found a paper on the table, all crumpled up.  The words Ally had written were all scribbled out, but I managed to make out the main sentence. 

This is exactly what it said, "FRENS are Not FRensatol."  (Friends are not friends at all.)

Can we all say a sad collective, "Ooooh."

She later explained that she had been the one left out that day.  The others were "mean." 

The next day I asked her how the girls were that day.  She quickly said, "Great!  They were nice again today."

So, the world continues turning in kindergarten.  The daily lessons are sometimes tricky and sometimes "frens" let you down.  But we'd rather have imperfect friends than perfect enemies. 

Any similarities?

The other day at church, a couple of teenagers in the nursery saw our Allyson approaching and said, "WOA.  You can really tell she's Natalie's sister."

They're probably right.  Sometimes it's hard for me to see, as I look at them every single day and I see such different people in their two pint-size bodies.

But I do love comparing pictures of the two.  Here you will find Ally on her 2nd birthday and Natalie (at about 26 months).  What do you think? 

Man, I loved Ally's cheeks! And those eyes just sparkled...still do.

And, as a friend once told us, "There's a lot goin' on behind Natalie's eyes!" Uh, yeah, that could be wrapped up in one word - trouble.

You know you're married to a programmer when...

Since our first night of wedded bliss, I've known that my husband talks in his sleep.  That first night more than 11 years ago, he rattled off a grocery list of vegetables while he was fast asleep.  Imagine my fit of giggles!

Because I know this about him, I am wary of anything he says in the wee hours.  However this morning, he sounded so coherent, I had to respond.

David:  "Why is that in our bed?  It's been bugging me for 20 minutes!"
Me:  "What, honey?  What's bugging you?"
David:  "That pretty little database."

Hmmm.  Any dream analysts want to tackle that one?

Just like mama...

Here is our pantsless Natalie.  

Yep, that is my breast pump.

Uh-huh.  She's pumping.

Her belly button.

A Sweet Moment

Tonight it was unusually quiet after we said goodnight to Natalie and Allyson.  Usually there is some random giggling and talking going on in their room for several minutes after we leave them.  We have strict instructions from Allyson each night that someone (Mom) must check on them two times before we go to bed.

When Kristen brought Christopher up to his bed she peaked into their room and saw that Nat's bed was empty.  After a quick moment of panic, she noticed two heads sticking out of the covers in Allyson's bed.  It appears that they wanted to sleep together tonight!

Here is a photo we snapped of the two of them....unfortunately, we woke them by taking the picture! (The things we won't do for a blog post...)

This was easily one of the sweetest moments of our week!

Name That Photo!

We're at it again...taking pictures that demand a title. David and I have our own ideas, but we want to hear what you have to say!  What are these two up to?

Here it is...

 It's simple, friends! Click on "Comments" just below this sentence and tell us your caption idea for this shot of our two younger treasures. We'll declare a winner in a few days and you will win (drum roll, please) the honor of knowing you've won!