The Bath towel

Michaela is a very interesting kid. Not very patient and pretty quick to show her temper. She likes things the way she likes things, and that's it. For instance, she likes to wear her bathtowel on her head for a while after she gets out of the bath. And even after she's gotten dressed after getting out of the bath. And if you take it off of her and hang it up before she's ready for you to do just that you will get to experience a full-on toddler temper tantrum. Rosie will stomp her feet and yell and chew you out while tugging on the towel hoping to pull it off the hook and get it back on her head. But if you let her just wear it for 20 minutes or so she'll usually get bored and take it off herself. We've not yet had to go out in public wearing it so I think we're doing okay.

If you're wondering what she's chewing on in these pictures it's part of a playdough machine. It has playdough dried up and stuck inside it and she's licking it. It's her Playdough Popsicle. (Don't worry, I made the playdough so its definitely non-toxic.) Can you imagine the tantrum when I took that away? Ugh. She understands quite a bit and she understands me more often than I realize. But she doesn't always like my explanations for why I take things away... And she's very good at communicating her displeasure!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a fantastic Labor Day weekend camping with family. Gorgeous weather with warm days and cool nights. Great food and lots of things to do! The kids loved the beach and snacked on sandy cereal and drank sandy juice boxes.
Danika fell asleep after a walk and took her siesta in the shade of Grandpa's truck, with the help of his cooler, of course.
Poptarts for breakfast for these rascals!
It took a long bike ride but I got Ava and Zander to both fall asleep in the bike trailer. How on earth do kids sleep like this? I don't know but I'm so glad that they can!!

Garage Sales

I should probably have one of those silly bumper stickers on my mini-van that says "I Break for Garage Sales". I love them! You never know what goodies you might find! "New" clothes for the girls, a good book, a funky chair, or some other treasure. Ava and Michaela usually have to wait at the curb while I run up quick to "see if there's anything good" but sometimes they get to come and help me hunt. So Ava always has her eyes peeled for a good sale. Well, on Sunday on our way into Rock Valley Ava spotted a BIG garage sale. "Mom, look a garage sale!!" Umm, Ava, that's Bomgaars. But with all of the stuff spread out on display in the parking lot and on the sidewalk, I can see why you thought it was a sale! Nice catch! :)

First Day of Pre-School

Ava Reese started Pre-School this year! And she loves it! (No surprise there :) Its just two mornings a week but I think she'd like to go more often. She likes her teacher and the kids and the crafts and the library and the playground and everything. The bus rides, though, might be her favorite. Up at 6:30 so that she can catch her 7:10 bus she doesn't complain or anything. Jumps on the bus and sits with a smile. She's the first on in the morning. On the way home though she is one of perhaps 6 pre-schoolers who ride the bus. The first day I picked her up off of the bus I noticed that there was a little girl (Jenna) in the front seat and three kids in the second seat. Oh, wait, that's Ava in the second seat. Sitting between two boys... "Why didn't you sit with Jenna, Ava? She was all alone." She didn't know, just shrugged. But the next time I met the bus she was again sitting between two boys and Jenna was again, alone. "Ava, why don't you sit with Jenna?" Shrugging, Ava replies, "Well, I like the boys!" Her father got a little red in the face when she told him this and he told her she needs to sit with Jenna next time. (Of course, she didn't.)

The girl has a point

Ava caught me doing the unthinkable last week. I know, its terrible, but what could I do? I had run out of kleenex and (GASP!) reached for some toilet paper to blow my nose. I folded a bit into a hankie and as I was bringing it to my nose my motion was halted by a little (but loud) voice, "Mom, that's not for noses! That's for butts!!" What can I say? When she's right, she's right.

Just like Dad

So.... (This is how Ava starts many sentences) Yesterday we cleaned out the garage! Yay! That was my Father's Day gift to Jeff, apparently. I guess the boxes that filled it up didn't bother me too much because they weren't in the house but they were bugging him. So we cleared it out yesterday and can even park a car in there!! Ava helped the whole time but occasionally took breaks to play Pacman on the tv Jeff set up out there or read one of the books she found in the boxes. In the afternoon it started getting pretty hot and daddy decided he needed to take his shirt off to work and cool down. Ava saw this and said she wanted to take her shirt off, too. Her father told her no, that his shirt came off because he had gotten it "dirty". Jeff turned away and while his back was turned I watched Ava flop down on her belly on the dirty floor and proceed to dirty her own shirt. She jumped up and ran to dad and asked to take off her shirt now, too, because it was dirty! I turned away and laughed and laughed while daddy had to try and keep a straight face and come up with a new explanation as to why his little girl had to keep her (now) dirty shirt on.

Playdough fun

Auntie Ellen gave me a great recipe for playdough and it has been f-u-n! Ava's really good at it and can make snakes and smash them. With help she can use the tools and make a turtle or flower. And that's about it so far. :) But everyday our playdough skills grow so watch out sculptors everywhere! (Michaela thinks playdough is pretty tasty so we try and play with it when she's napping. )