Ugly Shorts

I can’t believe how opinionated and stubborn (and fashion-conscious) a three year old little girl can be. Well, probably not just any three year old little girl. I can’t believe how stubborn our three year old little girl can be!

A couple days ago I went shopping for some summer clothes for Danielle. Sears had a good deal on their shorts and tops (buy one, get one for 99 cents), so I picked out a cute little pink top and coordinating pink and yellow plaid shorts. I thought it was very cute. Danielle did not.

When I pulled out the top & shorts for her to wear today, she went crazy! “Those are ugly! They’re ugly! I’m not wearing that!” As soon as I managed to get her shorts on, she ripped them back off, still screaming “Ugly! No! They’re ugly!” She finally calmed down long enough to tell me she thought the shorts were ugly because they have squares on them. The shirt was acceptable. In the midst of her anguish I suddenly felt the urge to squeeze her. There I sat, looking at the tear streaked face of my nearly naked three year old, insisting her clothing was simply too ugly to be worn in public. So opinionated. So stubborn. So passionate. So...Danielle.

She let me give her a good squeeze and wipe her tears. We decided to return the shorts and keep the top. (So much for the good deal.) She finished getting dressed and we got on with our day...without the ugly shorts.

A Hard Day's Work

Since Tyler was old enough to toddle after me, he has been accompanying me to garage sales. He used to really enjoy playing with the toys while I looked for bargains. Then he discovered the lemonade stand. For the past 2 summers Tyler's favorite part about going to garage sales has been finding a little kid who is selling lemonade and buying as many cups as he can talk me into. Last year Tyler decided we should have a garage sale so he could sell lemonade, too. Since we were in an apartment all summer, we didn't really have the chance to let Tyler try his hand at selling. Today he got his chance.


We had a garage sale at our house today with Grandma C & Uncle Ron. Tyler had it all planned out: He wanted to sell pink lemonade, and the sign had to say "Icy cold lemonade". Not to be left out, Danielle wanted to sell something, too, so Uncle Ron suggested she sell homemade brownies.


Tyler was up before me this morning. He downed his breakfast, tossed on his clothes, and was ready to set up his little stand before Daddy & Danielle were even out of bed. Danielle finally joined Tyler, and they both put in a hard day's work! Tyler amazed us all by sitting diligently at his little bench almost the entire 5 hours! We were so impressed. Danielle did well, too, but she wasn't as serious about it as Tyler. Within the first hour they sold all the brownies. We put out a plate of Little Debbies so Danielle could keep selling stuff and sold all of those, too (except for the couple the kids ate). Tyler went through 6 pitchers of "icy" cold lemonade. Between the two of them, they earned a little over $25. They did look pretty cute sitting there, and I'm sure that contributed to their success. $25 may not seem like much, but when you consider most everything they sold was only 25 cents (with the exception of maybe 8 brownies), that was a lot of work! We were very proud of them.

(I thought this was a funny picture Grandma managed to capture. We know "icy" is misspelled. I didn't make the signs, but we're thinking that might have encouraged some sympathy purchases.)

After the garage sale they headed to the toy store to spend their earnings. Tyler opted for some Moon Sand, and Danielle chose a pink mommy monkey with a pink baby monkey. Fortunately the cashier was very patient while we counted out all those dollars worth of quarters!

"We had a deal!"

Last week I had a Seinfeld flashback from the Merv Griffin episode where George swerved to avoid hitting a pigeon and instead hit a squirrel. Angry at the pigeon for not getting out of the way, George yelled, "We had a deal!"

On our way to gymnastics class last Friday there was a bird flying over the road, heading the same direction as we were. Instead of swerving off to the left or right (or going higher) as we approached, he continued to fly straight ahead. My speed was greater than his and, well, we "overtook" him. I must admit I closed my eyes for a brief second when I realized he was going to break his end of the deal. I heard a horrible THUNK & quickly opened my eyes, expecting to see a crack in the glass or something. I didn't see anything, including a body in the road behind me. We definitely made contact, though. We ALL heard it. When we got to gymnastics class, we examined the car and found the point of impact. The bird hit my hood. He hit with so much force that he removed the paint all the way down to the metal in a dime size spot! On my way home that night I flinched every time a bird flew by us.

With an event that unlikely, you would think that would be the end of the story. Not so. Today we were headed to Danielle's ballet class at the same gym, traveling the same road. We were driving along, minding our own business, when yet another bird decided to break the deal! A bird swooped across the road from the right and pounded into my windshield with a mighty THUNK! I looked in my mirror and saw the bird flop onto the road behind us. There weren't any feathers on the windshield, but there was other "evidence" of an encounter. Fortunately it wasn't anything a little (actually, a lot of) windshield wiper fluid and wipers couldn't handle. I tried to get it off quickly before the kids were traumatized. It was nasty.

I have gone all my driving years without hitting anything (other than a trash can, maybe, I'm not admitting anything) and in less than a week I managed to hit two birds. It really wasn't my fault, though ...We had a deal!

Keeping Cool

It got close to 90 here today. Casey was trying to keep cool by resting in the cool, moist sand. Usually she gets a little nervous when the kids are too close to her, but she didn't budge an inch this time. The kids thought it was funny and played around her. Of course, she could have stayed in the house, but for some reason the dogs like to be with us.


We had our lawn reseeded a couple days ago, so we have to keep in watered until the seed germinates. (Ron says he can't mow it yet, either.) It seems crazy to be watering this early in the season, but we have had a very dry spring. Anyway, the kids enjoyed cooling off in the sprinkler after dinner this evening.

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

I had my first of two garage sales today. This one was at my brother's house. Ron stayed home with the kids so I could sell all their toys without protest. :)

When I got home, the kids surprised me with a giant pot of pansies, a card, and a cake. We will be gone most of the day tomorrow, so it was very thoughtful of them - and totally unexpected by me - to celebrate today.


The flowers were very pretty (as you can see). Hopefully I won't kill them.

The envelope for the card said "Mom" on the front, written in Tyler's writing. Inside both kids wrote their names. I don't imagine this will mean much to most people reading this, but I always feel a bit sentimental when I receive something in the kids' handwriting, even if it's only their names. It hasn't been that long since they couldn't write their names. I am reminded of how quickly they are growing when I look at the way their signatures are changing. Tyler is writing with upper and lower case letters now. His writing is not as shaky or as large as it was on my card last year. Danielle couldn't spell her name by herself last year. Now her letters are recognizable, and they were even in the right order this time. (She writes them in the right order, but she doesn't always place them beside each other in the right order.) Time goes so fast. (sniff sniff)


My cake was really neat. Ron did his homework and took them to a store that was allowing kids to decorate their own cakes. All he had to purchase was the bakery cake itself. As you can imagine, the kids really enjoyed decorating the cake. They were quite proud of the job they did and couldn't wait to show me. I thought it was beautiful, and it tasted good, too.

Tyler made something for me at preschool this year, too. He brought it home and promptly hid it. He hasn't told anyone what it is because he wants it to be a surprise for me. He's saving it to give to me tomorrow. I did get a look at the bag, though. In his precious preschooler writing it said "For: Mom Love: Tyler" I have a feeling that bag will mean just as much to me as the hand crafted gift inside.

Preschoolers Planting Petunias at the Park

How's that for alliteration?! (They weren't actually petunias, but salvias didn't sound as nice.)

Today Grandma C joined us for a program at one of our favorite metroparks. It was the first time I've attended one of their programs, and we really enjoyed ourselves! The program was for preschoolers and was entitled "Flower Frenzy". The kids pretended they were seeds that grew roots and finally sprouted stems, leaves, & flowers. We read a book about a dandelion seed that was looking for a home. They colored and created "flower wands", which we then used to wave in the air whenever we spotted flowers on our nature walk.

Our nature walk took us to another area where they had some flower beds. The kids were each given "special digging tools" to dig a hole. Tyler wasn't fooled though: "Hey this is a stick!" Each kid got to plant at least one flower and then took a turn watering it w/a spray bottle. The kids were encouraged to visit their plant and even water it each time they return to the park. Since we are actually at this park frequently, it will be fun for the kids to watch their flowers grow!

For the final activity, the kids each planted a Mammoth Russian Sunflower seed into a little dixie cup of dirt to take home. It will be fun to watch these giant plants grow from tiny seeds.

After the program we enjoyed a picnic lunch and then led Grandma down our favorite path through the woods. It was a really nice day!

Homemade Bird Feeders & Videos for Daddy

In between preschool and t-ball practice, the kids and I made some homemade bird feeders using empty juice bottles, wooden spoons, and ribbon. (I'd like you to think I'm that creative, but I got the idea from the May issue of Family Fun magazine.) The spoons are supposed to catch the seed and make a nice perch for the birds. The kids enjoyed the relatively easy project, and we were able to do it all outside in the beautiful sunshine. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll notice the seed spilling out of Danielle's. That was my fault, not hers, and it is now fixed. The kids can't wait for the birds to discover the feeders.









Ron is out of town this week. Tyler and Danielle have both been working on "skin the cat" in their gymnastics classes. Today both of them finally did it and wanted me to take video for Daddy to see. Unfortunately you can't clearly see the huge smile on Tyler's face!






Here's some video I took at the park tonight while waiting for Tyler's practice to start.

Creative Sliding

After dinner this evening Ron and I sat outside and watched the kids play on the playset. They were giggling and being silly on the slide, so I decided to capture a clip to share. In case you're wondering, no one got hurt. Kids are pretty bendy.

The Price of a Mom

When I logged on to check my email and the news this morning, I noticed an article entitled The price of a mom: $138,095. A company calculated the wages a mom would earn if she were actually paid for all the duties she performs on a daily basis and decided a stay-at-home mom would make $138095. I forwarded the link to Ron, who responded "Now if I can only find someone to pay you!"

I'm not sure how much money I would have earned in my duties today, but I do know I've never enjoyed a day in an office as much as I enjoyed myself today.

We headed to a new-to-us metropark where we played on two different playgrounds, enjoyed a picnic lunch, made it all the way around a 1 mile bike path (that's a lot of pedaling for little legs!), and took 2 different nature hikes. The sky was blue with puffs of white clouds. The wildflower & tree blossoms smelled so sweet. We poked, peeked, unearthed, splashed, tromped, and trekked. How could you possibly assign a price to all that??

This is a sycamore tree. When I read the little plaque and told Tyler what kind of tree it was, he said "Some man climbed this to see Jesus once."

Class of 2020!

Now doesn't that make you feel old?!

I took Tyler to register for kindergarten today. (Danielle stayed w/Grandma & Grandpa C after my uncle's funeral yesterday, so it was just the two of us.) In an attempt to get the kids excited about school, the lobby was decorated with a fiesta theme, complete with a paper mache cactus and furry burro. Tyler went by himself for speech, hearing, and vision tests. I was escorted to another room to fill out all the necessary paper work. When Tyler was done with his testing, he rejoined me - wearing a very colorful sombrero! Ole! Later he admitted he had a lot of fun and enjoyed retelling, in great detail, all about his experiences.

After his registration the two of us had lunch together at a sit-down restaurant. We had a very nice time. I genuinely enjoyed the company of my not-so-little-anymore son. It seems like it's only been a moment since we were celebrating his first breath, his first words, his first steps. Now we're almost ready to celebrate his first day of school. The time has already gone so fast. I'm so proud of who Tyler is!

After our time together, Tyler & I drove to Grandma C's to pick up Danielle. She had fun spending the night with Grandma & Grandpa and receiving their undivided attention.

This afternoon the kids picked "flowers". They both delight in presenting me with bouquets of freshly picked treasures. As you can see from the pictures, they did quite a bit of delighting!

"...A rose can say I Love You,

Orchids can enthrall;

But a weed bouquet in a chubby fist,

Oh my, that says it all!"

by Roberta Teague

The kids finished off the day by spending some time working with Grandpa in the basement. Tonight they painted some of their wood projects. I think maybe they painted Danielle, too: