Talk About Your All-Time Backfires

We invited neighbors over for dinner tonight and right before they were supposed to be here Abigail took out her coloring stuff. I told her to put it away and that she could take it out later. She said, "Mom, I'm coloring a picture for Kassidi (neighbor's daughter). How could you say no to that?"

I obviously did not say no to that.......I enjoy being outsmarted by a four year old!

I Got Styles

This video pretty much sums up the next 15 years of my life. If I end up looking like Grizzly Adams and babbling to myself like Paula Abdul, you'll all understand right?

-Will

In Honor of Omnivorous Deliverous

We decided to start a small farm in the backyard. My first plans called for 30 head of cattle, 100 broiler chickens, 50 egg laying hens, and 40 acres of planted crops. The neighbors got upset when I fenced off their yard though so we had to scale it back a bit.

We ended up with these three pots on the porch. We're excited to see if we can grow something we can eat. We have three kinds of bell peppers, cucumber, eggplant, squash, and zucchini.

And you know we HAD to get an Amelia tomato! We'll know if it's aptly named if we can't keep it clean for more than 30 seconds at a time.

Brushing Advice

"The most important thing in life is to brush. If you don't, your teeth will rot out of your head." -Abigail

Balloon Ring Insight

If you win, you win.
If you lose, that's bad.

Balloon Ring is a game Abigail made up in the car. She says she doesn't know why it's called that.

Picnic at the Landing

It was too beautiful of a day to stay inside so we decided to go get sandwiches from Big City (our favorite bistro in town) and head down to the Landing for a picnic. The girls had fun feeding their leftovers to the ducks and gulls. The birds were definitely more than happy to oblige.

These Hard Times

After dinner Abigail wanted to color and that was fine by me. She also wanted to use her new marker stamps. She had already had her bath and the markers are very messy and do not come off skin easily, so I said no. Her response: "I wish I had a new mom who didn't care about messes."

While rocking Amelia at bedtime, she told me she wished she was a little baby again so she could have more toys.

My poor, neglected, underprivileged, disadvantaged children. I hope they can make it through these tough times (if I don't strangle them first).

Playing at our Little Beach

It was 80 here today and the water has already warmed up to a bearable temperature for us Florida girls.

Playground at the Big Beach

This is a playground right on the beach. We had dinner at the Black Pearl and played on the beach for while after dinner. Amelia was not in the mood for posing that night.

Party Food

The cake and hot dogs at Kassidi's birthday party were definitely NOT organic, but I think it's safe to say Amelia quite enjoyed them both. She must have inherited her love of hot dogs from me. :)

Quotes of the day

Abigail: Amelia. Stop licking all of my ice cream.
Mommy: The ice cream is pretend. Let your sister play with it.
Abigail: I was PRETENDING she was licking all my ice cream!

(Conversation in regards to a fake, plastic ice cream cone.)

"Bunny's name is Pink Bunny Candy Sweet, but some people call her "Waduh".
-Abigail

(I think this is the Maine in her coming out. The pronunciation is like Water in Boston. i.e. (Love that dirty watah!!!!) By the way, we've never once heard anyone call her Waduh. )

"I can get my high score on my school work!"

(Abigail after writing a very good "A" on her paper.)

"Mommy, Did you see Guinness gallop? Dogs aren't supposed to gallop. They're supposed to walk. Silly doggy!"

(Amelia's observation on Guinness's locomotion preference.)

The Auction

We went to a Special Olympics Charity Auction and Abigail bid and won! It was just like on Ebay! Abigail was proud to announce that she "bought my very first thing!"



The girls fell in love with the kids' size patio set and the huge pink bunny you see in the seat. This is a new record size for our bunnies, which is actually saying something when you consider the size of our collection.



This truck came with the table too. As soon as Amelia saw it she said "Daddy, you bought that truck for me?!" We never would have guessed how much she loved it.

On Counting

Abigail: Daddy when do numbers stop?
Daddy: They go on and on forever.
Abigail: But it will take a long time to practice to count all the way.

(Only my daughter could count to infinity with just a bit of practice.)

About a Baby

Amelia: Mooommmm, look it's a baby!!!!
Me: He's cute isn't he?
Amelia: Pet it mom, pet it.

Abigail Jumping Rope

Chasing Lizards

I cannot believe she touched a lizard! Normally she freaks out when she gets close to them. This kept her occupied for almost an hour while I mowed the yard, AGAIN.

Cleaning Lady

I'm sooo going to have her start cleaning potty's.

Abigail on Piano

She wrote her own music on that sheet of paper.

Rowing On the Couch

Sarcasm Might Be Hereditary

Not sure why I hadn't realized it before.

Driving back from Atlanta, Abigail was acting up a bit. After already taking a few of her things away, Mommy hurled a thinly veiled threat, "What am I going to have to take away next?"

Without missing a beat she calmly said, "You". And that was that.

If we didn't want our children to be sarcastic, I guess we should have adopted. We responded in the only way we knew, with a laugh.

I just hope eye-rolling isn't hereditary too. Please excuse me while I bang my head against the counter.

-Will

A Lot or Not a Lot; That is the Question

Abigail: How many have I run Daddy?
Daddy: 5
Abigail: Is that a lot?
Daddy: That is a lot.
Abigail: 5 is not a lot. Maybe 16 or a high number. Not a low number.

-In reference to how many laps she had run around the house.

Fight Over a Teapot

Abigail to Amelia: Give it back, it's not done yet .
Amelia: It smells very smelly to me.
Abigail: It still needs vanile.
Me: What's Vanile?
Abigail: It's a river full of stuff I need.

Where's Blankie??

Amelia: Moooommm, where's my pink blankie?!!!
Me: It's downstairs, honey.
Amelia: But mooommm, it doesn't appear to be anywhere.
Me: It's on the couch.
Amelia: Oh, silly me.

Future American Idol

Abigail singing along with the "chunkmunks" at Karen's house in her emptied out armoire.

Cooking Advice

You should never put your fingers near a knife. It's bad luck. -Abigail

Dreaming of Summer

Amelia came in and very proudly announced that she was ready to go to "Big Akunas!!!" this morning. She had dressed herself (the suit is on inside out) and put on a hat "in case in rains". She was so excited until I told her that Big Kahunas water park wouldn't be open for another month.

Through Rain or Sleet or Snow

Abigail sat very quietly working at the counter on her letters for Will, Amelia and Me. She colored each of us a bunch of pictures, then folded them all in half. She marked the outside of each picture with the number three. (Our house number is 3.) She then put all her letters in her "mail bag" and walked around the house delivering the mail.

Thoughts on Life

Abigail tells me this morning that the reason I must have picked her when she was a baby was because the sign said she was smart and good. Proof being that " I could read when I was three, probably even when I was two." :)

Goodbye to a Fish

Gramma watched Guinness for us when we went to Atlanta this weekend, but I was feeling badly about asking her to also watch the new fish. We had to do something with it, so Micah volunteered to take him for us. He has a big tank. We got Bubbles (the girls named him) for Amelia's goldfish birthday. He was kind of a decoration for the party but the girls really wanted to keep him. His bowl was entirely too small for him though. I'm pretty sure his fishy muscles had begun to atrophy and he really did not swim at all. We brought him over to his new home and put him in the big tank. He was awkward at first but after a day or two Micah says he's the king of the tank and swims all over the place.

More yard work....

I'm starting to feel about leaves the way everyone in Maine feels about snow. Will these oak trees ever stop dropping leaves? That's 17 bags of leaves from just the front yard!! The girls helped out quite a bit but after a while they decided to try to grow their own oak trees. They dug a hole, put the acorns in and covered them back up. They even got water for the acorns all by themselves. Abigail wanted to keep her acorns warm so she asked me if she could use a flashlight to warm them up. She knew the lightbulb would get hot. Little smartie.

Amelia's Blog Protest

Just in case you can't understand her, she's saying "I don't want to be on the blog". :)

Under a Cherry Tree

Jane had the most beautiful flowering cherry tree in her front yard. The petals were all dropping and it looked like falling snow. Amelia was loving it until she realized I was trying to take her picture. Of course she refused to look at me from then on.

Atlanta

Our trip to Atlanta was great. We got to spend a lot of time with the family I used to nanny for. We saw some of Will's college friends, did a little shopping and went to the Georgia Aquarium. I don't have very many pictures. Our new camera is indistructible but takes lousy pictures.

Goofy Golf

Abigail's thoughts about mini golf last night

"Remember I got it in two holes. I might have gotten it in three. I swinged and tried to get them in the hole. Everyone gets a different colored ball and a thing to hit the ball. Then we would walk to another hole. It's fun there."

Dancing girl

This morning, while I was putting away laundry, Abigail decided to put on a music show. She picked out her own CD, Rick Charette's Christmas Tree, put it in the DVD and turned it on. She set up her animals to watch and made a sign for the show. She called to me upstairs, asking me what letter made the 'sh' sound. I asked her what she was trying to spell and she told me show. I came downstairs to help and saw that she had already sounded out the word music all on her own, spelled correctly!!!

Storytime

Storytime at the library was all about food this week. The kids were asked what their favorite kind of food was. Most kids said pizza, spaghetti, mac and cheese... typical "kid" food. Abigail informed the teacher her favorite foods were fruits, vegetables and veggie burgers. I could only imagine what was going through the other moms heads, thinking I was some kind of weirdo who didn't let her kids eat junk. Amelia helped us out a little by telling the teacher her favorite food was jellybeans. There was one book about a pizza delivery man and the teacher asked what the kids say to the delivery man when he comes to their house. Abigail pipes up again with "at our house we make our own pizzas." Yup, they think we're weirdos. :)



The kids got to make their own pizza for their craft. Amelia's is cheese and pepperoni. Abigail's is cheese, pepperoni and a little bit of grape juice? Abigail's is on the right. She colored purple all around the edge. That's the grape juice.

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