Cutest Kids Ever

I am the worst mother when it comes to taking pictures of my kids.  I never have a camera and never think to make an appointment for a studio.  I took Sam in at 3 months and 8 months and then gave up.  Luckily, my dad has taken a lot of great pictures of my kids.

When Sam was two, he and I went to Colorado to visit my mom and Doug.  My mom made a photo appointment and paid all the fees and we ended up with some darling pictures of my boy.  They were so cute, in fact, that we ended up completely losing our minds and ordering WAY too many different poses.

Last week the kids and I went to Colorado for Thanksgiving.  My mom didn’t even ask this time.  “They have a photo appointment Tuesday at 10.  I’m shopping for coordinated outfits,” her terse text informed me.  I was very happy and grateful and we agreed that this time we would be keeping our cool.  We’d get ONE pose of the two of them together and MAYBE one of Matilda on her own (as she doesn’t have school pictures).

Y’all know where this is going.  We were a mess.  We were already hysterical in the car driving TO the appointment.  Sam and Matilda sat calmly in the backseat as my mom and I dissolved into manic laughing fits.  While the photo shoot was happening we literally clutched at each other every time the camera flashed because we saw how cute the pictures were going to be. 

By the end of our order we wound up ordering seven poses and 108 Christmas cards.  But people, look at these pictures.  Can you blame us?!

Freeze Frame

I have so far been unsuccessful in capturing my daughter's pretty face in a photo.  To illustrate my point, these are the first three pictures of Matilda I found on my phone.

My dear girl views the world in her own way.

 

To be fair, this IS what she looks like 99% of the time.

See her hair?

 

These pictures are why I was SO delighted to open my email yesterday and find this picture from my dad:

Face.  Just her little face.  Skin like porcelain with her hair pushed back.  One thing I noticed right away is how much she looks like Miranda at that age!  I'll have to dig through old pictures and do a side-by-side to compare.  But for now I'm content to just stare at Matilda's pretty face.

Thanks, Dad.

Kindergarten Man

Sam started Kindergarten in September.  He absolutely loves it!  I did have a few surreal moments when I was walking behind him on the way to school where I thought I might cry.  Hood up, loose-fit jeans, backpack, hands shoved in his pockets…he is very much a little man.  Thankfully he is still more than happy to rush out of the school and into my arms when I pick him up in the afternoons. 

Mrs. Hince, his wonderful teacher, has repeatedly referred to Sam as “SO sweet.”  He is friends with everyone in his class.  Mrs. Hince said that several children who have trouble getting along with others have “attached themselves” to Sam as he is so patient and gentle.  She said she’s heard him more than once try to diffuse an argument by saying, “You guys, let’s find something we ALL want to play!”  Sam is kind to his core.  I think it’s my favorite thing about him. 

He’s doing well academically, too. By the end of the year, all Kindergarteners need to be able to read 80 sight words.  Sam knows them all now, as well as the sight words for first grade, and most of the sight words for second grade.  He’s a reading machine.  Mrs. Hince did suggest that we expand his library to include more non-fiction books, as they will help his vocabulary, so we are definitely going to work on that. 

We are so incredibly proud of our boy.

Halloween at IBM

2010 marked our third year of trick or treating at IBM - our favorite! It's our entire Halloween celebration.

We have roughly 70 costumes in our house that I've picked up on clearance and at garage sales. Therefore, Sam chose to wear the same costume he wore last year. It just about killed me. Matilda was a very excited puppy.

Thanks, Grandpa Mark!

I Had No Idea That Heaven...

...was right off the 75th St exit.

Sam had his very first friend-driven playdate today. His life has been one playdate after another but today's was the first one that wasn't my doing. Garrett invited Sam over to play and Sam accepted.

We have been very, very excited about this playdate. We headed out to Garrett's house at 9 this morning. When we turned on to the gravel road leading up to their house, Sam could hardly stand it.

"Oooooooh, Mom...the road is BUMPY!"

"Sam, it's gravel. If you're already this excited you're going to need a nap this afternoon."

I could hardly believe it when I pulled up to the house. It was Wonderland. They had a play structure that is better described as a playground in their yard. There was a dirt pile covered in toy trucks and shovels. The bunny cage stood next to the motor bikes. A pony patiently waited for attention under the treehouse. All of this stood in the middle of a massive, working farm. There were barns, semis, cows, tractors, and ATVs as far as the eye could see.

Garrett dashed out of the house and threw himself under the tires of my car. Sam went inside without even a goodbye. Matilda, devastated that she couldn't stay, was given a short tour by Garrett's mom. ("Matilda, do you want to pet the bunny?" "No." "Matilda, do you want to pet the pony?" "NO!")

Sam spent the whole morning there and I picked him up after lunch. He was a little sad at first but I was able to lure him out to the car with a new book. We said goodbye to Garrett, the dog, and the cat, and we went home.

I begged and pleaded with Sam for ANY information about his day. 50 points to anyone who can guess what he reported.

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Yep. "We had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, AND milk, AND chips, AND A BROWNIE!"

We owe Garrett a playdate. Does anyone know where I can buy a giraffe?

Sam in the combine.

Sam on the pony, Bullseye. This may be my new favorite picture of my dude.

There's A First Time For Everything

As we drove to school this morning Sam was talking about his friends. He always confuses Garrett's name with Beckett.

"What is his name, Mom?" Sam asked.

"Your best friend is Garrett," I answered.

"Oh yeah, Garrett," Sam said. After a moment he added, "And my girlfriend is Brooklyn."

Wha - ?

"Brooklyn is your girlfriend?" I asked.

"Yeah," Sam said. "You know, your friend's little girl."

"Yes, I know who Brooklyn is. I just didn't know that she was your girlfriend."

"Yep," he said.

When we walked into Sam's classroom, none other than Garrett and Brooklyn were waiting inside. Sam cried happily, "Oh, my best friend and my best girl!"

Here's Brookie - we really can't blame Sam for being smitten.

All We've Got

Everything can be related back to an episode of Roseanne.

Does anyone else remember when DJ was in the spelling bee? Dan and Roseanne were out of work and the whole family dressed up and sat in little chairs in DJ's classroom to watch him compete. They hooted and hollered, cheering their youngest child on, until a woman behind them sneered, "For goodness sake, it's just a spelling bee."

Roseanne turned around and snapped, as only she could, "Hey! Listen lady, this is all we've got!"


Last night was the Homecoming coronation at Dover-Eyota. I'd been counting the hours until I could go, as this year Miranda - our darling Miranda - was nominated for Homecoming Queen.

I'll let that sink in.

Homecoming Queen! Miranda, who doesn't get excited about anything, was calm and mildly amused by all of it. I was more worked up about it than she was, to say nothing of the hysteria felt by Grandma Barb, Jackie, and Mike. We've talked about nothing else all week. Right away Jackie made plans to buy yellow caution tape to block off seats for the huge group of people who would come to cheer for her girl. Some very silly people, who had obviously never met Jackie, thought she was joking.

Jackie, Mike, Kaci, James and I piled into Jackie's car and headed to Eyota at 5:00. Coronation was at 7:00 and there was no way we weren't going to be the first ones there.

Me and Mike on the way - you can see the hysteria in my eyes! Mike doesn't look that excited but trust me, he was out of his mind.

Me and Jackie. Wheeeeee!

The school was locked when we got there two hours early. What's a loving family to do? Why break in, of course.

Jackie and James, living a life of crime.

Once in the auditorium Jackie and I used her caution tape to save 25 seats. 25! Some kids had a mom come...some had both their parents and a sibling...but it's safe to say that Miranda was the only one who had seats saved for 25 (and that was just the reserved seats!).

I honestly felt a little bad for the other queen candidates. When Miranda walked out on stage we all went absolutely nuts. We were screaming and cheering like crazy people. Each candidate couple did a walk around the auditorium and as Miranda walked by us we waved, called hello to her, and her grandpa tried to give her a high five. It was just ridiculous.

At the coronation, when the kings and queens are crowned, the crown is held in a teasing way above each of the candidate's heads and the crowd cheers for each one. Again, I felt bad for the other kids from the noise that was made when the crown was over Miranda's head. And it wasn't just us - the whole place went nuts.

Well, the crown didn't end up on Miranda's head, but that didn't stop our enthusiasm. After the crowning, the lights were up and the royalty was still on stage for pictures. "Miranda! Miranda!" I called. Jackie yelled, "MIRANDA!" With a slight frown on her face, Miranda jumped and looked out at us. The second she did, our entire group again erupted in cheers and waving.

A slightly amused, tired look passed over Miranda's face and we saw her turn to the girl next to her. "That's my family," she said simply.

My sister and my Miranda - love, love, love.

Gorgeous, beautiful, wonderful, proud and happy family.



Stunning, beautiful queen.

All we've got? Admittedly, yes. But truly, too, all we'll ever need.

Luci and Abdi's Reception

Eric's stepsister, Luci, is Grandma Susan's youngest daughter. She got married several months ago in a small ceremony. Last Saturday she and her husband, Abdi, had a reception in Plainview for all of us who didn't see the wedding.

Luci and Abdi are Muslims. Luci is the only Muslim in our family so we've been learning all we can about her faith and new traditions. That's why I was mortified to commit a faux pas within seconds of walking into the party. Luci greeted us with a hug and introduced us to Abdi. Eric shook his hand and out of habit I stuck my hand out at him, too. Ugh...of course I had forgotten that he doesn't touch any woman other than his wife. He was kind about it but wouldn't shake my hand and I ended up feeling really stupid. I felt better when I found out that Eric's sister Amy had done the same thing - ha! Leave it to me and Amy to be the big idiots of the day.

Carl, Susan, Wally, and Mike Dailey

Shannan, Luci, and Amy (I love this picture of my sisters!)

Take a good look. Matilda is the spitting image of these two (there will be pictures in an upcoming post to prove it). You're looking at my daughter in 30 years!

Here's Abdi and Luci. Abdi's family was pretty amused by the cake-cutting thing.

The littlest Dailey.

Thank goodness for balloons and an open area for the kids to play!

There aren't enough words in any language to explain how funny this is to me. I can't imagine that Wally or Mike ever imagined a day they would wear kufis.

No matter where you worship, no marriage is complete without a Crock-Pot!

Aiden Is Four!

I've spent the last 20 minutes trying to figure out how old Aiden was when I met him. I am really, really bad at this, but I think I've figured out that if he turned 4 in July 2010, he turned 1 in July 2007. I feel like Karen and I became friends in the fall but I've always thought I met Aid when he was 10 months old. Well, no matter if he was 10 months or 14 months old, he was a teeny tiny thing. I will never forget the little jeans and flannel shirt he was wearing when Karen came over to our house for our first playdate. He was sooooo cute!

That cute little dude is four years old now. Four! All grown up and calling me "Mrs. Mom." Sam and Aid have gone from diapers and naptimes to preschool and dinosaurs, but they have a relationship that knows no bounds. People at Aiden's birthday party were even commenting on their infatuation with each other. They LOVE each other.

(Speaking of that party...it was at 4:00 on a Sunday afternoon. Eric was on call and that is dangerously close to bedtime. I was 50% sure we would be going. Then Karen, that rat, said, "I asked Aid what he wanted for his birthday and he said, 'A bucket of dinosaurs, a bucket of dragons, and Sam.'" How could I not go to the ends of the earth to make sure Sam was at Aiden's party?!)

Karen took these pictures of my kids at the party. It was a huge backyard blowout and my kids were naked for most of it. It was awesome! Sam couldn't have been any more excited about Aiden's presents than if they were his own. What a great party!

We LOVE the Bures family!!

Armed and Stupid

I say that with as much love as possible.

I love Eric. I love him dearly. Married him, in fact.

I love Brian. Within minutes of meeting him I adored him. I remember warning Megan, Eric's roommate at the time, that Brian just may be the world's most perfect man. Megan and Brian are now happily married and had their first baby last October.

However, there isn't enough love in the world for me to ignore just how stupid they are together. They are like two old ladies. Right now they are in Las Vegas. Instead of going to strip clubs and getting arrested, Eric is battling swollen hands from the high sodium in his Bloody Marys. Brian is making sure to keep sunscreen on his bald spot.

Yesterday they went to a gun range to shoot machine guns. It is the single funniest thing I could ever imagine. It is something men would do, not Eunice and Betty here.

Open-Mouthed Enthusiasm

My dad and Tina came over on Tuesday night. As always, my dad managed to get the BEST pictures of my kids. These are just two of them.

While Matilda was babbling at Grandpa and trying to climb up on the table, he caught this:

After we all passed his camera around, laughing at that picture, he asked Sam to give him a good smile like Matilda's. So, he got this:

They're two of the most bizarre little people I've ever met!