Tea for Two & Two for Tea

This was a much anticipated day for a certain little girl around here. Today was the day she got to bring a friend home from school for an afternoon play date. She was so excited to have a friend over to play princess and to have a fancy tea party. At the Replacements yard sale last weekend, I brought home an entire moving box filled with fine china odds and ends to make up an eclectic little tea set for A to use since she loves having tea parties. She picked out tea cups, saucers and plates for each girl, which tea pot each would use, and which bowls to use with each treat. We had all her favorite tea party treats - Great Grandma's lemonade cupcakes, fruit salad, princess cookies, swedish fish, and of course the ever-elegant Cheeetos. Oh, and pink lemonade for tea. It was so funny to watch them - A likes to drink tea with her pinkie sticking up and we were explaining it to her friend. So then her friend drank her tea and stuck up her pointer finger on the other hand while doing it. I had to work hard not to laugh. Poor A cried and cried when it was time for the play date to end - something we'll need to work on by having them more often I suspect. She can't wait for a chance to bring another friend home from school!

By the lake

Playing by the lake after our picnic and walk in the woods

Picnic in the Park

We had such nice weather today, and we are in such dire need of a change of pace around here, so G suggested we have a picnic dinner at our favorite nearby park. So armed with kids meals and fish tacos for us, we headed out and had about 2 hours to eat and play. EB was a riot. She wanted to do everything K&A were doing, and at one point they were shouting "ME!!" to get G to swing them up off of a giant rock and into the air. Next thing we heard was a little voice yelling "ME!!," so up she went, too! She followed along with them, collecting rocks, inspecting strange mushrooms, playing a set of trash cans like drums, and squealing with giddiness. I think she was just glad to be out and about, not strapped into her high chair or car seat or napping in her crib for a change. Poor girl spends an awful lot of time going along with whatever the big kids' schedules dictate. Anyway, then we walked down to the water, and once she got her feet wet on the banks, it was all we could do to keep her from running non-stop into the water. She wanted desperately to be soaked. Once she accomplished that our evening was over, but we had such a nice time that we'll definitely be doing it again soon.

Below are the left and right sides of a 2-page spread I worked on for the scrapbook. I'm not sure all my efforts to work with the sun flare were worth the probable eye damage from staring at the bright light through a glass lens. Oh well.

We have yet another new pet - or should I say pets - SNAILS! A never ceases to amaze me with the creatures she falls in love with. If anyone could ever use a dog, it would be her, but since that's not happening, these snails will do quite nicely. We found them in a friend's yard, and she has created a cozy little habitat for them in a Gladware container outfitted with lettuce, sticks, and special leaves she delivers as surprises for them. It's all turning to slimy, smelly goo (she says "be very careful when you take the lid off Mommy, because their house has gotten very stinky."), but she seems tickled with them. "Shelly" likes to hang out upside down on the lid of the container, so she's been fun to watch. Tomorrow two of the snails are going on a field trip to the discovery room at preschool - they are now living in a smaller luxury condo (a la clear plastic punch cup) with fresh sticks and lettuce in preparation for the trip. Hopefully they will survive a few days of preschoolers!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

We are loving this end of summer weather. This afternoon I went to our neighborhood playground with "just the girls." They each decided to push their own strollers on our walk, and EB periodically stopped to pick up "Bob" (her baby doll) to hug him, kiss him and rock him and sometimes ask me to carry him. It was a nice SLOW walk to the playground. We had the playground all to ourselves, and A gave EB her first ride down the tunnel slide before I could even realize what was happening (hazard of having a huge piece of photographic equipment permanently attached to my face...). EB loved it, though, and she went down again and again and again! They played restaurant with mulch, serving all kinds of delicious entrees and desserts, and the A and I went make-believe shopping for a very fun pretend party involving dishes, streamers, pinatas, balloon, party hats, candy and favors, all delivered via airplane flown by EB. Sounds confusing, but guess you just had to be there. :) EB got to swing, climb and bounce all afternoon, and I'd say we girls had a lot of fun!

Scenes from the playground

New Baby!

My friend Susan just had a new baby - a little girl! It was so much fun to see her this weekend and to be around such a little one again. There's just something so wonderful about them when they are new! Here's one of the birth announcements I've designed for her. This stuff is just too much fun. :)

Affirmation

My encouragement for the week as we've crossed off yet another milestone in the life of a kid that had the potential to make my stomach hurt:

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
~John 17:15

Gotta let go little by little, but God never lets go.

He loves to ride the bus - so far so good!

A New Rhythm

So the last two weeks have brought a new rhythm to our household. K's in school all day and A's in school every day, I've got this photo thing going... so I have actually had to establish a morning routine, some rules, and a SCHEDULE! Hold the phone - I wouldn't believe it myself if I weren't living it. So far so good. The kids all get dressed and fed with minimal fuss or muss, and breakfast is eaten without any begging for "kids shows." We have a nice walk together down to the bus stop each morning. EB likes going to "skoo-skoo" to drop off big sis and often wanders into other kids' rooms to check things out. I listen to the sounds of power tools and hammers in the basement. We sit (and sit) in the afternoon carpool line to pick up big brother, but at least I get to read or work a little bit and A works puzzles or looks at books. K needs downtime when he gets home, so I've actually had a little peace and quiet for cooking dinner between 4 and 5. Now, dinner is another story - eating with them has become a nightmare this week - but Geof is coming up with new family dinner rules that the kids will sign off on, and he even bought a book to read to the kids before dinner to help remind them of what's expected. New and old activities have started some evenings, so it's generally busy around here!

K is keeping up with his drum set lessons at Rock School, and his teacher continues to give us encouragement that K has an unusual talent. Yesterday K's drum stage got framed in the basement, so he can't wait for it all to be finished so he can start rocking out. With all that's gone on in the last year, I've pretty much given up traditional scrapbooking. I just don't have time to drag out the big bin of supplies, I don't have time to browse the scrapbook store, I have WAY too many pictures to print, I have WAY too many little hands that want to help... So I'm dabbling in the world of digital scrapbooking. Here's my first official effort! I was so excited about it. Only took 30 minutes or so this morning before the kids were even out of bed. This would have taken all day the "old way."

She Just Makes Me Smile

Little EB thinks she is so big, and she's just so funny! She loves her big sister and trails around behind her all day long and wants to be just like her. Yesterday A dressed EB in a little dance leotard that had an attached skirt, one that she had outgrown, and said it was EB's princess dress (A is very into dressing as a princess lately - I need to forget Gymboree and just shop the Disney Store...). Anyway, that tiny princess was adorable (shocker - no picture!) and she was so pleased with herself. The other day she came walking around the corner carrying bis sister's 2 priceless bunny rabbits and had A's bedtime paci (yes, I do realize she is 4, but have you ever met her? Do YOU want to fight that battle?) in her mouth. I did a double-take - it was like seeing baby A all over again. EB didn't really understand how to hold a paci in her mouth. She would stick it in and then suck in her cheeks like she was making a fish face to try to get it to stay in, but it kept falling out. Soon it became a game and she laughed so much that the paci never had a chance of staying in. Just another way to try to be like big sis.

Lately she's also been wearing swim goggles around the house. She is fascinated with my glasses, and I think she thinks the goggles are her own glasses. She loves it! And she loves shoes and princess crowns and feather boas and is very picky about her clothes. She's so girly.

Leap of Faith

Took the plunge and announced my new venture! beasknees photos is up and running. I'm so excited because it lets me do what I love. Check out the site for more information, or visit my photo blog at www.beaskneesphotos.wordpress.com. Thanks to all my great friends and family who have been so supportive, given me so much opportunity, and have helped me out along the way. We'll see what happens!

I can hear myself think

It's too quiet around here today. It's the first official day of school, and it's different that past years with 2 kids in preschool now that I have watched my big guy walk himself through the big doors of elementary school - without me. I left the middle one in her 4-year-old preschool room (where the OLDEST kids in the school are, Mommy!), just standing there in the middle of her room taking it all in - her beloved friends, the princess dresses waiting to be put on, her name on the wall, a table full of markers - with the biggest grin on her face. Totally in her element. The little one is tucked in bed for her morning nap. Now what?

Just needed to post for myself that this is all ok - a big change but the right change. I often feel like I'm too hard on myself that we chose not to homeschool, even though I KNOW that homeschooling is not for me right now. We feel strongly that our kids give public schools a try, that there need to be strong Christian families in the schools, and that we are sending in some shining lights. But as K stood outside the car and started to cry because he wasn't sure where to go, I again questioned myself, not necessarily because I wanted to bring him back home and keep him from feeling sad, but because he's my little guy and he has to take care of himself a little bit now. This experience will be so good for him and I'm excited about all that he will learn this year, but even though the size of his clothes tell me differently, he's still my little little guy and it's just hard to send him in. Thank goodness for the nice teacher outside the carpool lane who quickly put an arm around his shoulders and walked him into the school.

So now what? I'm home in case they need me, and I have projects out the yin yang. A little distraction can't hurt, and will certainly do the fingernails some good as they can't possibly be bitten any closer to the quick! You could just say a little prayer that there are no firedrills at school today. That drama will be a post for another day.

Things that are special at great grandma's house

We spent the weekend at my grandparents' house, which is not too far from here. I love that the kids get to spend time with them and know them. Here are some of the things they love about going for visits.

Riding the sky scooter in the backyard - probably the same one I rode in the backyard, too!
This time EB was big enough to ride.

Lots of pretty flowers for this little bea to explore

home made peach ice cream - yum!
And their most favorite - the tea party! A especially looks forward to having a tea party with Great Grandma and gets to use the little china bird cups that I used to like drinking from (but when I was small they were for special "kids coffee.") There were all kinds of tiny delicious snacks, and we have discovered that EB is a BIG fan of cheetos!