Ellie's 6th

For Ellie's 6th birthday her first request was a picnic in the park with some "food from the slushy place". With such beautiful weather, how could we say no? So, we picked up some Sonic and headed out to celebrate.

Ellie is one of my favorite present-openers. Her anticipation is only rivaled by her enthusiasm.

She also happens to be an incredibly grateful girl...which is super sweet.

(Curtis spent the entire day telling everyone it was his birthday. And he wouldn't listen to any contrary opinions. Poor thing wasn't used to someone else getting all the attention. In the middle of our little party he stood up on the bench and loudly pulled out his recent crowd-pleasing "Welcome to the gun show!!!" routine. It's hard to shut him down when he's showing off those muscles.)

Anyhow...back to the birthday. Ellie's second request was a black and white polka-dotted cake. Fortunately, for me, I recently made friends with the bakery at the local grocery store. She came through with flying colors...or in this case with black and white icing. Awesome.

Happy birthday, girl. We love you SOOOOOOOOOO much!

"Hey, Mom!"

Curtis: "Hey, Mom! This is a great place to put my light saber?"

Mom (laughing): "Yup, I think it's perfect."

Curtis: "Yeah, it's AWESOME!"

To Boo, or Not to Boo

That's the question of the day. Each year, as I watch the days slowly meander through the month of September, I ask myself the same question, "Is it too soon to pull out the Halloween decorations?"

(Ian typically answers with an emphatic, "Yes!")

But...I just want to. Somehow, over the years, Halloween has replaced Christmas as my favorite holiday. Before you brand me a heathen, please let me explain. While the "idea" of Christmas is still tops, the season has simply been invaded with more stress than I care to deal with. In all my attempts to simplify (it has been my battle-cry each year) I have yet to manage it.

Thanksgiving, with all it's talk of gratitude and blessings, is fantastic, of course. Fantastic until you're responsible for cooking the necessary Thanksgiving dinner for your family. (And, before you tell me that turkey is not necessary, I'll warn you that it would sound blasphemous to my turkey-dinner-loving heart.) Oh...and it's only really worth the effort if your family exists of more than three children who don't really care for what you cook.

That leaves me with Halloween. My kids are back in school...and will remain there for this particular holiday (awesome). The oppressive summer heat is finally retreating (also awesome). And, all I'm really expected to do is dress my children up in something and send them out in the world to collect candy (seriously awesome). In short, it's perfection.

So, I'll ask again, "Is it too soon to pull out the Halloween decorations?"

Mini Ellie

One of the kindergartener's first projects is a look-a-like paper doll. With some specific instructions from Ellie, and a little help from mom, we'd like to introduce "Mini Ellie":

According to Ellie, the best parts are "the eyes, cause they wiggle...the hair cause it's long with purple ribbons...and the sparkly buttons cause I wish I had sparkly buttons."

Curtis - Preschool

This morning I dropped my "baby" off at preschool. I suppose I expected to be happy about the four hours a week of "free time" that would be mine once my youngest was finally going to school. I expected to cheer; to hip-hip-hooray...or do something equally, selfishly, celebratory.

I did not expect to miss him so much. Or to fight back the tears as I drove away and realized I had no one depending on me. (sniff, sniff)

But then I spent an hour at a clothing store with NO CHILDREN...and I got over it.

With an accelerated (and successful) push at potty-training, this little boy was R-E-A-D-Y to begin school at "the blue school". He donned his brand-new backpack and posed for his very own First Day of School pictures with a smile.

And he had a blast! On our way home I heard all about his best friends (all 7 of them), Miss Heather (his new favorite person), and sitting on the floor. He loved it all.

(Miss Heather subsequently told me all about Curtis' tendency to build guns out of everything...blocks, pencils, crayons, fingers. Apparently she finally just told him that he wasn't allowed to shoot any of the kids in the class. Yikes!)

Then, when I read this cute little poem and saw that cute little handprint...I must admit I felt a little sad all over again.

Then I got over it.