Vacation Bible School

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm a big wimp. I have no problems saying that. But I am nervous, and a little bit weepy sending my child off to VBS, which she is calling "school." It seems so grown up. I mean, for pete's sake - she's only 2!!

Here she is all dressed up for VBS - complete with "fancy hair" and a skort - and the bow clips, which she had to find an outfit to match so she could wear.

On a side note, she's not that tall. She's standing on a stool. Life hasn't fast-fowarded quite that much yet!

We are starting plans for Birthday Bash 2006. Should be entertaining. I think we're going for the princess theme, even though there will be a few boys there. So be it. It will still be fun.

It's been scorching hot here. We've spent a lot of time in the park during the evenings, and at the pool in the backyard. She's a hoot in this pink polka dot bikini, even though the bottom about falls off every time she puts it on. I am going to have to invest in a sewing machine soon, just so we can get some pants or skirts that don't show toddler crack. Crack kills, you know. We already have some electrician's crack in this house, so I think we need to limit the exposure as much as possible.

Yesterday was Brian's first Father's Day. We made him a scrapbook of all pictures of he and Melanie, and it was so fun - and really turned out nice. I will try to have Bri help me take pictures of it and post it. He is much better at the still life photography than I am. I love pictures like this of the two of them - they look so much alike it's a little frightening, I think. He's so proud of her, and you can see it. Plus, she has him wrapped around her little finger.

Ok, off to take her to VBS. I'll report back as to how it goes - and we might even post pictures of the crafts. I think we'll need to build on to house all the fun stuff that she'll be bringing home!

The Corn Horsie

Here is a picture of strawberry picking the other day. She did not have a great time at first - i don't know what she was thinking, whether she thought it was going to be fun and games or what, but once she got to taste one of those berries, she was all over picking them! She didn't want to leave at the end of our time there. She and her friend Meredith had a great time.

Today we're getting ready to go to the pool; we can't be there until 12:30, so I'm trying to kill some time with her - I made the mistake of mentioning it last night before she went to bed, and so this morning when she woke up, she said, "Mommy, I'm ready to go swimming!" Not "I'm ready to get up," not "I need to go potty," but that she was ready to swim. That was 4 hours ago. 4 LONG hours ago!

I realize that the last time I posted I put up a few pictures...that were rather large in size. I'll do a better job of resizing the photos so that you don't have to wait an hour just to read a few measly sentences.

The day before yesterday, she got a tatoo (one of those little rub on ones) from her uncle. She was all over that, and when we got home, she looked thru her birthday goodie bag and found some from the same party where her cousins had got theirs. She put the one of the "grumpy chicken" on her hand, and asked me what the other one was (I wouldn't let her put it on her cheek...that's where she wanted it). I told her it was a unicorn, and she just looked at me, and we went on with our day. Later that night, she was sitting on the potty (where we always have our best conversations (rolling my eyes)), and she asked me when she could put the corn horsie on her arm. I just sat there and looked at her, trying to figure out what the heck a corn horsie was. I asked her, "what horsie? I don't know what you're talking about." She said - "you know, mommy. The other patoo - the corn horsie." ah-HA! The Unicorn. Corn Horsie. I see.

We took her to see Cars yesterday - thank goodness her ticket is free, as she is under 3. Movies are pricey! She had a blast though. In a Happy Meal we had gotten she received a bunch of trading cards with all the Cars pictures on them, so she had all their names memorized and everything. She loved it.

More later. Gotta run to the pool.

The Butterfly Garden

I have a ton of thoughts, and my brain is kind of going in circles; I will try to keep things in some resemblence of order.

The one moment today when I really wished I had my camera was at bedtime (even though I took 225 photos today - sick!) Melanie was holding Brian's face in her little hands, and said, "Daddy, give me three kisses!" She then proceeded to giggle like a little angel, which she was not so much today, and said that he had the BEST hairy lips in the world. I was a little teary over that one. Could have used the camera then!



Well, speaking of camera, we went to the Butterfly Garden today. I got a little bit crazy with the camera and the photos ::blushing::. It was a beautiful, perfect day for being in the garden, and for being outside. We went into the children's garden, and into the butterfly house. Melanie was enthralled. We literally spent about an hour in there; most people were rotating through in about 10 minutes or so. She stood as still as a little statue, waiting for the butterfly to land on her. After a while, she turned out to be the show instead of the butterflies...people were stopping to watch her watch the butterflies, instead of watching the butterflies themselves. She got so excited when one landed on her dress!












Brian had a butterfly land on his had; a big, beautiful blue one. That little booger would not get off of there, either. Even when he picked Melanie up, the butterfly did not fly away. She FREAKED though that it was on his head. You can tell in this picture that she was about to burst into tears. She thought it was going to suck on his head. (We had already explained that butterflies did not have any teeth...but that they sucked the "juice" out of the flowers...I don't know if she thought the butterfly was going to suck Brian's brains out or what...but she did not like that blue butterfly on her daddy's head!)


We finally got her to leave the butterfly house - it took some work, I'm not ashamed to admit. She loved the rest of the garden though. Every time we passed yellow flowers, she wanted her picture taken with it because of the "matching dress". It was a beautiful day to take photos, if I do say so myself!

There were trees and trellaces, bridges and bugs. She posed (albeit reluctantly) for tons of shots for me. This is just the tip of the iceburg, ladies and gents. I took 225 pictures today. Sad, but true!

I also played around with the timer on the camera today for the first time. Got some fun shots that way.











I am going to make a mini book with the shots from today. SO fun!

Freezing in the summer

Summer is probably my favorite season, overall. I love the heat, the smells, the relaxed pace (overall). The one thing I don't like about summer is freezing my hiney off indoors. It turns out that my child is the same way.















She has discovered swimming. She LOVES swimming. It doesn't matter how big or how small the pool is. Heck, she sat in a tub for over 2 hours the other day - a $5 Target tub that we purchased to put drinks in (which no one will now get a drink out of because there has been child hiney in it). We're now in the process of trying to figure out if it would be worth our while and money (and my sanity) to get a membership at a pool, because goodness knows that she would be content to play there for hours and hours at a time. That's something to ponder!









She loves summery, outdoorsy kind of activities. Blowing bubbles. Sandbox. Sidewalk chalk. Hopscotch. Outdoor dance parties. (Don't ask...but let's just say that the Monster Boogie gets played a LOT in the dance party mix!) And tents. We need to get an outdoor tent, I think, because my house just can't take many more indoor tents. We don't have enough space, or enough sheets to build all the tents she wants to make.


Notice that the bundle I'm holding in the sun has Dora the Explorere water shoes. She is freezing - blue lips and all! But she loved swinging in the hammock in the sun.











She HATES the air conditioner. Like me. Gets too cold. Can't say as I blame her. Brian likes it negative 40 in the house at all times. I'd prefer a nice balmy 80 or so, with no humidity. Year round. (Which is what kills us in the winter). Turns out that Melanie has the same idea there. She wants to be warm. Another thing in common.

Today in the car, she was telling us that she found another nickel. We were wondering where the heck she found the money, and Brian stuck his hand back there and asked her if she could hand it to him. She kept telling him that she couldn't, and he just didn't get it. He finally turned around (when we were stopped) and asked her if he could see the nickel, and she showed him a FRECKEL on her arm. I was crying laughing at that one. He was not as amused. Later this afternoon, she was looking at all the nickels on my arms too. Being out in the sun is bringing them out for both of us. She is so fair skinned though, and I'm so anal about sunblock, that I'm not sure she'll get many more. I don't want her to burn.




She is still like peas and carrots with Meredith. This picture is one of my favorite. Melanie is very girlie - loves dresses, fancy hair, etc. Meredith is a little bit more of a tom boy. Here they are in matching purple, matching pigtails. But Melanie has her dress, and Meredith has her jeans. The are playing fooseball at church, and having a blast. I think they were more interested in the ball and turning the dials than actually making the little guys kick the ball. It was fun to watch though!



Well, I'm out of thoughts for the evening. But I'll try to do better at keeping up with stuff. Enjoy the photos.