I'm just sorry...

that not everyone can be this cute!
(please ignore the giant bottle of soap in the background)

Lucy's excessive cuteness has made me REALLY want to get one of those fancy shmancy cameras (and actually learn how to use it) that I swore would never get.  Chad are you reading this?  Christmas is just 89  days away....

Interruptions

Where has this quote been all my mothering life?

INTERRUPTIONS

"When you are exasperated by interruptions, try to remember that their very frequency may indicate the value of your life. Only people who are full of help and strength are burdened by other persons' needs. The interruptions which we chafe at are the credentials of our indispensability. The greatest condemnation that anybody could incur - and it is a danger to guard against - is to be so independent, so unhelpful, that nobody ever interrupts us, and we are left comfortably alone."

-Anonymous

from The Anglican Digest

Camping

 
Way back when (end of July) we went camping with our beloved neighbors! It was more like camping in kiddie Heaven than in the woods.

There was a pool where you could bring your duckies

...throw away your children

...and explore underwater

You could watch magic tricks

...but it didn't offer much to appease kids who had to wait in the car while everyone else broke camp

It was the PERFECT place for these two great friends to get as dirty as humanly possible.

 
It was basically little boy heaven!  Thanks Brown Family for a perfect weekend! 

Guest Blogger

My sister asked me to be a guest blogger at Hey Nonny today and being the good little sister than I am I obliged.  Check it out here

From the Mouth of Babes

I'm not sure if my kids had less amusing things to say in August or if I was just  less successful in remembering to write them down.  Either way...here is what we've got.

"I'll invite all my friends who aren't moving"

-Marian when I asked her who she wanted to invite to her birthday party.  Poor girl, a lot of her friends have moved away this year

"Mom, can I wear your ring so dad will marry me now?"

-Marian

"Marian, you should wear your tie shoes like me. Because if your class goes on a safari you'll be glad you had on tie shoes."

-Jack

"Day doo" (pronounced Thank You)

-Lucy

"Mom, you make the best black beans, the best cheese, and the best popcorn!  Now if you want to write that on the blog you can ask me to repeat it."

-Jack  

Glad to know he is impressed with my ability to open and unwrap food.  

Also good to note that Jack is aware he is being quoted.

"Mom, you're the best cleaner"

-Marian

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time I was focused and in my good mom groove. I was even doing monthly learning projects with my kids.
July was awesome. In July we learned about the United States. We made American flag crafts. We learned the pledge of allegiance.  We read tons of books about American history.

Marian set up the "USA Cafe" in the play room.  She greeted every visitor with,
"WHAT  would.you.like?"
She served fries, hamburgers, and lots and lots of desserts.  God Bless America.



We learned about George Washington. We saw his statue in the Public Gardens. We hung out in front of our town's public library where this marker stands to let everyone know that General Washington "passed this place" on his way to free Boston from the British army.  This picture could almost be captioned: "do no evil, hear no evil and see no evil"  If only I could teach Lucy to cover her ears.  Really I just think Marian was done posing for pictures.

We learned about Louisa May Alcott. (Little Women is perhaps my favorite book ever)

We went to her home and took a children's tour of the Orchard house.  It was awesome.

Even though it was a tour meant for kids I couldn't have done it without my mom!

We listened to all songs Americana.  Jack decided that "Coming to America" is the most amazing song ever.  Being the non-Neil Diamond fan that I am (that is an understatement) I gave myself major mom kudos for tolerating Mr. Diamond's talk singing over and over AND OVER every day.  The song actually grew on me and I'm not ashamed to admit I came up with some pretty killer choreography to it...but I am too ashamed to share that with you so you'll have to settle for Jack's.


But like a said...that was once upon a time. In August we learned that mom gets worn out after all that so we learned about spending the day at the __________ (insert beach, water park, lake, couch in front of PBS etc...)   
August was awesome.

Grandma Shari

Back when I had my Lindsay women retreat in Boston, my mom stayed for a few extra days to play Super Grandma.

Amidst all the Uno playing, princess memory matching, and dispensing of hugs and kisses, she managed to teach Lucy to "crawl"

...a month later this army crawl wormy thing is much improved...proof of that will come later:

Back to school!

It's happened. We enjoyed/survived summer and now the big kids are in school. As you can see they were SO excited. I was in such a dash to get Jack there on time that I forgot my camera at the school but the sight of him lined up with all the little kindergartners was just about the cutest thing ever! It didn't hurt that he kept blowing me kisses and saying "I love you mom!". Yeah, I'll admit it, I cried a little right there...but I think I did a good job hiding it so he didn't see. Marian was thrilled to go to preschool. After getting all ready this morning she surveyed herself in the mirror and declared, " I just look so adorable!".

After school Jack said the first day of Kindergarten was awesome.

Marian said that she didn't like her outfit and apparently chewed out a little boy for saying that he was bigger than she was.

Knowing these two...I say that sounds about right

All things considered, it was a great first day.

 Gotta love the clean back to school shoes!