Conversation with a Toddler

Sunday night we had the following conversation with Andrew after he told us he had eaten his graham cracker.

Daddy: Did you eat the whole graham cracker?

Andrew: No. I did eat the whole graham cracker. But not all of it.
I ate all of it. But not the whole thing.

What?

He went on in this manner for several minutes. We never did figure out whether or not he had actually eaten his snack. We were laughing too hard to actually get up off the couch and look for ourselves. And this is why you should never try to reason with toddlers. That's probably just how we sound to them.

Marshmallow Houses

Last Tuesday, when Kevin went off with his Boy Scouts, Matthew declared that he would teach us how to make marshmallow houses (that must be what he learned in pre-k last week). The kids did not like whatever it was I made for dinner (it wasn't macaroni and cheese) so they were all pretty eager to get their hands on a bag of marshmallows.

Maggie constructed her house in short order, although it was not built to Matthew's specifications. Then she got started on a marshmallow man (like the one on the marshmallow bag).

I've noticed that marshmallows don't have very much structural integrity. Maggie's house had a definite lean to it and Matthew had a hard time getting his to stay in place long enough to get all the toothpicks stuck in it. I eventually stepped in and got his all squared off so that it would stand up on its own.

Andrew made a token attempt to stick some marshmallow together, then he did what he does best and sampled his work.


Once they got everything put together, they got to watch a movie and eat marshmallows. The next day, Maggie came down with the stomach flu. I don't think it was related to having marshmallows for dinner. But she's finally better now and she got to go off to school again today.

In other news, one of Kevin's co-workers was trying to get his camera to work and he snapped this picture:


So now I finally have some idea of what his office looks like. That was very exciting for me. It made my weekend.

A Visit from Aunt Alice and Uncle Tom

This last week, we had my aunt and uncle, Alice and Tom, here for a visit. Last year they sold their house, bought an RV and have been traveling the country ever since. We had a lot of fun with them. My kids absolutely adored them and their dogs. Five minutes after they arrived, Andrew started talking and he just kept talking for the whole week. And even though the kids are afraid of ducklings, they warmed right up to the golden retrievers. We had to go out and pet the dogs every few minutes while they were at our house.

One fun thing that we got to do while they were here was to see the shuttle Endeavor take off. We headed out to our favorite beach and played in the sand for a couple of hours while we were waiting. Here are some cool pictures of the launch that I found online.


Here is the one that we got:

At least you can get an idea of how spectacular it was from the professionals' pictures. When it took off, the shuttle was almost as bright as the full moon. I was definitely worth the stress of watching my kids play near the ocean after dark.

On Saturday, Alice and Tom came to Matthew's last soccer game and the end-of-season pizza party. They were most impressed by the alligator sitting in the pond right next to the playground. So that afternoon we took them on an airboat ride to see some bigger gators.

All the animals seemed to be in hiding, but we did manage to see one.

I love airboat rides. One of these days I'm gonna turn into a redneck, just so I can get an airboat and charge tourists lots of money to let them ride in it. When you're going fast, it feels just like you're flying a few inches above the river. And the wind feels great on a hot, muggy day.

Halloween

I'm a procrastinator. Everyone else put their Halloween pics up a week ago. And at this point we have all moved on. But I know grandparents at least will be interested in seeing our kids Halloween costumes.
This year I decided to make everyone's costumes. I hate to drag the kids trough all the stores looking for he perfect costume. And it seems like our choices are limited to the cheap Wal-Mart costumes that come unraveled before the night is through or getting some over-stuffed insulated thing that is totally inappropriate for our climate.
So, this year the kids put in their orders and we all spent a couple of hours at Jo-Ann's looking at patterns, modifying expectations and picking out fabric. That night I got started on Matthew's costume, because I knew it would be the most challenging and I didn't want to be a procrastinator. I got most of his costume done in a couple of afternoons. Maggie would come home from school and do her homework at the table with me while I sewed. It was really pleasant. Then I got to the point when I had to put sleeves on. Big, poofy, satin sleeves. Ugh. I took a week off.
Then when Matthew had badgered me enough, I put a sleeve together. And I managed to do it inside-out. Ugh! I hate sleeves! I took another week off.
Finally, a few days before Halloween, I ripped out the offending seam and tried again.
And I put it on inside out again!!!
At this point I used all my willpower and I did not scream at that seam. I just ripped the seam again and put it together the right way. And I put the second sleeve on the right way, too.
The next three days I sewed in all my free time. The sewing machine sat on the dining room table with us, even at dinner-time and the dining room became a mass of clipped threads and fabric scraps. Kevin got really tired of living in a disaster zone and having hot dogs and frozen pizza for dinner. I was sewing right up until 4 pm on Halloween. I guess I turned out to be a procrastinator again, in spite of my best efforts.

We had a Trunk-or-Treat at the church that night, so here they are. Matthew was a knight:

Andrew was Tigger ("No, I'm not a Tiger, I'm Tigger! Bounce, bounce, bounce.") This was also the only picture we got of Maggie in costume. Sorry, Maggie for not getting you with your eyes open! She was Tiger Lily from Peter Pan:

This is how Andrew spent half the evening:


Right after I finished Maggie's costume, we started in on pumpkin carving. I made a rule that they had to scoop out their own pumpkin's guts. That almost brought an end to pumpkin carving before we even started. But I convinced them of the joys of squishing your fingers in pumpkin goo.

It was really hard wok for them, so I had to step in and finish them up.


"Look I found a seed!"

Have you ever seen someone so happy to find a seed inside a pumpkin?

And finally here's the finished product. I only had time to carve 2 of the pumpkins. Maggie's is on the left. It's supposed to have its tongue sticking out.

Matthew's is supposed to be scary. Oh well, I never claimed to be artistic. The kids liked them and so I'm content. And now I can put away the sewing machine and the pumpkin carving kit for a whole year. Maybe next year I won't procrastinate.

Petting Farm

Ok, I'm a little late getting these pictures up. Can I just say the last couple weeks have been BUSY. I'm trying to catch my breath, now. The Monday just before Halloween, Matthew's school had a field trip to a petting Farm in Kissimmee (I love the name of that town, maybe it's all the double letters. And by the way, the accent is on the second syllable. It's not supposed to sound like and invitation for smooching). Anyway, since we weren't expecting to be home before school got out and because Maggie never gets to do anything fun, I let her skip school and come along.

I took a zillion pictures, but I'm going to try to limit myself here. This was a really fun place. Our tour lasted a good 3 hours (including lunch) and they had all kinds of animals and the kids could get in the pens with them and terrorize them.


I think my favorite was the chicks. It was the first thing we saw--maybe I just liked them because I saw them before exhaustion set in. We also got to handle some ducklings, and even though they were cuter than the chicks, I didn't get any pictures. They were a little more "feisty" so I had to hold ours the whole time because my kids were afraid of it. Yes, they're afraid of cute, fluffy, little, yellow ducklings. We seriously need to get a pet.


We saw the goats next and I loved to see the babies trying to eat everyone's clothes.

Maggie wanted to feed the goats, but when it came down to it, she was afraid to let them actually touch her hands. I can see being afraid that they will accidentally bite you, but she claims that she just couldn't get any closer. Umm, okay.

When we got in the duck pen, I started to wonder if letting preschoolers handle animals qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment. And again, at the chicken coop. Matthew really needs to work on his poultry-handling skills.


This was the one animal that Andrew wasn't afraid to touch. "Yeah mom, I'm pretty cool"


And here are my little farmers. Isn't it perfect that they have 3 spaces for my 3 kids?


Of course, their favorite thing at the petting farm wasn't an animal at all.


And we must not forget the "Zorse". Our guide explained to the children that a Zorse has a zebra for a Daddy and a horse for a Mommy. And just like mules, they are sterile, so it can't have any Zorse babies. So Maggie obviously thought about that for some time, because on the way home she asked, "How can a zebra like a horse?"
"What?"
"How can a zebra like a horse? You know, so they would have a baby?"
"Ummm. . . . Horses and zebras are a lot alike and they must have been in the same pen together."
"Okay"
Phew. And you're just going to have to wait until you're at least 8 for the rest of that discussion.


Finally, as I was about to collapse, we came to the pumpkin patch on our way out of the farm. Each of us got to pick one pumpkin. My requirement was that they had to carry their own pumpkins to the car. So they weren't very big. Not that any of the pumpkins we had to choose from were very big. If I get around to doing our Halloween post this weekend, I will put up some pictures of us carving those pumpkins.

And for those of you who have managed to get through this entire post, here's a movie. The camerawoman isn't particularly skilled, but it'll give you a taste of what it's like to be on a field trip with 300 preschool children.