Preschool Politics...

Hayden's preschool uses a storytelling program teach early literacy skills to the kids. Each morning, one child dictates a story to the teacher who writes it down. Later in the day, a cast of the children act out the story. I'm in the process of compiling (typing) an anthology of stories from the year to send home with each "graduating" student. Most of the stories are about princesses and knights, but this one was too funny not to share. From the lips of W.T., age 4:

"Once upon a time George Bush sent some soldiers to do a war. Obama won and he stopped the war. John McCain said the war would still go on. Obama stopped the war again. Hillary called the police and put John McCain in jail because he put the war still on.
A giant dragon came and it ate the jail and it ate John McCain who was in the jail. The End."

Every time I read it, I want to fall on the floor laughing. I think it's the jail-eating dragon that's really the icing on the cake.

Worth the wait...

Juliette is 4 months old today. It seems like forever ago that I spent 65 days in bed waiting for her to be ready to be born. Then again, I think I waited my whole lifetime for this baby girl. And if I had to wait forever, it would have been worth it for this sweet bottom in ruffled panties...
These perfect toes...

And perfect little fingers...

And the sweet angel face that I love more every minute...

Happy 4-month birthday baby girl! More pictures here.

Attached Garage...

This house has an attached garage (only one-car, sorry Sean). At the old house, I thought the attached garage was handy for when I was in pajamas or half undressed and needed to retrieve something. Now I like it for another reason. When your sweet-looking, but horrid-acting 2 1/2 year old chucks a really hard toy at your head in the car, you can just leave him strapped in his car seat in the garage until he calms down and decides to behave himself and join the rest of us inside. Don't worry, it isn't hot in there and I leave the van doors and the door between the garage and the house open. So if you're selling a house with an attached garage, you might want to list that as a bonus feature for parents of toddlers.

Impish Charm...

Trevor has this impish grin he uses when he wants to proceed with something he knows he's not supposed to be doing. I know I'm supposed to be firm and consistent, but this look usually just doubles me over in laughter. Oh, and the sing-songy voice he uses doesn't help me stand firm either. He plays me like a puppet.
In other news, we got a bubble machine at Target today and had loads of fun with it. Why did I go to Target for a bubble machine? Because the kids got bubble guns as the give-away at a birthday party today. They wanted to play with them right away, but I said they could only play with them after naps and only if they went to bed quietly and immediately. They were so great about the naps and then when they woke up we discovered that we couldn't open up the f&(*@&ing bubble guns to put batteries in. So off I went with all 3 kids in tow to buy a bubble thing at Target.

You can't blame the party mom. Don't we all give away useless crap at our kids' parties? Who started this tradition anyways? When I was getting stuff for Hayden's birthday, I was grumbling about spending $100 on junk that would be 99% in trash cans within 24-hours. But who can break with tradition? Anyways, here are the boys and their bubbles:

Delicious...

Don't you just want to eat these up?


These are my new gallery wrapped canvas prints of the kids that I bought with my birthday money (Thanks Art!!!!!) I'm just in heaven and can't wait to hang them. They're larger than life. I inserted Juliette so you could compare the size.
I've been told that I've been delinquent in my blogging (there was some exaggeration, it hasn't been 3 weeks). I have about a thousand legitimate reasons, but mostly I've been trying to go to bed before 2 or 3 am. It's great to have a baby who sleeps through the night, but if I don't get her down till midnight and then try to catch up on laundry, photos, e-mail, then I'm not in bed till 2:30. Which makes me a little cranky when Trevor wakes me in the morning.

Sean's plant has a maintenance turnaround that started on Monday. So he's gone 14 hours a day including weekends. I'm trying to be disciplined about getting things done while the boys are napping so our evenings aren't a total nightmare. But I think the next three days will be challenging with Sean working and Hayden having t-ball, 2 bday parties, and me shooting a wedding on Saturday. Yikes! Only another 3 weeks or so of this.

I went to a parent social for Hayden's school last weekend. Sean stayed home with the kids, too much hassle to find a sitter. I was talking to two of the other moms who I only know casually from the playground and they were remarking about how mellow I am. I could only laugh. They actually think I seem very calm and cool all the time. That I seem to be able to juggle all 3 kids and everything else with ease. How far from the truth is that? Vito has to be laughing at the thought. Me? Mellow? Ha! Oh well, it's nice that I can come across that way. Not everyone has to see the dark side.

Trevor and I went to a book signing last weekend. Mo Willems was in town to sign the brand new pigeon book. Here's Trevor with the new book while we waited to meet the author:

And here's the pigeon-man in the flesh, signing Trevor's copy of the book:

Very exciting stuff for an almost 3-year-old. Can you believe? Almost THREE? I made his 3-year doctor's appointment yesterday and it was a wake-up call. Even with Juliette here, he's still my baby in so many ways. But in 4 months he'll be in preschool. Time flies...

Switching gears, our friend Ben is in our thoughts much these days since we heard news of his stroke. Very shocking for an active, healthy, brilliant 37-year-old. You can keep up with him on Mama T's blog, but please remember him in your prayers as we wish him a full recovery.


I'll try to post more frequently. A comment or two once in a while wouldn't hurt as a means of encouragement!