Bad influence

Conversation just now:

N - "Daddy, say a bad word"
J - "No"
N - "C'mon Daddy, say a bad word"
J - "No"
N - "Just one?"
J - "No"
N - "C'mon, it's all right"

Then she grabbed his lips, tried to force them to move and said "Shit", in a deep little voice.

Braveheart

Had to take the kids to the tailor with me today. That's not high on my list of fun things to do, but what can you do? I figured this time I'd be smart and stick Oliver in the umbrella stroller, so at least one of them would be contained. Last time, I had to get undressed/dressed frantically with one hand, while the other hand held the curtain closed - the dressing area is right in the front of the store, by the floor to ceiling windows.

So, I'm trying on my first pair of pants, and Natalie is kind of moving the stroller back and forth to make Oliver laugh, which was fine. Next thing I knew, she had the stroller tipped all the way back and let it go on the floor. She did it very gently, so no babies were hurt during this stunt, but still. I was about to reprimand her, when she started patting Oliver on the head saying "You were very brave, Oliver! I'm proud of you!".

So I burst into laughter instead, couldn't help myself.

Pups on the loose

Conversation with Natalie this morning:

N - "Mommy, I heard the garage door open and the car leave last night"
M - "You were hearing things, because I didn't go anywhere last night"
N - "But I did"
M - "You must have heard one of the neighbors"
N - "No, it was yours" *at this point she cracks an impish little grin, and I began to catch on - see bottom of this post for a full explanation.
M - "Oh no, don't tell me. It isn't what I think it is, is it?"
N - "Uh huh" still with that grin
M - "Please tell me you are joking. Who took my car?"
N - "The pups. They wanted to go to Las Vegas".

Natalie has a stuffed Meerkat that is one of her favorites. A couple of months ago, she informed me that the Meerkat had four pups. While she was at school, I would "watch" the pups, and then make up all these wild stories about what the pups did to drive me crazy while she was in school. A few of her favorites were the pups trying on my wedding gown and having a wedding in my closet, putting themselves in the dryer for a ride (she knows not to get in or play with it), and the pups dressing up like Jon and ringing the doorbell "Honey, I'm home", taking my car for a joyride, with one of the pups on her scooter trying to arrest the joyriding pups. About a month ago, the Meerkat had 96 more pups, so we currently have 100 invisible, up-to-no-good pups. Although apparently they'll be in Las Vegas for a while, as they don't want to go to Chicago. Grandma should count her blessings. Those pups are wild!

I love her imagination!

Congratulations, Rich and Christy!

My not-so-little brother got married in Vegas last week - May 21! Mitz, Pops and I flew out there on Wednesday, returned Friday. Had lots of fun! It was nice to see Rich and Christy again - it's been 2 years since I've seen Rich and a little longer since seeing Christy. They had a lovely wedding at the Wedding Bells chapel - outdoor gazebo, lots of lights and candles - really pretty! Christy was a beautiful bride, and Rich cleans up pretty nicely! And their wedding cake was delicious! Rich is supposed to send me a link to the professional ones - they own the rights to them. I know you are reading this, (B)Ri(t)ch, so step to it!

Rich and I also stayed true to form and drove our mother crazy. :-) As per usual, we found something appalling on which to fixate and drove it into the ground. This time around was an obscene, really obscene hand gesture, and I'm not talking about the finger. It was incorporated into many photos. LOL. Rich started it!

Best wishes to both of you - we love you!

Here are a few pictures - the rest are linked to the right - mine and Mom's are mixed, so they are out of order. Too lazy to arrange one-by-one. Probably dup shots too. Sue me. :-P

And Christy's brother Timmy discovered the #1 reason why you don't fall asleep after my brother and I have been drinking, and have access to a bottle of nailpolish! To his credit - he was a great sport about it - kept the pedicure for the rest of the trip, and even answered to Twinkle Toes Timmy (Mitz's contribution!). :-) Nice guy!

Secrets

A couple of days ago, Natalie was whispering in Oliver's ear and cracking him up. So the last couple of days at naptime and bedtime, I've been whispering in his ear. Today at naptime he reached up, brought my ear down to his mouth and whispered back! Whatever he told me must have been pretty funny, since he cracked himself up!

Also, yesterday he had a shot visit at the doctor. He weighs 29.5 pounds!

End of the school year!

Already! This school year, Natalie's first full year, really flew by! Her last day was Thursday, and that night, the school had a potluck luau to celebrate the end of the year, as well as graduate the kindergarteners! Earlier in the week, they had Zoo to You - the Phoenix zoo visited and brought four animals for the kids to see. I stayed and volunteered in Natalie's class that day, per her request. It was a lot of fun! The zoo brought a tarantula (creepy!), a Desert Box turtle named Wonka, a hedgehog named Tank (cutest thing ever!), and a really cool bird - looked like an owl, but was a Tawny Frogmouth, native to Australia. The zookeeper was very informative, great with the kids, brought the animals around to each kid so they got a close look, and everyone got to touch the turtle! When we got back to class, Mrs. Blackledge asked the kids what their favorite animal was - and all but one or two kids chose the turtle. She didn't know ahead of time which animals would be brought, but had a happy accident with the art project for the day - she had the kids paint turtles. :-)

Natalie had a nice last day of school. The afternoon class got to watch a movie with popcorn, were allowed to bring a stuffed animal, and pillow and blanket from home.

The luau was a lot of fun too. Natalie had a great time chasing her friends around, and she brought her little Fisher Price digital camera and took lots of pictures. Each class got to go up to the stage, and everyone got a certificate. Natalie got two as she was in AM and PM preschool. Her teachers gave them the most thoughtful gifts too. The morning class received a bound book of special art projects they made that year, plus a picture of the class with their teachers - the kids made frames out of popsicle sticks and glued buttons on them. The afternoon class received a CD with the 30 Bible based songs they learned this year. One of the other moms in class also made each kid an autograph book - so cute!

We're looking forward to next year at First United. We couldn't ask for a better school for Natalie. We're 90% certain we'll put her in Early Kindergarten, per her teacher's recommendations. If not, she will be in pre-K with the extended day still - she really thrives with the full day.

I'll get pictures up tomorrow, hopefully!

Oliver news

Oliver cut two more teeth! All four first year molars are coming in - the bottom right one is through, and the bottom left can be felt over the gum - I think that one is in. He gets peeved when you try to check, so I all I could do was poke around with my finger. Hopefully the other two will come in quickly - from what I understand (and have observed!), those teeth are tough ones to cut.

He also sings along to a song now! The last time we had dinner with Mitz and Pops - Oliver went to the sliding door and every time Beau and Diva came by, he'd "woof" at them. I thought that was pretty cute! Then last week, Natalie had me play "Who let the dogs out" in the car (we have a kid version). As soon as Oliver heard "Who let the dogs out", he started "woofing" at all the appropriate parts. It was so cute and funny! I played it several times in a row, even though that song makes me crazy, just so I could hear him do it. He also sings "his" song with me. A while back, I was being silly, and made up a song that incorporates all of the little noises he makes. It goes "Oliver says", then you cluck your tongue, "Oliver says" cluck again, "Fluffy headed Oliver says" cluck three times. Repeat with a raspberry sound, kiss sound, blowing sound. When he hears me sing "Oliver says", he immediately starts clucking - he knows how it goes!

April pictures are going up after I post this. A few things - they are way out of order - I have some pictures from my mom's camera, our old camera, and our new (finally. God I hated our old camera) camera - so the file names are all varied and couldn't be sorted in the appropriate order. You'll also notice he has a lollipop in one of them. No, I haven't gotten totally lax in my second go-round of motherhood. :-) He had a stomach flu again, and was getting lethargic, wouldn't drink Pedialyte (and the strips I found pissed him off, and he'd gag), or juice, so the doctor's office recommended a small lollipop. Yeah, that worked! He loved it! I have to admit though, if I had to choose between Pedialyte and a lollipop, I'd take the lollipop too. Pedialyte is foul, even the flavored versions. Also, those of you with keen eyes will notice a picture of the kids in a kennel - there's a pill bottle at Oliver's feet. It was filled with screws, not pills (!), and he had a lot of fun shaking it - thank goodness for childproof caps!