My Little Artist Wonders

"Daddy Jump Roping" Sammie Age 3

"Ariel When She is a Human" Sammie's Art Age 3

My little girls never cease to amaze me with their artistic abilities. They LOVE to draw and will sit forever at the table creating these make believe worlds. Then they cut everything out and play with it. Sammie is getting really good now. Just a few months ago she would say, "I don't draw. I only scribble," and she would happily scribble away. She never pretended that her scribbles were in fact a real image. If you would ask what her picture was of she would respond, "It's just scribbles." Sammie has always had her older sister to look up to when it came to art and she could tell that her pictures definitely weren't resembling anything. So one day just a few months ago I showed her how to draw a person. Now she draws and draws and attempts other things as well. Yesterday she drew a really cute looking house. She still gets frustrated because she knows her pictures don't look as good as her older sisters even though I tell her that I don't know of any 3 year old that draws as well as her. Poor little girl will always be playing catch up.

Olivia's pictures are getting so detailed. Olivia's Art age 6 "Ariel, Aurora, Belle Mulan"

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

She is 6 months today! How about a little rice cereal and pears?

Wedding Day Thoughts

This morning Olivia was happily drawing wedding pictures. Pictures of Sammie's wedding, Abigail's wedding, and her own wedding. On her own picture she drew a jubilant groom who was jumping in the air.
"Look mom, the groom is jumping. He's just really happy," Olivia showed me.
"He looks really happy. He should be if he is getting married," I said.
She went on, "Well actually, he's just really excited to kiss alot."

I had a REALLY hard time keeping a straight face for that one. Well, she got that right for sure.

I'm envious

of these beautiful dark lashes and all those darling little freckles. I love my Sammie.

Ouch!

If I was only wearing one it would look like I had some kind of injury on my ankle, but it's both ankles and so it looks like I am trying to make a horrible fashion statement. Especially with the completely worn and dirty running shoes. I have tendonitis in both of my ankles. Word to the wise: Don't walk around all day in flip flops at Disneyland.

Olivia and Sammie were arguing this morning. They made up fairly quickly after this sign was posted by one of the two. I won't name any names, but only one knows how to write. Everyone has been on edge lately. It is mostly my own fault because I have been on edge the past couple of weeks. I did something to my knees and ankles and I'm in a lot of pain. I ignored the initial pain which was a bad idea and it has just gotten worse. I've been to the doctor and we are waiting on some tests though my x-ray was normal. I just really don't like not feeling well and it's been a challenge trying to care for everyone and trying to rest, therefore the house is a disaster. Frustrating. I'm hoping for some relief, but I'm trying my best to be patient so that I can heal properly.

What smart People Do

Olivia came into my room early one morning and she had a chapter book. She had it opened and said,

"I'm just reading this in my head. That's what smart people do. They don't say the words. I'm just really smart so I can read in my head."

Olivia had her parent/teacher conference yesterday and she is doing so great. I'm really proud of her. I asked her teacher how her behavior was because she had quite a bumpy road the first few months of kindergarten. Her teacher's eyes got really big and she gasped, "No! Olivia is a model student. I just can't believe that she would ever have trouble in school! I can always count on her and point her out as doing what everyone should be doing." Phew. I really love Olivia's teacher this year. She is so positive all the time and sees the good in each child. Olivia has really started to blossom as a student and loves school now. She has a great class of kids too. It has been great to watch Olivia mature and gain confidence. She is so thoughtful and she has so many things about her that I wish I were better at. I love this girl!

She seemed lonely...

so I gave her a friend to sleep with. She plays with her and cuddles her and then falls asleep. Yawn...

"Trick-or-treat. Smell my feet..."

Olivia learned the "smell my feet" thing at school from one of her friends. She sang it all month long. I wonder how long that song has been around. It gets passed along each year to new ears and they think that no one has heard it before and so they sing and sing and sing and laugh and laugh and laugh while we've all heard it before. The girls got waaay too much candy on their trick-or-treat spree, (and from the trunk0or-treat too) but had so much fun doing it. Sammie was able to keep up much better this year. I laughed as she held up her Snow White dress when she ran across everyone's lawns. So princess like :) Last year I remember her holding onto her witch hat while running from house to house. When the bag got too heavy she just ran up and got the candy and then put it into the bag that I was now carrying. I saw one family that had a wagon for all of the candy when the bags got too heavy. Great idea...wait!!! If I ever get to the point where I need a wagon for all of the sweet stuff, I think we will just head home instead. We tried to just head home and the kids couldn't resist "just one more house" and so the candy bags filled and filled and now it is everywhere!

Olivia looked so pretty in her costume. I got some really cute pictures of Abby and Sammie in their costumes, but Olivia wasn't in the mood at the time. Too bad...she looked adorable. My kids were exhausted when we got home and they still fought going to sleep, except for Abby. Happy Halloween! We should be able to make an awesome gingerbread house with all of this candy.