Kindergarten Screening

Elisabeth took Mark and I on a walk down the road yesterday to her new school, where she had an appointment for Kindergarten screening!

We walked in and immediately met her new teacher, Miss Mason. Miss Mason is exactly what I would have asked for in a teacher, had I been given the choice. She is cute, young, very caring, and is obviously loved by the other parents, as we heard things like "Oh honey, you've got Miss MAAAASON! That's who your big brother Johnnnnny had!" while we were there yesterday. And according to her facebook profile picture (which I did NOT purposely stalk out. Okay, I did. Can you blame me? I just wanted to make sure she wasn't a total wacko!) she likes to accessorize with cute green scarves and she drinks Starbucks iced coffees. I'm liking her better by the minute!

So Miss Mason took Elisabeth into her new classroom and quizzed her on her numbers, letters and shapes. Elisabeth got to see a lot of cool things like brand new crayons and pencils in her new classroom. She also got to check out her very own locker, which already has her name on it! (darnit! I said I wasn't going to get choked up again, and here I am, getting choked up.)

Mark and I stayed behind and filled out paperwork. One of the forms asked what the primary means of getting home from school would be, and out of six boxes, I checked three. That's right, three. The administrator came over and as I joked about my not having the ability to check one, she joked even harder and said "Ah, I see we have an overachiever here!"

My reply: "I would be more likely to call myself an indecider than an overachiever. Do you want me to start over and fill out a new sheet with just the primary means?"

Her response (with a friendly smile): "Oh, NO! I'm going to keep this and give it to Miss Mason. She'll get a real kick out of it!"

Great. I've already got a reputation, and school hasn't even officially started yet!

Anyway, Elisabeth did great. She came back out with Miss Mason and looked so happy and excited. AHHH. What a sigh of relief! And she proudly came home wearing her special nametag:




Gosh I love this kid! Don't tell her I figured it out, but I think she might love us too. :)

If not ballerina, then future model?

Elisabeth is developing a serious love for the camera, both in front of and behind the lens. I think I'm going to start posting some of the shots that she has taken. Some of them are actually very impressive. But for now, let me share with you some of her modeling shots.

These may very well make it into a portfolio someday her wedding day slideshow. That is if Mark ever lets her get married. Which would first require her to start dating, and the verdict is still out on whether he will let that happen either.

These pictures were taken by moi during a visit with Mark's parents. My in-laws. The best in-laws a woman could ask for (since you asked).

You're welcome.

Elisabeth suddenly decided it was time for her to strike a pose and yelled:

MOM! Quick! Take this picture! It'll be weally gweat.

So I did.


And then she switched poses and asked me to take another. So I did.

She even thought to pull a chair out of the dining room as a prop.

Is she cute or WHAT?!!?

Soccer practice. Take 2

You will be happy to know that I remembered to charge my camera battery for Elisabeth's soccer practice this time! I am so glad I did, because I was able to get some really cute pictures of...um (Really! I purposely brought it to take pictures of Elisabeth this time. Just you wait.)...Sydney with her Grandpa L. (aka, GuhGuh).

Pardon the haze in the pictures. It was so humid on this spring day that the lens had a foggy film on it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it off! Anybody know how to fix that?
I was able to get some great pictures of Sydney with her Grandma L. (also aka GuhGuh) as well.

Future gardener? (Or landscaping thief?)

And you'll be happy to know I took some great pictures of our energetic Elisabeth too!

Elisabeth appears to be enjoying soccer this year. She is much more active than last year. If you don't believe me, check out the first picture in this post, which gives you an idea of how last year's drills went down. This year appears to include much more running and kicking the ball. And many more smiles.

There is still something so appealing about that net I guess!

We have a couple more practices left. So far I haven't heard a single complaint about soccer. I guess my ballerina is not meant tutu be. (chuckle chuckle) And that's totally fine. It shows us that Elisabeth is becoming eager to learn, is willing to try and is capable of making her own decisions.

As an added bonus it gives me the prestigious Soccer Mom title I love so much!

Brush your teeth!

Brush teeth every night before bed? Yeah, we do that.




Although...now that I look at these pictures I can see quite clearly how Elisabeth got that cavity.

And in case my children aren't enough of a reminder, here is the Sesame Street gang performing in a pageant about oral hygiene, produced by Bert. (And don't ask me what the first split second is all about - perhaps some kind of subliminal message from the 70's?)



I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I love me some Prairie Dawn. She cracks me up!

Beads Baubles and Bows

Material girl.

Accessories included.

A father's love (for one of two).

Small packages.

Baby curls included.

What more could a person ask for on Mother's Day?

First Day of Soccer!Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Today was Elisabeth's first day of soccer! She's very excited to be playing soccer with her church friends again, and I must say she's made a remarkable improvement since last year, as evidenced by this photo taken approximately one year ago.
I am also excited to officially be titled a "Soccer Mom" again, because with this impressive title comes the gift of being organized in life all while having fun with the kids! I gathered our gear, which now includes 3 soccer balls, and headed out the door to pick up the girls at daycare. I couldn't wait to show you pictures of Elisabeth's soccer practice, so I made sure to pack my camera as well.

When Elisabeth and I arrived in Sydney's room, we were greeted by three little girls with the cutest matching hairdos I have ever seen! Sydney and her friends Abby and Sydney (#2, of course) were all treated by Miss Vanessa to a day at the baby salon. Apparently when Miss Vanessa started doing one girl's hair earlier in the day, the other two lined up grunting asking to have theirs done as well! So when I saw the three of them, I ran out to the car to grab my camera. This was one memory that could not be missed. After all, this was the first time I had ever seen Sydney #1 (or #2. Or Abby.) in pigtails, and oh what a sweet site it was to me.

Sydney is on the right. And the left. But ours is the one on the right. Abby is in the middle, in case you weren't sure. Sydney #1 is crying because she didn't want to sit - she wanted her mommy! Which is also why the photo is a bit blurry. I had a very short window of opportunity here. Don't they look like triplets?

Just for fun, here are two more pictures from the evening. Some of you may know that Sydney's pet name is "the live-in raccoon" which we chose because we felt it was slightly cuter than calling her our "human garbage disposal". Well my friends, the proof is in the pudding meat. Do you see how her cheek is already filled and she's ready to insert the next piece? Thatta girl!

And Mark has commented that my girls are turning into their mother (more on this later) - here is one of Sydney snapping away just like her momma does. Elisabeth was doing this too. I love it!



What? You want to know where the pictures of Elisabeth's soccer practice are? Oh. Well, this totally organized soccer mom forgot to charge the batteries for the camera. I ran out right after taking pictures of the triplets. Score one for mom.

God Bless the Neighbors the Beer and the Rainbow Play System

What started out as a simple Friday night out at McDonalds,

and playing for free on a bunch of fancy swingsets,

later turned our backyard into a huge party, starting with a sea of wood.

Thankfully, we are blessed with 5 sets of great neighbors. Also thankfully, beer works on men as a dangling carrot does on rabbits.


Similarly, a slightly constructed playset works on children much like that dangling carrot!
I will stop to tell you that once the playset reached this point my stomach sank. You see it in the picture above? It was literally taking up the entire yard. The entire yard! Okay, fine... It only took up close to the entire yard (I'd like to say that I never ever ever exaggerate, but that would be an exaggeration).

So after asking the men repeatedly what my options were and hearing that I had a whopping no options, we decided to chop down our baby tree. This was, as you saw in an earlier post, slightly difficult for me and extremely difficult for Elisabeth. In any case, here are some pictures of the tree-chopping incident that are sure to put a smile on anyone's face:

I'm no expert here, but I think there may have been some kind of display of testosterone going on during the battle with the tree which at the moment, appears to be winning.

Ahh, yes. An axe! I've heard that helps when chopping a tree down. At this point I stopped taking pictures of the tree incident. You're welcome. But you'll be happy to know that the tree did in fact succumb to the men and the axe.

Day 2 started with a bit of very sweet father-daughter bonding, which Elisabeth loved.

Look carefully at the picture above. How much work do you think is actually being done? This picture was taken shortly after I brought out the cooler of beer for my beloved neighbors and husband. They quickly sprung to "action" when they saw the camera aimed at them. It was too funny to not share with you. Hope they don't mind.

Check it out! We're so close to being done! The kids had a blast testing everything out as soon as they could. Even the neighborhood ghost got in on some swing action.

Finishing touches for the day, before the rain started (which by the way, has not let up since! I think we have been able to play on the swingset twice.)

Once the rain started, we all came inside and enjoyed a celebratory bratwurst dinner. We were also rewarded with a very entertaining fashion show! Here is one of the samples, which will be in stores next season. Giggle giggle.

The finished product, minus a few details that we hope to take care of next weekend. As long as Mother Nature cooperates. Maybe I should have titled this post "April showers bring May play towers" (Hey - I tried.)

We are truly blessed to have so many great neighbors. It's nice that what could be considered a daunting task was actually fun!

Happy Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day, we chopped down a tree:

To say the least, our sweet sensitive Elisabeth was upset about it. I had my moments too, but it had to be done.

The good news is that this company is planting 5 trees for every 1 tree they harvest.

And boy-oh-boy does their harvested wood look good in our backyard!

I will post pictures of the swingset being put together in a bit. It was a complete neighborhood event, and was so much fun! Aside from the tree being cut down of course.

It's all fun and games...

Well, Elisabeth has finally gotten her first black eye. You should see the other guy.

We ate pancakes for dinner at church on Fat Tuesday -- and perhaps it was all the sugar, or maybe just the excitement of eating in a church, or just trying to get it all out of her system before Lent starts -- but our little angel was playing with her friend Eric (while the grownups sat in another room and chatted), and apparently the two gave each other a pretty decent "head butt". Being a total trooper, Elisabeth wiped her tears and continued to run around the church. Until we started to notice that the red cheek we assumed was from all of the chasing was starting to turn black. Upon closer inspection of what we then assumed was merely a dirty face we discovered a nice little black egg on her cheekbone. It's lovely. Today it's spread to under her eye. I wonder what tomorrow holds?

And for all of you insiders that know about my Mama Mia's accident: Elisabeth's very first question after the pancake incident? "Is my chin turning black too?"