yay for poop

Q's reward for pooping on the potty - ice cream!  

It would have been easier to just change the diaper.

awfully good

The other day Haley was mentioning that she wanted to have her hair dyed a natural red.  Having been a natural of whatever comes out of the bottle of dye for years, I laughed at her and told her that was an oxymoron.  You can't dye your hair anything natural.  Eric thought the word oxymoron was great.  His ears perked up and he asked me if I had coined the term.  I told him no I had not, but I thought how awesomely rad that would have been if I had.

There was a time in high school, years and years ago, that Shelle (my sister) and her friend had come up with a catchy little comeback of sympathy to show that they were really listening to you and felt deeply your pain and suffering, or they would just say this whenever they felt like it.  For example, say I came home from a basketball game and we had lost.  I would maybe be telling my mom about the game and Shelle would be listening to me.  I would soon hear AH, BRR BRR!! escape her lips.  Oh, Shelle, how lovely those words of love are to remember.  They still bring comfort.  The funny part, kids all over the school started saying it.  A brr brr here and a brr brr there, everywhere a brr brr!  It was so wonderful.

I do want to send out a loud AH, BRR BRR!  It's really too bad it didn't stick - like the likes of: like, or cool, or awesome, or even, gag me.  Who knows, maybe one of these days one of us will be lucky enough to come up with a word that will enter the English language.  I just hope it's as dope as oxymoron.

natural brunette - natural blonde

5th grade bike hike

 

FIFTH GRADE BIKE HIKE

Average temperature was between 50 and 55 degrees.

It was cloudy, but there was no rain.  We got very lucky.

It took us about 40+ minutes to ride approximately seven miles.

The river at Side Cut Park was overflowing.  There were benches under water.

Adults ride bikes in a straight line - 5th graders do not.

There were two flat tires.

One kid fell off his bike.

The kid in front of me said his bum hurt and thought it would feel better to sit on one foot while riding his bike.  I wasn't convinced this would help the situation.

One kid thought using his feet as brakes were better than using the actual brakes on his bike.  His shoes showed that this was not the first time he has used this technique.

I stayed far enough away from Eric that one child asked me if I had all girls.

One kid fell down and skinned her knee on our "hike".

One girl happened to show me her key to her bike lock.  About 15 minutes later a park ranger came up to me and asked if anyone had lost a key.  He had found one in the bathroom - it was her key.  Sometimes luck is on your side!

One kid stopped the entire procession because of a charley horse - no kidding.

We had a police escort.

Eric's favorite part was playing kickball.

My favorite part was seeing new parts of the park I had never seen before.

It was an overall wonderful day.

eric and the rain

 The rain this spring has been absolutely unrelenting!!  I have never in my life experienced anything even remotely close to this much rain.  I feel like we are going to float away.  The storms we had yesterday have turned some lawns in our neighborhood into swimming pools.  It's crazy!  It made Mimi a little nervous.  She thought we needed to head to the basement for safety.  She was worried about tornadoes.  I let her watch the news to reassure her that the tornadoes were not close to us, and that if they were, we would hear the sirens letting us know that we needed to take cover.  You could tell she was still worried.  I felt a little sorry for her.  Even with all the storms we still made it to Eric's honor's night.  

The kids in the picture were obviously not ready yet for the photo.  I took other pictures that turned out better, but this one made me laugh.  Mrs. Virost is acting all sneaky in the back.  Brock is standing next to Eric and he looks like he is blowing away a burp.  I have no idea what happened to Collin's face.  It looks like I smudged it out.  And Eric is dutifully staring straight ahead when it looks like half of the other kids are paying attention to something that has happened behind him.  Kids are the best, and these kids are some of the best of the best!!

P.S.  During the torrential downpour and the tornado watch, Haley decided it would be a nice day to walk home from school.  Needless to say, she was a little wet when she got home.  This is the ONLY day this year she has walked home on her own volition.  

why the long trapezoid, quinny?

Ever since Quinn was very little she would make this face when she cried.  When Eric was learning a little geometry at school, he made the observation that her mouth was in the shape of a trapezoid.  So, when Quinn was around six months old, the phrase why the long trapezoid was born. 

Why the long trapezoid this morning?  Well, it seems we are having some issues about what we can and cannot eat for breakfast, and this morning Quinny wanted Marshmallow Supremes to start off her day.  This is not the breakfast of champions.  I said no and out came the trapezoid.

Notice her pjs?  I often wonder what she is doing at night in her room that is completely void of anything.  She has a tendency to troll around in there for a LONG time before she falls asleep.  Last night it seems she found her leotard and a pair of capri pants.  She put them on over her pjs.  She thought she was very clever.

mom's lesson #11

Hey kids (I'm talking to you, Mia),

always start your day with a healthy breakfast.

I'm totally cool with these choices.

 Cheerios are good and bananas are great!

 Please rethink these options.  They are not breakfast foods.

claire's day

Claire's Day 2011

"Claire’s Day is a free family book festival held annually in honor of Claire Lynsey Rubini. Claire loved to read, tell stories, dance and make crafts. You can do all of these things and more during this special day."

 We have enjoyed Claire's Day many times over the years!  Quinny made it a little tough this year to listen to any of the authors, which is one of my favorite things to do, but we still had fun doing crafts and walking around.

 The authors/illustrators visit the local schools the day before the festival.  They read, speak, and often demonstrate their drawing abilities.  I have been able to hear them on many occasions.  It is wonderful!  The talent is so amazing!  Then, on the day of the festival, all the books they have written and/or illustrated are there to purchase and have signed.  Pretty cool!

 The girls got to make these little hats as well as arrange flowers.  It was all free!

 The creativity didn't end at the festival.  When we were leaving, I saw that the car parked next to us had a missing windshield wiper.  They MacGyvered that problem with a handy little kitchen sponge!

About Claire

"Claire Lynsey Rubini danced in this world from May 24, 1990 to July 6, 2000.

During the short ten years she was with us, she delighted all with her impish ways,  big smile, creativity and feisty spirit.

The oldest of Brad and Julie Rubini’s three children, she took her role of big sister seriously, enjoying telling her siblings what to do, and always concocting fun games to play whether while basking in the sun, or inside on a rainy day.

Claire was always tall and thin, and according to her a childhood friend, “had great hair”, which true to her colorful flair, she often would fill with a variety of barrettes and pony tails.

She loved to dance, sing loudly, play with friends, and tried her best at softball (getting her first hit the summer before she passed away), swimming and telling stories.  Her younger sister Kyle was always in tow, and she often liked to pick fights with her younger brother Ian.  Claire loved her family camping adventures and traveling to different states. She always enjoyed family gatherings, and loved her cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.  Favorites included the color purple, and her mom’s homemade “pesto pasta.”

Claire loved her teachers at Fort Miami elementary in Maumee, as they loved her.  Always responsible, she was thrilled to have been chosen to be a captain of the safety crossing guards during what was to be her fifth grade year.  She was involved in scouting activities from an early age, and played the violin, although she didn’t like practicing!

She had a passion for reading from a young age, fueled by weekly trips to the library. Her little bag would sag from the number of books she brought home to enjoy. Claire would often try to get out of chores due to being caught up in a book, and some times ate dinner a little late so that she could read “just one more page.”  She often read to her younger siblings, and due to her love for the then newly published Harry Potter series, encouraged family and friends to read the stories as well.

Throughout the years she loved the Babar stories, Amelia Bedelia and Babysitter’s Club series, and the fun Shel Silverstein poems.  Works of non-fiction interested her as well, especially biographies and stories of children that lived in different countries.

Claire’s spirit for fun and her passion for life and reading shine on in her tribute, Claire’s Day, created in her honor by her loving family."

wasting time

There was about a five second lull in the the rain yesterday, so while we had a showing for the house, we were able to go to the park instead of our usual hideout, McDonald's.  Actually, truth be told, I had already been to McDonald's.  Quinny and I had shared an ice cream sundae after I finished cleaning the house.  I really didn't want to go back.  If you can believe it, I am getting sick of McDonald's (a little).  It has rained so much that every time we have a showing we end up there because it has a place to play.  Quinn isn't complaining, or the other kids.  I, on the other hand, would rather go to the park.  It was a bit soggy, which caused some soggy pants after going down a wet slide, but it was all worth it.

 Haley was very nice to push Q on the tire swing.  She loved it!!  Q is fearless!  "Higher, higher!!"

The dandelions are everywhere!  They are so cute when they are little and yellow, but when they turn, ugh.  It kind of reminds me of a cute little toddler that turns into a bucky-toothed sassypants right around age 7 or so.  Please Mia, don't turn into a weed!  You are such a cute little dandelion!!  I am so glad that sassypants stage doesn't last forever.  Thank goodness they (the kids) turn back into flowers.  Too bad for the dandelions, they don't.

note to self

I promise this is the last trip down memory lane (for now anyway).  When I found this index card in my box of miscellaneous keepsakes, I knew why I had saved it.  It was just as funny to me today as it was March 2, 2006, when I found it in Haley's backpack.

 What on earth did Dillon do to cause such wrath?

Haley's 5th grade picture.  

Haley's 6th grade picture.  She lost the glasses and gained braces, but still, what a difference a year makes!!