Getting bigger every day

Yes, she dresses herself. This girl is getting so big! I should take a picture of her in her swimsuit because she is absolutely all legs. This was taken before school one day this week.

And THIS monkey, (insert frustrated sigh here), is climbing everything. When met with a frantic, "no no nononononononooooooooooo!" from me or either of the big kids, he responds by throwing whatever forbidden object he'd been holding as far from him as possible. Usually it's not a huge deal. However, yesterday he was up on this chair (and no, it doesn't matter if we push them in or not, he'll just take the challenge if it's harder) and I'd left my 8 oz can of Pepsi on the counter. Because I never get to finish a drink. Or a meal. It's called being a mom. Anyway, I see him tentatively raising it to his lips, so I completely forget his usual reaction and sound off with the "no no no nonononononooooooooo!" while hurdling over every object in the living room to get it before he spills it all over himself. Naturally, he flings it to the ground, where it foams and fizzes and generally makes a wonderful, delightful, truly scientific mess all over our green carpet, the other chairs, the counter, etc.

This was two days AFTER I tried to grind coffee without inserting the filter OR the basket that catches the grounds. Um. Why is it that the coffeemaker beeps if you push "grind off" while the basket cover for the beans isn't inserted, but it apparently doesn't give any kind of darn whether or not you have the basket underneath to catch ANYTHING!? Clearly my husband does not work there in quality control. Thankfully I got to it before it added the water. Talk about a scientific mess. The big kids were delighted. I was not. But the kitchen smelled nice...

More colorful messes can be made my smashing Squid O's and decorating with them. What? You don't know about Squid O's? That's because one, they're from Aldi, and two, they have a sting ray on the box. However, at first Liam announced they were Squid O's. Then when he looked closer he realized it was a sting ray. That just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Even Triskal likes Squid O's. And I am convinced they had nothing to do with the fact that she threw up this morning. Outside. I got one thing right this week- yay, me!

Liam's first missing tooth

Liam pulled his own first loose tooth out after a lot of persuasion. It wiggled front to back, side to side, and you could see the root clear down into his gum. FINALLY, that bugger is out and was deposited safely under his pillow.

The next morning, he awoke to a note from the Count from Sesame Street! It read:

THANK YOU FOR THE ONE SHINY TOOTH, HA HA HA!

HERE ARE TWO SHINY QUARTERS!

SIGNED, THE COUNT 1 2 3

Liam was flabbergasted. "IIIIIIIIIIIII didn't know the Count took teeth! Do you think he'll show up on Elmo with my tooth?"

Dear me, what have we done?

A little of this, a little of that...

He thinks he's so smart. ;)

Those are supposedly size 4T jammies from Grandmama. The pants are way too long and the shirt barely fits around his belly. Those ARE size 4T feet, I think!

This guy was watching the neighborhood. It was one of these crazy warm days we've had this month, and there were kids out everywhere and lots of dogs being walked. Not sure what this particular watching bird was watching for, but he sure had lots to watch. Carrie walked right under him and didn't even see him. ;)

Yes, he is sticking crayons in the back of the basketball hoop. May I point out that he is not eating them or drawing on the wall (again)?

Cookin' up some fun

Carrie asked me what had gotten into me because I'd been baking like nobody's business. I think we made three batches of chocolate chip cookies in a row and followed it up with banana bread, and that's not counting whatever I'd been whipping up for my moms' Bible study more often than not. I just felt like cookies! Liam always asks to help, and this particular time he was home from school and we didn't need to be anywhere, so help he did. Looks like he enjoyed himself. Perhaps because he knew he'd be reaping the rewards?

And perhaps I shouldn't have gone crazy baking when I knew the Girl Scout cookies were incoming? Eeeeeeeeep!