Just hangin' out...

CRG and the doughboy

Last weekend we had our friend Chris and his girlfriend Katrena stay with us. One of their friends was getting married in the area, so they came to play with us! Aren't they so cute? =) Carrie quietly came up to me and said in a very small voice, "I wanted to marry Chris." I said, "oh sweetie, they're not going to THEIR wedding. They're going to a friend's wedding." She said, "so they're just friends?" I didn't dare tell her that they are dating...

And here Liam is helping me bake cookies for the kids at church. That rolling pin is HEAVY. Sometimes baking can be quite a workout!

We have a first grader now.

Here's Care Bear on her last day of Kindergarten. Her report card says she passed, so it's off to first grade next year. Wahoo!

Happy last day of school. Here's your toothbrush.

The kids have been terrible about chomping on their toothbrushes. I was telling Sharon about this and she suggested electric ones, because they'd be harder to bite. Brilliant! (Yes, I'm a little slow...) LOOK at these. The old ones I use for cleaning hard to reach places don't look this bad!

*shudder* I sure wouldn't want to put those in MY mouth...

So it was Spiderman to the rescue! The kids were absolutely thrilled. You'd have thought I'd given them solid gold. A ton of giggling and "that TICKLES" ensued and now they are so excited to brush their teeth. I can't wait to take them to the dentist in a few weeks and have Liam show off his Spiderman toothbrush...

Any number of things...

There are any number of things I could title this, but I'm going to save the fun words for the labels, since some of you apparently get such a kick out of that. *cough JEN* ;)

Yesterday we had our sweet neighbor Jeannine over for pizza for a multitude of reasons. We enjoy her company, her hubby's out of town, she watched the kids on Mother's Day, people have to eat dinner, etc. The kids scarfed through their pizza and started to run around. Then they played upstairs and gave a wonderful demonstration of what sounded like body slamming in the bedrooms above our heads. Our guest commented with a mix of apprehension and glee that, "it sounds like they're going to crash right through the ceiling!" Pretty close.

Once she shut the door behind her on her way home, the kids magically reappear on the landing wearing nothing at all. Not a single stitch of clothing. Not even socks. They asked, "where's Jeannine!?" and we mentioned that she had to go home. Then they announced, "we're playing bum tag. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Then they proceed to bump their naked bums together like athletes bump chests after a particularly spectacular play. Bum tag. Now I HAVE seen everything. Thankfully, dear Internet, you will be spared from seeing it as well. I have to draw the line somewhere. I figure the mental images y'all have will do quite nicely. ;)

They're at it again

HOW does our conversation at lunch always seem to revolve around this?

C: If you were a girl, you wouldn't have a penis. Girls just have private parts.
L: I'm Ruby. I'm a bunny. I don't have a penis.
C: Then what's that thing sticking out of your bum?
*Mama succumbs to hysterical silent sniggering*
L: Say "cuckoo" now.
C: No.
L: Now!
C: I'm not gonna say "cuckoo" ever again.
L: You're Max.
C: *scowling* Why does Liam get a bigger cookie?
M: It's not Liam's.
C: I'm going outside.

And people wonder why I'm crazy. If you don't have the script from every TV show they've ever watched, there's no way you can keep up with the dialogue...

Neighborhood news

The following was reported from our yard today. It was broadcast live, surprisingly not by WCNK but by WLAK as follows:

Hi Joe's mom! Hiiiiiiiiii Joe's mom! Hiiiieeeeee Joe's mom! Hi! Hiiiii! Hi!
*response from across an entire yard AND street, thus encouraging the dj*
Hi! We're having lunch outside! Hi! Hiiiiiiiii! Hi Joe's mom! Hi!
*repeat ad infinitum*

Post-horrendous grocery shopping experience in the company of two small children who shall remain nameless...

Mama: You know (insert nameless child #1 here), Mama lions eat their babies who don't listen.
Child #1: Is that true?
Mama: *slightest of hesitations* Yes. The Mama lion says, "that's it. I'm not putting up with it anymore." And she eats them. *another pause for effect* And they're not the only ones!

Crazy, Cutie Carrie

I think this was on Wednesday. She said a classmate has the same shirt, but that said classmate didn't even notice Carrie wore hers. I like it when she shows her stripes. Er, her animal colors. Er, her true self. Yeah, that's it... ? At any rate, isn't she a cute Care Bear? =)

In Need of a Hero?

Liam the Destroyer, at your service!

The Changing of the Guard

Lots of you know how attached Liam is to his giraffe boots. He has gotten compliments on them just about everywhere he's ever gone. He wears them inside and outside. He'd probably try to wear them to bed if he thought he could get away with it. Sadly, he's worn them out. You can see the lining pulling away from the outside of the boot, the scuff marks all over them, and the hole he's torn in the bottom of the sole. They're so beloved that he just can't part with them. I believe in the Velveteen Rabbit, and let me tell you, in some realm these boots have taken on life of their own:

So yesterday we went to Target and perused new boots. He kept getting distracted by the shovels, watering cans, and clogs. I had to wheel the cart into towels so we could talk about what we came for. Boots. Just boots. Do you want cows, dinosaurs, trucks, or frogs? You can see what he chose:

Look how shiny they are. Nothing will ever replace the giraffe boots, though. Just look at that sweet little face. Gonna miss those guys.

How does that song go? "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is (uh...) green and the other's gold!" =)

Mysteries

These have already made it onto the quote board, so they will be duplicated here down the road. However, they are too good to make you wait for them.

Fresh from this morning:

We were discussing how today Liam turns 3 and a half. I sang, "Happy half birthday to Liam" and explained how he was the same age as Nina.
Liam: You're forty-free.
Mama: I'm thirty-three. I'll be 43 when you're 13.
Carrie: I'll be dead by then.
Mama: No you will not! You'll be 15!
Carrie: Your mom will be dead.
Mama: Nuh uh. She WILL be an old lady. (thinking, "I better hush up right now...")

And aunt Lisa's already heard this one. Disclaimer for those of you who are more socially polite and discreet than the rest of us: you probably won't find this as hilarious as the rest of us!

At the dinner table two nights ago:

Liam: I wish I was a girl.
Carrie: I wish I was a boy.
(You can tell this is a recurring discussion around here, because I skip her comment to focus on his, which I haven't heard many, many times before.)
Mama: Why? Do you want to wear dresses?
Liam: No.
Mama: Do you want to wear tights?
Liam: No.
Carrie: If you were a girl, you wouldn't be able to play with your penis. You wouldn't have one. It would be gone.
Liam: My penis would be gone? (said in a wondering "what in the world would have happened to it" kind of voice, not a "ye gods what would have happened to it!?" kind of voice.)

I had to leave the room. I grabbed a marker and headed for the quote board and the next thing I heard was from Carrie; "Mama, why do you have your head on the wall? What are you writing?"

Breakfast of champions

I was thinking last night about how many cereals Liam doesn't call by their right name. Then I thought about how I haven't done very many posts on "Liamese" like I've done with Carrie-isms. So I'm going to fill you in on breakfast, brought to you by Liam, age almost 3 and a half:

Crackle pops= Rice Krispies
Cocoa pups= Cocoa Puffs
Meenie wheats= Frosted Mini Wheats
Peanut butter kix= Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch
Bee O's= Honey Nut Cheerios
Plain O's= Cheerios
Lellow and brown= Crispix

His favorite color is still yellow, so it goes to follow that his favorite flowers are dandelions and "daffodiws", which we have to say hi to everywhere we see them.

His favorite TV show is still "Lazytown" on Noggin, but he'd like to be a "LELLOW Sporticus" as opposed to blue Sporticus like the original (that, of course, is Carrie's domain).

His favorite underwear are his "blue Batmans" which are exactly like they sound- they are a deep blue with Batman on his bum and a tiny bat on his... well, you know.

He doesn't have a favorite sweet (though yellow lollipops are his favorite kind of lollipop), but surprisingly he wouldn't even try the lemon squares Dada made!

This kid only eats chicken nuggets and breaded fish where meats are concerned. He doesn't even like hot dogs. No burgers. Nothing from the crock pot. And bacon is still iffy. Good thing he likes peanut butter. He'd eat that on anything, I think...

His favorite fruit is still apples, which was his first word. He also likes grapes and mandarin oranges. No watermelon. No bananas. And he used to devour yogurt covered raisins but for some reason he's not even touching those now.

He gets frustrated with spaghetti but loves other, easier-to-stab noodles like ditalini (thank you SO much, MAS, for teaching me about ditalini in college), rotini, elbow macaroni, etc. He doesn't like mashed potatoes. What kid doesn't like mashed potatoes!?

He desperately wants to help make sugar cookies (solely because it'll mean smashing dough with cookie cutters) so I've promised that he can help next time I make them. Hmm. Maybe we should do that this week before it gets hot for the summer...

He will play with Play Doh all morning if I let him, though there will be a suspicious amount of confetti sized Play Doh ALL OVER HIM AND THE CHAIR AND THE FLOOR by the time he is finished.

He DOES NOT like getting water sprayed on him. See here:
http://kurthcorner.blogspot.com/2006/07/liam-was-not-pleased-with-beach-ball.html
Though he would stay in the bathtub forever if you let him. Doesn't even care when the water gets cold.

He'll be 3 and a half the last day of April. I can't believe it. My baby has turned into such a big boy. Feeling very bittersweet about that. Thankfully he still demands, "rock me like a baby", especially when he's wrapped in his towel after bathtime. He's all appendages and kissable cheeks. Hope you guys all get to know my SweetieBoy! =)

Motherlode

Once you see how long this new section is, you'll understand why I haven't blogged in forever. The camera card chip has so many pictures on it that they wouldn't even all load where I could see them, so I had to find a different application to get to them...

Anyway, enough excuses. Here you go- from the end of February through right now, this is life at The Best Nest! Enjoy!

Ever have one of those days?

This boy was being so ornery at the table that we turned his chair away from us so we wouldn't have to see him any more. We told him that we'd turn him around when he was quiet. Apparently all he'd needed was a nap. He was quiet, all right. He fell alseep, like this!

And kept sleeping when we moved him to here:

He was even still sleeping when I put him in the armchair. Then he was MAD when I woke him up for his bath! Proof we all need REALLY good naps every day!

My babies

Care Bear doesn't count as a baby, for those of you who were wondering. Firstly, she was hatched. Secondly, these two were born the same year and only differ in weight by, oh, 70 pounds or so...

March madness

My St. Patty's day greenies:

Care Bear as herself:

Her room. PLEASE do not tell me it looks like mine as a kid. I've already figured that out!

Just another moment of hilarity

I don't even remember what he'd done or said, but this boy makes me laugh until I cry. And it's contagious!

Care Bear's first concert

The principal introduced them as the class of 2021 and everyone in the audience just about fell out of their chairs. The kindergarten classes did 4 songs, with motions. It was pretty hilarious. Care Bear had a traveling itch (probably because she was wearing, you guessed it, a dress) and spent the entire 4 songs scratching various body parts mid-song. She'd saw away at one shin with the other booted foot first, then scratch her cheek, then scratch one forearm with her other hand, then bend down to work on the other shin, and followed it all with a grand finale of using both hands to scratch her torso. Her friend's mom and dad were in stitches, and you can just imagine how hard Dada and I and Grandma Barb and Pap were laughing. Naturally she'd end up in the front row to boot!

These are our beautiful friends Jillian and her mom Miss Suzanne. Liam calls her Mrs. Anne. Hehe! Jillian goes to school with Carrie and they live just down the street from us!

Carrie's rendition of Eric Carle's Multi-Colored Chameleon. They made them in art class and were displayed for the concert/ art night.