Dressed for Success

In case you hadn't figured it out...

this kid picks out her own clothes.

Pumpkin Pickin

This past week has been intercession for our school system, which is another way of saying, "let's drive all the parents crazy and give the kids a random week off from school and throw everyone's schedule off kilter." (Except the teachers, they understandably call it heaven.) DM's office was also closed on Thursday because of the week-long holiday, so we had "Family Fun Day" and took the kids to a (somewhat) local mini-zoo and to the pumpkin patch.

Here's a picture to tide you over until I can add the rest of them.

The View from the Top

I talked to BigM this afternoon, after she and the Family had been to the top of the Washington Memorial. Apparently, it was so high she could "see the whole world."

Big Mouse takes D.C.

Bright and early Friday morning, BigM boarded a plane with Pop and Lolli to go visit my SIL (who now lives in DC.) Can you believe it? She's having a blast and we're enjoying pretending like LM is an only child. LM is missing her big sister something awful, and she woke up in the middle of the night screaming for her roomie. (Kind of brings a tear to your eye, too, huh?) Anyway, I am positive my family has taken lots more pictures of BigM sightseeing in the big city (hint, hint, SIL) and maybe they've even gotten one with her eyes open! (Although she did inherit the ability to close her eyes in almost every posed picture from her Daddy, so I'm not holding my breath.)We made them pinkie-swear-promise not to take her to the Zoo, because we want to do take both the girls when we head up there to visit SIL next summer, but everything else is fair game. So she better be able to tell me the names of all the past presidents, in order, and the basic functions of all the branches of our government. Get to work teaching her all that stuff before y'all return her on Monday, Family.

Not everyone is Princess material

BigM introduced me to LM, saying, "This is my sister: Snow White," and in response, LM said, "And dissis my sisser: Sweeping Booty."

Fit to Be Tied

BigM can tie shoes all by herself.
So Mrs. Mary Lynn and Mrs. Emily, you're off the hook from now on! (I will put her in more appropriate footwear for school.)

Apples and Oranges

My children think they are Princesses. (Of course they are. We're stating the obvious here.) BigM has known the names of the Disney Princesses for the last 2 years, but she has no idea there are no less than ten movies about said Princesses. Actually, that's not true, she has an inkling.

Last summer we went to the beach with my parents and while LM napped, BigM and I watched Cinderella with G-Pops. She loved it (although she did get a little bored during the middle, but then again, so did I.) So this summer at the beach, we tried The Little Mermaid because at the time, Ariel was her favorite Princess. Maybe you haven't watched it in a while, but within the first four minutes of the movie, Ariel and Flounder get caught up in a high-speed shark chase and when they narrowly escape and finally get home, she gets blessed out by her dad for missing the concert. We turned it off because it was "too scary." I thought I'd have to explain about the Crazy Octopus Lady but we didn't get that far.

Recently, I was channel flipping and saw that Snow White was on ABCFamily, followed immediately by Aladdin (my personal favorite.) I DVRed both of them, so excited because maybe, just maybe, I could get out of one afternoon Dora marathon. A few days ago, we tried Snow White...and guess what. Scary stepmother wants the hunter to kill her beautiful step-daughter, who gets lost in the wood and has to clean (eegads!) a dirty shack. About 20 minutes in, I asked BigM if she was enjoying the movie, she tearfully said, "No way, turn it off!" I asked her what she didn't like about it and she replied, "Those goblins are trying to steal all the crystals." No amount of explaining could convince her that was their job, to mine the diamonds so us April gals could have a little bling. We turned it off and started episode #1,253,425 of Dora.

Everyone says you shouldn't compare your kids, and I think I try really hard not to do that. However, my youngest child is enthralled by anything on t.v. She'll even watch the news, and she's not scared of a thing. A few weeks ago, BigM and I went to run errands, so LM was home with DM. I came home to find them watching King Kong. No kidding. LM sleeps with a stuffed gorilla who we call Junior, and while DM was flipping through the channels and she happened to see ole Kong on the screen and thought it was her buddy come to life. DM said she started crying to watch "Da Dune-yer Show" and wouldn't stop bawling until he let her watch it. So yeah, my two year old watched most of King Kong with her daddy. I don't even let her watch commercials. But as long as no one has nightmares about giant gorillas, I guess that's okay with me.