Political Halloween Cartoon

Quotes from Lizzie

I've been trying to savor my last few weeks/months of having a toddler, so much so that I've got Lizzie convinced that she's going to be a baby forever. Well, she will always be my baby. But anyway...she is coming out of her shell more, so I thought I'd share a few quotes from the past 3 days.



-In the checkout lane of the grocery store, she burst into loud song: "Cel-e-bra-tion - Come On!" (we had just listened to it in the car, as you are now if your sound is on) I never really thought Lizzie as being one to show off...but she sure did then!



-After she did the above, the Clerk tells her. "Wow, you sure are cute." Lizzie replies, "Yep, cuter than you are!" I about died of embarrasement...but the clerk just said, "You are right about that!"



-Erica's girl scout leader complimented us on our van, and Lizzie piped in, "Your car is dirty." Yikes! It was the truth though, I guess. I said, "Our car is dirty too, isn't it Lizzie?" Doh!

School projects and our house...

Fifth grade has brought an onslaught of "home projects" for Erin. She already had to do a volcano model. Her latest project had to do with earth forms and factors that change the earth. She chose to demonstrate how "people" change the earth. She ended up taking pictures around our house - at empty lots that had been excavated, digging that started for a house, houses that were just finished and the earth had been moved to prepare for landscaping, and finally a house with landscaping. She picked our house to demonstrate landscaping...the rock wall that we built, the rock berm that we did with the trees and shrubs we planted (which is still a work in progress), etc. So since I have a recent picture now, I just thought I'd share it here...the back of our house. (doesn't the deck stain look nice - thanks to Brian!)

Click photo to Enlarge




Now if only I had remembered to take a photo of the project before she turned it in.

The Pumpkin Patch

We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch last Saturday.  We decided to go early this time instead of waiting until the last weekend when it's cool, buggy, and no pumpkins are left.  :)  We even did the corn maze successfully and won a treat at the end. 

It appears the 6 year old may be taller than the 7.5 year old...but she had taller shoes...

Redoing the playroom...

A couple weeks ago we decided to have a garage sale.  In preparing for the garage sale, we decided to "gut" our toyroom.  Here is what it looked like last spring after we moved it...and it looked worse a month ago...

The first step was moving every single toy out of the toy room.  It completely inundated our family room/kitchenette area...along with boxes of clothes I was going through.  It was such a disaster, I had to capture it on the camera.

Here's a closer view.  What you can't see is all the barbie clothes and shoes, polly pockets clothes and shoes, brats clothes and shoes, baby doll clothes and shoes, etc. mixed inside the pile.  Now, they weren't in the toy room like that.  We had the girls dump out each of the individual totes into a pile because they needed sorted through anyway.

Then Brian finished the drywall in the playroom, and Kilz'd the cement walls, then painted everything.  He had installed some flourescent lighting to brighten up the room a couple months back.

Then Brian loaded up 10 garbage bags and boxes full of toys to take to the dumpster.  Only God and Brian knows what were in those boxes!  The rest he (and I helped a little after my garage sale project was over) weeded out and sorted into their appropriate containers again.  Barbies, Polly Pockets, Brats, Dolls, Loving Family pieces, Stuffed Animals (3 totes and 3 garbage bags), dress-up, Leap Pads,  etc etc.   I decided that we didn't need 65 barbies, so I weeded through and threw 25 away, gave 15 to Grandma and Grandpa's house, and kept the rest...  I think we have about 75 Polly's too, but we kept all those...they don't take up much space. :)

Anyway - here's what it looked like when we were through!  (there ARE toys on the shelves that we can't see in this pic - and they each have a bunch in their bedrooms)

 

An X-box, karoake machine, Star Station, V-Smile, 25 Barbies, 75 Polly's, 25 Bratz, 50 Baby Dolls, a stereo w/ DVD and VCR and 100+ movies, books, dollhouses, Zoobs, American Girl Dolls, play kitchen,  - what more could a girl want?

The door to the playroom says it all!

Erica's 6th Birthday

The Friday after Erica's birthday (9/9) we had a party where we invited all the girls in her Kindergarten class, plus a few other friends.  It was a Hannah Montana theme...they had lots of fun!

Dancing

The Hokey Pokey (put your head in!)

Limbo!

It wouldn't be a party without Daddy acting silly for the girls...

And for those who called Erica on her birthday, and heard the word "Zoobs" when you asked what she got for her birthday....THESE are Zoobs.  Emily put the purse together.

Lizzie's first day of preschool!

She started preschool last Wednesday.  She was so excited to go, and never looked back...she loves it!