Painting Shirts at the Library!

We went out to lunch and to the library on Monday to paint shirts with our playgroup. We love the this library and the kids had to make a stop to check out the animals before the crafts of course. The kids had lots of fun and got very messy. For some unknown reason, the library coordinator thought it would be a good idea to tell the kids they could take off their shoes and walk through the paint and dip their hands as well. In paint. Fabric paint. Permanent fabric paint. Nice. So I brought home 2 kids with green and yellow feet and orange hands. Needless to say, it was straight into the tub for them. I'm still trying to wipe up paint remnants from the bathtub. I had intended to take pictures of them actually creating their shirts but they were so messy that I never got a chance. Oh well, so here are the before and after shots. :)

Story Hour!

We went to the library yet again today. Emma loves that place. Today was the family storyhour and craft. This was the first session we have gone to of this program and, oh my goodness, was it busy! I heard the library workers doing a head count so they could set up the craft stations and they were at 68 children!!! Wow. That's a lot of prep work, patience, supplies, and organization for a free program. Emma was a little intimidated by the crowds and preferred to stay on my lap today, but she seemed to enjoy the "Under the Sea" theme. Mikayla came with us too and she liked playing uninterruptedly on the computer for 45 minutes! Emma's friend Samantha and her mom Heather and baby brother Carson came to meet us as well and the girls enjoyed making oysters together. I was just surprised that the library staff was going to allow this many kids to paint in the children's room. There was a lot of mess to clean up afterwards. Our girls actually did well and had very minimal mess and Heather had baby wipes so it was pretty successful.
Then I took Mikayla and Emma out to lunch and with me to run some errands. We finished up the afternoon with a stop at the local produce stand where we got TONS of fresh fruits and veggies. I came home and chopped them all up and we had a "salad bar" for dinner! Emma loved the produce stand. She just ran around asking me, "How bout this Mommy? How bout some pears Mom? How bout some apples Mom? I NEED oranges Mom!" Too cute!

Eco-Story Hour!

We went to the eco-family story hour this morning at the library. Matthew, TJ, Mikayla, and Uncle Todd came too and some of our friends also met us there. In keeping with the eco-theme, this story hour is held outside in the courtyard and always has an animal/nature/environment theme. Today the kids learned about water holes and how animals gather around them to survive. Then they got to make "water holes" out of recycled CDs with little paper animals all around. We finished up the morning with a visit to check out all the animal displays (of course) and sat in the children's area to read quite a few books. These kids LOVE the library.

Marshmallows at Sophia's House!

We went over to Erin, Chris, & Sophia's house last night to play. They have little pool in the backyard and Emma really liked that. I guess it was just her size, even though the water was pretty cold. Then more people came and the kids all had fun playing dress up and coloring. Emma got to be a princess and then a firefighter. That's right... gender equality around here! Erin & Chris have a fire pit in the backyard & Emma enjoyed roasting her own marshmallow to make a s'more. In fact, I think she liked making it more than she liked eating it. She had been a bit of a pill all day so, by the time she had a few bites, she looked at me and said, "I made a smore Mom. Now I'm done. I'm tired & I wanna go home." So home we went. We didn't stay too late but we had a good time while we were there!

Musings of a Midget...

In an effort to preserve her thoughts for posterity (and potential future blackmail), here are some more excerpts from my recent conversations with Emma...
#1) Is an apple a day REALLY a good idea???
Emma has been VERY into all things princess lately and one of her current favorite movies is Snow White. So I was watching it with her the other day and Emma became quite concerned when Snow White ate the poison apple and died...
Emma: What happened to Snow White?
Me: She ate the apple and died?
E: The apple killed her?
M: Yes. (as I think to myself about that damn prince that will be coming soon and how I'm supposed to explain the finality of death versus sleeping till a prince awakens you...)
E: So the witch gave her an apple and she died?
M: Yes, the apple was poisoned.
E: So she bited the apple and it made her die?
Me: Yes, the witch gave her an apple and she bit it and she died.
* At this point there is a loonnng thoughtful pause from Emma, where you can practicially see the gears processing in her head.... After about two minutes,
E: Hmmm... T.J. likes Apples.
M: (non-committal nod, as I process what she just said) Whaa-???
Emma (with a big smile): I like oranges and neck-a-reens (nectarines)!
I'm not quite sure what to make of this conversation... Was it a smile of relief that she feels safe in her fruit choices? Or an impish smile as she plans to give her cousin an apple the next time he tries to take a toy away? Either way, it was funny to watch her process this!

#2: Princess Digestive Ailments...
We went to Disneyland last week and Emma got a new toy (surprise, surprise). This time she chose a princess doll (again, surprise, surprise). This is actually a pretty cool doll though in that it is Snow White but, if you flip her upside down and fold her skirt back over her head, the doll is now the evil queen. It reminded me of a doll I had when I was little that was also 2-sided and was Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. So the reminiscent quality of it could explain why I was willing to fork over the bucks for it when I am not normally a big doll person.
So Emma loves this doll and has been carrying it around and sleeping with it for the past week. Everyone came over for the 4th of July and Emma needed to immediately show off her doll to Katie and Lucy. She took them in the room and said "See? She's Snow White!" Then she proceeded to flip the doll over and exclaim, "And look! She has an evil queen up her butt!" Oh great. That's a wonderful way to describe your princess, Emma! And, if I'm not mistaken, Karen might have had something to do with accidentally introducing that colorful phrase into the children's lexicon... As Katie & Lucy attempted to stifle their giggles, T.J. came running in and announced to the room, "But I do NOT have an evil queen up in MY butt!" This just set the girls off again. Funny, funny kids who have no idea what they are actually saying!

Happy Independence Day!!!

We celebrated at home today with family, swimming, and a barbecue! We all had a great time and the food was delicious ~ ribs, chicken, beans, pasta salad, and corn on the cob. Yum. Grandma & Al were here, along with Uncle John, Tim, Jen, Katie, Lucy, Bubby, Scott & Matthew, Karen, Todd, Kayla, & TJ, Emma & myself.
Emma gave me a bit of a scare as I was worried she was coming down with some sort of stomach bug, but she is doing fine now. She got sick twice in the middle of the night last night and it continued through the morning. But her behavior was fine so, after a bit more investigation, I've decided to rule it a case of soap "poisoning!" Just think... the little kid on "A Christmas Story" knew what he was talking about all along. In this case anyway, Emma keeps trying to drink bath water at night and I am forever and a day yelling at her to "Stop drinking butt water!" which she thinks is hillarious. Well, last night she got a brand new bottle of bubble bath and we used quite a bit. There were TONS of bubbles and I think she may have ingested quite a few and, thus, today's stomach woes.
So, between baths, bedding changes, cooking, and very little sleep, I realized I had not taken a single picture for the 4th of July. I quickly snapped these as we were getting the kids out of the pool after their final swim of the day.
I was feeling a little bad that we didn't go anywhere to see fireworks, but it turned out to be a blessing. We could see some far off ones from our street but, when I tried to take Emma outside to watch, she flipped out. Turns out she is still not a fan. But we could see the University of Redlands display from my bedroom window, so we watched from there and that seemed to be more comfortable for her.
It turned out to be a great day celebrating with family. We are so lucky to live in a country that affords us such freedoms and liberties. Thank you to all the service men and women ~ past, present, and future~ who have sacrificed to secure these for us.

Disneyland in Summer!

We went to Disneyland yesterday with Grandma and had a lot of fun! It was a last minute decision to go, so we didn't head out there till late morning, which meant it was pretty hot by the time we got out there. There were also quite a few people there and we usually don't go when there are crowds, so that took some acclimating. We wanted to get there and get our passes renewed before they did the annual price increase though. Emma finally got to meet Mickey and the fairies, so the day was a success! She has been so insistent on needing to see Mickey and telling me how she is not scared of him anymore. Then we got into his house and she changed her mind. Emma informed me today that its was because she was "scared of hims giant gloves!" Interesting... Emma also wore her handmade Minnie dress yesterday and people LOVED it. I got so many compliments and people asking if I had made it. Yeah, right!