"PLEASE stop taking pictures of the television"

Daughter got a camera for Christmas.  And she loves it.  She takes pictures of anything.  ANYTHING.  But her favorite thing to take pictures of ... the television.  Seriously,  The television.

In an attempt to broaden her horizons, the two of us took a trip to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and the Birmingham Zoo ... armed with nothing but our water bottles and cameras.  She must have taken over 100 pictures at the Gardens but by the time we got to the zoo the picture fun was over.  It was the first time ever it's just been the two of us alone at the zoo.  And she took full advantage of getting to go where ever she wanted for how long she wanted.  No time for pictures.

Here's a few of our favorite pictures:

She took this shot with her camera after she saw me take it with mine.

She's still trying to learn all the camera settings.  She has macro down pat.

"Mom, take a picture of me taking a picture of you."  Sure.

"Try  to take a picture so you can see the bridge's reflection in the water."
"Sure, Mom.  That's easy."

at the zoo.  climbing ant hills.

Wordless Wednesday:ROOAAAARRR

Daughter, Singer/Songwriter

Daughter loves to make up hilarious songs (that we are very rarely allowed to laugh at because she believes they are very serious in nature).  So as long as she's not with you when you click on the link, feel free to laugh as much as you want.

This is only 1 of about 7 videos that I've recorded that start off with "You're with me, I'm with you, we're a family." They all branch out into different thought processes.  There's one about how she and Son are going to get married because they are best friends and love to play together.  There's one about how she thinks that Story Time at the library is 'fantastic' and there's another about how when she rides her bike she's faster slow things like turtles.

Wordless Wednesday: Little Chef

Daughter's Trip to See The Nutcracker

Before Christmas Daughter and C went on their annual trip to see The Nutcracker. (Last year one or both of them fell asleep before intermission and we had a little higher hopes for this year.)

Daughter was SO excited.  Excited to see C.  Excited to see the ballerinas. And excited to see a story she was more familiar with this year than she was last year.

(mostly) patiently waiting for the show to start

waiting, waiting, waiting (we really had FANTASTIC seats)

reenacting her favorite part - When Clara throws her shoe at the Mice King.  The people behind us  were pretty certain she was actually about to launch the shoe at them.  Luckily, she's an excellent pretender.

The girls (who are 4 and 3.5, btw) did excellent.  Especially considering they aren't 10, but, ya know, 4 and 3.5.   We ended up making it through intermission and almost all of the second half.  It was a fun time.  Next year we're pretty sure they'll make it to the end ... with their dads.

She made a block version of herself

excuse the mommy brag ...

In the last month, Daughter's drawing ability has just EXPLODED.  Before she was drawing shapes, a few of her favorite letters and blobs of things that she would later have to explain.  NOW, she's drawing things that we can actually identify.  And it's pretty exciting for 3 out of 4 of us ... Son just couldn't care less.

Last weekend we introduced them to Toy Story and Toy Story 2 on Dvd (We have read both kids all three of the Golden Books, but they haven't seen the movies yet)

Can you tell what inspired this picture?  Toy Story 2

a carrot, a horse, and a rope shaped like a lasso

Wordless Wednesday: upgrade from the crib

Another Bird Adventure

Remember our baby birds adventure of 2010? Wow, I do.

Anyway, recently Daughter and I were in the yard checking on the garden when I noticed (almost stepped on) this baby bird. (sigh) Yes, he's much older than the original birds. So I was definitely less concerned about his well being. Two adult birds that look like him where flying around, so I figured his parents were apprised of the situation. He'll be flying soon. He's hopping around the yard, flapping his little baby wings. All is well.

Until we get in the house and Daughter starts crying because the baby bird fell out of his nest and he's hungry and it's scary out of the nest. (sigh) She wants to take bird seed outside for baby bird.

ok, ok. fine. We will take bird seed outside, Daughter. Not a problem.

I get a saucer, she gets the bird seed and we head outside.

I apparently got too close to baby bird because BOTH adult birds dived bombed me. seriously. Luckily, I didn't actually get pecked. I'm sure I'd still be traumatized from that mess. So, I had to explain to Daughter that I got too close to the baby and the parents wanted me/us to go away because they are scared of us.

I appreciate Daughter's concern for every living thing and most nonliving things, but sometimes, it's actually dangerous! (for me, that is)

helicopter parent. literally.

Wordless Wednesday: It's hard to say goodbye to bumbo

"I'll hold the U-keen-y"

Daughter proudly showing off our first two zucchinis of the season. Black Beauty Zucchini Squash, if you want to get technical.

All Lyrics Aside, She Loves her Brother

Daughter has this song that she sings about Son in the morning. Most mornings. When she wakes up grumpy and cheery sunny Son wants to cuddle and play and interact, she sings this song. I have no idea where it came from, the melody is completely foreign to me so she might have made it up. We try not to make a big deal about it, because she only does it when she's grumpy and we always talk to her about how "being mad at" her brother isn't very nice. And she does play well and love him so so so much of the time.

Anyway, these are the lyrics:

When the sun is up

that's why/when I mad at Finny

When the sun is down

that's why/when I happy at Finny

(she interchanges the why and when often) sometimes she even does motions. both of these videos are pretty hilarious.

Wordless Wednesday: PEEK-A-BOO from the tent

Food Day Friday: s'mores in the livingroom

Thanks to the camping episodes of Olivia and Ni Hao Kai-Lan, Daughter has been talking about all things camping more and more often (except for her EXTREME need to sleep only in her bed, I think she'd have a great time)

Husband and I got the kids a 4 person tent for Christmas and it's currently in our back yard. The kids LOVE it. Husband keeps telling the kids that he's going to build a campfire in our yard. And I keep telling everyone, "no, we are not building a fire in our yard. You can use the grill if you want a campfire." kill joy mom. That's me.

Last Friday, Husband and Daughter were talking about camping so I gathered some supplies and called Daughter into the living room. (poor Son, he'd been asleep for an hour by this time. He misses all the late night fun.)

Our roaring campfire.

(or two pumpkin spiced candles I got on clearance after Thanksgiving)

our s'mores ingredients. Nutella, marshmallows and graham crackers. Plus, kabob sticks (the nutella was a perfect substitute for chocolate bar!)

Daughter loved roasting and blowing her marshmallow. But what she loved best was shoving "raw" marshmallows in her mouth!

I can't tell you how many times I said, "when the mallows flaming, you stick it on the chocolate and cover it with the other end." Ah, How to Make a s'more 101. Thanks, The Sandlot. I still love you.

Daughter took some pictures with her camera too. I'll post her perspective tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

It is very hard for me to believe that it was TWO YEARS ago that I first met Son. He fills my heart up every day. He has such a sweet spirit. He loves picking flowers for me, Husband, Daughter and even the cats! He FINALLY likes to be read to. He's my only child that lets me rocks them a little before bed. He still calls me "Daddy" sometimes, but I don't mind. I'll take those sweet hugs regardless. Son's good at picking up toys and helping empty the dishwasher. He has big fat feet and he loves to jump and do silly dances. He has the sweetest smile I know. Husband even comments that he's the cutest when he throws a fit. He puckers out that lip and stomps a foot.

Yesterday Daughter let me record her while she practiced singing Happy Birthday to Son.

It's positively heart warming.

a craft pot

Yesterday while Son was asleep, Daughter and I went outside and painted a pot.

Last week when my mom was here, we went by walmart and they had the most fantastic looking mint. Bigger than what I'd been growing for a month! so we picked one up, but needed a pot. And of course, they were out of the ones that matched the ones I already had. So I got a plain one for Daughter and I to paint.

She picked out blue, red and pink (her current favorite colors) to use. She painted the pot and I painted the bottom. Fun times with a fun little girl.

wordless wednesday: taking a break

She's a good builder

"Mommy, come here and look at this."

when Daughter says this it can mean one of two things.

1. She's building blocks in her room

2. There's something in the toilet she wants me to see

And because of the layout of our house, sometimes it hard to tell which room she's in. Luckily, this time she wanted to show off her building skills.

She got her pink scarf

Sunday we stopped by Jo-ann to pick up some sale yarn to finish a couple of projects. The Lion Brand Homespun was on sale. So I picked up a few different colors. (one being "Parfait" a white yarn with different shades of pink running through it. love it.)

Daughter asked for pink yarn for a new scarf but I told her no. For the main reason that I still haven't made the blue scarf she requested three weeks ago and for the secondary reason that she said the reason she wanted the pink yarn is because pink is her favorite color. That's all well and good that she declared pink her favorite color but she also declares red, orange, blue and yellow her favorite color quite regularly. So no pink yarn for the fickle daughter. She can get her pink yarn after I make the blue scarf.

Today I finished the two parfait scarves. As I was tying them off and stitching the ends, Daughter runs end, gasps, grabs the pink scarf, holds is up to her cheek and says, "Oh thank you, Mommy. A pink scarf just for me."

Yes, just for you. Just what I intended. (cough cough)

enjoy.

"Let ME check"

Daughter actually said this three times before I got out the camera and recorded it.

She thinks it's hilarious and has watched it at least a dozen times. She cackles like a maniac when she blows the house down.