Selfies with Girls vs. Selfies with Boys

You be the judge.

Snapchat

I've heard about it for a long time, but never had motivation to give it a try.

Until my trip to Nashville and hanging out with Paulette Stewart and two of her lovely girls. We face-swapped and I laughed until I cried.

The Farmboy thinks it is the most ridiculous thing pretty much ever, and his son isn't too far removed from sharing this sentiment, but the girlie and I can't seem to stop playing with it and laughing our silly heads off.

If your life is too serious or stressful, and if you have a smart phone, you really need to get this app so you can make silly faces and laugh at yourself.

Thought you might like to see some of our favorites. Or not. Whatever. I'm going to post them anyway (grin).

9 Reasons Why First Graders are the Best

1. They aren't afraid to try drawing new things.

2. They are proud of their artwork, even if their spotted owl looks like a white blob with black spots.

3. They get to illustrate new concepts at school for the benefit of their whole family, and don't mind extrapolating from the intended content a little (note the upside-down "brid" saying "tweeeeeeeeeet").

4. They are completely unashamed of their vivid imaginations.

5. They put eyelashes on almost everything.

6. Bright colors make them happy.

7. If a drawing includes the sun, it is imperative that it is a smiling sun.

8. They are completely unashamed of their atrocious spelling.

9. Need I say any more?

That Girl of Mine

This is how I caught her not too long ago...

So studious and quiet and calm... what could she possibly be doing?

Ah, those painter people on OPB. I love them too.

Comedienne

My Daughter, the one with the sweetly innocent face and charming giggle. The one that rarely mis-behaves but is prone to leaving large messes in her ever-moving wake. The one that loves to cuddle and help with chores and make large pretend meals to share with anyone who is willing. That same Girl is developing quite the sense of humor.

I was preparing to make Bread and Butter Pickles last week and stepped out of the kitchen for a few brief moments. Do you see what I found when I came back?

Look closer.

Yes. That's my Girl. Her sense of humor is genetic.

Still don't see it? That's a little plastic cucumber that she snuck onto my stack. Then she stood watching from the other room and waited for my reaction. When I said, "Hey, who put a plastic pickle on my pile?", she came skipping into the room with a twinkle in her eye, giggling. "I wanted to twick you, Mama", she said.

She thinks she's so funny.

And you know what? She really is.

Pile of ...

The boy child was at school. The girl child was taking a nap. I was out on my umpteenth trip to the kennel for the day. The sun broke through the clouds, and suddenly I had the unexplainable urge to rake the leaves.

Can't remember the last time I raked leaves.

Usually the wind sweeps them away or we bag them with the lawnmower and dump them in the compost pile.

Well...

With part of the yard raked somewhat neatly, and one last check on the pups before heading up to wake girlie from her nap so we could go pick big brother up from school, I emerged from the kennel to find She was already awake and standing with a huge grin, at the base of my pile.

(How's that for a run-on sentence?... not even going to try to fix it.)

"Mama! Da best fing dat I wuv about the Autumn is a big pile of weaves dat I can jump into!"

(Whatever... she's never had a big pile of leaves to jump into... must be PBS kids' programming influencing her brain.)

"Can I jump in, Mama?"

Oh, for Pete's sake, how could a sane person resist such adorableness?

 And there she went, wholeheartedly, with complete abandon and glee, up, up, up into the air, and straight down on her hands and knees.

 Followed by a bit of rolling around.

 "Can I do it one more time, Mama?" She asked.

It was literally right at that moment that I remembered the pile of doggie doo that was buried somewhere down in the bottom of the leaves.

Who's handing out the Mom of the Year award? I'm ready.

Its Leap Day, Have You Caught Your Man?

Because I'm snowed in today and feel like celebrating an extra day on my calendar (Hooray for Leap Year!), if you enter the coupon code LEAPDAY when you check out in my etsy shop (today only!), you'll be given an extra 20% off. That means $10 patterns will be $8 and $12 patterns will be $9.60. Woot!

The legend goes that St. Bridget of Ireland was frustrated that all the non-nun ladies in 5th century Ireland had to sit around waiting for proposals that might never come. She complained about it to St. Patrick who, probably impressed by Bridget’s ability to turn her used bathwater into beer, finally proclaimed that women could have the chance to propose themselves once every four years on the leap day. This became known as “The Ladies’ Privilege.”

Maybe its because I've spent the majority of my life under a rock... I had never heard of this fabulous tradition. You can read all about it here, where I found all images and information.

Artist's Hair

Not too long ago, my little one drew her first recognizable person.

Once recently, she made "Begetable Soup" with her water colors.

But usually she just draws lots of sunshines. Big, GIANT, fill-the-whole-page sunshines with smiley faces and round pig noses.

But she has yet to attempt a body figure. Until now.

When she brought it to me, it was bald. I asked her where its hair was. She told me, "Maaaamaaa! Dat's Me! I have to dwaw my wooooong hair."

And then she drew her loooooong hair.

I desperately hope it is not a sign of hairstyles to come.

Confession #1

I am a total Muppet Show nerd. Growing up in the 70's, it was a staple of our Sunday evenings.

A year ago or so, we bought Season One on DVD, and have regular fun sharing laughs with the kids (three cheers for introducing a new generation to an old classic!) Those episodes still get me giggling, sometimes uncontrollably.

Yep. Nerd.

Want to re-experience (or discover for the first time) some of my favorites? Here you go...

What He Was Looking At

Anyone who has visited an Ocean Beach (or Great Lake, I would imagine), knows that there are strange and interesting things washed up on the shore every day.

Do you want to see what he was investigating?

Really?

Because you might get a little creeped out.

He did.

So did I.

...



Poor Barbie.

Little Girl, Big World

A few recent funnies that came from our little Sweetheart's mouth...

To her brother:
"Don't do dat! Dat makes me fwus-ta-tated!"

From the bathroom:
"Oh, for Pekes Sake! Da wetters are all at da fwont!"
Translation:
"Oh, for Pete's Sake! My panties are on backwards!"

After choking on her beverage:
"Dat Woot Beer made me cough down in my wumps!"
Translation:
"That Root Beer went down in my lungs and made me cough!"

A Work of Funny

That's what he called it.

Just like that.

"Hey Mama! I made a Work of Funny!".

A work of funny... what kind of brain comes up with a phrase like that?

I Couldn't Resist

This pretty much sums up how we feel about the snow.

Ouch!

When I first saw that egg (see it?) I felt sorry for the hen that laid it.

I wondered if laying an egg that enormous hurt her as badly as natural childbirth hurt me.

Then I figured, nah... because if it hurt that bad, there would be screaming chickens all day out in the hen house.

Those Kids of Mine

Kid #1 has been taking lots of pictures lately, on my old digital point and shoot camera.

He had a conversation with his Daddy a few mornings ago that went something like this:

Kid #1: "Is my camera concentrating?"
Daddy: "Huh?"
Kid #1: "Mama always says her camera is concentrating..."
Daddy: (long pause) "Oh... do you mean focusing?"
Kid #1: "Yeah!... Focusing"

Then, later this weekend, as he realized that he could squat down to get closer to his subject, he said, "Hey, Mama! Now I'm like a REAL photographer man!"

That's my boy.

Here are just a few of his weekend photos...

Those Kids of Mine

Kid #2, despite repeated negative tomato-eating experiences, insisted that she wanted to eat this:

"Do you like it?"... "Yeah... it nummy!"

"Tomatoes are GOOD, aren't they"... "Mmmm Hmmm"

"Do you really think that tomato tastes YUMMY?"... "Yes... it really nummy!"

"Do you want Mama to pick another one for you?"... "No fank you."

She also can do something that her big brother has yet to master (thanks, Uncle Aryn, for capturing this moment)...