Today I am watching a friend’s little sister for the day. She is right between Ani and Cameron’s ages so they are having a great time playing together. What I find interesting is how an extra kid so often makes dealing with my own kids so much easier. I suspect I won’t see any of them much for most of the day.
Monthly Archives: November 2009
Little Guy
First Haircut
Adrian is 17 months old and until yesterday had never had a haircut (unless you count the chunk Fritz cut out a few months ago). His hair was getting pretty long and he was starting to look a little bit like a girl. But I just couldn’t bring myself to actually cut his hair because of the whole he’d have to sit somewhat still thing. Adrian never sits still.
Before church yesterday we were brushing his wild hair and realized just how long it has gotten.
And so it was time to do a quick haircut. He actually did better for it than I expected, but then it only took about 3 minutes and he got to stand on the sink and look in the mirror the whole time.
It turned out cute. It needs more work, but it’s a good start. Rather than take the time to give him a little boy haircut, I just cut off length all around. After 3 minutes he was done with me cutting and ready to look cute for pictures.
The strangest thing is comparing the hair I cut off his head with my hair. It is IDENTICAL. Absolutely no different in color. That is weird. When I was his age I was very, very blond. My hair didn’t get this dark until I was in my 20s.
So now he looks more like a boy and less like a girl now (which is good since Jamie bought him a pink and purple pacifier… I guess to go with the pink and purple spoons he bought Fritz a couple years ago… Jamie just grabs what he needs and doesn’t think about getting boy colors for the boys), but he’ll still look like a baby until I get around to giving him a real little boy haircut.
Double Trouble
Fritz has finally grown a little and for the first time since he was 18 months old he no longer fits 2T clothes. At least lengthwise. His waist is still solidly 2T. So while Ani was at Achievement and Cameron was at Scouts Tuesday night, Jamie and I took the little boys to Target to buy Fritz some clothes.
We got tons of clothes for way cheap. Most of their winter stuff was on clearance so we got pants for less than $5 each and shirts for $3 each. Perfect since our boys can’t seem to keep from staining or ripping their clothes within a month of getting them.
Now that Adrian is in 2T and Fritz is in 3, I couldn’t resist getting them a couple matching outfits. I really liked these little pairs of jeans and “Here Comes Trouble” shirts. Ani took this picture. Neither boy was interested in looking at the camera for me or for Ani.
Oreo Cookie Turkeys
The big kids and I made Oreo Cookie Turkeys to take to my aunt’s house for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving dinner. They were a lot harder than we thought they’d be, but they ended up very cute. We made 18 of the turkeys.
I put together the sets of two cookies and the candy corn tail feathers. Most of the cookies broke, but I pieced them back together with icing.
Ani cut a bit off of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to make flat end.
I put the Peanut Butter Cups on the cookies to make turkey bellies.
I added Whoppers to make turkey heads.
Ani cut the yellow part off candy corn.
I put the yellow part of the candy corn on to make turkey feet and the rest of the candy corn on to make turkey wings.
I dabbed on white icing for the eyes and Ani added a dot of black icing for the pupils.
The turkeys were now almost done.
All that was left was the beaks. Cameron cut the white tips off candy corn.
And now the Oreo Cookie Turkeys were done and ready to take tomorrow!
Not perfect, but cute nonetheless.
Recycled Creations
I challenged my older three to use junk to create a known animal. Here’s what they created.
Cameron worked fast. He made a plan and quickly carried it out.
Working hard.
Concentration.
The finished animals!
Ani made a flamingo.
Cameron made a giraffe.
Fritz made a frog. Or a whale. Or it might be a castle.
The Capitol is Very Pretty at Sunset
We went to a little party today.
We listened to some really great speakers.
We waited for an hour in a very long line to get into the House Office Buildings.
Of course Steny Hoyer (unfortunately our Rep) left his minions to side-step and not answer our questions. He was no where to be found. But while Ani learned that Hoyer doesn’t care about his constituents, I already knew that so I learned that the Capitol is very pretty at sunset.
Why is it…?
Some days my kids dawdle like crazy over their schoolwork and other days, like today, they race right through in record time?
Just do your work!
Ani always complains that Cameron has less work than she does. This is true. He is also a few grade levels behind her. But really, she doesn’t have all that much more than he does. They both have 12 workboxes to complete and he usually has one or two more “fun” boxes than she has.
Yet she always finishes her work 1-2 hours after he does. Take today for example. She was almost done box 7 when Cameron finished his twelfth box. It took her almost 2 more hours to complete the last five boxes. For a lot of that time she sat there staring off into space.
She claims I am wrong, but if she would stay focused I really think she’d finish her work in no more than a half hour longer than it takes Cameron to finish his. She stays basically on task until Cameron is done. Then she sits and complains that she has so much more work than he does and if she had his work to do she’d get it done really fast, too (yes, very true, but no matter what she thinks his work is not really easy for him… it is just as challenging as her work is to her).
Smaller on the Outside 