Monday, July 18, 2011

Love is….


Love is a homemade Transformer crafted for a father by his 5 year old son as a thank you for taking him to a birthday party.  


Friday, July 15, 2011

Let's face it...she's cute


I (obviously) have four children.  But I only have one little girl.

She used to be a Zen baby.

Grandma Gausman & 6 month old Paige


Now, well, let’s just say the word most often used to describe Paige’s disposition on her daycare’s daily sheets is sassy.

Don't touch my Easter candy


And while she does love dresses (sometimes)

Note the shoes



She hates, and I mean HATES it when I try to do anything to her hair.  Now, I have found that (much to Carl's chagrin) if I let her sit on the counter with her feet in the sink she is marginally more tolerable of my attempts to wrestle her hair into adorable pigtails.  But sitting on the counter leads to grabbing the faucet, the cans that need to be rinsed out for recycling, and anything else she may be able to reach.

In Paige’s defense, her hair is a bit hard to deal with.  There is a lot of it and it isn’t stick straight like Matthew’s or even pleasantly wavy like William’s & Joshua’s.  She has inherited my not-quite-straight-not-quite-curly-stuck-in-some-horrible-in-between-place locks.  Her hair is impossible to comb, hard to brush & she’d rather just flip it out of her eyes than let me do anything to it.  She pulls out headbands & barrettes and little butterfly clippie things don’t stand a chance around her brothers.  So most days I just try to pull back the sides in a simple half pony tail and hope for the best.

But, she was beginning to look just a tad bit to wild-child for my taste 


And her bangs were practically under her eyes so the other day I picked her up early from day care and we traipsed out to my stylist for a haircut.  I warned her that she would need her fastest scissors for Paige.

But you know what?  That little booger did awesome.  She sat nicely and they even put a few layers in the back so it will lay a little nicer.  
So what's a girl to do after an afternoon of beauty?  Head for the nearest Starbucks for a cake pop & coffee (vanilla milk) of course!

Because she is Paige,  she wouldn't sit nicely for a picture so you can't really tell how cute the haircut is...but trust me, it is way cute.  And she knows it!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Kindergarten Looms

I’ve been inspired by my friend CB.  You see, he took an extended break from blogging but jumped in last week with a tale of his family’s vacation adventures. I’ve had great fun reading his postings  and it has made me realize I don’t need to make any magnificent reentry in to the blogging world, I just need to start writing.

But this time, instead of laboring over posts for weeks, trying to get it “right”, exercising all of my editorial prowess, I’m planning on just posting little tidbits here and there. (typos be damned). So, look for (hopefully) more frequent updates with snippets of our daily life.


So....kindergarten looms.....

Joshua starts kindergarten on August 17. How did this happen so quickly? In my head he’s still 3; 4 at the most. The mystery of the missing time will probably never be solved but kindergarten is coming just the same.

It was important to us that Joshua not have to participate in before and after school care. Not that there is anything wrong with before and after school care, it just seemed like too many transitions for Joshua. So, Carl & I have rearranged our schedules and practically moved heaven and earth to put us in a position where one of us (usually me) will take him to school and pick him up every day. As you can imagine, Carl & I are ecstatic. Joshua won’t have to ride the bus and we’ll get extra time with him before the triplets get home in the afternoon. And perhaps the most exciting part, I’ll be home earlier so maybe, just maybe, we'll have dinners that don't always involve the microwave & canned fruit. It is a win/win/win for all involved.

Except, Joshua doesn’t see it that way. A few nights ago we were talking about after school snacks. He told me he wanted to ride the bus and have his after school snack after he got off the bus. I told him no, I (or Daddy) would be taking him to school and picking him up.

He paused and said, “only for the first few days though, right? Then I get to ride the bus.”

I told him no, he wouldn’t be riding the bus (the four blocks) to school.

He then told me that because he couldn’t ride the bus I wasn’t his best friend.

Now, if that’s not gratitude, I don’t know what is! Someday you'll understand, my son.  Until then just look at it as an opportunity to get in just a little more Leapster time!