Wednesday's Winning Words

For those of you who don't speak to Justus on a regular basis, I will nutshell this for you-- the kid has an imagination.  And a mouth to go along with it.  Not sure where he gets that from, but that's besides the point.  So, he's ALWAYS making up stories, which most often comes now with the preface of "Daddy [or Mommy, but usually Daddy], let me tell you what my dream today was...."  followed by some elaborate tale he spins as he goes.  There is rarely any sense to it and he mixes his characters from all his favorite things without a blink.  This generally involves all superheros and Star Wars.

In this vein, this morning on the way to school he tells me:
 "Mommy, you know what movie is coming soon?" 
Me: "What movie, bud?"
J: "Batman and the Red Power Ranger beat up the Joker"  (We do not watch Power Rangers at home, so I'm fairly certain his knowledge of them came from friends at school).

Now, I have some tolerance for the mixing and matching of characters from various favorites, particularly because many get clumped together in the Justice League stories, which we have several of, but I have to draw the line at some point (which invariably results in the bursting of a very happy 5-year-old's bubble).

Me: "Justus, I assure you, never will there come a day where Batman and a Power Ranger team up.  They just aren't even in the same league."

I know, I'm a mean, mean mommy.  But really, that's like putting the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (another one we don't watch) in the same category with Star Wars.  We just can't have it!

Don't worry--he seemed to take it well.  The next thing I hear is him play acting Batman and the Red Power Ranger where Batman was scolding the Red Power Ranger for not even being a real superhero.  HA!  That's my boy!

Obligatory photos

I'm not sure what the defining factor is around the rest of the world, but in Texas, spring time means one thing: pictures of small children (and reluctant teens or animals, in some cases) in bluebonnets!!  I remember every. single. year. my grandmother would take me to this wonderful patch of bluebonnets near her house and take what seemed like a gazillion pictures of me (or me and my brother) in the bluebonnets.  I was lucky if maybe two of them were ever any good.  I'm fairly certain that's also part of the tradition.  We don't seem to have a whole lot of overflowing patches this year, but we did find some.   So, as part of the legacy of being a Texan, behold the Royal bluebonnet pics 2012:

If you look closely, you will see how the one decent picture I got of Justus was just after he decided to stick bluebonnets in his ears.  I'm hoping I have enough photoshop skill to do something about that.

Delaney decided chasing our cows was more entertaining than looking at bluebonnets. 

Talk about fearlessness in a child...

And, since we're on the subject of obligatory photos,

how about a few bathtime pics to round out the post?

Is it wrong of me to be nervous that a similar situation may reoccur in about 15 years--Justus handing Delaney a cup saying "here, drink this!  It's good, I promise."  Well, I probably won't be there to witness it then....

Wednesday's Winning Words

Justus and I have a longstanding ritual of me lying in bed with him at night after prayers and singing him a song before he goes to sleep. In the last several months, the ritual has been less than consistent. Stories with Daddy have taken priority, which I completely understand. Recently though, he's asked for both (thank you, Daylight Savings, for making my son think it's still daytime at bedtime).

A couple of nights ago after the song and Justus wanted me to "lay with [him] a little longer," he said "Mommy, I like the way you sing the song. It sounds so pretty."

Love that kid.

 

Picture Day

While I generally consider myself an organized individual, I am just not quite on top of it enough to coordinate my children's clothes regularly like some friends I know (ahem, Cindy Munson--you put us all to shame with your adorable matching girls.  Daily.  At Daycare.).  But, every now and then, an occasion calls for just that, even for me.  What better day than SCHOOL PICTURE DAY???  Look at these two all coordinated for their final picture day in the same school.  Kinda makes me sad.  Until I look at these faces.  With a boy and a girl, it's not so much matching as it is coordinating.  I admit that the boy kind of gets the short end of the stick because, as was the case here, I found an outfit I liked for the girl child and got him a Polo to match.  I did try to at least find one with stripes, but apparently the Yellow/Black combo is not in the Polo (or Gap, Old Navy, Children's Place, Wal-Mart, Target.....) Boy Spring 2012 collection.  Harumph.

  And I love how many times we have to take a picture to get a picture.

Can't wait to see how the "official" ones turn out.

A happy return

I've been a bit remiss in posting lately.  Let's just call it a spring break, of sorts.  I have missed both my day-to-day life and blogging world. But now I am back, and thanks to the incomparable Sarah Giles of Butterfly Chaser Photography, I am making a triumphant return with more pictures and less talk (lucky you!).  These are some of the pics we had taken in December --a few appeared in our Christmas cards.  We also used the shoot as Delaney's 1-year and Justus' 5-year old sessions. 
As always, Sarah's work captures the loves of my life in a beautiful way, for which I am deeply appreciative!  So, I just had to share some.

Um, have I mentioned that these two *kind of* adore each other?

When I found this little vest, I just knew D had to have it.  She had about outgrown it by this shoot, so I was a little worried about how the pics would come out.

Birthday girl in her Very Hungry Caterpillar outfit.

One of my favorite things about Sarah, is that she can get a MUCH better smile out of this kid than anyone I know.  I always get the "cheese-but can this please be the last one?" smile with squinty eyes.  She captures the spirit of Justus!

This is my other favorite thing about Sarah (as though I could really limit it to just these few)--she gets fun crazy expressions while playing with the kids on the shoots.

And, look at this awesome collage that is immediately being blown up and mounted on Justus' wall!! What a great way to remember him and his love of superheroes at 5!

The Soap Box

I'm not one to use my blog as an advice column because a) I generally think I'm in no position to give advice on most matters and b) it's not as entertaining, but today I want to take the opportunity to make a suggestion to other parents.  It's actually kind of a two-fer because they go hand in hand:

1).  Please DO NOT take your children to school when they have (or probably have) a contagious virus.

2)  Be considerate of those your [sick] kids are going to be around and think about whether you would want your kids around that if they were well.

We have had a rampant breakout of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease at our beloved daycare and I now understand that the facility's hands have been tied on what they were legally allowed to do as far as preventing kids from being there.  It doesn't excuse not even sending an advisory note home, but that's besides the point because it's all been handled now.  Nonetheless,  it is really upsetting to think that my little family risks getting it AGAIN when all the kids return to the daycare well on Monday because some parents chose to abide only by "minimum standards" and sent their contagious kids anyway because they didn't have fever.  9 out of 13 kids in her class have "confirmed" cases of this nasty mess.  Surely, it's only a matter of time for the others.  Wait it out like the rest of us and let them get completely well before you bring them back, please...for the health and safety of all the other kids in the center.  Otherwise they will just keep passing it around and it will never really go away.  All the cleaning in the world won't matter.

Yes, it is difficult to take a day (or week) off of work to stay home with sick kids.  Yes, it sucks to pay a babysitter on top of paying for daycare.  Yes, they seem to be acting fine.  IT DOESN'T MATTER.  If they are sick, please keep them home!!  I'm not talking just about HFM either.  You know if something is wrong with your kid.  Let it pass instead of spreading it.  We teach our kids to share, but it doesn't mean they have to share illnesses too!  Of course it's going to happen from time to time, but we can do our part to minimize it by being responsible parents and members of our daycare communities.  Next time, your kid may be the well one, and how would you feel if you knew there was a contagious kid in the same area as your kid all day long?  Please, just think about the risk. 

That is all.

Besides, does she look sad about having to stay home?  I think not.