2.5 minutes of validation

I came across this in my accumulation of NPR podcasts this morning. Incidentally, I was trying to fold laundry with Grant attached to my right thigh while listening. It made my day.

At My Place, Every Day is Mother's Day 

I recommend clicking the link to listen. 

how grant takes his dinner

We have to coax the first few bites down. Then his majesty usually decides to manage the fork on his own.

filed under: pictures to show the girls grant likes when he is in highschool

not amused

I took our camera to have the sensor cleaned yesterday. I came home with a new lens that I have been thinking about for a while. (Thanks Cori!) I couldn't get it on the camera fast enough. And, as will be obvious from the pictures that follow, I have a lot of practicing to do. Naturally, I started following the kids around snapping as many pictures as possible. Grant is usually completely oblivious to my photographic efforts. He just has his own thing going on. So Gracie had to endure the session solo. It started off well enough, but quickly she determined that she was done taking pictures. 

I then tried taking pictures of myself. But I have short arms and could only manage to get focused on my sun freckles and the wrinkles under my eyes. 

I tried taking pictures of Grant again, but he won't look at me no matter what I do. 

So I went back to taking pictures of Grace. She still was not interested in even pretending to be happy about it.

 

This morning she woke to the sounds of my shutter. The first words out of her cute sleepy face were, "Mommy?... I really don't want to take any more pictures." Poor girl. She is so completely stuck with me.

Blessings

The garage sale was a great success. Cori and all his guys worked really hard these last few weeks getting things organized. Yesterday was the big lucrative event and now Cori can check the boy scout fundraiser off his to-do list.

Grant gets sad when I leave It is maybe not the best thing to be grateful for. But it sure makes this mommy feel good to be missed.

By this time next week, we will have a very full house. We are so excited. A lot of Cori's family is coming out. We'll spend a few days around here, then head south for a few days in Nauvoo. Their visit marks the beginning the many summer travels we have scheduled. I've got a lot to do this week, but the lists have been made and I couldn't be happier.

close encounters of the animal kind

Earlier this week, my friend and I drove our kids up to a zoo in Madison, WI. The zoo is free, so we felt it was well worth the drive. The kids got up close with so many animals. It was Grant's first experience with such proximity. I think we had seen three or four animals before he made the connection that these were the real versions of the animals he has been admiring in his books for so long. It was like a little light lit up in his head. Suddenly he was pointing and jabbering about everything.

His hand stayed fixed in this position most of the day after his 'aha' moment.

I've got multiple shots of this tiger stare-down. The tiger kept pacing back and forth across that window. He would yawn and show all his teeth and he kept licking his chops. It must have been lunch time. Gracie interpreted the look to mean that the tiger really wanted to play tag with her. I told her it meant something like that. 

I just love how Gracie gets this completely crazy look in her eyes when she gets really excited about something. This shot reminded me of this one taken on new year's eve. And the lone bow in her hair- she found it in the car and insisted on wearing it.

The zoo has a huge playground with a jungle gym- a very jungly one at that- and a carousel. This is where we ended our day. Gracie made about 500 runs down the twisty green slide, and Grant even found a little slide that he could climb up to and go down all by himself. 

accessories

Things are getting pretty fancy around here. Both kids have recently started insisting on donning certain items.

Grant's ever-present accessory these days is his new hat. We bought it when shopping at the Children's Place outlet store a couple of weeks ago. I was searching for a pair of shoes and when I turned around Grant was wearing the hat and a ginormous grin. It has scarcely left his head since. He eats and plays with it on. He sleeps with it on when I'm not in the mood to fight with him about it. He almost always puts in on backwards. 

Grace has become fanatic for beads and bows. She is sure to put on a necklace and a bracelet after she gets dressed. And in the last couple of weeks, she has begun 'doing' her hair. This involves sticking every clip she can find into the coiffure. Gracie's poor hair doesn't need any help looking crazy- I hardly know what to do with it myself. So on days where we are staying close to home, I let her go for the gusto.

The current favorite necklace and bracelet.