Wyatt Goes to Preschool

Wyatt started preschool today. It is a home-based preschool with eight kids and a great teacher. I think it will be just right for him. He was a little nervous when I dropped him off this morning, but he came home so excited.

Puppy Party

We celebrated Madison's birthday on Friday with 10 of her friends. She invited girls from primary, school, girl scouts, and the neighborhood. Just before the party started, I was a little intimidated, knowing I would be severely outnumbered by little girls. No need to fear...they were amazingly well-behaved and we had a great time. We had hot dogs for dinner, then played "pin the nose on the puppy" and "puppy walk" (like a cake walk except they walked on puppy paw prints, and the prizes were stuffed puppies). After all of them won a puppy, they got to choose a name for their puppies. Then Darin engraved the names on little dog tags for them, and we attached them to a little puppy collar. After cake (don't miss my amazing cake decorating skills) and ice cream and a big pile of presents, the girls all spread out their blankets and pillows and we watched the movie "Bolt" about a super dog. I'm so proud of my super seven-year-old. Happy Birthday, Madison!

Can't believe she's 7!!!
Doing the Puppy Walk--I love that Madison is wiggling loose teeth as she walks!

All of the girls with their puppies.

Cute girls! I'm so glad she has such fun, nice girls as friends.
Amazing, huh? The dumb sprinkles wouldn't even stick to the cake. Just call me if you are in need of my services for your next party.

You Got It Going On

"The Amaaaazing Madison" and her cousin "The Amaaaaazing Sarah" put on a fashion show for me the other day. I was cracking up at the music they chose for their modeling walk: "You got it, got it, got it, got it going on..."

My Babies

I finally took my kids to get their pictures taken with all three of them together. I may be just slightly biased, but I think they're pretty darn cute. Take a look...

Dear Miss Manners,

I have an etiquette question. What do you do when your daughter gets sick in the middle of a playdate? And we have invited the whole family to come for a playdate. And we have just met this family. And the playdate happens to involve making sugar cookies for St. Patrick's Day. And sick daughter has touched nearly all of the cookie dough. And then all of a sudden she needs to tell me something. Whisper, whisper, "I think I'm going to throw up." Proceed to bathroom. Throw up. Throw up again.

Now...do I send them home? Do I throw all of the cookies away?

I left it up to the other mother. We went with the "all the germs cook out" theory or the "it might have been something she ate" theory. Anyway, sorry new friends.

Happy Green Day!

Going to the Mountains

When we asked Madison what she wanted to do while she was on spring break, the only thing she came up with was "go to the mountains." So go to the mountains we did. We drove around and hiked around. We roasted hot dogs. I think the kids were a little concerned about the whole fire thing. Their dad's job is to put out fires...and here he is making one. I love getting them out in nature. I love to see how their personalities shift a little and some of their normal fears and inhibitions are gone. Madison and Wyatt went off hiking up the hill by themselves. I overheard: "Wyatt, you might get a little scratched up, but that's just part of hiking." (From my children who almost always have at least one band aid on, and four or five is not all too uncommon). And then: "Wyatt, remember, break sticks, break sticks, break sticks." Then Wyatt's chant starts: "break sticks, break sticks, break sticks." What little trail-blazers. Even Levi got a taste of the great outdoors (literally). We tried (unsuccessfully) to teach them to skip rocks, a skill that Darin is really good at, and I seem to have completely lost any skill I once had.

Tucson Festival of Books

The kids and I went to the Tucson Festival of Books Saturday at the U of A. They had a great time collecting cheap little prizes and seeing storybook characters. Wyatt thought they were cool to look at but wouldn't get close to them, while Madison had to hug every one. They had some great activities for the kids...I don't even know how many different bookmarks we made! Levi was a good sport and rode happily in the stroller almost the whole four hours we were there. It was also fun to show the kids where I went to college and explain to them about college life. I have so many good memories there. It was crazy to see how much everything has changed in the few years I've been away. I asked the kids after if they were going to go to college. Madison: "Yeah, but I'm not going to live at college." Wyatt: "Me too. I'm not going to live at college either." They may change their minds in a few years! We had a fun day. It was nice to have an excuse to be outside all day because it was fabulous weather.

Madison with Ronald McDonald.


Happy Levi.


Wyatt decorating a canvas bag.

Goofy Wyatt making a bookmark.

Madison with the mouse from "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."

Letters Y and X.