The Magic Fence video

For a nice change, we had nothing on our schedules yesterday afternoon, so Brian and the kids made a silly video. I like the hat modeling auditions at the end best.

Sick Day

Abby has had a fever yesterday and the day before, so she's home with us today. Right now they are watching Barbie Fashion Fairytale, but Ashley couldn't just stay in her pajamas today. she had to wear her bumblebee costume. Later today we'll be going to the doctor to see if she has another outer ear infection. Why do we get sick with totally unrelated things at the same time? Last time she had an outer ear infection, Grant had strep throat.

How do you wash vaseline out of kids' hair?

Seriously, I need to know because within 3 hours of the yogurt-on-head incident, Ashley coated her hair, her clothes and herself in vaseline.





This time, I was in the shower. You would have thought I would have learned not to leave her alone for a second, which makes me think I should go check on her now.

2 year old fashionista

Just in case you aren't aware of fashion trends, hats are in. Ashley created her own haute couture look with her yogurt bowl this morning while I renewed a library book at the computer in the other room. Apparently, this is why we have laptops and iPads, so we can follow 2 year olds around while getting things done.




Photo credits go to Brian and his new camera. We did pretty well not laughing at the yogurt hat, but it wasn't easy.

Yogurt is supposed to be a good conditioner, right?

Ashley has always been inspired by daily living in her hat choices: Happy Meal boxes, ski hats in August, buckets....

Cousins

We're very thankful to live close to lots of cousins on both sides. Every year Grandma and Grandpa Mosley invite all their grandkids plus their kids over to watch the first Cowboys game. Brian's cousins Chad and Matt have always been into motorbikes, and even though they've grown up, they still like a little speed. And I mean a little speed. Chad bought these online for cheap and they fixed them up and brought them Sunday night. Brian loved thrilling the kids and they had big smiles and squeals. Even Grandpa took a test drive.






Another cousin close by is Chafen, who just moved back from Boston. She and Eric welcomed new baby Hal a few weeks before they moved here into their beautiful new home. Ashley and I loved meeting baby Hal and here Ashley shows her lunch bag and people she took with us.





Also this week, the kids and I met my cousin Ashley and her kids at the fountains. Anna, Abby and Grant ran and played in the fountains while Graham guarded our stuff.





Oh, and remember when I was all thrifty and made our back to school clothes? Well, that was just until gymboree had a sale. Here's a picture of what came to our house this week! We can't wait until it's cooler weather!

Goal for Grant!

Grant is playing soccer again this fall, and he loves it. He went to a soccer camp over the summer and its fun to see how much confidence and help it gave him even at 4 1/2. Today was the first game, and we are so glad it didn't rain. The boys had fun and ran hard and won the game. We were so excited when Grant took the ball all the way down the field and scored a goal, even changing directions to go around another player!

Grant is walking a little taller after his goal.

Actually, he was probably thinking about ice cream. Brian promised ice cream for the family today if Grant scored a goal at his game. Abby cheered for the goal mostly for this reason!

Too bad I didn't get a picture of Grammy and Papa at the game. They rode their tandem bike to the game wearing their matching biking jerseys. too cute.

Comic book writers

Abby and Grant have started writing and illustrating comic books. I think they were partly inspired by Captain Underpants and Rapunzel's Revenge. They did this in the car, waiting for food at Bar-B-Cutie, and during quiet time at home.


Here Grant shows us how he drew an Armadillo watching the news while sitting on the potty.


Abby's got more complicated with hippos. She was surprisingly detailed, drawing toenails on the animals.


"Hey Fri(e)nd!"

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Can you believe our littlest girl is 2? We celebrated on Saturday with a polka-dot party for our family. I had to wake Ashley up from her nap to get to her party, so she started out with a big sleepy head crease on her face and a tired attitude.

Grammy and Papa

Nanna and Pops

Ashley asked for chocolate cake and she loved every bite!

But when she was messy, she asked for a napkin.

Abby and Grandma Mosley catch up on their reading.


We gave Ashley this fun chair, a Bilibo, and she knew just what to do with it.

She taught her baby how to ride her new horsey.

big hugs for a new bear.



Apparently it was a long party, so Ashley needed to kick back, just like Daddy. She loves to mimic words and poses these days. Sometimes she leans her cheek on her hand like Mama or crosses her arms in front of her chest like Abby.

Yesterday was Ashley's "Gotcha" day. She came to us 2 years ago, when she was 2 days old. We're so thankful for the sweet, fun, crazy, adventurous, clingy girl that she is.

A little bit crafty

I didn't buy any new clothes for the school year yet because I would rather buy stuff when we need it, like when the weather actually changes. So when Abby wished for something new after a week of school I suggested making this t-shirt from Family Fun.

Instead of the owl, we chose to make a flower design from a coloring page. I was pretty slow and my fashionista sent me back to work when it wasn't up to her standards. So here is our glittery product.

For some reason when I was taking pictures of Abby this morning, Grant couldn't stay out of the way. He streaked through the first frame yelling "ENCHILADAS!"

And somehow he got in this one too.

We gave up and focused on Mr. Happy. Yep, that's jelly on his face. (he would keep singing, "big disgrace...." because he loves We Will Rock You right now)

Another crafty inspiration for some fall decoration was Family Circle. My girlfriends and I found the supplies at Dollar Tree-my favorite! I still need to paint it black and embellish it a little.

First Day of Preschool

This morning was the first day of school for Grant and Ashley. Grant was so excited that he packed his own lunch yesterday in preparation. He packed pretzels, goldfish, a fruit snack, and wanted cookies. But I added some cheese and apple instead.

For some reason Grant wanted to hold the American flag in his pictures. Grant originally chose to wear his orange shirt today, but then he found his new shirt Nanna brought back from the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. (whew!) Here he is with our good friend Lauren since she'll be riding with us in mornings.

Ashley did not want to stand still for a picture, she would rather go through her lunch bag and find her cup.


This is Grant's super-nice teacher, Ms. Kim. We're excited to spend the year with her.


Here's Ashley clinging to me in Ms. Lisa's room. She cried really loudly and tried to run after me when I left. I am very curious to find out how her day went! Ms. Lisa (in the background) is really sweet and calm, so she is wonderful with the toddlers.

Kids have weird (bad) taste

It's a good thing that kids are cute because they have totally different ideas than me of what is good. Take this morning for example. I dressed Ashley in a sweet dress and bow for "meet the teacher" at her school. When we left to walk Abby to school, she had added this relic from my childhood to her ensemble. She wore it the whole walk to and from school. And I know it was a little cooler today, but not that much.



I submit a 2nd example of interesting taste. Grant's favorite shorts this summer are his orange shorts. He especially loves wearing them with this orange shirt because in his mind, orange matches with orange. I apologize to anyone whose eyeballs have been burned by the orange crush. Usually I let him wear whatever he wants within reason, but I strategically hid this outfit from him today because of "meet the teacher". Also, I put my foot down when he wanted to wear the orange shorts with his shirt and tie to church a few weeks ago.


And example #3. I made this delicious pear and blueberry crumble dessert this week and the kids refused to eat it. We don't always have dessert after dinner, so I thought this would be a special treat, but not to them. "Mom, don't we have any oreos or ice cream?"-nope. It just left more for me and Brian.


It sounds like I'm complaining, but really I love laughing at their crazy ideas like jelly and cheese on toast or string cheese for dessert.

Abby's 1st day of 1st grade

Abby started first grade today. She was somewhat nervous last night and didn't go to sleep easily, but woke up ready to go. We all walked her to school this morning.

Here she is at her desk. Her teacher said this is the quietest they will be all year.

Her teacher's class mascot or name is "Seuss-a-Maniacs" so her room has lots of Dr. Seuss decor. She even sent home a cute little poem written in Dr. Seuss style with "ready confetti" to be sprinkled under kids' pillows to help them sleep well before the big day. Abby called Brian in around 9:00 last night and said "I'm still awake, so the confetti didn't work". She fell asleep soon after that, so maybe it did.

We probably should have given some of that confetti to Ashley. We moved her out of the crib into the big bed in her room 2 nights ago. We caught her playing on the floor in her room the first night, but she did well and didn't fall out of bed. Last night before we went to bed, we checked on her and she was asleep on the floor. We think she fell out of bed onto the pillows we put there and rolled over onto the floor, never waking up. If falling out doesn't wake her up, she may have a hard time learning to stay in the bed.