Preschool Feast

Marci was so excited to have Osten and me as guests at her feast. Osten was pretty excited, too! As we were waiting for her class of pilgrims to arrive in the fellowship hall, he announced that he could hear Marci amongst all of the excited chatter on the other side of the door.

Here's Marci with some of her fellow pilgrims: Logan, Sheldon, Boots, Riley, Julia and Megan.

That's one tired pilgrim!

Marci and Julia with big bro (who refused to pose for a picture) in the background!

Princess Rainbow

Here are a few photos from the Indian Cookout last week at Marci's school. She was Princess Rainbow and quite proud of her self-made headdress, necklace and drum!

She wanted to be sure I got lots of pictures and was just posing away . . .

Sweet!

Orlando Magic

Who's to say that you can't have any fun in Orlando without venturing into one of the parks??!! We spent the one full day of our trip between Downtown Disney and the water slide at the hotel pool. Daddy's friend, Dr. Ed, even met us for lunch at T. Rex. We had such a nice time wandering around Downtown Disney and just enjoying the live entertainment. It just so happened that there was a sidewalk arts festival in town, and the kids loved the artwork.

Osten shared his pirate gear with his sister for his birthday dinner Friday night, although he got first dibs. This hat is apparently quite the disguise becuase our waitress referred to Marci as "him" when she first came to take our drink order. Since she is usually quite the little princess, it made me giggle out loud!

The kids also had a good time shopping at the big Disney store. Osten knew exactly what he wanted, and he headed right to the swords and rifles. Marci's search was a little lengthier, but she eventually fell in love with this tea set and a necklace with an "M" on it.

As luck would have it, Osten brought home an extra surprise. Strep throat. He got to ride home in his jammies, and we even took him into a Bob Evans on the way home without anyone seeming to notice that he was in his PJs.

Half Dozen

It just doesn't seem possible that Osten went for his six-year checkup today! He got another clean bill of health, and we are so grateful that he continues to grow even though it is bittersweet. Here' are his stats:

Height: 47 1/4 inches (79%)
Weight: 47.5 lbs. (60%)

And his vision is 20/20. His hearing is normal as is his cholesterol. Woo-hoo!

In sum, he grew 3 1/2 inches and gained almost 10 pounds since last year. Way to grow, Osten!!

A Pirate's Life

For Osten's birthday this year, he also chose to have a family celebration. He has been asking for months to go to this interactive pirate dinner in Orlando. He and Marci like to peruse the travel brochures whenever we happen to go to the local AAA office, which is how the little travel-agent-in-training came to know about it. It was an absolute tourist trap, and, of course, the kids loved every minute of it!

At intermission, they went up by the big pirate ship and waited their turn to have a picture with one of the pirates.

Best of all, was when they called out Osten's name ("clear as a bell," as Tom pointed out) and called him aboard the pirate ship for his special birthday surprise. He was so excited and marched himself right up there! He didn't so much as hesitate to climb the stairs and then cross the bridge onto the ship. Tom and I were so impressed with his bravery!

While he was on the ship, he got a pirate hat and certificate and took a special pirate pledge. Seeing him on that stage was worth the price of admission and then some! Osten, you are growing up right before our eyes. We are so very proud of you, and we love you infinity (as you like to say)!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

There is some serious mixin'-and-matchin' going on here!! There was something about that pilgrim hat in particular that got the kids (especially Marci) all wound up tonight. Before they would pose for a picture, Osten insisted that he know how many pictures I was going to take. I guess I've been a little trigger happy lately . . .

The Dreaded Rx

With young children, is there any more dreadful prescription than reduced physical activity??!! Luckily, after three weeks Osten's collarbone is almost completely healed, and he is finished with the sling (which was really starting to seem more like an accessory than an encumbrance). I'm putting it back in its assigned spot under the sink in his bathroom for safekeeping where it has been since he broke his arm in 2009. Hopefully, it won't be making another appearance any time soon!

Where's the Princess?

It's hard to tell which one is the real princess in this picture! And for the record, this pose was completely impromptu. Sassy little thing!!

Fact or Fiction

After months of talk about Harry Potter, I dusted off our copy of The Sorcerer's Stone and showed it to Osten. He couldn't believe his eyes and wanted to start reading it immediately. Wahoo!! So far, so good but I'm not sure how much further we'll continue after the first book (or maybe two) as I remember them getting pretty dark.

Anyway, both Osten and Marci are enjoying the story so far and we are about one-third of the way through the book . . . which is when Harry goes off to Hogwarts and things start getting really good. We've had lots of talks about real vs. make-believe, and so far, it appears they are both firmly grounded in reality.

On the way to school this morning, we were having another one of these talks, but this time it wasn't about wizards or magic or spells, but rather Harry Potter himself. Osten was asking me if he was real, and I was trying to explain that he is a person in a story and therefore, not real. "But, Mommy," he said. "He is real because he's at Disney World just like Mickey Mouse, and Mickey Mouse is real." Hmph! As I was frantically searching my mind for an appropriate response that wouldn't dim the magic of Disney, Marci piped up. And you will never believe what that four-year-old child said. "Osten, they might just be grown-ups in costumes, you know!"

What??!! Where in the world did that come from? I usually try to merely listen, enjoy and remember their conversations, but I had to jump in on this one to try to keep the magic of Disney alive . . . at least for a few more years. And then I quickly tried to change the subject!

Stairway to Heaven

Our children's fascination with heaven used to really freak me out. And then one day I thought about it from their point-of-view, and I was better able to understand their fascination with a place that must sound utterly magical to them.

We were riding in the car the other day, and Marci started up with some more questions about heaven. Recently, our neighbor's dog went to heaven so we've been having lots of talks about it especially in regard to our dog.

"Mommy?" Marci asked. "Will Wrigley go to heaven before us?"

"Yes, she probably will go before us," I responded.

"Oh," she said. And then she thought about it a little more. "So she's going to check it out for us?"

Telephone Talk

Osten answered the telephone earlier today and handed it to Daddy saying, "Daddy, it's for you. They said is Mr. Tom Sayers invisible?"

It was, of course, a telemarketer. And Tom's response? He promptly hung up the phone and said, "Why yes, I am invisible!"

TMI

As we were getting ready to load into the car to go to school this morning, Osten came running back into the house announcing that he had an urgent need to use the bathroom. I hurried him along and went to help get Marci situated in the car because in our house every minute counts in the morning especially the minutes just before we are ready to leave for school. Osten soon appeared by the back door. As I helped him get his shirt tucked back in, I inquired about his bathroom business. And his response? "I went poo-poo, Mommy. Three scoops!"

And that's what I call Too Much Information (and rather cute) . . . even for a mom who likes to be in the know about these kinds of things.

Girl Time

We were in Orlando this weekend to celebrate Osten's sixth birthday. On Saturday, the four of us were at the pool where we spent the better part of the day. Osten and Daddy were in the hot tub while Marci and I played on the water slide and enjoyed some girl time together. It's always fun to talk with her these days especially when there are no other competing distractions or responsibilities. As we were playing in the pool, we had a conversation that went something like this.

"Mommy?" Marci said. "Can we just have some girl time?"

"Sure," I said. "I love having girl time with you. What should we do?"

"I dunno," Marci said.

"Wanna chat?" I asked.

"Yes! Yes! Good idea, Mommy. Let's chat!" Marci replied.

[Short pause]

"Mommy, what does 'chat' mean?"

13.1 Fan Club

My same friend also just sent me this picture from the Rock & Roll Marathon this Saturday. Since the rest of Daddy's cheering section was at home throwing up on Grammi and FaFa's watch, I had to make a solo appearance. But I had my camera, family signs, gloves and phone in tow and got caught in the midst of a little spazz attack. (Yes, I realize I have completely lost my cool!) Truth be known, I was a nervous wreck until I finally found Tom in one piece with a giant smile pasted on his glowing face. (As he likes to say, his only hope was to finish the race in a vertical position, under his own power and ahead of the sag wagon!) I had really hoped to see him cross the finish line in person, but the second kid puking during his soccer game earlier in the morning really threw a wrench in my plans. In any event, with a time of 2:40, he more than met his goal!

Just the Girls

A friend of mine recently sent me this picture of Marci and me. Since I'm usually the one taking the pictures for this blog, I thought I'd better take the opportunity to make an appearance! Marci and I were sitting on a bench in front of the school watching the pre-K and kindergarten students parade around campus in their costumes. If Marci would have had it her way, she would be been a parade participant instead of observer!

Life is Good!

Life is good--I mean especially good--these days for Wrigley. She's had a bit of an arthritic limp for the past few weeks, but she still wags her tail most of the time. What a trooper! She is as sweet as ever with the kids, especially Marci who loves to smother her with affection. I found her this afternoon snuggled in Osten's chair. He was sleeping off the stomach bug that cut short his soccer game when he came off the field throwing up this morning. He got such a kick out of this picture when I showed it to him after his nap.

13.1

Daddy ran in his first half marathon today! Both kids were excited for him, but due to a nasty (but thankfully, short-lived) stomach bug neither of them were able to attend the race.

Osten colored most of his sign himself and even did some of his own lettering, too.

Yay, Daddy! You did it.

What a great accomplishment!

Birthday Boy

Osten's long-awaited sixth birthday arrived yesterday. Per his request, he started the day with a "6" pancake. He also got to open one present before going to school. And because he and Marci were up so early, they got to watch over half of his new DVD copy of "Zookeeper." He has been asking to own that movie ever since we saw it in the theatre this summer.

Marci and I took cupcakes to his class in the afternoon.

It was also Nora's birthday, so we made it a joint celebration with her mom. (By the way, she and I figured out that we delivered at the same hospital with Osten arriving in the morning and Nora arriving in the afternoon. They could have very well been side-by-side in their incubators in the hospital nursery!)

And here's the bithday boy getting his sticker from Mrs. Dempsey. (Marci got one, too, of course!)

Birthday Fun

Marci was so excited to celebrate her birthday at her new school. They had the birthday banner waiting on her when we got there.

And she got to wear a special birthday hat. They did such a sweet job of making a fuss over her on her special day!

Turning Four

As usual, we went to the neighborhood Mexican restaurant to celebrate Marci's birthday. She was so excited to get to wear the big sombrero!

Excited with a side of silly!

It's hard to believe that she is four, but at the same time she is growing into a sweet big girl right before our eyes.

Of course, we had to get a shot out back by the dumpster ~ the kids' favorite place to play!

Wanna Lift?

We recently had our yard sodded. The kids had a ball watching the yard as it was prepared for the laying of the sod. And then came the delivery of the sod. It hadn't even occurred to me that it might be a major event in and of itself.

We were just getting ready to load into the car for school. Imagine the kids' surprise to find a semi-trailer truck and a forklift in their driveway! Adn to top it off, the forklift driver immediately offered to give them a ride. They were thrilled!

They went up and down our little street and did donuts in cul-de-sac . . . and we still made it to school on time, just barely!

A Sip of Summer

This is one of my favorite pictures from this summer. I wish I could remember what we were doing when I took this picture. I think we were probably just hanging out in the driveway playing with the kids. They have tried for the past year to drink Sprite but despite their best efforts they both still say it "spices my mouth" too much. Well, that is certainly fine by Daddy and me. It just cracks me up to watch them continue to try to like it. After they posed for this picture, they emptied their cans in the bushes!