Daddy's Little Girls

Arranging a time to go to work to see him.



All dressed up and ready to go.



Helping him get his boots off when he gets home.



They have him wrapped around their fingers.

Sing, sing out loud.

My girls love singing - almost as much as they love stories. Grayson loves singing more. He turns positively blissful when we sing.

I've found a new tool to help me learn the words to kids songs that I just don't know the words to. It also helps me remember songs that I loved when I was a kid.

http://www.kididdles.com/

We now know all the words to all four verses of "Kookaburra" and "Alice the Camel" has become a favorite.

They also have printable music sheets for many of the songs. I will enjoy that when I get a piano...

Family Tree

For years, I've been wanting to make a huge family tree to put up in our home. While looking for good Samhain/Halloween/end of fall activities, I came across the suggestion to have a Family Tree that you only put up once a year. This seems like a good idea to me. This way it won't become part of the backdrop in the home, taken for granted, never really noticed or appreciated.

As time got shorter and Little Girl's insistence to do this project got louder and more frequent, my fancy plans for it got thrown out the window. The night before Halloween, we grabbed a piece of posterboard and I freehanded a tree with roots. She added the leaves and glued pictures on.



I stuck the children in the leaves, my husband and myself on the trunk, and my children's ancestors in the roots. For a child, this was easier to comprehend than the traditional (at least it's traditional in all the Mormon family trees I've seen) method of putting the grandparents or great-grandparents on the trunk and having the children and children-of-children and on and on branching out in the tree branches. That's too abstract for a four-year-old to understand.

But showing that these people are the ones who sustain us, who support us, literally? She got that and she was very excited about it.

Little One doesn't understand the meaning behind it all, but she loves to climb up where we taped it on the wall and talk about all the people she recognizes or doesn't recognize on the poster.

Next year I'll have more pictures to add to it, more stories to tell my daughters about their predecessors. And I'll get it done earlier than the night before Halloween.

This girl...

Ainsley runs giggling past me, Hannah chasing her, saying in a pleading voice: "Ainser, princesses get their hair done! Ainser, just let me finish! Ains, princesses are patient! Don't you want to have pretty hair? Don't you want to be a princess? Please be patient. Let me finish your hair. FINE!!! You're out of the family and you're no princess at all!"

------

Showing me a doll she's playing with: "This is my new baby. He's got an optical cord. See? Right there on his belly button. The optical cord will fall off soon, but it's on there right now 'cause I just gave birth to him. He's a him because he has a tiny penis? See his tiny penis? That means he's a him."

------

While helping me move all of the pantry items from our old pantry area to the new pantry area: "We work like a team, huh? Nothing can beat us when we work like a team. Not even tomato sauce!"

Today we....

Today *I* came face to face with the reality that I am outdated, old, out of touch. I took the kids to see their dad at work and since the girls wanted to drive home with him, I got to listen to 'real' music on the way home. I flipped through the stations trying to find a country music station. I haven't listened to country radio for four years. It ain't what it used to be.

I finally settled on a song playing that seemed to have a storyline, so I figured it was probably country. I listened to four songs in a row and had to come home and scrub my brain with some George Strait and Trace Adkins.

When did male country singers get so wussy? And boy-band-ish? Damn. It's disheartening. Distressing. Disgusting. (That's all the alliteration I got in me.)

George Strait, Johnny Cash, Trace Adkins, John Anderson, Willie Nelson, Chris LeDoux, George Jones - these men don't have boy voices. And now, since this happens to coincide with a more emotional time of the month, I've been sitting here bawling my eyes out to "Mendocino County Line", "Goodbye Time", "Missing You", "Today My World Slipped Away", "Look at You Girl" and so many more. I just need to step away from my (old, out of touch, outdated) CDs.

I *have* been just plain enjoyin' "Pickin' Wildflowers". I think I'll stop on that one. And not listen to country radio for another four years.

I don't.....

I don't know what to say.



I got nothin'.

Two year old chatter

It's not clear yet whether Ains will have the same verbal .... idiosyncracies as her sister. She's certainly as chatty as her sister at the same age, but she isn't yet picking up on unusual or interesting words the way Hannah always has.

Her most common words right now are "SELF!" and " 'elp? You?" (a request so darling - and so worth accommodating - that no matter what I'm doing, I find a way to have her help) A frantic "POOOOO POOOOOTTT!!!" also figures into her most frequently used words. She chats constantly, talking about her favorite stories, singing her songs, talking and giggling with her sister, and teasing her momma, da, and 'gay-gay' (her way of saying Grayson's name gives her father fits). She has the most endearing way of saying "Peasssss????" that pretty much guarantees her whatever she's asking for. She won't be spoiled. Don't say that.

She's moved from only saying one syllable in each word to saying whole words. She now uses sentences, though her unique inflection style leads you to believe that a three word sentence is in fact three sentences - most often interrogative sentences. "You? Kiss? ME?" or "Mone? Mash. Tatoes?"

She calls me "Momma" instead of Hannah's preferred "Mother" and she's cementing her Daddy's place wrapped around her finger by saying "Kiss. You?", taking his face between her pudgy little toddler hands and kissing him.

This unique chatter won't last long - it's such a short phase in their language learning - but I do believe it's one of the "attachment behaviors" that little human babies have to tie us to them. It's too cute for, well, words.

"Are we meat?"

Asks my daughter.

"Yes we are. When we eat meat, we're eating the muscles of other animals. Since we have muscles, we could be meat, yes."

...

...

... "Just out of curiosity, why do you ask?"

"I wanted to know if I should be afraid of dinosaurs."

Fair enough.

Jack-o-lanterns.

A few days before Halloween, we went to visit some family and carve pumpkins.

Hannah partnered with her Aunt J'in. Her job? Draw her desired face on the pumpkin.


J'in's job? To decipher those scribblings and translate them into an acceptable jack-o-lantern. She is a very patient woman. And she did a fantastic job.


Ainsley was partnered with her daddy. She kept a close eye on the proceedings.


She did the honors of 'lidding the jack-o-lantern' when it was done.


Their cousin partnered with her daddy - isn't she the most photogenic child?


It was a fun, fun night.

Today we...

Dancing.
Coloring, writing notes. Getting up to dance, going back to coloring.
Bath.
Grayson is cueing well with pottying! Very happy.
Care bear videos online.
Playing with kittens. Squishing toes in mud.
Doing animal chores, collecting eggs.
Playing with ice, feeding pumpkins to goats.
Visiting Uncle Don and Aunt Renee, playing with Chunk, their puppy.
Visiting cemetery, wondering about dead people, trying to read words off of headstones.
Using magnifying glass to investigate clues and trying to solve a mystery.
Setting up a party picnic.
Cleaning.

Listening to Grandpa read books.
Playing with ponies.
Reading books.
Fixing hair. Learning about hair spray.
Helping grate cheese. Eating lots of cheese.
Running to Daddy's truck. Helping him chore.
Running back in the house and putting cold hands on Mother's face to hear her scream.
Helping Gray walk. Even if he doesn't want to.
Eating dinner, taking a bath.
Kids dropping one by one - the last one is still holding out, taping paper to the wall and then washing the paper with a washcloth for reasons only two year olds know.

Good day. Sometimes you don't realize how much is done in a day until you write it all down as it happens.

My day included helping my children with any of the above that they needed help with, laundry, dishes, feeding, rendering lard, and drying buckwheat.

Cookin' Cookies

We found a fun game called Cookin' Cookies for only a few dollars locally and got it to see if the kids would enjoy it. They did.

It's a very easy game for three year olds on up, but younger ones enjoy it too, because of the cool spoons.



Everyone gets a recipe card listing the ingredients for a certain type of cookie. All of the ingredients are on the cookie cards on the table. You have to smack the cookie cards with your suction cup spoon and collect the correct ingredients.



There are no turns, everyone just moves as fast as they can.



You don't want a rotten egg.



It's gross.

Today we..

... exercised our right to vote.

We live in a very rural area, hence the very non-private voting booths. Last year we had booths with curtains - I wonder what happened to those.

After we got our punch cards and went to our booths, my husband leaned over and asked me a question about a candidate he hadn't heard of. One of the ladies signing voters up yelled "no conversing!" at us. After that he started whispering "What did you get for #5?" and "What did you get for #7? I put Gettysburg Address." She was very aggravated with him.


So we got done and I asked him to get a picture of me with the girls at the polling place. This is, unfortunately, the best he got, but I had to include it. Look at Gray's face! Excited to be voting, that one.

Well, it's over.

One more year, one more night dressing up as whatever you can imagine for yourself.

Ains was Little Red Riding Hood.


Her little brother was The Big Bad Wolf. He looks more scared of her. Don't know why she looks like she was crying - she was as happy as they come that night.


All three together.


Hannah, my 'princess girl', did not go as a princess. She was a 'Dancing Queen'. 'Tis what you get when you have a royalty obsessed child who adores ABBA.


When anyone would say "Oh, you're a princess!", she'd correct them. And then show off her moves.


And look at those moves. Too fast for the camera moves. It's a silly source of pride for me that she doesn't know the name 'Disney' and the word 'princess' does not correlate directly to Disney princesses (TM) in her mind.


So much fun that Little Red Riding Hood had to join in.


Capes twirl amazingly well.


Off to get candy.



1 year ago:

All about princesses.





2 years ago:

Pink and orange dalmatian. Costume change the day of the party. Her ears look like the Flying Nun to me.



3 years ago:

A cop and a convict.





4 years ago:

Kangaroo and her joey. My sister made this costume for her first baby and passed it on to me.

Enjoying the fall.

The snow is gone. It took four days to leave.

We're trying to forget the snow. Trying to ignore the fact that it will be back. Enjoying the beautiful fall weather. Getting as much outside playground time as we can before we're driven inside by not only snow but the bitter winter winds that blow across our area.

One of Ainsley's favorite spots at any playground is what she calls the "bumpy bridge". You can see her being so cautious here. She has gained courage. She now stops at the edge, takes a deep breath and runs yelling across it. Runs! The adrenaline rush from accomplishing that carries her down the biggest, twistiest slide at the top.

'Tis the season. We have a local pumpkin patch here. It's a really great little place. Tons of pumpkins and all kinds of winter squashes. The girls picked out pumpkins for themselves and for us parents.


We also got some winter squash for eating through the winter. You pay by the pound and put the money in a jar beside the scale - it's all on the honor system.


Each of the girls picked a favorite decorative squash or gourd to put on our fall table. So many varieties to pick from.


The man who runs the place took us in to show us the gourds still on the vine. Do you see the bottom of it? By his left hand. The top of it goes past the top of the picture. It was so long - stunning.


This is the pumpkin patch itself. If you don't see a pumpkin that you like or if you like the experience of picking your own, you're free to explore the patch.

Today we...

Ha. I wish that "Today we..." went to the beach.


Snow. SNOW. We have snow. Seven inches and climbing. It hasn't stopped all day. I'd post a picture of it, but I don't have my camera. In truth, I'm dying inside a bit without it. My little one wanted to be with her daddy while he chopped wood tonight, but didn't want to change out of the fancy, frilly pink dress she was wearing. So she's in snow boots, camo fleece pants, a purple and green snow coat, Dora gardening gloves, her mom's warm stocking cap, a pink, fancy, frilly dress poofing out from under the dress and over the camo pants. And I have no camera.

In defiance of the seasonal change, I'm posting about our trip to the 'beach' back in early September.


We don't really have a beach around here - we live in the desert - but Hannah really wanted to go to the beach. So we headed down to a river where we go fishing occasionally.

When we got there, Ainsley immediately headed down to the water. Hannah was busy making sure she'd brought the essentials. "Sunscreen? Check. Necklace? Check. Chocolate? Check. Did you bring a towel, Mother?"

Nothing to write home about, is it?

When you live in a desert, you'll take what you can get.

Hannah spent most of her time exploring the 'beach'.

Ains played in the water more.

They both transferred a lot of pebbles from the edge of the water to about three feet into the water.

Hannah using her telescope to look at birds on the other side of the river.

Not even mid-October. Seven inches of snow. I'm moving back to Oklahoma. Or not. Oklahoma has the same cold, even stronger wind, believe it or not, but no insulating snow - the winter just starts later. Bah.

The real "Today we..."

What did we really do today?

Woke up, looked outside, saw the snow, thought "oh, how pretty - snow that will lightly cover the ground and be gone by 1 o'clock".

Matt had a hankering for crepes, so Hannah and he went to the grocery store to get what they thought were necessary ingredients - pie filling and whipped topping.

I get a call from Hannah a few minutes later. "Mother? Oh, Mother, I'm so sad. We just passed the cemetery and those poor, poor people. They're dead, Mother. Really dead." We've lived a mile north of this cemetery for two years. Sometimes kids have to process something for awhile before they get it, I guess. I shall call this tendency the "cemetery syndrome" from now on. "Mother, they lived when the dinosaurs lived, a long time ago. So the dinosaurs must have killed them. I don't like dinosaurs, Mother." Are you almost to the store? "Yes." Ok, get me some chocolate, please. "I will, Mother. But if a dinosaur knocks on your door while we're gone, don't answer it, ok?" OK, sweetie.

Ainsley and I read "I won't share" seventeen times while Grayson tries to chew on my toes.

I look outside and grumble about Matt needing to get home soon because I need to check on my poultry and don't want to dress up a toddler and baby to go do it if I don't have to. I remember the kittens are outside in a bush and Ains and I run out to check on them. Poor buggers, don't have the sense their momma didn't have the time to teach them and are covered in snow. We bring them in, get them warmed up. I let Ainsley play with them enough to make them want to go back outside.

Matt comes home. Hannah's bought me "a ton" (six, actually) Symphony chocolate with toffee pieces bars. She's thinking ahead. She usually gets me one, I put it in the fridge, eat it at night when they're in bed and I'm doing kid-free stuff, and it's not there for her to try in the morning. So she got me "a ton. Because whoever eats your candy bars can't eat a ton. They'll get too sick. So I got a ton, they'll only eat as many as they can, and then we'll have one left!" I need to start video taping this child.

I throw on my wellies (the one good thing about this weather - LOVE my wellies) and tromp through the snow to chore. Kittens and their food get taken to the nice, warm hay shed where the other cats are and shown a good hiding place. I leave when they forget about me and are busy jumping on each other.

After choring I head inside and eat crepes. Matt's made cherry and blueberry crepes. I chop up the candy bar I ordered and fill mine with that. Hannah eats whipped topping.

We tackle the house in teams, one of us doing a room while the other plays with the kids. Lots of reading this morning. Henry the cat books that I got from the library yesterday are a big hit.

For lunch, Matt and Hannah have a plan - hot dogs cooked over the fire. Hot dogs. We eat them two or three times a year, always over a fire. They're a ceremonial food, only good because of the meaning behind them - we only eat them when spending time with family. They're the only non-aquatic meat we buy. Figures that the only stuff we buy is the grossest stuff, and not T-bones.

Hannah dissolves into tears when she realizes that she's burned her hot dogs. I have to feign a preference for burned hot dogs and realize that I really don't mind them that much. Tears dissolve and she is now proud of her burned hot dogs. Am I destined to a lifetime of burned hot dogs proudly made just for me?

We picnic in the living room. Matt forgets that Grayson can crawl. Grayson ends up in the middle of Ains' mustard covered plate. Matt moves Grayson back three feet, somehow forgetting that Grayson can crawl. He ends up in Hannah's chili dog. Matt moves Grayson - you know the drill - and he ends up in the grated cheese bowl. I take over Grayson duty.

Naptime for the two year old. Wish the baby would take naps longer than 15 minutes. Two year old wakes up after 15 minutes. Glad Matt is here.

Lots of coloring, reading constellation books, asking if the stars disappear in the sky when it's winter, asking when she'll see Orion again, asking if "the man with the black hair will be President of the Who-nited States", running around on stick horses, comforting baby who accidentally got hit on the head by stick horses, demanding Momma nurse baby who is now fine but would certainly benefit from nursing.

Matt and Ains go out to get firewood, Gray goes down for the night, Hannah gets a warm bath ready, and I'm here, trying to ignore the laundry pile.

Matt and Ains come back in, Matt throws snowballs at Hannah in her warm bath. She foils him by not squealing and instead trying to eat the snow before it melts. Good heavens. I hear a squeal from Hannah, but it's her sister who caused it, pouring cold water in the tub. Good heavens.

Matt's fixing dinner, the girls have pulled their chairs out in front of the living room stove and are chatting with each other while getting warm. Every so often, Ains runs over to me and tells me something funny that her sister said or did and then runs back over to her chair by the stove. She's so cute she makes my heart break a little.

It's still snowing. Seven inches and climbing. It's supposed to be in the 70s next week. Hopefully all this snow will melt and our fall will last another few weeks. A girl can dream.

Happy kid.

Though I think he's done with his bouncy chair.