wish i had thought of that!

check out this project from Hillary at Wee Wonderfuls....
check out her post and look at more detailed photos of this adorable quilt.

time

just keeps ticking away.

why do the fun moments speed by so quick? while the not-so-fun times take their sweet time?

i love those fun days with my family, like we had today. i was having a rough morning getting myself organized for the fall. it didn't help when princess kiara decided to host a royal tantrum at the public library. {seriously...every time i have gone to the library this summer, someone has been crying. no joke.} then i met up with some friends at a splash park. huge improvement. came home and had great community time with our neighbors.

our yard has now been titled "craft yard". just because the kids end up doing some kind of project when they visit! it started out with Aidan and his buddy making a transformer out of a cardboard box. Kiara and her friend painted a mural on another box. their mom and i visited and enjoyed the slow pace. now they know i have paint. and they ask for it. like today. the boys had been wanting to build a second transformer for a few weeks now. i finally replenished my paint supply. in total i had TEN children painting at one time. i know! {at least i'm getting smart with the clean-up!} i'm not sure if i should be more surprised over the number of kids in our yard at one time, or over the fact that i actually had enough paintbrushes and such to provide the opportunity. wow.





i cannot get over how much this boy has grown this year. he will soon be FIVE. one of those memorable years.

next week he and i will spend a few hours in his classroom learning his new routines. have i mentioned how thrilled i am with his teacher? i used to be one of her regular subs before Aidan was born. she IS amazing. I learned a lot from her! so. thrilled.

my only mama-sadness-reality moment is that he will be taking the yellow school bus. he is excited. i am excited for him. but hoping that he gets off at the right stop! which really should not be a concern because his sense of direction is already better than his own daddys'. i guess it is a mommy thing.



then there is little miss sunshine. she really is a barrel of fun most of the time. communication and understanding still have huge gaps for her. there are daily arguments over minor decisions. only because she sometimes confuses words like: open/close, up/down, in/out..... sigh. the THREE's are a pain at times.

yet i know that my baby girl will be so mature by this time next year. i'll miss those little disagreements over prepositions. last night she did her typical routine....coming out of her room with her list of excuses. finally she fell asleep. i didn't check on her until i went to bed. i found her in one of her princess gowns, sleeping. which was definitely not what we put her in to wear to bed. interesting. i would have left it one her, but she still has the odd night-time accident....and this was a brand new dress.

another night, i was chatting with a friend when i realized that she was in the bathroom. i opened the door to find her legs smothered in lotion. i was speechless. she looked at me, then closed the door slowly and politely. i hung up {after a shared chuckle}, opened the door again and carried her to her bed. what is a non-attentive mom to say? "well, Kiara, i think your legs will be very smooth in the morning." smart. she went right to sleep and slept soundly unti morning.

she will be in playschool. after two years of dragging her out of Aidan's classroom, she finally gets to stay. there is no exaggeration in that sentence. trust me.



yesterday they had their first official playdate without me. it was just a few doors down the path. Kiara got to play with another friend and do girly stuff. Aidan got to do his boy stuff....lego, video games, shoot 'em. they came home so happy. i think we should try and do this once a month. it makes more mess for one mom, while the other one gets a break {if you call cleaning and laundry a break?!}. however the kids are totally happy.

overnight guest

our two darlings woke up to a sweet surprise one morning this week.....






Cadbury came for a sleep over!






earlier this spring we stayed at a friends' house. Kiara was DELIGHTED that their eldest daughter had a pet bunny. she gave that bunny more attention than he had become accustomed to! my friend had told me that she needed to find a new home for him. i knew Kiara would adore a pet like this. yet, i also knew that it would mean we would need to find a new home for Kristian! we had a pet cat for several years, and each year Kristian's asthma became more difficult to manage. a lesson we don't care to repeat.









Aidan was trying to formulate plans of how we could keep the bunny at our house as a pet.

i was most impressed with his creativity!

we all have the best of both worlds these days. we are surrounded by neighbors who have child-friendly dogs. the kids get to cuddle and enjoy. the bonus being that i don't have any of the work associated with the pets!! as an added bonus, the kids often stop people walking dogs to ask if they could pet them. it kind of feels like we have a moving pet shop.... the best part is that Kristian is not suffering from the allergens.

as for Cadbury {is that not the cutest name for a bunny?!} he was just an overnight guest at our home. his new home is with my SIL and BIL. a new life for the little guy, but i'm sure he'll enjoy his new country home.