Quote of the Day - After Dinner Bliss

Olivia (looking at a field of cows on the way home from dinner) : Cows say Moo, just like my breath.

Quote of the Day -September 10th

The scene - The local pizza place just after dinner where Noah and Olivia had been picking at each other the entire meal.

Olivia: I've only got one nerve left and Noah is crawling all over it. Now I've got nothin' left for tomorrow.

Quote of the Day - September 6th

Olivia (holding up a Cheez-It) - We need to return these. Mine has a hole in it.

Olivia is Such a Girl

There is great joy in our house this week because Olivia has discovered that she has her first loose tooth. She's delighted to tell Noah and I how big she's getting and this means she's almost a grown up. These are things I'd expect to hear a 5 year old to say. However, I don't have a lot of experience with 5 year old girls (and it's been a long, long time since I was 5) so imagine my amusement tonight when we had the following conversation:

Olivia walks into Noah's room while I'm telling him good night. Her finger is where it's been all day - right on the wiggly tooth. Teary eyed, she looks up at me and says "I'm so excited I'm crying!" (Girlism #1).

I walk her into her room to get her to bed and she says "I need to name it." I look around trying to figure out what she's talking about and then it dawns on me. "You're going to name your loose tooth?"

"Yep, I'm going to name all of them as they get loose." (Girlism #2)

And, then, as I'm walking out of her room - "I need to put a blanket on it. And when I wake up in the morning I'm going to dress it. Like maybe put a little shiny bow on it..." (Girlism #3)

Oh, she is such a girl. How such an ungirly mother came to help create this crazy, dramatic creature I'll never know but she definitely keeps me laughing.

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

We are now the proud owners of a five year old...girl :) Liv's birthday was Saturday and the weekend has been a whirlwind of good times. We started off Friday with camping in the backyard, complete with pizza and cupcakes, good friends, fireworks, and a giant bonfire (nice job, guys). Then, after Jeremy and I were able to drag ourselves out of the tent after staying up way too late (but, really, who needs to sleep more than 3 hours?) we set out for a day of Chinese food, shoe shopping (yes, Olivia is a shoe addict), present opening, and build-a-bear building.

Jeremy and I were talking last night after the kids went to bed, wondering how in the world our teeny tiny baby has suddenly turned five. Is it really possible she'll be starting kindergarten next month? She's promised that she won't get any bigger but, somehow, I just don't believe her...

This is what five looks like...

A Week With Dad

The kids wanted to spend this past week in Roanoke so they could visit Jeremy and their Granny and Poppie in one glorious trip. They got to see Daddy every evening and hang out with their grandparents 24 hours a day. When you're 4 and 9 what's better than that? I joined the group on Wednesday so that the 4 of us could spend some extra time together. We shopped, helped rearrange furniture, played lots of Chinese checkers, and hit the Salem Fair. We had a nice relaxing time but the kids were dying to get home today to play with the neighborhood kids. Can't say I blame them. It's always nice to go away for a few days and then walk back in your own front door.

Monday's Quote of the Day

Olivia: "I need to wash my hands. I've been touching nature all day."

Road Trip

One of the unexpected benefits of Jeremy's prolonged training is the fact that sometimes the kids and I can visit him and spend the night with him in whatever town he happens to be in. They love staying in hotels and seeing him. And, honestly, so do I. A week ago we went and hung out with him for a night. The time passed too quickly but our trip back home was like a miniature road trip. It was a pretty perfect day - breakfast at Waffle House (Noah's first time there. Olivia, of course, is an experienced waffle orderer..), a stop at Dinosaur Land (Noah's comment - "cheesy but fun", Olivia's? "The best park I've ever been to!!!") and then a side trip to Skyline Caverns where we went through a mirror maze and rode a miniature train. After a leisurely lunch at KFC we hit Skyline Drive for some of the trip home. The kids got to scale boulders, run down skinny deer paths, count chipmunks, see a wild turkey and be amazed by the doe and newborn fawn we saw laying in the grass not 20 feet from us. We got home exhausted and happy and anxious to spend more days like that this summer.