For at least a month now, Scout has walked around the house singing Iz’s version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. The funny part is that he really only knows the first five or six lines, so we get those over and over. And the funnier part is that he makes his rendition very breathy and sultry! We all crack up, but I have to admit that it isn’t too bad. I actually find myself joining in, until he shushes me!
“Somewhere Over the Rainbow”
Pomegranate Shrapnel
Navy came over to show me her tedious work on a pomegranate this afternoon.
I was kind of impressed.
And then cracked up when I saw the spray from the little seeds, all over her face.
That’s A Lot!
Last night as Dash was in dreamland, I whispered in his ear, “Do you love your mama?” He sucked his fingers. I whispered again, “Dashy, do you love your mama?” He still sucked. So I asked him about three more times until he finally said, “Uh huh” to probably make me go away. But then I asked him, “Well, how much do you love me?” It took a few more times of asking that, when he finally took his fingers out of his mouth and said, “A thousand hundred million”.
That’s a lot for a little boy, so I was very pleased, and left him to his sleep.
Little Critters
Nothing is more endearing, than when Pippi uses her imagination with her Little Critters. She becomes their mommy, and rocks them, sings to them, and plays house with them. She is so stinking cute, it is unbelievable.
And when she gets the Little Critter’s Nonnie involved, that’s pretty endearing too.
Albuquerque Ballon Festival
Many months ago, when the tickets were very cheap, I got our family round-trip flights to Albuquerque for their annual balloon festival. This was all done without our kid’s knowledge, so I told them that we were taking dad to the airport. When we got there, they all finally asked him where he was going, and he told them the balloon festival. I put up an act, that we should all get to go, and the kids chimed in. Then I brought out their very own backpacks that were filled with airplane snacks, sweatshirts, beanies, and games.
They were all pretty shocked and excited!
I love this scene, where the kids are all pumped up to write their names and information for each of their own backpacks!
I also love Pippi’s mini backpack.
(Thanks Bella.)
We boarded…and so our trip began.
After very little sleep, and a very late arrival the night before, our trip started off with a few timeouts. But everything got turned around pretty quickly, and our kids were very good the rest of the trip — especially considering that they were getting basically no sleep!
(Actually — Scout had one storm off that was a little out of control, but other than that — they were perfect.)
Our first day consisted of a marathon walk to Old Town.
We think we walked about 3.5 miles, so I insisted on an Uber for our way back.
That night we hit up the “Glowdeo”, where these mammoth sized balloons, of very cool shapes are blown up and illuminated. They were awesome, and HUGE. And the best part was that each balloon handed out trading cards, which our kids loved collecting. The one bad thing about this was how pitch black it was when the balloons went down. It was frighteningly dark, so we held onto our little kids like we were glued to them.
Unfortunately, we didn’t hang onto Scout as well, and he turned up at the police trailer.
The police man was very impressed with him, because he said that Scout did everything right.
The police man was very impressed with him, because he said that Scout did everything right.
He immediately found a policeman, and he knew both parent’s phone numbers memorized.
Good thing, because as I was writing my kid’s phone numbers on their arms, Scout insisted he didn’t need them written.
Meanwhile, Navy had asked Micah to go on a hunt after the crowd left for money.
He thought it was a ridiculous quest, but when she turned up finding $5, he retracted his thinking!
Of course our little treasure hunter would be successful.
The next day, we headed to the zoo/aquarium/bio park for a great afternoon. Who knew that Albuquerque would have such great places. Our kids especially loved the butterfly encasement, the fountain (I didn’t know about), and the hippos. We could have spent many more hours here, because it was really cool.
We made it back, just in time to make the bus back to the balloons.
Our little Pips was pooped, and took a little catnap each evening to get her through the long days.
Good thing too, because we got home from this night’s Glowdeo at around 11 pm, and the next morning we were up for the mass ascension by 5am.
This morning was chilly!
Micah brought our inflatable couch, and all of the kids cuddled with Micah to keep warm.
But then they started seeing the balloons fill up, and they up and raring to go.
While the balloons were getting prepared, the kids ran from car to car to get trading cards.
And then we all laid back to watch the balloons ascend.
Some people “dabbed” to pay their respects!
Dash was really excited to get a picture with Yoda and Darth.
We finally made it back to the hotel with trading cards in hand, and a nap in our sights.
And about 10 hours later, we were waiting for our luggage at LAX.
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It was a very quick trip, that was stuffed full of activities. But how can you go wrong with two full days of family time and hot air balloons. The answer is…you can’t.
Dash
While we were in Albuquerque, I overheard Dash introduce himself to a few different people. And when he said, “My name is Dash, and I am four and a half years old. I am named Dash because I run really fast.” I got the hugest smile across my face. I am not sure there is a cuter boy in all the land.
Naughty Influence
While I watch Scout and Navy practice tennis, Dash has found a little friend names Lyla. They play together, and entertain each other enough to make their mom’s lives easier. But when Lyla’s mom went to check on them, she took this picture of them being where they weren’t supposed to be. And she told me that she asked Lyla what gave her the really bad idea to climb those wobbly chairs. Her answer was, “Dash”.
Pippi is THREE!
Three years ago, I went to my parinatologist appointment a month from my due date. Dr. Pan told me I was having my baby that day, and to go home and return to the hospital immediately. I called Dr. Thein to see if I could postpone my delivery until after “Back to School Night” — I mean, I was the room mom.
The next morning, on 10-4 (I loved the date) I had an emergency C-Section after my baby was too tired to cruise the birth canal.
At 5:37 am, I didn’t know it at the time, but my life had just hit it’s quota on personality, because we welcomed Pippi Sue Denison (middle name legally changed to Pizzazz (in honor of Nonnie), after Micah said he wasn’t having a hillbilly as a daughter).
She was rushed to a four hour, blood-exchange-transfusion surgery, and never looked back after that.
And now, three years later….we get to celebrate the cutest, most theatrical, most opinionated, teeniest little girl, who thinks she is turning sixteen today!
Our three year old wasn’t able to to agree on what I thought would make a cute picture.
She insisted on her version!
HA!!
The day started out by her sneaking out of her tent, and singing “Happy Birthday to ME!!!”
Then she opened up her “Wittle Cwitters”.
She played with her little critters all morning long, and played house with them, she rocked her baby, she even put them in “teem out”.
She then went to the farm with Grandma and great Grandma, and had a blast.
Afterwards, we had dinner and cupcakes — and presents!!
She loved the chocolate that Scout gave her, and even paused opening presents to eat it.
She loves all things dolly right now, and was excited to get a princess.
She was darling while she opened her presents.
She kept saying, “Thank you so much mommy, I loooove this”.
I wanted to keep giving her more and more, because she loved everything she got so much.
The only hiccup came when she saw her cupcake…
I think she was surprised to only count three candles.
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Happy birthday Doo Dah…..you are truly one in a million.
Tennis Trophy
Dash got the tennis trophy today, for winning the final game of the practice. He gets to take it home for a week. They also gave him the choice of having an Otter Pop, but he chose the trophy. I congratulated him after, and oohed and aahed over the trophy. But after, I told him that he should pick the Otter Pop next time, because they are so yummy. (And that way, I won’t have to track that trophy all week, and have to remember to return it.)
Morning Date
This morning, Scout said he felt sick in his tummy. I thought it was a ploy, so I said, “Fine, I will help you make your bed…but hurry up”. He slowly walked over, and as we were pulling up the coverlet, he ran to the toilet and threw up. Opps.
Needless to say, Scout wasn’t making it to school.
In honor of some one on one time, that we rarely get, I told Navy to put the pedal to the medal, and we could make it to I Love Bagels for a morning date.
She was ready in .3 seconds!
She ordered her favorite — a breakfast sandwich on an Asiago bagel + chocolate milk.
I sat across from her, and we talked for about 20 minutes all about handball, and the different hits you can make.
I compared notes from my handball days, and apparently, I am completely outdated.
She didn’t know what a “popcorn” or a “waterfall” was.
It was my kind of morning.
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