Getting Ready

The kids are getting ready for our little one's arrival by practicing on Baby Katherine. Whenever they see her, they want to hold her, or feed her or make her laugh. ("They" refers to Dean and Edie. Drew doesn't go ga-ga over babies like the other 2 do) A big thanks to Mary for letting my kids "take care of" her baby!
I think Edie finally understands what is happening. She has started telling everyone "I have a baby. See?" and then pointing to my tummy.

My little pixie

Edie got a haircut. Her hair is so thin and baby-fine that when it gets long, it just looks stringy and wild. Pie has been hinting for about a month that it needed to be trimmed. And Edie has gotten more insistent in "NO TAILS!" (toddler translation: no ponytails to keep my hair our of my eyes, please) So yesterday, Edie got a haircut, which she loved. "Like my brothers!" I think she looks like a little pixie.
In other toddler news, Edie has decided to use the potty. She has been ready for a while now, but I have been dragging my feet about it. I just think that when the baby comes, she'll regress and start having accidents, and I don't do well with accidents. I can handle throw-up all over, but a puddle of pee on the carpet is so nasty to me! Anyway... Despite my silent protests, Edie has made her decision. She's successfully made it to the potty for days in a row now. Underwear is preferable to diapers, and she keeps insisting "I not a baby. I big girl!"

Kindergarten is fun

Dean loves school. He has lots of friends, some from preschool, some new. He loves his teacher. He loves that he can read now. (It's not really reading, but it's close!) And if that wasn't enough, last week he was the "Top Eeyore". To clarify: each of the 4 kindergarten classes at Dean's school has a mascot from the Winnie the Pooh stories. Dean is in the Eeyore class. Top Eeyore is like the student of the week.

Dean was on top of the world last week. He got to be the line leader, take the attendance to the office, and help out with the calendar every day. He got to bring Eeyore home (see photos) and write in the Eeyore journal about all the fun things they did (we went to the mall for lunch and a merry-go-round ride). And he got to bring in a poster all about Dean, complete with pictures, to share with the class. Today he passed on the Eeyore bag to the next kid in line.
All of this has Dean so excited to go to school. I'm so glad he likes it. I don't want to tell him that every year won't be this fun, he'll find out soon enough. But hopefully he'll continue to like to go to school, even when cute little stuffed animals aren't involved.

Guys-Only Weekend

The guys at Pie's office have been working really hard the past few months and have had record-breaking numbers to show for it. (Oh, if only that meant more money for us like it used to in the corporate world...sigh. Obviously I'm still getting used to this entrepreneurial stuff!) Anyway. They decided to all take a long weekend and spend it doing "guy stuff" at a cabin in the mountains. Pie took the boys out of school early Thursday and left me and Edie alone for 3 days.

They fished. They ate junk food. They played video games and watched guy movies on a big projector they took from the office. They slept in sleeping bags. They didn't shower the entire time. The boys were in heaven.

Edie and I hung out at home. We ate junk food. We went to the mall to ride the merry-go-round. We slept in our comfy beds. We watched TV with Katie and her friends. We were in girl heaven.

I only wish I had pictures to prove what fun we all had.

The 80s

We haven't been doing much that is blog-worthy around here. Just regular stuff. Not too exciting. So this week's post is a blast to the past. I gathered some pictures from the 80s to give everyone a good chuckle.

Elizabeth, Mickey and I, 1985. Remember our Johnson's Army T-shirts? I didn't realize the real Johnson's Army wasn't good until I was in my 20s, I think!

Jill and I, Christmas, 1984. That's the year we all got homemade Cabbage Patch Kids from Grandma. Isn't Jill a cutie?

Here's Emily and I in the late 80s, maybe 1988? The best thing about this photo? Our hair. Classic Preteen 80s.

Me, Emily and Elizabeth at Girl Scouts. 1985-ish. Aren't we happenin'?!

Our swimming pool before we moved to Cali, 1983 or '84. I'm sure Mom cleaned out the trash can really well before we dove in. The things we did to get out of the Ohio heat.

And Karin, no comments about how you aren't in any of them. All of my pictures with you in them already got posted over here.