Woodland Antics

The kids had their first day of kinder today.  I just have to say Aussies abbreviate EVERYTHING, so kinder is short for kindergarten.   Kindergarten = preschool To my relief they both had a fantastic day and are eager to return on Thursday.  I worked through my own anxiety through cleaning. My entire house is spotless and actually stayed that way for a couple of hours. A cute little anecdote :  Fiona was eager to show me something she had in her lunchbox.  When we got home she pulled a half eaten piece of pizza out.  Apparently she scored it off a little boy and brought it home for me because pizza is my favorite. How thoughtful is she?   While at the library last week we found this book.   It perfectly portrays our day.  Be well,           Mrs. Pig

 Reed woke up on his birthday to balloons in his room.  He immediately came into our room and proudly announced that he was now six!  To his surprise the house was decorated with streamers and Captain America decorations.  He had pancakes and strawberries for breakfast. Ice cream and bananas for lunch. Guacamole, oodles of noodles and banana birthday cake for dinner.  In between his favorite meals he hunted for his birthday gifts, played with them and spent some QT with Fiona and I at the beach. Reed celebrated his birthday with all of his favorite things.  As it should be. Just Six of the millions of things I love about Reed 1. He has the best manners. Please and thank you come so naturally to him. 2. He is extremely appreciative of everything.  When he woke up and saw how we decorated the house for his birthday he came running to our bedroom saying" Thank you so much for decorating the house for me!!" You know the type.  The type ...

Yesterday was Reeds last day as a 5 year old. He's moving on to a bigger and better age.  To  enshrine the precious age of 5 we did an exit interview. Although I love how the internet allows us to share this with you; I am always disappointed with the disintegration of  the video quality.  On my computer everything looks fine.  Then I watch it online and I'm consistently disappointed.   That said,years from now I won't give two hoots about the quality. I'll just be happy I was able to persevere & share it.  Special Feature:Mom's Commentary We've been counting the number of sleeps he had left for a week.  Today (his birthday) he keeps asking, "Is it still my birthday?"  As far as his age goes, he views 6 as a stepping stone to get to 9.  Why 9?  He wants some games that we said he has to be 9 to play.   Youth is certainly wasted on the young. Blue makes sense.  I can't say much about this o...

I know you're on the edge of your seat waiting to see today's creative picture.   Wait no longer my friends. I'm sure it's self-explanatory but just in case...  Ryan is on the left holding my crown.  I'm on the right dressed to impress in a yellow gown. Okay, as much as I wish I could take credit for this one.  I can not tell a lie. I had nothing to do with it.   It was all Fiona.  She lives life in her own little fairytale where Ryan's the king and I'm the queen. {Gotta love that about her}                                                                             ...

When we moved  I had to give up all of my little storage containers.  Since the move I've become obsessed with glass jars.  I can put anything in them and they are oh so pretty sitting on our shelves.  I've picked a few up here and there at thrift stores. Even better I've been washing used jars and upcycling them.  Everything goes neatly into a jar: thread, hair accessories, pencils, puzzles, yarn...even the monkeys. Reed begged for a messy one. Who am I to deny a boy of a mess? Loving his smooshed nose! In case you're wondering... I'm challenging myself to take one creative photo a day for a week.  I tell the kids my idea-they get jazzed-we take a couple of pictures-I work some magic on the computer and voila!  In total it's a 20 minute gig that leads to a days worth of laughs. {time well spent right?} They ask over and over to see the picture throughout the day.  Then they tell a story about the picture. This is my favorite part. T...

I imagine this inscribed in a card or whispered to her one day when she really needs to hear it.    B eing barely 17months apart they only remember a world with the other by their side.  This is the greatest gift we could ever give them, an in-house best friend.   Best friends traveling the world together... via balloons .   Onward & Upward,         Trudy

Reed really pushed my buttons today. He was so naughty all day. I didn't want to do it It hurt me more than it hurt him I was left with no choice but to unleash the BEAST   The only problem was he LOVED it. I kid. We don't really have a dinosaur. Do you know how expensive the permits for those things are? Reed had a great day today. He thoroughly enjoyed his dino discipline. Along the same lines- The worst part about disciplining Reed is Fiona.  She cries more than he does.  As he sits in time-out she ask questions like, what if he has to pee?  He loves Fireman Sam, does he have to miss it? xoxo~ Trudy