Reli's World

Gratutituous Cuteness: I Wanna Mustard Sanwich

"PLEASE! I weally weally wanna mustard san-wich."

So you want bread with ONLY mustard on it?

"Yesh. A MUSTARD san-wich." - cue tears.

Yes, he got the mustard "sandwich". Would you disappoint this little guy?

Recital 2013

Pics are not great, but the performance was awesome. :)

Dance Demo 2013

It was the best dance day of the year if you ask the girls - they love performing and getting flowers (hey, who wouldn't). They did a great job!

More Pics of the New Brownies!

Friends posted some pictures on social media...so here are a few more from the ceremony. Thanks to Seda and Cori for the pics!

Getting ready to cross the bridge:

With leaders:

Hand print flower certificates - each of the girls wrote one word on the other girls' certificates. Kiki's said: Nice, sweet, smart, funny (several times) and fancy. lol That fits.

Bridging to Brownies

Last night was Kiki's ceremony for moving from Daisies to Brownies. Hard to believe they started this journey 2 years ago and have grown up so much. We started the night with a group of Dasies...

This is the picture Keeks let me take over right before she walked the bridge:

Brand new Brownies:

Yaya flew up to Junior (Brownies are little sprite-like creatures who get wings when they move up, like fairies...thus the wing insignia on the vest. Maybe everyone else knew that but me?)

And this is the new norm:

 

 

 

Visiting the Farm

Keeks had a field trip to the Strawberry Farm yesterday. Here's her class picture.  On a normal day, only 1/2 the class meets at a time, so it looks bigger than it is in practice.

 

The goats were eager to be fed:

They were not disappointed:

Picking berries:

And finally, ice cream. We couldn't get Buddy to look up long enough for a pic. :)

Happy Mother's Day

Overheard v. 65

Buddy, you're pants are way to short all of a sudden! You're getting so tall!

Yaya: I'll help you put on another pair, 'cause you're a little guy.

Buddy: No! I NOT a little guy. Now, I a BIG guy!"

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Buddy is in the habit of attempting to raid the fridge for whatever strikes his fancy, usually the (formerly) low-shelved Juicy Juice boxes and Baby Bel cheeses instead of the low-shelved mini apples, Celmentine oranges and water that his sisters prefer to munch on. Catching him in the act, I scolded him while shutting the fridge door, "No, Buddy! No more juice today!"

"Ouch!"

"What happened, Buddy? Did you get hurt?" 

"YESH! I wanted JUICE!"

"So you are angry and frustrated? If your feelings get hurt, you can say 'That makes me frustrated.' Ouch is for when your body gets hurt."

"No - ouchy, ouch, ouch! I want a JUICE!"

"How about 'That makes me mad?'"

"OUCH!!! You don't give me a juice!"

Sighing, I enlist help from Drewdad. "Is there an exclamation for "I want juice and you won't give it to me?" 

Drew: "Buddy what do you say if you bang your toe?"

Buddy: "You cry."

Drew: "What do you say if you want a cookie and you can't have one?"

Buddy: "You ask Mama and Daddy!"

Drew: "You ask again - ha!" 

Me: "So, ouch means you don't give me juice huh?"

Buddy: "OUCH! I want JUICE!"

Toddler 1, Mama 0

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Yaya, commenting after I finished singing along to Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, "Oh, no! I didn't know you like to sing the blues!"
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San Antonio Riverboat tour guide: "About 1 block north stands the Alamo..."

Yaya: "Wait! What? The Alamo is HERE? One block away? THE Alamo? The one I learned about? I can't believe it! I thought it was so far away! Can I SEE it? Like, I can really look at it? What? There are TOURS?!"

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Kiki, teaching Buddy his letters: "Mama, why is this called a W when it should be called a double V?"

A few minutes later, I hear, "Okay, now that you know Z, we can teach you phonagrams and then you can learn to read!"

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Me: Buddy, come eat your beef taco!

Buddy: What's it called?

Me: A beef taco.

Buddy: NO! What's its name?

Me: Beef taco...

Buddy: NOOOOOO! What do you call it?

Me (wanting to move on): Fred.

Buddy (looking very confused, then amused): Oh! It's Fred?

Me: Yep. Are you going to eat it?

Buddy, trots in and sits down. Sizes me up, then says: Is it LUNCH?

Me (Ah-ha!): Yes, it's lunch.

Buddy: A drink is supposed to be with lunch. Can you get it for me?

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Recent media events are impossible to hide from the girls, but we keep them as sheltered as we can. We've had several conversations about why people might do really bad things, which has led to discussions of many reasons why bad things happen - theological reasons and etc., but also of psychopaths, who are people that are very different than the rest of us in that they don't have empathy or any real emotions.

So one afternoon, Yaya was playing outside and was very frustrated because some small garden spiders had built webs on her little playhouse. Drewdad removed one, I removed one, and Yaya was getting increasingly anxious about encountering more of them. My inclination is to comfort and Dad's is to teach - a combo that usually works well. After I soothed her, he encouraged her to go back and play and examine the spiders or let them be or remove them herself, thinking that this would help decrease her anxiety.

A few hours later, she brought this up with him. "Daddy, why did those spiders keep getting on my playhouse and making me mad?"

"Yaya, the spiders just are there - they live everywhere outside. They aren't going to hurt you. They don't try to ruin your playscape; they don't get mad at you or really have any feelings."

Yaya says, "Oh! I didn't know spiders were psychopaths!"

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Buddy had some little birthday favors shaped like tools - a hammer, a drill, a screwdriver, and a saw. I let him pick out one to play with and we put the rest of away for the party, which was, of course, entirely unacceptable in toddler-land. After careful consideration, he chose a saw. But a few minutes later, he wanted a hammer. So what I heard all afternoon was "I NEED a hammer to HAM WITH!"

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Me to Buddy: "How about you give me a kiss?"
Buddy to me: "How about you get me a donut?"

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How to wake up my family, by Buddy:

Sing the A-B-C's loudly, captalizing on the line that says, "Next time won't YOU SING WITH ME? SING WITH ME? MAMA? SING WITH ME!!!"

Announce loudly "Hey! it's morning! It's a beee-utiful day!"

Pile on top of people, shouting "GET UP! GET UP!"

If all else fails, pry a parent's eyes open and say, "How about you make me some breakfast? Ceeweal, please!"

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 Yaya: I'm going to get a good college degree, because I do not want to have to get a Ph.D.

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Buddy, to himself, while playing with Andy's key cord:

"Uh-oh. Daddy's going to be mad at us, I think." (cord retracts). "Uh-oh. I broked it. Daddy's going to be mad at us. I fix it."

Buddy, leave Daddy's keys alone before you get into trouble.

"I broked it again. He's going to be weally mad at us. I just look at his wallet. (finds driver's licenses and examines picture and reflects to himself, "He thinks he's a person." (lol - what does Buddy think he is - an alien?) "I gonna get some money...he pwobably needs his money...I gonna watch this Deevahdee (DVD) ovah heah." 

Daddy walks around the corner..."Buddy, what are you into?"

"I broked it 2 times."

 

 

Party Crasher

Look who showed up at the baby party this morning! He climbed right onto the platter of cupcakes, snatched one up, and ran up a tree with the cupcake pick still attached and everything! How rude! lol Fortunately, the kids already had their treats so noone had to choose  between eating squirrel leftovers or go without.

 

Cupcakes!

Today we made cupcakes for Buddy's "Ocho de Mayo" playgroup birthday celebration tomorrow (It's a cross between fiesta and vehicle themes). He was so excited all day and had had a really hard time waiting for the cupcakes to cool so we could ice them and he could finally add "spwinkles" and "twucks." Yaya finished her homework in time to help out. 

Buddy says, "Are there enough twucks for my cupcakes? P - S - O Cupcakes?" (because psocupcake starts with a silent pso, don't ya know?

Buddy: "Yay! My cupcakes!"

Yaya: "Mmmm cupcakes. Do we have to wait til tomorrow?"