Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Dressed (May 3-9)

Liam usually has an opinion on the shirt he wants to wear and his pajamas and sometimes his shoes.  But he is easily swayed into a matching outfit and one that is appropriate for the weather.  Brenna has an opinion about everything - from her underwear to her accessories.  And she is impossible to sway from her plan.  She's really like this about most everything, but it is most noticeable in her daily outfits and costumes.  She usually needs to add 4 accessories to every outfit before we leave the house so she feels properly dressed.  This week you will see a lot of the everyday dressing of our girl who has a sure sense of fashion, though she may not have a lot of fashion sense.


May 3:  We had a pirate treasure hunt today on Treasure Island.  It was an activity that we signed up for through our preschool's annual gala.  A couple of moms put it together, with pirate crafts and a treasure hunt.


First the kids had to find a bunch of hidden cards.  Once they did that, they had to find a bunch of things on a list and put them in their bag.


The final thing that Liam and his buddy had to collect was "treasure".  So, we tossed a penny near them on the sidewalk and then spent 5 minutes watching them fail to find it literally under their feet.


At the end of the treasure hunt, everyone got treasure chests and pirate hats.


Later that night, Liam was playing with his legos.  And Brenna grabbed a couple and started building.  At not even 3, she's pretty good at regular legos!


And then there is the bedtime dance party, which has turned into a dress up dance party for our mini princess.  Complete with sparkly 4" heels (mine).


May 4:  He sure is comfortable with making a mess.  And not so comfortable with helping to clean it up.


Nightly dance party.  Or, Liam builds out of pillows and Brenna dresses up as doctor bat girl.


May 5:  Brenna said she was Cinderella.  She was cleaning in a pink princess gown and 4" heels.  Usually when she is being Cinderella, she goes for 1 shoe.  A very literal interpretation.


The kids have decided that bath time is more fun in the master bath.  And showers are more fun than baths.  For now.


May 6:  I am not sure what was making Brenna mad, but this face is common in our house.  This one is full of opinions.



Pillow spaceships and gun battles with Dadda.


May 7:  Our babysitter's dog, Ray, came over on Wednesday night at bedtime to stay with us through the weekend.  He was sad, so Liam took it upon himself to hop up next to Ray and tell him that it was going to be ok and that his Momma was coming back.


Brenna's chosen outfit for a Thursday - leotard with tutu, pink Elsa shirt, orange shoes on the wrong feet.  She wore this with a coat to drop off fruit for teacher appreciation week at her school, of course.


Liam spent a lot of time with Ray.  He's a sweet boy.  And Ravioli was a gracious hostess, letting Ray take up most of the couch.


It was also Ravioli's birthday, so I got two birthday cookies for the dogs.  And Brenna insisted that we wrap Ravioli's presents.  In this particular wrapping paper.


Rocking out to some music videos, with her matching guitar (this was intentional on her part).


Dancing and spinning and falling down.


And nightly dress up.


May 8:  Brenna loves this skirt so much.  She wears it whenever it is clean and wants it washed immediately.  She sleeps in it too.  Tonight it was paired with those 4" heels she loves and some pink satin feathered gloves, of course.


The kids got in their nightly exercise, too.


May 9:  I had some errands to run (market and plant shop) and Brenna wanted to come with me.  She was a great little shopper.  She found a kitty to pet (though it quickly bit her) and asked if I wanted a coffee (the answer is always yes) so we shared coffee and hot chocolate on the patio at the plant store.  She moves at such a slow pace compared to Liam.  We spent the morning together and it was really fun.


Brenna has been asking to make banana bread muffins since the preschool book fair, where they both had two muffins from the bake sale.  So, we got out some bananas and made them.  Liam loves to use the electric mixer by himself and he's pretty good at it!

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Gold (April 26-May 2)

Remember that old girl scout song that goes:  Make new friends, but keep the old.  Some are silver and the others gold.  We'll, Liam had some time with old friends this week.  It is amazing how 4 and 5 year olds who haven't seen each other in months can pick right back up where they left off.  Seeing Liam play with his "old" friends reminded me of how many wonderful but distant friends I have in my life.


April 26:  Liam got invited to a pirate birthday party with the best pirate bounce house.  It was his friend Michael's birthday.  They went to school together last year and don't see each other often.  We got to spend time with his family and others we haven't seen - some in nearly a year.


Brenna really loved the bounce house, too.



We got to the party pretty early, so Brenna and Liam had the bounce house virtually to themselves at first.


And then Liam's best friend from last year, Victoria, showed up.  These two are such good friends.  When Liam came over to ask me to put on his shoes, she immediately volunteered to help.  It was so cute to watch them try to do it without adult help.


The party had a pinata.  Brenna had never really seen one before, but she did not hesitate to give it a try.


Liam got a couple good swings in, too.


Liam and Victoria.  Despite his expression, he was so happy.


Brenna watched the birthday cake part from up high.


Victoria shared her blackberries and cake with Liam.


Liam, Victoria and Michael.  These three are such good buddies, despite their time apart.


April 27:  Liam wanted Dadda to hide in the covers.  Brenna wanted to hide, too.


Liam did not approve.


So, Brenna and Liam pouted together in solidarity.


April 28:  Clipping fingernails with Dadda.


Liam wore mismatched socks all day.  And didn't notice.


April 29:  Liam and Brenna wrestling and making gorilla noises.


They had so much fun, despite looking like they were hurting each other.


Ravioli was hugging Liam's transformers at bedtime.


April 30:  Brenna was happy playing around before bedtime.


Liam was happy to get into the shower.


Brenna refused.  So she had to go straight to bed.  She didn't approve.  And neither did Ravioli who wanted to know why we made Brenna so sad.  (She ended up getting in the shower and having a blast, of course).


May 1:  I got Liam and Brenna a couple counting and sorting games, to help with fine motor skills.  They both really liked them.  More early morning collaborative play.


We had Friday night dinner and play with more "old" friends, Lucas and Elizabeth.


These two played pretty much on their own.  I loved when I came to check on them and they were "reading".


Brenna and Elizabeth had a couple costume changes.


More "reading" in Liam's bed.


May 2:  While Dadda cleaned out the garage (fun!), I took Liam and Brenna to Dolores Park.  They love when I chase them around as the "tickle monster".



Liam and Brenna spent a lot of time playing on these slides, figuring out how to ride them forwards and backwards, on their backs and their tummies.  Liam demonstrated how much strength and body awareness he has and Brenna was able to slide too.  Just a couple months ago, neither of them could really master these.


It was cold, but beautiful out.