King-isms

King- I think we should sell our house. For mmmmm 46 dollars.

King- If I were your age (papa) when momma was little I would let her bring her milk in. [In other words, you should have let me bring my milk into Menards, if I were you I would have let me.]

King- If you were a snowflake I would call you Burley. If papa was a snowflake I would call him Moe-ler.

King- Do you remember when I was little . . . and I was fussing, you'ld take me outside to see the stars. I remember that from when I was little.

what????

"Let's go, come on let's go, swimming lessons start soon."
"I need to wash my face."
wait, wait, wait . . .
"let's go."
"I need to wash my face." sounds like it's coming from the bedroom not the bathroom at all.
going to check it out "Why are your pants off?"
"I need to wash my face."

I knew we had problems, i just didn't know how bad they were.

Happy October

We tried on our costumes today, we're going to be snowmen for Halloween. Realistic, huh?

From Fall 2009

From Fall 2009

From Fall 2009

That's thinking outside the box!

Magoo's been working on his train table, but mostly working on tracks outside of the train table. I kinda like to see him working "outside" the bounds of the table, I hope it's indicative of a child who will grow into an adult who can think outside the box and solve problems. Perhaps another engineer??

From Fall 2009

From Fall 2009

Evil Knievel Rides

Describing something hard to describe

We're playing Lincoln Logs on the floor, we're casually talking about school. Magoo stands to tell me how to carry the rods. He suddenly has a new expression on his face, something has just occurred to him.

"I need to have a bowel movement."
He turns away.
Takes two steps.
Turns back.
Hands move up toward cheeks then up and away.
"See, when I need to have a bowel movement, I get all sparkly."

I needed some life, art, nature . . .

I worked really hard and really focused this morning but hit the 3:00 wall and knew after a long tough week, rather 4 weeks, can you believe we've been back to school for four weeks already? I needed a creative outlet, sewing, blogging, photos. . . I headed home and grabbed some sewing, then grabbed Magoo and got him outside, we haven't been taking advantage of this nice weather lately. Then inside for some tomatoes, they're all I could think of all day, three big fat juicy tomatoes for supper, I cut into the two larges ones, and they were delicious! Mmmmmm, fresh off the vine supper.


Sunshine bag, some have goodnight bags, but evenings is when I have time to be calm and let him pick out clothes, we have a pretty good bed time routine. It's mornings that are killers around here, so a bag full of sunshine and independence is perfection. We put in it his clothes for the next day and a couple of books he can read while I'm still waking up. Hope it helps makes mornings a little smoother. I can't wait until he can make his own hot breakfast. Cold breakfast separates is next.

From Fall 2009

Backyard Art

From Fall 2009

From Fall 2009

Summer delicious, in our own backyard

From Fall 2009

Please take my picture, like this, how can I resist?

From Fall 2009

It's 3 am

It's not 3am now, but it was last night, at 3a.m. and we're working on a new skill with Magoo-sounds like he's a puppy. We're working on trying to get him to sleep the entire night in his own bed. Sounds much easier than it is. He's always woken up in the middle of the night and had a hard time getting back to sleep, during the summer it was easy to let him crawl into bed with us than to go back into his room and sleep on his toddler sized bed for as long as it takes to get a cramp in your legs, or arm, or neck to wake you back up sending you back into your own room.

Anyway, last night at 3:00 a.m. this is what took place.

I hear a sleepy child approaching the room, standing there, knowing he can't come into bed.

"You need to go back to your bed, remember."

"But I need company."

Yes that's right he needs "company" in his bed at 3am. Oh, he's going to be smooth with the ladies later on, much later. It got me to snuggle with him, at least until a cramp in my leg woke me up and I padded back to snuggle with my own sweetheart.

First First-Day-of-School

Today was Magoo's first day of school, OK it barely counts since it's preschool, but it's five days a week half days, and he'll be going here through Kindergarten, so I declared it counts!

He was as excited and ready to go as if he were five so go we did, he had a great uneventful day. The whole day only lasted an hour to be exact, it's phase-in week so they work up to their full four hour schedule. Monday will be another first full day and by full I mean four hour day. Hey maybe I'll take more photos then on first day number two. In the meantime, I'm excited he's starting such a wonderful school and can't wait to get the full report on Friday.

And so what was his report? Someone else picked me up. (one of his teachers drove him to day care after the hour at school). We played (he later recanted on this), we had a story, we looked around, we were told to bring a plant the first day. I put it on the refrigerator, it's smaller than ours (the fridge, not the plant, that was the only plant we had at our house, so glad it's found a better home!).

From Fall 2009

From Fall 2009

Yes, his shirt's a little big but how can you argue, it's new (Thanks Auntie Deb) and it's appropriate. And besides isn't he awfully cute! Hope he doesn't know it too much yet.

End of Summer

Vacation has come and gone and we're all back to school, Magoo's new school, River Bend, starts after Labor Day, but he's back to day care part time. B and I are trying to keep our heads above the water as we both have busier than usual fall semesters.

Here's a few highlights from our end of summer moments in pictures:

From End of Summer

From End of Summer

From End of Summer

From End of Summer

From End of Summer

From End of Summer

From End of Summer

From End of Summer

From End of Summer

This Old House

Before

From This Old House

From This Old House

After

From This Old House

From This Old House

Eastside, Before

From This Old House

After

From This Old House

Back, Before

From This Old House

After

From This Old House

From This Old House

Before

From This Old House

After

From This Old House

Summer at the Creek

Another ride with C. lots of fun, and picking blackcaps on the way back, yummmmm. Neither Magoo nor C. could pass a bush without stopping and eating a few. Now that's what summer's all about!

From Summer2009

From Summer2009

From Summer2009

Look at me go!!!!!

From Summer2009

From Summer2009

Advice Columnist at age 3???

Magoo told me in the car today, "When I get nervous I can just cheer myself up by doing something I need to do."

Fourth of July

I just have to get this down asap before I forget it all . . . It's 10:55 and he's all tucked into bed after watching the fireworks. As I turn out the light and get up to leave this is what he says,

"Momma, while you're up could you please get me fresh water, with a lime, and two ice cubes." Nothing high maintenance here!

He was asleep by the time I brought it to him.

By the way, he LOVED the fireworks! I think they definitely met his expectations. He said in the car, "I've never seen fireworks before, now I . . . will know what they are."

Basement Delight

The thermometer rose today and our walk this morning was canceled so Magoo and I went thrifting and scored some great pillow cases for some pajama pants! A great project for this afternoon in the basement to stay as cool as possible. Finally the heat lifted a little for a little outside fun in our new pajama pants! I couldn't pick one fave so you get them all!!

Thanks Amy for the inspiration for these pants.

From Summer2009

From Summer2009

From Summer2009

From Summer2009

It's Summer

OK, it's been forever since I've updated this, as usual I suppose. I remember a moment in May or maybe June thinking I should make a goal to post here every day . . . ha ha, at least I was realistic enough to know that wasn't going to happen. Or did I post that? Anyway, I get behind then I think to make up for it I'll post a whole bunch and get everyone caught up, which them makes me avoid posting at all because well then I'd have to sort photos, choose the ones I want from how many events ago? So I couldn't possibly do it in 10 minutes, so here I am, I'm just going to post what I have when I have it. I probably could do more if I chose not to write my stream of consciousness to but hey, that's me!

Summer has been in full swing for 2 or three weeks now, we had a great time up north for like a week frog catching with R. It was a last minute run up north and it was a lot of fun. Here are some highlights!

Already a Birder!

From Summer2009

PEMA

From Summer2009

Teaching G'ma J about edamame

From Summer2009

Rainy birding day in Duluth

From Summer2009

Sandhill crane and baby

From Summer2009

From Summer2009

Dragon Fly event, tons of them coming out of their nymph stage on the water's edge, I had so much fun photographing these, and Magoo entertained himself so well I sort of lost myself in the moment for a while!

From Summer2009

From Summer2009

Tiger swallowtail butterfly

From Summer2009

Suni's settled into her own with her old age, the perfect companion for Magoo

From Summer2009

A finale for the week and B's B-day SUSHI, YUMMMMM!

From Summer2009

Just a fave

From Summer2009