Preschool

Today was "meet the teacher" day at Maggie's preschool.  This is the same school she went to last spring, so it's not totally new - but it is a new teacher, and a new classroom, and a lot of new kids.  Lucky for her though, two of her friends from her previous class will be with her this year!  Our "meet the teacher" day was a success because she got to share it with her two friends.  Can't wait for school to start on Monday!

Pervert!

My dog is a pervert.  That dirty little Jack Russell has a not-so-secret boyfriend in the basement.  Apparently they are into S&M, because Payton is constantly making that big stuffed bunny her b*tch.  About now you are probably slowly shaking your head in shame, but I swear there is a cute story at the end of this sordid tale.  Two, actually...

First - I have come to find out that two preteen boys (whom shall remain nameless... oh hell - CHANDLER and MATT) took pictures and/or video of Payton partaking in some bunny lovin' and posted in online.  If I were a little more mature I would probably find this soooo embarrassing.  But instead, it's kinda funny.

Second - We were playing downstairs this afternoon and Maggie calls out, "Look!  Payton is jumping up and down on her bunny!  That's so funny, I didn't know she could jump up and down like that!"  Uh, yeah... that's what she's doing. 

A thing for blonds.

When Maggie talks about a woman with blond hair they always have "blond, blond hair".  Like, "Sleeping Beauty, you know Mom, with the blond, blond hair?"  It's pretty cute.

Modest? Not so much.

Maggie, file this under "stories my mom will tell to embarrass me later in life". 

While we were in Iowa for the State Fair we stayed at a hotel with an indoor pool.  Each afternoon we would drag our sweaty, tired bodies back to the hotel and take the girls for a little swim to reinvigorate.  One afternoon, no one else was in the pool area, we had it all to ourselves, Maggie needs to go to the bathroom.  So she jumps out of the pool and quickly walks over to the bathroom.  She comes out about 30 seconds later holding the crotch of her swimsuit to one side, fully exposing her, eh=hem, little lady.  "Mom, see - like this, right mom?  Come help me mom!"  And she just stands there showing off her hoo-haa, in the middle of the pool deck.  Jason is looking mortified, "What the hell is she doing?" and my 12 year old brother-in-law (lucky him, he decided to hang out with us rather than with his parents that day) was just shaking his head, trying not to look at her.  I had to explain that because it is a pain in the ass for a girl to get a wet swimsuit off and on for the bathroom, I had showed Maggie how to move her swimsuit over instead of stripping.  This is something that a guy would never even think of, I'm sure.  Apparently it's not a skill she has mastered on her own.

Fair Time Once Again!

It's that time of year again, Iowa State Fair!  This has become quite a family tradition for us, we've schlepped our kids six hours west three years in a row now and each year I'm happier than the year before that we did it.  Maggie, and now Catie, have a BLAST visiting with their family and checking out all the fair has to offer.  This year the big draw was the rides!  Maggie went on the bumper boats, the swings, the carousel, the cars, the giant slide, the sky glider, and a flying elephant... multiple times.  Catie's favorite was definitely the horses, and the goats, and the cows, pigs, sheep, and every other animal (living or plastic) the fair had to offer.  Catie even got to go on her first pony ride.... when she saw her big sister was going to ride one her cheery face (oohh!  horsey!) fell through the floor and I just couldn't let her watch from the sidelines.  She was soooo excited to be sitting on the pony, it was totally worth the five bucks to see her ear to ear grin.  More photos at Picasa.

Scarecrow?

Bargaining with Maggie this morning to get her to her to wear a pair of cropped jeans.  I pointed out that they were soft, not like normal jeans, and loose, not like normal jeans, and then she pointed out that, "Look!  And they have a scarecrow!"  Huh?  I'm all like, "Yeah, OK," just happy that she's actually beginning to put them on, "Where's the scarecrow honey?"  She points to the place where the button should be and then it makes sense, "Ohhhh, you mean Velcro!"  "Yeah, Velcro!  I can do it all by myself!"

Head

Yesterday Catie decided to try and cram her enormous cranium through the small space Maggie had left between the coffee table and the couch (the coffee table had been pushed toward the couch for better access to puzzle pieces).  She promptly started screaming when she realized her head was not going to fit.  In fact, her head was slightly stuck.  Maggie, being the wonderfully helpful sister that she is, glanced down at the writhing baby below her and said, "Mom!  That is one stuck melon!"

Pre-walker

Catie has the bug...she wants to walk sooooo bad.  For the last two days she has been pushing her walker-push-toy-thing around the house, literally in circles.  Doing laps through the kitchen, family room, living room.  Good thing our house is pretty open concept.  I'm proud of her, but with the will to walk comes ear piercing screeches of frustration every few minutes as the walker-push-toy-thing comes in contact with a the carpet (more difficult that the wood floor), or a chair leg, or a dog leg, or some other obstacle.  Here's a girl that knows how to get what she wants - I just hope my hearing is still intact by the time she can move without that STUPID walker!