Our Little Research Scientist

Big Sissy never has accidents any more--well, not when she's awake. But today she did. I don't know why. But when we walked down the hall later, this is what we found.

Clearly there is some information she has not yet read about the matter. She will research it. No doubt about that.

It's Finally Here

Big Sissy has been waiting and waiting and WAITING for her birthday to arrive. It's been a little confusing because we celebrated with the big family party back in October. But today it's official. She's 5. You know the question people always like to ask: What do you think you'll be doing in 5 years? Five years ago I could never have imagined how full my life--and my heart--would be today. I feel so blessed. I'm so proud of Big Sissy. She is becoming quite the little lady. She has her share of attitude--don't get me wrong--but she is also very sweet and sensitive to others. She is reading like a champ and writing words on her own. The other day she wrote "Broun Lame." That's the phonetic spelling of Brown Lamby. I was pretty excited about the ou diphthong in there. And I like to say diphthong a lot. It makes me giggle. She loves to use her imagination making up games and stories. And she LOVES to play hide and seek. I got the notice the other day that I need to sign her up for kindergarten in February. We do year-round school in this district, so she will start in July. I almost cried. I really wanted to homeschool her, but that has proven to just not work. She is a wonderful student. I just can't focus more than about 30 minutes a day on it. That's fine for her age, but she needs more. And she can't wait to meet all those new friends. *sniff*

We had kind of an interesting celebration today. Daddy took the day off to hang out with us, but then we realized that we had MOPS all morning. So we met for lunch and then went to Monkey Joe's--a whole place full of inflatables. That was quite possibly the best $20 I've ever spent. They got lots of exercise, lots of fun, and it wasn't hard for me because there was really no way to get lost. Then we came home and put up her and Little Sissy's new bed. In an interesting chain of events, I was getting sick of changing sheets on bunk beds and my parents were tired of storing Hubby's bedroom furniture from before we were married. So the girls are now sharing a queen bed. I think that will be great--until someone pees the bed or starts throwing up in the middle of the night. I'm really excited to have a real bed for guests if they ever should show up at my door. AND, that means that Little Buddy is done with his crib. He cried for a minute at naptime, but by night he was begging to get in his new big boy bed. I would have taken pictures but I'm embarrassed about how much he loves the Disney Princess sheets that are still on there. I will get him a new set soon. I promise.

One thing I love about Big Sissy's birthday is that for 3 months, when I tell people the ages of my children, they don't stare at me and for a short time can believe that I spaced my children "responsibly." Right now it sounds like they are all 2 years apart. They are 5, 3, and 1. Until February, when they are 2, 3, and barely 5 and I get the looks again. They're just jealous.

So happy birthday, my baby girl. And no talk of kindergarten yet. Mommy can't STAND it!!!

The Addams Family Goes to China

These are our cute children before we made them dress up like China dolls. My dad brought the kids some great outfits from China. All was well until I tried to add black wigs. My idea was to put them in buns and stick chopsticks in. Wala! China dolls. But wigs are even less cooperative than their real hair, and it didn't work. The final result was a little more ghoulish than I intended, thus the Addams Family in Asia joke was born.

Dressed in China man costume, but still happy.

Pugsley Addams. Add hat. Present doorbell. Now he's not so sure.

Sweet Little Sissy has been transformed into Wednesday Addams.

Big Sissy was much happier to keep something on her head than her siblings.

Grandpa is tickled pink to see his China dolls. They get lots of candy. And toys. And white out. Why? Because it makes them happy, and that's what grandparents do.

Next stop: party at church. The Asian Addams Family had lots of fun here--crafts, face painting, inflatables, games, and of course more candy.

Morticia--I mean Big Sissy--diligently keeping her headwear on, though it's starting to slip. She would probably wear a chicken on her head for candy. She's a trooper.

People Don't Have Tails!

This week I was talking to my sister on the phone, and I told her I had been working my tail off. Little Sissy interrupted me and said, "Silly Mommy. People don't have tails." I assured her that she was right, but then...

maybe a person does if her teacher makes her put Brown Lamby down during dance class. Look closely.

Is There Something In My Eye?

True story.

Tonight Hubby is laying down with the girls for a little while since I need to go call a hostess. Right in the middle of my call, I heard this stressed voice call, "Can you come up here, please? I would greatly appreciate it." Usually that means something like, "Kids are crying and they're driving me crazy" or "I'm mad about something and I need to talk about it now." It seemed odd for after the kids were in bed AND while I was on the phone, so I hurried upstairs.

Little Sissy had coughed so hard in her bed that she threw up. In hubby's face. He couldn't even see to clean it up because it was in his eyes and all over his glasses. I sprung into action changing pajamas, changing sheets, giving the lecture about throwing up in the toilet and not in Daddy's eyes...

But then, when all was calm and clean, I came downstairs and giggled. It's really funny when it's not me.

Pony Party

Our girls both love My Little Pony. Their cousins gave them some this summer, and they have enjoyed them for months now. I thought I would try something new this year and have their parties together. Instead of doing one in September and one in November, we just did a combined party in October. There were some things I liked about that: one, it was cheaper to just buy food, decorations, and treat bags one time; two, more time to put all the toys away before Christmas; and three, people didn't feel like they had to buy an "unbirthday gift" to all of the other children. But still...I felt a little guilty for cheating them of their own party. Big Sissy was very confused because she's still not 5 despite the fact that we celebrated her turning 5, she had 5 candles on her cake, etc. I'm not sure what I'll do next year, but it was a fun party.

My mom was planning to make a rainbow cake and I was planning to make cupcakes. In the end, we both had the same idea and both showed up with these coordinating store-bought cakes.

Ummm...this is as close as we came to a good family picture. The kids' outfits are cute though, yes? My friend Amy made them and I love them.

Big Sissy sporting My Little Pony glasses while she prepares to blow...and blow....and blow...and finally just let Mommy blow out her candles.

Still blowing...

Pin the rainbow on the pony (with a fancy dishrag blindfold).

Let gift opening commence!

This is a game called "Please don't beat the pinata because Mommy has to hold it."

Just one more candy, please?

Thank you for the sugar high!

Little Sissy looooooves her new robe and matching slippers. She wore it the rest of the day!

Now I have 4 months to rest before we do a little boy's 2-year-old party. I love parties!

Don't We All Want a Pink Garage?

Sorry I haven't posted lately. We were on vacation for a week, so those pictures will be coming soon. Before that I was just busy or lazy. I get those confused sometimes.

In the meantime, I'll share the Brimm family adventure for today. On nice days I often leave the garage door open and let the children play in the driveway or front yard while I make lunch. That way they can play, and I can watch them from where I stand in the kitchen. Today I left them alone for 10 minutes. I could hear them and tell that they were near, but I couldn't see them. When I went outside to check on them, there were HUGE piles of beautiful rose petals in our garage, in our driveway, all around Little Buddy's basketball hoop. Unfortunately we don't have a rose bush. Our neighbors, however, have a beautifully manicured lawn which includes a large rose bush still in bloom. Or at least they did.

Little Sissy's story is that she wanted to crush the petals to make dye, then use the dye to make everything in our garage pink. "Wouldn't that be so pretty, Mommy?" It sounds lovely...except for 2 things: (1) That would require destroying our neighbor's property and (2) I'm pretty sure Daddy doesn't want his garage pink.

I love how creative they are, but I'm not looking forward to the looooong walk next door for the apology to the neighbors. I guess we can at least offer them the dye, right? Maybe they would like a pink garage too.

My mother has a similar story about me picking all of our neighbor's green tomatoes when I was little. I thought I was being helpful. At least our intentions were good--me helping out with the gardening, her beautifying our garage. This truly is why I can't wait for Little Buddy to start talking. I love knowing what's going through these little minds when they do these bizarre things.

Stay tuned for vacation pictures.