My two princesses

There are definite hazards to having an older sisters, which I've documented before.  Will just thinks that everyone loves princesses and sparkle because Kate that what Kate loves.  Lately, Kate is really into getting decked out.  She chooses multiple pieces of jewelry, multiple bobbles and barettes for her hair and, usually, wings and a crown.  This is on top of multiple frilly layers of actual clothing.  So, what' Will to do but try to keep up?  He has adopted this bright orange tutu as his own and calls it his "spinny dress."  In the picture above, he's also wearing a bracelet.  But at least he has a Spiderman shirt on and "boyish" rain boots (you never know, right?)  I let him wear all this stuff around the house and, obviouly, outside but I do draw the line at wearing it out and about (I mean, you've got to have some limits, right?....Which is why they both now often wear superhero style capes when we go out...it's all about negotiation!)  On the day above, Kate and Will actually got in a fight about who was prettier.  Kate said, "Don't I look pretty?" and Will said, "I look pretty!" and Kate said, "But I look the prettiest." and Will said, "No, I prettiest" and on it went.....poor guy, I'm sure he'll be horrified by all this in ten years!

Random kid funniness....

Funniness?  Is that even word.  As my brain deteriorates daily with the duties of motherhood, I'm not even sure anymore.  It does describe my kids, though.  Now that they can have conversations, they are complete jokesters, always cracking eachother up.  Both of them like to try to be funny and the funny part to me is not whatever they're saying, but that they both dissolve into giggles before they even get the "punchline" out.  Will cracked himself up a few days ago when he told me his name was "Willy Wonka"--he knew that one was going to get a laugh.  Even though neither kid has any idea what "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" is, they've both heard the name, so Will calls himself "Willy Wonka & Factory."  And Kate just learned her first actual joke off of a juice box and now tells it all the time (she really doesn't care that we've all heard it 1000 times because she says the punchline before we'd even have a chance to answer).  Even though many of you have already heard this joke numerous times, I'm going to record it here because in years to come I know we won't remember it.  So, the joke is: "what's the difference between a fish and a piano?"  The answer is, "You can't tune a fish!"  Kate (and now Will) LOVE this joke.  Will just goes around now saying, "You can't tune a fish!!" and then laughing hysterically.  He was doing it in the grocery store the other day and someone passing by said, "I'm not sure what he's saying but, boy, it must be funny!"  Since that joke worked so well, they've also just adopted the format and invented their own.  There's a lot of "what's the difference between a lion and a refridgerator?" "You can't tune a banana!" going on in our house.  It keeps them entertained.  There's no real point to this post, just that it is such a fun thing to watch your kids invent their own humor.  When they're joking around at dinner, laughing at their own inside jokes, I always think of you, Starla, and how you've told my about Ryan and Jay doing the same thing.  I guess it's in the genes!

Go, Kate!

This weekend, Kate did three new big-kid things and that makes me one proud mama!  First, yesterday, she rode her bike all the way to the elementary school (it's further than she's gone before) and back.  Second, after the bike ride, we went to the club to swim and she jumped in all by herself.  She's always jumped in to us or with us holding her hands, but she's never done it on her own.  She stood on the side of the pool for about 5 minutes, nearly in tears, saying "I REALLY want to do it!"  I told her she didn't have to do it, but she stood her ground and said she would.  Lo and behold, she suddenly announced, "I'm going to do it NOW!" and that she did.  She had barely surfaced when she said, "I want to do it again and again!"  Then, third, I took the kids to the pool at Black Butte today and they have a big, tunnel-style slide.  She told me she wanted to do it and, since she was wearing a floatie, I told her she could, but I told her she needed to be really sure because it would be hard to turn around once she got up there.  To my surprise, she didn't even hesitate before barreling down the slide.  Of course, she also did this again and again and again....so much for our girl who doesn't like to put her face in the water.  Way to go, Kate!!

Fair fun!!

Well, I fully intended to post these picture A WEEK AGO but the week went awry and got away from me.  The seemingly yearly August fire tradition has continued this year, and Ryan got sent to one on Monday.  He's thinking this could be another long one, which is great for the bank account but not so much for my sanity!!  We need daddy to balance us out, that's for sure.  On top of "single" parenthood, I got a call on Tuesday from one of our preschool teachers announcing that she could not teach this year.  Unforeseen circumstances, but horrible timing and as board president, it's pretty much my problem to solve.  A million phone calls, email and some sleepless nights later, I think we've got things worked out.  I mention all this as a way to say I did have a good excuse for not writing about our fantastic, SO fun trip to Yreka for the fair.  I think it was our best trip with the kids so far.  They are getting to such a great age--easier to handle and a lot more fun to do things with.  They loved, and I do mean LOVED, the fair, especially the rides.  Kate kept sayin that the thing she wanted to do most was the ferris wheel and all the other rides.  I thought for sure that there would be at least one ride that she got on that turned into a big freak out, maybe with some yelling of, "MOMMY, I WANT TO GET OFF."  But that did not happen.  At all.  In fact, it was just the opposite.  Ryan and I were lamenting why we did not buy the ride bracelet as we could quickly see we were going to spend a fortune on ride tickets (or, grandma and grandpa were, as I'm sure they did most of the ride-buying!)  We've already decided that next year we will buy the bracelet--probably for both kids as Will was none to happy he was too short for most of the rides that Kate could do!

The tractor is still their favorite ride!

Kate's a seasoned pro at the pony rides, but this was Will's first one!

Kate was in the fair!  The photographer who took family pictures last Thanksgiving entered two pictures of Kate.

The sweet ride operator let Will on this one even though he isn't 36 inches yet.  Will took it very seriously (I think he thinks he's really driving--it's the same with the car carts at the grocery store).  He was NOT happy to leave this truck behind!

Kate, front and center on the kid roller coaster.

Chillin' by grandma & grandpa's pond

My NW girl

Yesterday, Kate showed me that she is very truly a Northwest girl at heart.  We were in the car on the way to swim and a song came on the radio.  It's a song where the singer sings "where have you been all my life?" but "life" is all digitalized and drawn out to sound like "l-i-i-i-fe."  Kate immediately exclaimed  "this is the REI song!!"  When I asked her what she meant, she replied, "Because she's singing 'when do we go to R-E-I-I-I?"  Ha!  I'm kind of proud that REI is her favorite store!

Another peril of having an older sister...

...Will is currently in the bathtub, "swimming" on his tummy while saying, "I am a mermaid!  I am a mermaid!" 

Party #2

Last night we went to yet another birthday celebration at the grandparent's of a friend of Kate's who shares her birthday (follow that??)  Kate and Colby are the best of buddies and, whether it's the zodiac or genetics, they are extremely similar.  Not only do they have the same birthday, they were both due on the same day and were three days late.  They were within a couple of ounces of eachother at birth and are exactly the same size now.  They were both the earliest talkers we know, are very cautious, love Princess Aurora more than anything else, and on and on and on.  Fortunately, Colby's mom and I are very similar also and I feel SO lucky that we met.  Plus, we both have little boys who'll be in the same grade.  The party was perfect for the girls--lots of pink, purple and frill-iness.

Kate's party outfit--yes, those are knee pads.  You never know what kind of party it will be, right?!

My attempt at two kids both looking at the camera--obviously, failed.

Matching tiaras!

In earnest discussion with Colby's grandma about how they were going to become "real mermaids."

The perils of having an older sister--Colby's brother in her tiara!  One of his first words is "Aurora."  :)