Storytime

I recently took Caroline and her friend Ella to storytime at the library.

It went swimmingly for the first twenty minutes or so. Caroline LOVES Ella and is typically more mature when they're together.

After the honeymoon period, something snapped inside Caroline's two year old brain, and suddenly all was not well. Here, you can see the look in her eyes. "Hey Ella, I know I'm being nice to you right now and all, but you better buckle up, 'cause that's all about to change, sista'!"

She didn't want to share the puzzles. She didn't want to share the books. And she certainly didn't want to share her mother's lap. I'm so very glad I caught this look on her face.
If you look closely, you can see the puzzle pieces she's clutching behind her back. She's thinking "Maybe if I hide them from Ella, she'll forget I ever took them from her. Plus I'll tilt my chubby little cheeks to the side like this and she'll think I'm so cute, she'll forget all about it. That works with my mommy."
Then came storytime. Here are a few conversations between Caroline and myself.
Here Caroline, place your ticket in the basket so we can go in to storytime.
No.
Do you want to sing?
No.
Look at the bunny!
No.
That was a funny story!
No.
It's time to go. Hold my hand.
No, hold you.
Look, they're going to give you a sticker. Would you like a sticker?
No.
Aah, nothing like a stimulating, thought provoking morning with a two year old.
On the way home:
I like the storytime Mommy! I like the library!
Well, ya coulda fooled me!!

Stinkers. It was all a part of their grand scheme.

Way to go!

Hello sweet Anna.

Sometimes I think I spend a little too much time making fun of my kids. Maybe our blog readers are getting the wrong idea. I really do love my children. I'm very thankful for them even when parenting gets the best of me. So here's a nice one for our Anna.

Anna is a sweet girl. She has some sour moments (mainly with her little brother,) but all around she's sugar. She's eager to please us and crumbles if she thinks she has saddened us. Sometimes this concerns me. We occasionally have a "toughen up" chat.
Anna likes to ride her bike and scooter. She'll eat anything in sight. She loves ballet.

She reads every night in bed until we tell her she has to stop. If Caroline is sad, she'll climb down to the bottom bunk and sing songs with her or read to her.
Just a side note - We are fully aware of our youngest child's belly and intend to address the issue on the trampoline this summer. Now back to Anna . . .

She enjoys her soccer team.

She likes to sleep with ALL of her stuffed toys. She likes to cook and says she will one day be a cook, a librarian, a vet, a gardener, an artist, or a missionary.

Every day she gets off the bus and asks "What are we gonna do that's special tonight?" She takes really long showers. She loves to play the piano and is learning all about it from her Gran.

She loves her buds and would have one over every day if we let her.

She likes to fish with her Grandaddy.

She LOVES to swim.

We just love our Anna. Recently, she entered an arts competition at school. She composed a song on the piano and courageously entered it into the competition. You may ask why this is so courageous, so I assure you, it took a lot for Anna. She was so scared to enter. But she did it anyway. (Maybe our "toughen up" chats are working!)

Well, long story short, Anna won the competition for her school.

And then she won the city-wide competition.
Now, I'm not going to tell how many entries there were (there was no second or third place.) because that just doesn't matter. Anna went out on a limb and did something she was scared to do. It's so great to see her reap the benefits. Way to go Anna!

Look out World!

We just signed this little gal up for preschool. She'll be going two mornings per week this fall.

In the van, on the way to register:
We going to the library, Mommy?
No, we're gonna go visit the preschool.
Like Anna and Luke?
No, this is a different school. This is the school you'll go to when you turn three.
I'm five now? (third child response)
No, Caroline, you're two.
Oh, I'm three.
No, you're two. When you're three, you'll get to go to preschool.
We're going to preschool now.
Yes, we're going to VISIT the preschool for just a little while. When you're three you'll get to go a lot.
Oh. They have animals at the preschool?
Yes, they have two birds.
Oh, they have two birds. We're going to PRESCHOOL!
On the way home from a 30 second preschool visit where we walked in, picked up a registration packet, walked out, and watched all the little kids having fun on the playground. (A visit that included neither birds nor toys.)
Mommy, I want that playground.
Well, that's just for the big three year olds. You'll get to play when you're three.
Mommy, I want that playground!!!
Not today. Next time, you'll get to play on the playground.
Mommy I don't want to leave that playground!
(This last phrase preceded lots of crying. LOTS of crying, all the way home until she fell asleep crying.)

Look out world!

She's headed your way!

Now that's a lot of candles!

Better late than never! I hope you had a great birthday Siena!!

Luckily the light from the candles impedes the viewer's ability to count them!

Just in case!


Love you all!

Resolution

See a rooster on a leash below.
OK, for all three of you who read this blog, I apologize for beginning this post with an apology, but here goes. I'm sorry I'm negligent with my blogging. Truth be told, I haven't felt like it. Plus, and this is the main reason for my neglect, the wireless services we mooched off an unsuspecting neighbor disappeared last fall and I was left to brave the roads with my chillin' and go to the library to do all of my Internet business. Naturally, that's no fun so it's now been since September and I'm way behind.
However, a new day has dawned on the Bader household. I say a NEW DAY has dawned and please brace yourselves for this one . . . we now have our own "mifi" (which is probably not even how you spell it, but I don't care enough to inquire of the spelling because I proved my spelling genius when I was young and still have the trophies to prove it.) The point is I can now access the Internet legally from my own home. I think we're only about 10 years behind everyone else in America, but hey, better late than never.
So there. Because we are cool and have mifi, I've made the resolution to blog more.
Here goes with a "brief" summary of the last few months.

Luke walked a rooster on a leash because we're just cool people and do things like that. We're also teaching him to have dominion over all God's creatures, or maybe we're taking advantage of his love for animals, whichever floats your boat.

Luke is a Tae Kwon Do master. Oh wait, let's rephrase that because our unfortunate last name just doesn't quite convey what I'm meaning.

Anna's beautiful.

Caroline is a better cook than I am.

Ryan & I got to see U2 in Atlanta for a 10th anniversary / birthday gift from his dad. Seeing U2 live now ranks up there with my wedding day, the birth of my children, my baptism, and my first taste of roasted red pepper hummus.

We went on a hike in Erwin. We tried to lose our kids, but dang it if they don't have a sense of direction after all.

We trotted like turkeys.

We celebrated Christ's birth AFTER I pulled my hair out trying to get a family Christmas picture that made us at least APPEAR to be a happy family.

We played in some snow.

Our favorite part of fall - the fire pit.

Harry Potter, a farmer, and a clown. (Anna would die if she knew this was online.)

I got schooled in chess many a time by my wizard of a son.

I taught some jokers how to dance.

Whew! For those of you who are still reading this, thank you for staying the course. For your reward, a reminder of why I just can't help but share our lives with you.