Ava's Tent Pitcher

Ava's drawing of our family on a camping trip. The funniest part about this picture is that the ghost wasn't there originally. When she brought the drawing to Eric and I, we were laughing so hard at Colson freaking out, imagining what he was freaking out about. Ava snatched the picture out of our hands and added the ghost, but we'd liked it even better pre-ghost. It had looked like Colson was scared by Ava's flashlight, or by Eric's snoring, which was super funny.

I really enjoy Ava's crossed legs and the stake through the tent.

Guess I'm A Cat 5

Before I left for Panama City, I said to Eric:

Me: Hurricane Rina is headed for Mexico, aren't you worried for me??

Eric: No. I'm more worried for the hurricane.

Absolutes Never Stand In This House

Zach: Dad, are lima beans a fruit?

Eric: No, they're a vegetable. Anything with "bean" in the name is a vegetable.

Ava: (yelling from the other room) Uh, jelly beans???

More from the expressionista.

Cole got in trouble last night. I found this drawing in his room after he fell asleep.

Monday Mornings With Zachary

What Zach wants to be when he grows up, and other fun tidbits as he chats with me while I'm in the bathtub.

Which Aunt's Bread Do I Butter?

An instant message chat between my sister and my daughter, in which my sister makes sure my daughter knows the Relative Ranking System.


me: hello aunt

Amy: hello #5 neice

me: i could me #1

Amy: how?

me: (if i was your favorite)...
:):)

Amy: well of course you are a favorite
you know why?
because your mom is my only sister!!!!!

me: :):)

Amy: so that makes you special!!

me: but i still have another aunt you know...2

Amy: i know....

me: kathy and sue
right
?

Amy: yes
but they are aunts by 'marraige'
i am an aunt by 'blood'
do you know the difference?

me: yes... i have uncles that are married and that's could be not my aunt and another lady could be but if my mom is my mom then you have to be my aunt

Amy: your other aunts are married to your 'blood uncles; -- and i am your aunt because i am blood related to your mom

me: i know
:):)

Amy: your uncles will always be your uncles
Sue/kathy if the get divorced wont be your aunts anymore

me: i know......................yeah...Ed too??

Amy: ed is your uncle - but your uncle 'by marraige'
he is not 'blood related;
make sense?

me: uh huh

Amy: smart girl

me: :):)

Amy: and i am a smart aunt

me: sure
:P
bye

Zach's Awana Face

During the Awana closing program they show a slideshow of pictures from that year. I always love these pictures, because I didn't take them. It's fun to see pictures of your kids in places that you aren't and with expressions you don't always get to see.

My Blog Post, In A Dress

The other day the kids and I were at Chili's having lunch with Melissa and her kids. Gavin and Colson were sitting by themselves at another table, building castles with coasters and salt shakers and then throwing sugar packet "bombs" at the other's castle, scoring points when they'd breach a wall. Ava and Sophia were at our table, drawing. Ava was asking Melissa and I what she should draw, we'd give her an idea and she'd draw it. After we'd given her some ideas like "Dancing vegetables",

"An elephant doing ballet",

and, "Melissa wearing a bathing suit and teaching a class",

Ava decided to draw one of her own ideas. She drew, "those wind up teeth",

and then things started to get really funny. I should mention that when we get all the kids together, Ava's favorite thing is to subtly tease Gavin, Melissa's oldest son (he's 12). Ava loves to try to get him to laugh by doing things that could be taken as slightly mean, but she does it with a cute little giggle. So she started drawing a picture, and she was giggling to herself the whole time. Finally she showed it to us:

She said, "It's me and Sophia and Zachary, and we're all happy. But Colson and Gavin are mad because they're wearing dresses!!!" She couldn't stop laughing while she said all that. Melissa and I were cracking up (how can you not? Look at Gavin and Cole, they have their hands on their hips and expressions on their faces like "Who the heck drew these stupid dresses on us???"), and Ava decided to take it over to show Colson and Gavin. They rolled their eyes at her, but she was giggling so hard I thought she was going to choke. She came back to our table and started drawing furiously again. She was whispering to Sophia, "This one is SO BAD!!" We made her show it to us, and it was this:

"It's Cole and Gavin getting married to each other!!" *tee hee hee hee hee hee!!!!* Melissa and I spit out our Diet Pepsi, we laughed so hard. Colson's dress with the puffed sleeve put it over the edge. Well, Ava ran it over and paraded it in front of Gavin and Cole. She was doubled over and could barely breathe at how funny she thought this picture was. She returned to our table, and grabbed the pad of paper. Next came this hysterical one: Gavin, who is in reality a huge football star, playing football in a dress:

Then we got Colson playing piano in a dress:

I have to give Gavin all the credit in the world. He was a great sport about it all. Colson is used to it, he barely blinked when Ava shoved these drawings in his face. He gets it at home all the time. But Gavin has probably never experienced someone drawing pictures of him in a dress before. And he took it like a man, just rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

Gavin started telling us all that he and his best friend wanted to be a banana and a gorilla, respectively, for Halloween, and go out in the neighborhood together as such. So Ava drew this picture of G and HF. When asked who HF was, she says, "His Friend!"

Then she said, "I'm going to draw Gavin as a banana in his dream world", (cause that's a normal thing to draw), and drew the next two pictures.

She was on a roll that day. It's so entertaining when my naturally introverted daughter feels comfortable enough to put it all out there, because she's wicked funny.

Google Is My Blind Spot

Me: Whenever I wake up and the lights are off, I have a huge blind spot in my right eye. I mean, it's so big that it's as if I have a patch over that eye. But as soon as I turn the lights on, the blind spot goes away. It's like night vision blindness or something.

Me: I was Googling it to try to figure out what it is.

Eric: Um, did you ever think of Optometrist-ing it??

Words Are Fun

Zachary says the best random things sometimes. Yesterday he was taking an online test. When he finished it, he came to me to find out what he had to do next. I asked him how he had done on the test. He said, "I think I did okay, but I don't remember what percentage I got". I said, "You're cute when you say percentage".

To which he immediately replied, "Thanks Mom! You're cute when you say fart".

I was away this past weekend. Came home to find Ava had made this sign for the bread drawer. She takes over as me when I'm gone...love it.

Monday Mornings With Zachary

Upper Perk Robotics giving their mid-year update. Cole is on Team A and Ava is on Team B. The video concludes with pictures and videos of their Lego League sessions so far this year.

De Plane, De Plane!

Ava's been drawing faces in this new way recently. With the buggy eyes and the jawlines and foreheads....I kind of love them.

Get To Know Colson

Colson's "Get To Know Me" slide from the first month of school.

Oxymoronic Oily Body Part Idioms

So, applying elbow grease means that you're doing really hard, honest work, but greasing someone's palm means you're bribing someone. Discuss.

Peanuts And Cracker Jacks

Some fun pictures Ava drew on the subject of baseball. Above is a picture of her and Eric, and below is a cute stick person baseball game. I'm dying over the stick men squatting with their hands on their knees.

Monday Mornings With Zachary

I found a video yesterday that the kids made themselves. In it, you get to see Ava's comedic prowess, Zach's hilarious dance moves, and Cole's, well, general bossiness....

At around 8:11, Ava adds one of her comedic touches to this video, and it made me laugh out loud. For most of the video she's just smacking her own butt, but every now and again, when Cole's not looking, she sneaks in her wacky humor. Jazz hands from behind the camera at 11:22 made me snicker.

At 10:19 Colson finally adds something to this video by rockin' out the retarded air guitar.

It's a long video, but there are some great moments. I'm sure the only people who will make it through the whole thing are Luke and Sophia Tabasso, but the rest of you can try...

Ava's Fashions

I love this picture of my Renaissance girl playing in the garden with her abacus.

But I love this picture of my metamodernist girl even more.

Bet Those Shoes Didn't Last Long...

This much cuteness in one picture should be illegal. There's just no chance of this baby being hard to look at, is there....

(my niece Brooke, her husband Jeff, and the unsalted peanut)

Never Say Never

Driving home from homeschool co-op yesterday, the kids were listening to the Kidz Bop version of the Bieb's "Never Say Never".

Zachary was sitting up front with me, and he was listening to the lyrics pretty intensely. During the first chorus, after hearing the Bieb say, "I will never say never...", Zachary said to no one in particular, "Uh, you just said it."

After Justin sang it again, "I will never say never...", Zachary again muttered, "...And now you just said it again."

At the end of the song Zach said quietly, after counting on his fingers, "Mom, I think he said "never" at least 27 times."

He Funny

I came home from practice last night to find Eric in bed, reading on his laptop.

Me: Hi love! What are you doing?

Eric: Steve Jobs is dead, iGrieving.

:)

Speedy Checkout OCD

Is this obsessive? I load my groceries onto the belt by category. Breads, boxes, dairy, cans, meats, produce, health and beauty...I think I started doing it because in the time it took the cadavers cashiers at Walmart to load my bags I could've started my own farm, planted crops, lived through a couple of droughts, and harvested enough food to start my own food conglomerate.

Spoken Word

Zachary had to read something out loud the other day, to improve his public speaking. He did it once, and then wanted to try it again with "more expression".

Ava's Fashions

Long before Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, there was Ava Mosley.

Green Thumbs

Colson and Ava making gardens, circa 2006.