Iris answers questions about her Mom

Irishism 3.11

Me: you little stinker pot
Iris: I am not a stinker pot. I am a sweetheart.

My girls rock

At the park tonight the girls started playing randomly with two older boys. The boys stole Fiona's soccer ball and the two of them played keep away from my girls, until Fiona got it back and walked away from them.

Then later one boy asked Fiona if she plays soccer and she told him she was in her second season. He said something jerky like, "Oh yeah, well I've played for FOUR seasons. My team is the Sharks."

Fiona said, "Well we're the Thunderbolts. Thunder strikes sharks - Kachow! - and the sharks die."

Burn!

Love that we are having another girl. Boys stink.

TMI

This morning Fiona told me that she and Iris shared the bathroom last night.

Me: What do you mean you shared the bathroom?
Fiona: We both had to pee, so we both sat down together. She got half and I got half.
Me: Please don't ever do that again. Ever.

Citizen

Way to go Fiona! Citizen of the month of February for her acceptance of others.

Pregnancy questions from a 6 year old

Fiona: Mom, what does it mean when your water breaks?
Me: The baby is inside a sac of water and when it's time to be born the sac breaks to let us know.
Fiona: Is that the baby's pee?

Fiona: Mom, does the baby come out of your vagina?
Me: Yes.
Fiona: Ewwww, gross.

Fiona: Does the baby poop inside you?
Me: Not until she's born.
Fiona: Oh good, because that would be gross.

Fiona: Is the baby cold inside you?
Me: No, it's very warm and cozy inside the body.
Fiona: Kind of like when Han Solo put Luke inside the big animal to keep him warm.
Me: Yes, like that.

Girl Scouts Respect Petal Work

Fiona and the girls made these adorable hand-washing signs at this week's meeting to earn their Respect Myself and Others petal.  We discussed how to respect your body by keeping it clean, staying healthy and staying fit.  Not a bad project for well under $1.

Supplies needed:
construction paper
paint card (I used Behr cards from Home Depot - FREE)
glue
scissors
clothespins
copies of the pre-printed poem cut to size (I just typed it out on a Word document and used a font I liked)
 
1.  They traced their hands on a piece of construction paper and colored it in.  Some girls used stickers to decorate their hands as well.  Cut out the hands.

2.  Next they glued on the pre-printed poem to the paint card.  Tip: It's better to place the poem towards the top of the paint card so that the fingers from the hands don't cover too much of it.

3.  Glue the hand to the clothes pin, making sure that the palm of the hand does not go beyond the bottom edge of the clothes pin (or it will not stand up)

4.  Clip the hand/clothes pin to the paint card/poem.

We asked the girls to place their signs next to the kitchen or bathroom sink to remind everyone in their house to wash their hands.

Smaller

Shopping with Fiona, I picked out an adult XS for her to try out even though it was big on her. She said, Mom, I don't like it but maybe you can wear it when you're smaller again.

Chinese Animals

In the car with one of Fiona’s friends whose family is ½ Chinese and ½ Vietnamese:

Fiona: Can you come to my birthday party?
Kendra: Yes! When is your birthday?
Fiona: January 3rd.
Kendra: Mine is June 4th. I’m a Golden Pig. What are you?
Fiona: Huh?
Me: Fiona is a Dog.
Fiona: What?! Why am I a Dog?!
Me: Some people who are Chinese have birthdays on dates like you, but they also have an animal for each year they are born. You were born in the year of the Dog.
Kendra: I’m a Golden Pig. My sister is a Mouse. My dad is a Monkey. My mom is a Dragon.
Me: Fiona’s GranDan is a Dragon too! Fiona is a Dog. Her sister is an Ox. Her dad is a Rat. I am a Snake. The new baby will be a Snake too.
Kendra: My uncle is a Snake too!
Fiona: …

Girl Scouts visit the fire station

Fiona's troop visited the fire station tonight to earn their petal for "courageous and strong". They gave the girls a tour of the station, let them climb up and through the engine and even try on boots and hats. What gentlemen these guys were. Loved it!

Vote

Fiona's kindergarten class had a mock election yesterday in school.  Each kid got to vote for Obama or Romney on a ballot and the teachers added up the votes.  Obama was elected in all three classes.

Fiona: Iris, who are you going to vote for, Obama or Romney?
Iris: I'm going to vote for Uncle Tim.

Sunday School

Me: Fiona, what did you learn in Sunday school this week?
Fiona: We talked about Abraham and Sarah.
Me: Really?  Tell me the story.
Fiona:  God told Abraham and Sarah to take their friends and move somewhere else, so they did.  But then some people were not nice to them, so Abraham said, "Fine!  We'll just move again!"  And then they moved again and started a new place.

Girl Scouts

Fiona: Today is my lucky day.
Me: Why?
Fiona: Because today I have Girl Scouts AND my mom is the leader!

Roses and Lambs

We had about six rose bushes at our house on Coldwater Canyon in Sherman Oaks.  Since we moved to Dallas, I've really missed putting fresh flowers in vases in our window sills every week.  Now we have five rose bushes in the backyard, three of which are blooming.  They're small but mighty!

 

Here's Henry, sitting in front of the roses and the lamb's ears.

Speaking of lambs, Fiona invented a car seat for her little lamb over the weekend.  There is a special program for kids at her school who show signs of certain cognitive advancement and who think of interesting ways to solve problems.  I wouldn't go so far as to say that she is advanced for her age, but she really has always been an excellent problem solver.  I swear she looks at a box of puzzle pieces and immediately knows how to put it together, almost without thinking.  Here she used the end of the scanner from her cash register for the seat, a bracelet for the seat belt and a submarine lid as the helmet.  I'm pretty sure this counts as "out of the box" thinking.

Bring it on

So since we now have to get up earlier than usual to get Fiona to school by 7:30, I have been taking advantage by going running each morning after dropping her off. It feels good, I get in a run, breakfast and a shower all before 9:00 am. Plus I get to look like crap on purpose every morning instead of trying to pretend I'm actually not trying to look cute every morning. Perfect.

So I ran about 10 miles last week and felt pretty darn good about it.

And then I met a mom who was also in running shoes, but the kind of workout outfit that's all matchy and put together. She motioned to some other moms and invited me to go running with them. I asked how far they go each day and she said 5 or 6 miles. Oh. I was super proud of going 3 miles once last week, so we agreed that some day I would join them.

Deflated ego, party of one.

And then I learned that mom is Colleen's mom.

It. Is. On.

That day I ran 3.2 miles and shaved 2 minutes off my first 3 mile run. Today I walked/ran 3.6 miles.  Nothing like a little revenge friendly competition to motivate your workout.

Follow me on RunKeeper or better yet...sign up yourself and join my virtual street team so we can cheer each other on through our goals!

And it begins

With the first week of kindergarten under our belts we find Fiona exhausted and happy. She has met new friends and all are neighbors (most on our same street). She also met a girl who I'll call "Colleen" who gave her a dirty look on the first and second days of school.

Third day of school:

Fiona: Colleen doesn't want to be my friend.
Me: Oh honey, why would you think a thing like that?
Fiona: Because I said "Do you want to be my friend?" and she said "No"

I wanted to cry. Who wouldn't want to be friends with this sweet girl?

And on a very honest note, I am suddenly terrified that all the things we love so much about Fiona - her creativity, independence, quirkiness, free thinking, crazy dressing, against the grain trendiness - will all make her the dorky girl. In life, she will be fabulous, but I have fear now about the mean girls. I hope I'm overreacting but we all know there's some truth in this.

At back to school night she gravitated to the chess club table. She wants to learn how to play the harp. HARP. You read that correctly.

Poor kid has dorks for parents. It's not looking good.

Kindergarten

Waking up an hour earlier than usual is hard on everyone.

A Maple House

We're attempting to document our homeownership journey on a new blog called A Maple House...because I don't have enough to do, right?

Summer wrap up

Preschool Graduation

Father's Day

Swim Lessons

Garage Sale

Fiona made $18 selling cold drinks at our garage sale.

Dance Camp

Iris's first visit to Dr. Plunk

Packing/Moving

When the bookshelves are empty, one finds new places to nap.

 

Crying, hugging the old house goodbye.

Iris's 3rd Birthday Mermaid Party

Seaweed

Oyster cookies

KK working hard on a bracelet

Iris's new fish, Alaloosa

Octopus dip

Princess Ariel's visit

Uncle Tim playing the hat game