Family Shots

Because I finally did a bit of editing.

On being 5

Oh to be 5.  She is a very confident little girl.  She will go up and talk to everyone.  For example, on the beach, a guy had a metal detector and he was looking for coins.  Peanut asked him, "when you find the coins, are you going to give the money back?"  Awkward silence.... "Peanut we are leaving now."

I do enjoy her being so outgoing, but I do worry about it too.  I got a bit creeped out by the attention one man was giving her.  I am used to men speaking to me, but he was really into Peanut.  It grossed me out.  I was telling Mr. T. about it, and he agreed that we needed to watchful.  Peanut, however, thought it was great that someone older was more interested in her than me.  We had to quickly explain that it was wrong.  Very wrong.  Thank god she didn't ask the guy about it.  He was a security guard, so we saw him a lot.  I can just imagine her saying "My mom says you are more interested in me than her."  How embarrassing on so many levels that would have been!

She does have a way of calling it as she sees it, which she is working on.  She said at dinner one night, "this place is nicer than it looks."  I was so glad we could please her.

She is constantly talking.  She is very tactile and likes to explore, and then bring you along for the exploration with her.  It is really great and I am really happy that she does it, except that I also need to pay attention to her brother and her father and oh.... me.  So sometimes, more times than I will admit, I am guilty of just saying "ya" "that is great" "that is exciting" "uh-hu".  I was doing this to her the other day and she said, "you don't sound like you are really what I am showing you."  Ouch.  Parenting fail.  But it was true.  I didn't really like what she was showing me.  I just didn't want to tell her.

I think this child might be part mermaid.  She loves the water, and she is really good at things in the water.  She is really good at taking a wave in the face, getting up and smiling about it.  She really loves to boogie board and body surf.  She is at the age, now, where I can really start to think about all of the cool things we are going to get to do together.  I want to take her to Hawaii to surf.  I want her to take lessons in Australia.  I want to learn how to scuba dive with her.  There are so many cool things we can do, and I really think she wants to do them.

The next thing we are going to do together is the Little Rock Marathon.  There is a group called the "Little Rockers" where she will run a marathon over a series of months.  She really likes to run on trails so I asked her if she would be interested in doing it.  The first thing out of her mouth was "would I be doing the whole or the half?"  LOL.  I told her we could be training partners and tell one another about our runs.  She sees me leave for my runs, so I thought it might be a fun way to bond.  Maybe we can run together a little bit.  

She is also a crazy ham for the camera.  It is funny that she thinks that putting things in her mouth is really cute.  I really can't seem to convince her otherwise.  I don't really know what put that in her mind, but it is there.  She thinks she looks cute with her mouth open.

She is growing out her bangs.  I am happy.  It does annoy me when her hair is in her eyes, but most of the time, we can get her to put it back.  I really like seeing her pretty face.  She looks so different with bangs.  She looks much more like a little girl now that they are growing out.

Man... She is growing up so fast.  She wants to dance all the time and dress up.  She is starting to read.  She knows her site words and will point them out to us.  She also has, can you believe this, homework.  It doesn't take more than 5 minutes to do, but man... homework.  Honestly, I don't remember having a lot of homework as a kid.  I am sure there is some reason for it, but I can't honestly tell you I know what it is.  She is writing letters, something she has been doing since she was her brother's age.

And she is still a sweat hearted little girl.  It is fun to see how her personalities molds and responds to the her changing life.  She is so sweet with her brother.  She helps him out when he is being a booger.    She loves to help out around the house, when it suits her.  She is so proud of herself when she cleans her room or makes her bed.  She is spunky and outgoing, and I just lover her to pieces.

The Redneck Rivieria

My MIL was around for three weeks.  Hurray!  As I have gone on and on about, work has been hectic this summer, so we took the opportunity to take a beach vacation while MIL was here.  The closest beach that is nice is in Alabama, so we rolled on down.

We drove about half way on Friday so we could get there at a decent hour on Saturday.  Along the way, we stopped by some ship whose name I can't remember, so I am just going to call it the USS Alabama.  I am pretty sure that is why it was parked in Alabama, if not, it is a pretty good guess, so we are going with it.  

We didn't pay to go on the ship, but we did walk around on this giant expanse of asphalt.  It was about then that I was glad that it was September and not July.  I can't imagine how hot it gets here when it decides to be really hot.  

So we have some ironic T-Shirts going on here.  Have I ever blogged about Mr. T.'s T-Shirt Problem?  I won't, but I am just going to put that out there.  So, we are at military thing where in the gift shop they sell automatic weapons to kids, you know, just for fun.  Mr. T. is where a T-Shirt that says "license to Il" and it has a picture of Kim Joung Il on it.  It was so funny.  BabyP has the much more appropriate "Cool your jets". I am wearing my car racing T-shirt to better fit in with the locals.  When in Alabama....

So here is one of the big difference between the kids.  This is babyP running away from me because he does not want his picture taken, where Sweet Peanut can't help but posing when you answer for phone because, you know, your phone has a camera in it and you might secretly take her picture without her knowing.  It is always important to look fabulous.

Most pictures of me are taken by the kids and there are only so many pictures of yourself looking hunched over that one can really stand.  I am impressed, really, that the kids were able to get my head in the picture.  This does not generally happen.

So the beach was great.  We rented a condo over looking the beach.  It was great.  Really really great.  At our last beach vacation, we stayed in a hotel room.  Our lesson learned was that we want to be able to shut the door on the kids.  (which sounds awful to write, but it isn't meant to)  The condo worked out great.  We could self cater.  We had lots of room.  We could stay up after the kids went to bed.  We could overlook the ocean.  The condo also had a swimming pool that the kids could play in.  ALERT!!! I DID NOT HAVE TO GET IN THE POOL WITH THEM.  It was the first time ever that I could just lay around while the kids went swimming.  It was GREAT!!

Oh, I really really can't wait until Peanut is old enough to surf.  One day the surf was really rough.  Mr. T. didn't even want to get out in it.  She said "The ocean is really angry and that means that it is perfect for doing the boogie board."  She cracks me up.  She is such a dynamo.  The thing is, that she is right.  She is so right.  It is perfect for boogie boarding if you are not 5.

It was fun because she loves to body surf.  When I was able to break free from "BabyP the hand holder", her and I went body surfing.  She is strong enough and brave enough in the water that if it knocks her down, and it does, she just jumps back up and doesn't worry about it.

This guy was a bit more timid, but he was braver than he was in March.  He is also a lot younger than his sister.  I expect by the time he is 5, he will be a lot braver.  He won't be as reckless, but that is good.  I really only need one reckless kid around at a time.

The weather was amazing.  It was 60's at night and 80's during the day.  We even got a couple of thunderstorms, which was really neat.  We were only on the second floor, but we had a great view of the ocean.  The community we were in, Gulf Shores, wasn't walkable, which I found odd.  We had to drive everywhere.  When I ran in the morning, I had to run along the side of the road because there were no sidewalks.  I thought that was odd, but because we didn't have to drive 2 days to get there, I am fine with it.

A typical day included breakfast, beach, lunch, nap, beach, dinner, walk, sleep.  It was pretty perfect.  It was a difficult adjustment to come back home.  Although, I have to admit, with my MIL being here, life was pretty easy.  That woman can really straighten out a house.  Not that mine needs it (snicker snicker snicker)  

A beach photo shoot

Here are a few pictures from when we went to the beach last month.  My MIL has been here, so I have not been blogging.  Excuses.  Excuses.  

Butterflies in the Garden

I had a good time the other day playing in the garden.  Peanut and I planted some flowers a couple of years back that keep coming up.  They attract some amazing butterflies.  

A long weekend

It is Labor Day.  Somehow 4 days flew by without even so much as a nod from me.  I could really get used to this life of leisure.  Perhaps I should play the lottery more.

The kids have been saying some amazing things lately.  I think to myself, 'I am going to write that down.' and promptly forget about it.  (I wonder how many times I have said that on this blog)

Peanut is funny in her likeness to me.  She just says what comes into her mind.  We were walking down a posh street near out house the other day.  A man in a half shirt was walking the other direction.  It really was a weird sight to see these beautiful houses set far back from the street and man who looked like an 80's flashback.  I was holding my breath at what Peanut was going to say.  She said "That man's shirt is too small for him.  Doesn't he know that!"  uh... ya... everyone knows it know.  BUT, she is a joy.

BabyP told me today that Santa Clause was not going to give my any presents because I ate his pop corn.  I am pretty sure Santa Clause is okay with me eating pop corn.

BabyP told Iain "I am going to fix your race car.  I just need one battery.  ONE BATTERY.  Your race car will be fixed."  He also said to me, "I am going to fix that car.  I am going to take the carburater and throw it out the window."

I used to think that he was "the quiet one."  I think that was an incorrect assumption.  That boy can talk.  He talks on and on and is LOUD about it.  He was yelling at me in the grocery store and there was NO MAKING him quiet.  Perhaps we just didn't get lucky.  Perhaps we don't have a "quiet one."

Peanut seems to continue to really like her school.  She goes to a specialized art class.  One of her drawings was featured on the wall next to the library along with drawings from a selection of other kids throughout her school.  She drew a picture of me.  I, of course, think she is an excellent artist.  I am glad the art teacher recognizes that too.

She is a funny kid.  She gets wrapped up in her own world very easily.  It seems almost worse now than when she was smaller.  She is really into showing out and performing for people.  Again, as someone who really loves attention, I know where she gets it from.  It is difficult to stay that focused on her all the time, though.  I think I need to read up a bit on 5 year olds to see what is going on in her head right now.

The funny thing about the attention is that when I sit down to talk to her about her day, she completely clams up.  She doesn't want to talk about it.  She would rather talk about some movie or do some sort of dance than let me into that little head of hers.  Every once in a while, I get a glance.  We talked through some issues she was having with a girl that was taunting her.  We talked about strategies to handle it.

But everything seems pretty hunky dory around here.  We are waiting for the arrival of granny, which will lend a bit of excitement.  We have a busy couple of weeks planned with her!

Diamond Miners

Moonscape

Peanut is really into anthropology.  We recently read a book about the trail of tears.  (and this is where I have to go on a tangent)  I could NOT believe the amount of White Washing in that book.  The book said that Thomas Jefferson wanted the Indians to be safe, which is why he had them moved.  Uh... I am not a historian, but I am pretty sure that isn't why the Indians moved.  Peanut goes to Thomas Jefferson Elementary, so I felt it was really important for her to know the truth.  We talked about how people at the time felt.  We also talked a bit about white washing.  We talked about how people don't always want the truth to be known so they "tweak" history to fit their perceptions.  Grrr..... That type of thing makes me crazy.

Anyway, so.... I wanted to take her to the Toltec Mounds State Park, but it didn't open until 1in the afternoon on Sunday.  Since it was 8 in the morning and the kids were already running laps around the table, I knew that waiting was out of the question.  

Knows how to work that shovel

So... I have always wanted to go to the Crater of Diamond's State Park, so we went.  It was so much fun.  It was also VERY HOT.  We dug around for diamonds.  We didn't find any, but we founds some excellent rocks.  They have a place where you can clean the rocks to see what they look like. There are actually people who have tents and things out there.  I guess they are really into it.  

Tiny Geologists

See all of this stuff?  I carried it all.  Initially, I was not going to bring my cooler, but the lady at the counter told me I really needed to bring something for the kids to drink out there.  I rented a "kit" from the park, so I was lugging around a full cooler and a bucket full of shovels.  In case you are wondering, it is hard to lug around a bucket full of shovels because it doesn't want to stay up.

hmmm Cheese and fig newton Sandwich

In the end, I was really glad I brought the shovels for the kids to minimize the fighting.  I am super happy I brought the cooler, because the park has some shaded picnic tables to eat at.  Man... it was hot in the sun.  In the shade, it was nice, but digging in the sun..... We were all drenched in sweat and covered in dirt.  We only really dug for about 20 minutes.  The ground was really hard and did I mention that it was really hot?  

It is important to attack your mom when she is trying to take your picture

BabyP and I went for a short walk while Peanut stayed in the shade.  We saw an old mine house where the original underground mind (?) was constructed.  BabyP told me that was where the monsters and the soldiers were.  He continued on with some imaginative story about how we didn't need to be scared, but the monster wanted to eat us.  That kid can come up with some crazy stuff.

And I guess, I was done taking pictures, so I didn't get a picture of second part of our trip.  I will gladly steal one from the state park website.

Can you believe how cool their water park was there?  It was so neat.  You can't see the slides and the waterfalls that flow into it.  You can see in the back the fountains.  It was a great way to end the day.  Too bad I forgot to bring an extra set of clothes, though.  It was really gross putting my dirty sweaty clothes back on for the 2 hour drive home.  Blah.

I will go again, but next time, I am going to find some diamonds and get rich!