ahhh...nature...

Nina's teacher, Miss Kalee, told us she took the kids on a little nature walk around the church. As we left the school, I asked Nina about the walk.

"What did you see?" I asked.

She replied thoughtfully, "Well...glitter (litter), dirty socks, one-of-those-sticks-you-dip-in-those-bags-of-candy (Fun Dip), and a nasty bug."

big sis, little sis

At dinner last night, Nina was uber crabby. She needed to go to bed asap, but Michael and I were still eating. Audrey pulled out her big sister voice and asked Nina if she wanted her to take her up to bed. Nina milked it and they headed upstairs.

We knew there wasn't a chance in Hades that they'd actually crawl into bed.

After just a few minutes, we hear a bit of squealing. Audrey's at the top of the stairs and she tells us, "Whenever Nina does something for me, I give her a toy."

Mind you, it isn't a new toy. It's one of their current toys, so Audrey's pulling ultra-weasel moves.

It gets better.

Audrey tells us later that when Nina does something good, Auddie's giving her some of her money. "But in the middle of the night," she whispered, "I'm going to take it back and then she can re-earn it the next day."

WEA-SEL.

a bad hair day

When I woke Sunday, it was dreary and I knew it was supposed to rain in the afternoon. I decided it wasn't worth straightening my hair, so I let it go all naturale...very curly. I'll admit, it was a little wild, but I intended to wear a hat and pull it back. Unfortunately, Audrey saw me pre-hat.

She caught a glimpse of me out of the corner of her eye as she watched her show. She jumped up and ran into the kitchen. With her eyes open wide, she pointed at me and said, "Your hair is crazy. It's like when you were a kid. I know...I've seen pictures."

Almost immediately, I felt like I was back in junior high, ironing my hair so the kids wouldn't make those same comments. Fortunately for Audrey, I've matured...(whatever)...so I rolled my eyes, laughed, and hurried in to grab the hat.

her ship sunk

Auddie's been learning about the Titanic. "Mom, do you know about that big boat a loooong time ago that hit an ice cube?"

There's a gigantic poster in her classroom of the Titanic. When Michael and I Audrey's conference last week, her teacher, Mrs. Holom, explained that the kids were given wooden parts to build their own ships. Then they'd be letting them loose in a big tub of water, filled with icebergs, so the students could observe which ships stayed afloat...and which did not. They'd have a discussion about those that sank and figure out how they could design them differently so that they stayed afloat.

Here's the tray of boats:

Gues which one is Audrey's.

That's right - the tallest one, of course. She goes for flair, rather than function. She proudly told us it was the tallest ship. Indeed, it was. I told Michael it might be all his fault because he's taken the girls several times to the Tall Ships festival(?) in Tacoma. Audrey may be confused.

Anyway, her ship nearly sailed Monday. "It sank," she said matter-of-factly. I acted totally surprised, but she's hopeful her modifications to it will make it successful.

Bless her little engineering-challenged heart. She's just like her mother.

splat

My niece runs in the house and says, "Andy, Audrey fell off the swing and she's crying." I look outside and see Audrey on the ground. I run out and ask her what happened. She gasps, "I splattered."

Ouch.

chasing boys

On the way to school yesterday, I noticed Audrey snuck wearing her "clickity clock" shoes -- the patent leather, dressy ones that make a clickity clock sound on our hardwood floors. For safety reasons, I don't usually let her wear them to school.

Anyway, I said, "Audrey, I see you're wearing your clickity clock shoes. You have P.E. today and you'll be running."

Audrey replied, "I used to chase the boys, but now I don't." I asked her why.

"Well...it's just not for me," she said. "I don't like running. It really wears me out."

Amen, Auddie.

those things have more than one good use

After falling off her bike yesterday, Nina said, "We need notepads for our knees in case we fall off again."