The kids' table

Before & After

Weekend in Atlanta

We saw the Braves beat the Phillies 15-2, enjoyed the Center for Puppetry Arts & its Jim Henson exhibit, ate at The Varsity, and visited with Cathy, Jamie, Claire, & Jeff

Fit for a princess

The Sunday Funnies

Left and right are such tricky concepts.  I've tried to explain that if you turn around, what's on the left and right change.  Of course, it turns out this only applies to stationary objects.  Dorothy asked me if her thumb was on her right hand or left; I answered that it was her right; then she ran to the back of me and said, "Now it's my left thumb!"

I was trying to explain sarcasm.  "What is a food you really don't like?" I asked.  "Cheeseballs," Dorothy answered.  "Okay," I said, "If it was your birthday and I gave you a big container of cheeseballs as a present, you might say, 'Oh, thank you so much...you know how much I love cheeseballs!'  But what you really mean is that you don't like them at all."  She processed this, then added, "But for real I would burst into tears."

I have a few scented body sprays that Dorothy likes to use.  Her favorite is Sweet Pea, a Bath and Body Works scent.  This morning, she asked if she could use the "green pea spray".

Big Daddy installed a swingset in his backyard.  Dorothy told me, "I'm glad Big Daddy got this swingset.  Are you glad?"  "Yes," I said.  "Why are you glad?" Dorothy asked.  "I'm just glad," I answered.  "Are you glad because now the grown-ups don't have to play with the kids?"

Dorothy watched me typing a password.  "Why are you typing 'dot dot dot dot dot dot?'" she asked.

At the Center for Puppetry Arts with the Morgans

My friend Eloise came to visit and I met her little ones

Swim lessons are going great

Just a girl on her way to a My Little Pony playdate

More from the wedding!

Dean family photo from Mike & Aja's wedding in April

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy is at that age where she's spelling long sentences to us to find out what they say:  Mom, what does this say?  o-r-i-e-n-t-a-l-t-r-a-d-i-n-g-n-o-b-o-d-y-d-e-l-i-v-e-r-s-m-o-r-e-f-u-n-f-o-r-l-e-s-s-r-e-a-d-y-s-e-t-s-u-m-m-e-r

Dorothy has told me in the past "You ruined my day!"  But recently she has spiced it up and added an upset "You crumbled my day" and "You darkened my day."

We were walking past a yard with a family playing in the sprinkler.  "Wait," Dorothy said.  "That lady has three kids?"  "And a dog," I added.  Dorothy commented, "That's a lot of work."

We had two college students from ND as houseguests.  I read Dorothy a bedtime story, and then she wanted to go "see what the girls were doing".  I told her she could go find them and say goodnight, but if they were in the guest bedroom and the door was closed, do not bother them.  Dorothy went to check on them and returned to say that their door was closed.  "Can I just peek under it?" she asked.

Dorothy picked-up my can of flavored sparkling water, handed it to me, and said, "Mama, here's your beer."

The girls were in the pool and I was sitting on the side with my feet in the water.  We were talking about The Little Mermaid.  "Aren't you gonna get in since you're a mermaid?" Willa asked.  "I already visited Ursula," I said, "and she turned me into a human.  Look, I have legs!"  Dorothy sassed, "Then why are you still talking?"

Big Daddy built a swingset

Eric Carle Day at summer camp

No, ring pops!

Pacifiers?

Flashback to June 4, 2015

Shaving cream cupcakes

The Sunday Funnies

There is a series written for young readers called the Nancy Drew Notebooks that follows the detective at age 8.  We cannot get enough of them!  So far we have read every one at our library, with irresistible titles such as:

The Dollhouse Mystery
Alien in the Classroom
The Snowman Surprise
Not Nice on Ice
The Lost Locket
Dinosaur Alert!
The Soccer Shoe Clue
The Apple Bandit
The Chinese New Year Mystery
The Puppy Problem
The Kitten Caper
The Bunny-Hop Hoax
The Singing Suspects
The Secret Santa
Trouble at Camp Treehouse
The Hidden Treasures
The Black Velvet Mystery
Candy Is Dandy
The Ice Cream Scoop

Nancy has two cousins who appear in every book.  George is a tomboy; Bess likes fashion and shopping and doesn't like to get dirty.  Dorothy commented, "George likes to play soccer because she is sporty, but Bess likes to do fun stuff."

I was tucking Dorothy in bed and she kept coming up with things to tell me.  "I'm playing Nancy Drew," she said.  "My teddy bear is Bess.  My Cinderella doll is George.  This is my blue notebook and I'm writing clues in it."  "Yes, yes," I'm saying as I scoot towards the door.  "And Mama!" she calls out.  "Yes?" I ask.  "I'm Nancy Drew."

In Dinosaur Alert, the lunch lady, a former student at Nancy's elementary school, came dressed as the school's former mascot for a reunion.  She told the story that thirty years prior she had stamped the dinosaur's footprint in wet cement and was scolded and not allowed to be the mascot anymore.  Dorothy asked, "So at the reunion, was the lady who said she cannot be the dinosaur not there anymore?"

Plunking around

And when it was time to go Dorothy slowly made her way to me, drawing this swirling line all the way

We had 10 minutes at the beach after dropping off the ND girls at camp. It was so hot that 10 minutes was enough for me.

...jammies with a sunhat

Jammies...

Fish faces at the aquarium (with our friend Maisie)

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy complained that Allen at school "always wants his lunch to be the best.  He doesn't like my lunches."  "What in your lunch does Allen not like?" I asked.  Dorothy answered, "He always says 'Uhhh, yogurt?!  Uhhh, a spoon?!'"

Dorothy likes to sing new words to familiar tunes, and then explain, "That was based on...", as in "That was based on Mary Had a Little Lamb."

Dorothy picked up a summery lotion with a beachy pink flamingo graphic.  She asked, "What is this?"  "Lotion," I answered.  "Is it supposed to smell like flamingoes?" she asked.

Dorothy was wearing two stickers; one said "I love Unicorns" and the other said "Believe".  At the same time, I was listening to my own music and paying half-attention to her.  Dorothy asked me, "What does this say?" and I, thinking she was asking about lyrics, answered honestly, "Live fast.  Die young.  Bad girls do it well."  "Oh," she said.  I looked up and she pointed to her second sticker and asked, "And what does this other one say?"

Dorothy spent the full hour at the pool jumping off the side into the water, climbing out, and jumping back in.  On the way home, I complimented her.  She responded, "Dad said I'm not supposed to jump off the side of the pool until I can swim without my floaties."  I asked, "Oh?  Then why did you do it?"  She answered, "Well, the first time I did it, I was in a hurry to get to the mermaid toy, and I forgot that I wasn't on the steps.  Then you said, 'Good job, Dorothy!' and I thought 'Hmmmm...'."

I'm not a pool person, but I'm getting a routine at our neighborhood pool and it's getting easier each day.  On the first day, I had to take Dorothy to the pool bathroom, and upon entering I even uttered, "This is a nightmare."  A few days later we needed to visit the pool bathroom again.  Upon entering this time, Dorothy asked, "Mama, are you still having your nightmare?"

I showed Dorothy a picture of Rosie the Riveter; unfortunately for feminists everywhere, she said, "I've seen that picture before on boxes of washing detergent."

Bathing Beauty (we've joined our neighborhood pool)

Last day at Montessori Academy!

Performance snippet:
https://youtu.be/5Lrk0SAVask

Dolphin pose:
https://youtu.be/Hf-E1ZqRxCo

#DanceMom

And did I mention that her costume included a teddy bear wearing an identical costume?

Dorothy's friend Willa was also in the show!

I assume everyone enjoys these as much as Sarah?

Where's Dorothy?

Wave from the stage

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy hasn't napped in many years.  She doesn't nap when she's sick; she doesn't fall asleep in the car; she quit napping around the time she started walking.
This week was an exception.  She had a cold and napped for around two hours in the early evening two days in a row.
She could not wrap her mind around it:  Why are we eating dinner?  What do you mean I already watched a movie today?  How is it close to bedtime?  You mean yesterday when I went to school.

I told Dorothy that she was older than four-and-a-half; she is now four-and-two-thirds.  "What do you mean?" she asked.  I said, "Just a minute.  I'll show you."  I started to walk across the room, intending to grab a few building blocks.  Dorothy asked, "Are you going to ask Google?"

Rehearsal day

Dorothy's school for next year sent her a welcome package. They are the Chargers.