Whistle while you work, eat, sleep, play, bathe...

Ok, I am really proud of Emily.  She can speak a little Spanish, a little Chinese, she knows geography, addition and subtraction.  But by far, her proudest accomplishment to date is the fact that she can whistle...a lot.  Some girl at church taught her one day, and Emily has not stopped whistling since.  I'm not kidding, she whistles ALL of the time. What's more is that she whistles only one note.  No tunes. It's always the same, breathe in one note, breathe out the same one long monotonous note. 

However, in the stores, she never gets lost, I can hear her hiding in the clothes rack a mile away.  But, I get afraid of other things, because she's constantly running up to strange people reciting, "Hi, I'm Emily. I'm four and I can whistle."  Stranger Danger, Em!  

I'm getting a leash.  Think it comes with a MUZZLE?!  

Don't Blink!

I'm finding out how different boys and girls are to raise.  With Ryan now mobile and curious, it's a learning experience each day.  When the girls were toddlers we baby proofed everything.  However, once they started crawling, we wondered why we had worked so hard.  They were always more interested in people than in cords or breakable things.  But Ryan, well, that's a different story.  He makes a beeline for every cord he sees, relishes pulling up on tipsy things, and always shows me how much I need to vacuum, because he can find dozens of choking hazards from a mile away.  

A few days ago, I was tired of chasing Mr. Into It, and put him in his saucer to chill for a bit.  Safe, secure, not a single way to get in trouble, right?

WRONG!!!

Play Date

Allie just found out how tough growing up can be. The other day, Emily asked me if her friend from church could come over to play.  Both Emily and Allie were so excited that their "best friend Malia" was coming to our house for the day.

Emily, Malia, and Allie

Best Friends  

See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil...Yeah Right!!!

The day started off well.  The girls went outside to play.  There were enough bubbles for all, the more the merrier.

Ryan in his sisters' hand-me-down hat

  No dice.  I bought a camouflage one the next day.

Later, we moved indoors.  The girls raced upstairs to raid the dress up trunk.  Matt was home, and we heard them all giggling and having fun.

But soon, Allie came downstairs, sucking her thumb, and twirling her hair.  She sat down beside us, quietly staring off into space.  After a few minutes, it dawned on me that she should be with the other girls playing, not hanging out with Dad and Mom.  

I asked her why she looked so sad.  She looked at me with tearful eyes as if she had just been waiting for me to ask her that question.  Tears ran down her cheeks in earnest now as she sobbed, "Because I'm not a big girl!".  

After some investigation, we discovered that Emily and Malia had told Allie that she was too little to play with them.  There is nothing that breaks your heart more than a little sister who suddenly realizes that she's the LITTLE sister.  Her best friend is really only her sister's best friend.  

Well, we had quite talk with the two other girls.  Fortunately, both Emily and Malia have kind and soft hearts beneath their 4 year old "leave em' out" tendencies.  They came downstairs contrite, and apologized to Allie right away.  After a couple of minor setbacks, she was included in their world once again. 

Best Friends Forever (we hope!) 

I found this later.  Mommy's play date...with the dust pan.

Double Bubble

Cleveland is full of rich culture, history and interesting characters...including the Bubble Lady. Around here, the Bubble Lady is an institution at nearly every kid's birthday party. The other day we attended an event put on by our local Early Childhood PTA which featured her talents.

Matt and the girls watch with rapt attention as the Bubble Lady shows off her tricks...she even blew a square bubble!

Soon, volunteers were called up. Emily and Allie bravely volunteered. (Notice how protective Emily is of her little sister?)

Yep, she even puts kids inside of bubbles!

Our adventurous little girls, so proud of their accomplishment!

Fired Up

Recently, we were in Minnesota.  We crammed in a bunch of activities while there, but the best times we had were just hanging out with family.  It was slightly chilly up north this time, perfect weather for a bonfire, so we had two, one at Dad and Mom's, and the second at Tom and Katies' house.  Here are some pictures from the first bonfire.  I didn't have my camera while we were there, so I don't have many photos to post.  

 Ryan loves being a big boy now.  He gets to be part of all the action. 

  

All of the grandkids minus Ryan, (guess he's not part of ALL the action yet!).  

Allie's dreamin' of s'mores.

Allie fulfilling her dreams!

Ooo, my tummy aches.  I couldn't eat another bite.

Well, maybe just one more...

Wingin' It

We're back in Minnesota again!

Our visit has been full of activities. On Sunday, we were scheduled to pick up my nephew to babysit. But, between church and getting David, we ambitiously decided to fit in a trip to Red Wing, MN. Matt and I had never visited before, and wanted to see the famous river town and bluffs. Unfortunately, we were constantly watching the clock, so by the time we arrived we only had 20 minutes to get the kids out of the car and explore. Basically, we heard about a lot of cool places, but never made it out of the parking lot to see them.

We're looking forward to visiting Red Wing again and spending more time in such a pretty and historic town.

After a nearly two hour drive, the girls enjoyed getting out and seeing the mighty Mississippi.

Pondering our Wandering

Don't Eat It!

Metzis Tasty Takeaway Hamburger with the lot - Australian style!
Originally uploaded by Vanessa Pike-Russell

If I have to suffer so do you. Yes, I'm officially on a diet. This morning I submitted my intent to return to work. Therefore, I have 30 days to lose 20 pounds. It could work right?

Also, at this time I would like to offer my thanks to my cousin who recently changed her blog to reflect all things cookie...nummy, delicious, mouthwatering, aromatic, scrumptious coookiiiieee....Yeah, in the name of skinniness, I won't be able to check your website for awhile...unless you offer a low fat blog option.

Hopefully, by announcing to the world that "I AM FAT!", I will be held accountable to get thin again.

We'll see, I'm three hours into the diet, and a cheesy crunchy gordita sounds awfully good right now...