20 Questions with Kate, age 3

1. What is your favorite color? pink
2. What is your favorite toy? Kwaazi and Peso
3. What is your favorite fruit? apples
4. What is your favorite TV show? Doc McStuffins
5. What is your favorite outfit? summer dresses and winter dresses
6. What is your favorite game? playing cats and Octonauts
7. What is your favorite snack? pretzel (goldfish) crackers
8. What is your favorite animal? cats
9. What is your favorite song? the ABC's
10. What is your favorite book? a book about kittens and puppies
11. Who is your best friend? Maggie
12. What is your favorite thing to do outside? swinging on swings, sliding on slides, and playing in the grass
13. What is your favorite meal? pepperoni and cheese
14. What is your favorite drink? a cool drink of water on a hot day
15. What is your favorite holiday? Valentine's Day
16. What do you want to be when you grow up? Valentine's cat
17. Where is your favorite place to go? the mall
18. What is the best thing about school? hunting Easter eggs at school
19. If you could do anything you wanted, what would you do? I would play outside with all my best friends
20. If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be? baby Octonauts

20 Questions with Maggie, age 5

I saw this idea on my friend Val's pinterest board, linked from another mom's blog. The original idea involved making a scrapbook out of each child's answers to 20 questions recorded each year on their birthdays. Well, I've just missed the girls' birthdays for this year, and I'm sure you can guess how likely I would be to "scrapbook." But I really liked the idea, so stole it for the blog instead. I also switched up the questions a bit to a few that I liked better. All answers are direct quotes.

1. What is your favorite color? a half of pink, a half of purple, and a half of violet
2. What is your favorite toy? Joyce
3. What is your favorite fruit? tiny, cut up peaches
4. What is your favorite TV show? Doc McStuffins
5. What is your favorite outfit? my Hello Kitty shirt
6. What is your favorite game? playing pirates and pirate cats
7. What is your favorite snack? oatmeal creme pies
8. What is your favorite animal? cats
9. What is your favorite song? Daisy, Daisy
10. What is your favorite book? a baby ABC's board book (really?!?)
11. Who is your best friend? Kate
12. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play on the slide with Kate
13. What is your favorite meal? snacktime
14. What is your favorite drink? milk
15. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
16. What do you want to be when you grow up? a house painter
17. Where is your favorite place to go? the park
18. What is the best thing about school? arts and crafts
19. If you could do anything you wanted, what would you do? I'd climb up on the counter and get my own snacks and stuff
20. If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be? a friend for Joyce and Maxine, like a stuffed animal cat friend

Come back tomorrow for Katie's list!

Tu(n)esday

These are old videos, I know, but they are Kate's current favorites.  She cheers at certain parts of this first one, like when the rainbow colored flags fan over. She gets her love of and fascination with Rube Goldberg machines from her father!



Same song, marching band video:



So how does a three year old get to know all about OK Go? And why does she refer to them as "The Color Guys?" Because of their Sesame Street video:



All of their videos are very cool, actually. (You have my permission to waste the rest of the day watching all of them on YouTube.) I'll watch these ten times in a row if it means we can skip The Wiggles.

She's a Lie Down Comedienne

We were in the car yesterday afternoon on our way to the mall when Mike noticed that Kate was starting to fall asleep.

Two things you need to know:

1. Kate still insists that she is a cat named Socks.
2. Kate rarely takes a nap anymore, and when she does, she's up all night acting nuts.

So we started talking to her, trying to engage her and keep her awake until we could get out of the car...

Mike: Kate! Kate! Wake up! Sing us the Rainbow Song! Hey Baby Socks Kitten! Don't fall asleep!

Kate: (sleepily) I can't hear you, Dad. I'm... *pause for effect* ... cat napping!

A three year old who tells jokes that are actually funny is definitely a sign of parenting success. In my mind, anyway.

It's Still October, Right?!

Our carpenter was going to replace the old, beat up shingles on our house last July when the painter was here scraping the old paint off. Then he got backed up and was going to come in August. Then it was October. So the painter finished painting the part that he could do before the weather turned bad and left the rest turquoise. If you need to jog your memory, go ahead and take a look back. I'll wait.

Anyway, winter happened, and then the carpenter's wife had a baby, and they had to go overseas for a month. And now it's March. But holy crap, guess who showed up! It's taken the last two weeks to get the job done, instead of the 4 days it was supposed to take. And they needed three more boxes of shingles than the amount they originally quoted us a price for, so that cost extra. But the shingles are done now and the painter is coming back tomorrow to finish up! Hooray!


Mags was sad to say goodbye to the last of the turquoise. I'm sure our neighbor on that side was not.


We also put in a new window in the stairwell because the other was old and broken.


The new shingles are way more gorgeous than even the nicer ones of the old, unfortunately.


The stairwell window from the inside


Finished!








Look how lovely that is! We're getting dangerously close to not having the most embarrassing house on the block. I hardly recognize my own life any more.