2 graduations in one week?!?!

Muffet graduated "Puppy Kindergarten" this past Sunday from PetSmart, but I think it was mostly because she attended every class, NOT because she learned much of anything, unless she expected treats from the teacher. Way to go Muffle Ding Dong

The bigger news from Reece graduating his little preschool and moving on to kindergarten. Here he is posing with Backpack the Penguin at the entrance to his school, we posed here in August at the beginning of school, wow does a year fly

Waiting nervously to walk up, say his favorite thing about school, tell what he wants to be when he grows up and then receive a fake rolled up blank sheet of paper.

Reece said " getting stickers" was his favorite thing about school and he wants to be a race car driver, but he has never once said that to us. Mostly his goals fall into ice cream truck driver, helicopter pilot and garbage man. Way to go little Reecers, I teared up when he started walking down the aisle to the commencement music, but then pulled it together for the rest of the ceremony.

It's not as easy as all that........

The title of this post was her 2nd line in the play. She has been practicing since January for this production and the day of the play was full of Emma drama as well. She had a coronary that her costume showed her underpants and that during and after the play the entire crowd of onlookers would only be discussing her underpants. After finding a pair of bike shorts that perfectly matched her outift, the stress left her face and she could resume her part as an acrobat.

Before her part doing cartwheels, she told herself quietly " Come on Emma, this is your one chance to do a really good cartwheel." And I guess the silent pray paid off......

A three year olds perspective of a ding dong

Here is the three year old

AND here is the ding dong

This is Muffet aka muffles aka snuffley muffs aka muffle ding dong, she hangs with her peeps in the backyard digging for truffles, watching her bling sparkle in the Florida sun and trying to find words to rhyme with the phrase " Can I sniff your butt?"

Adeline snitches my camera and then pictures just start showing up- some of her pastimes include forcing herself into doll cribs, strollers and collecting the cats to lock them in her room to force them to play hotel.

Notice the powerful jaws on this beast, watch as she hones in on her prey, the small tail less manx, unaware of the brown monster that silently watches from the bottom of the stairs for the perfect moment to launch her gangly muscled form into a sprint to hopefully get one mouthful of grey kitten, before her momentum carries her into the wall to end in a furry heap on the floor.

100 years of Magic

Disney World on Ice was here again this spring and boasting the theme 100 years of Magic. Here Reece is sporting the Nemo hat that sits on top of the $10 cotton candy

The girls apparently didn't get enough of the Disney Magic, b/c the following day they grabbed Halloween costumes from years past and forced their baby giraffe legs into clothes too small for both of them

I brought along the Brownie Troop as a group, but our seats were behind a railing and in the nosebleed section, so after intermission and a quick glance to make sure no one was sitting below us, we crept down about 20 rows

The one truly awesome part was a tribute to the It's a Small World ride at Disney World. They had light up scenery and costumed dolls from around the world

Emma kept bugging my co-leader Shannon and I about how much longer until the show started. So, Shannon gave her the task of continuously talking with no stopping until the performance began. Here is her hamming it up face, while she rattles off some jibberish

Reece and Adeline sat with Dad, they had fantastic seats 2 rows from the ice thanks to the military. Here Adeline is shocked that Monstro the whale's rubber teeth fell out, then Prince Eric fell and finally Simba almost dropped Nala. I must say though that Dory the Blue Fish from Nemo had the worst/best placement of eyes on a costume of the night. Let's just say it looked like Dory's eyes needed a bra

Saturday Sleepover

What kind of sleepover includes getting a chance to walk on a active runway and climb into a real military trainer plane? Awesome, your the best daddy

A glimpse into the future?

The afternoon at Flounder's on the beach, here were the seafood nachos. Ya I know it sounds weird and a little gross, but actually the crab meat was out of this world

Reece doing his best green goblin impression

50 cents well spent, we got at least 5 minutes of quality spying time to peep into all the Gulf Breeze mansions and up close on a sea gull's bum

Western Day at Reece's preschool. Here are the 2 quiet cowboys of the class. Brody and Reece are 2 peas in a pod, they are both reserved, shy, tobacco chewing gunslingers. What a cute pair

A little at a time

This house needed so much in terms of loving care, the yard was of course our first necessity and the annihilation of the wallpaper. But, now 2 summers into living on Oxford Pl, we are starting to expand the improvements. The liner on the pool had a small leak and was 15 years old. So,,, they came, ripped out the green swamp land and we are now awaiting the pretty new liner. This giant cement hole was just too tempting for our skater dude neighbor boy who politely asked if he could shred in our backyard. Go right ahead Levi/Tony Hawk. This gave Reece the courage to grab his scooter and join Levi in our half pipe.

A beautiful Friday afternoon brought us out to the local playground near the water. I tried to be a nice pet owner and take Muffle snuffs with us, but she ended up wrapping herself around my legs and trying to smother all the preschool kids there to death.

So, Reece, Emma and Adeline all jumped on the swings and needed to be propelled by mom power to the highest heights

I thought this one of Emma closing her eyes and feeling the weightlessness was dreamy

Rick put up a new rope swing in our front yard, to the excitement of ALL the cul-de-sac kids. Even the high schoolers who secretly get on after it gets dark like plastic swing vampires. I see them long after I've put mine to bed, out there just spinning on this swing and trying to make one another sick. Go ahead kids, enjoy it while you are young you'll be out in the workforce and the ratrace soon enough

Baskin and Robbins Ice cream always seems to get me on a nice afternoon. Darn you 2 scoop sundae with marshmallow sauce and almond pieces. It never fails, this is what happens EVERY time we go to get ice cream. Reece peruses the sneezeguard displays for the most psychedelic color pattern, chooses this, no matter what it might taste like, then spends the rest of his licking time, asking for tastes off of our cones and trying pitifully to exchange his flavor for one of his sisters. When will he ever learn NOT to pick those flavors?

Our 2 new palmy beauties out front. Slowly but surely we are improving our home and making it into the home we could see ourselves in for the long term.

Just because I lost my tooth doesn't mean I'm growing up

Reece was complaining of tooth pain for about 2 weeks and since his gum was also red, I decided to take him to the dentist. Who he absolutely loves by the way. He would go home with that man, if Dr. Bonin asked him to. So, Stu Bonin, peeks in his mouth, says " oh looky here mom, this little boy has 2 loose tooth, give me some of my ticky tack." Then he puts some pink stuff on Reece's tooth, waits 1 minute and makes Reece pull out his own tooth. The completely violated look on Reece's face was replaced by joy when they gave him a tooth shaped container and let him pick out a sticker. Plus he knew the tooth fairy would be coming now.........

Ok, Mom was soooo NOT ready for her "little guy" to lose a tooth. It means he's growing up and when the child who is supposed to stay itty bitty, sweet, with all hugs and smiles, starts growing up, a mother starts getting nostalgic. Can I turn back time, if only for a short time?

Soooo, just when I think my little boy is growing up right before my eyes, we stop in a consignment store and he picks out Indiana Jone's official hat, a new light sabre, and some crazy brown boots to wear to school for Western Day. Then proceeds to look the part of the crazy person no one wants to get near at the bus station, while at CiCi's Pizza for dinner. At least he got some chuckles and smiles out of some elderly people near us and the entire work force behind the pizza counter. Notice the 2nd light saber attached to his pocket?

I guess 5 years old, still just means 5 years old, even if you start losing teeth. Somehow or other I think the missing tooth makes his smile even more heartwarming.