2/22/13: Just heading over to pick up the mail . . . with style!

2/4/13
M, pointing out a newly-bloomed daffodil in the backyard: “Rooey, look. I think we have a flower back there.”
R: “Yeah, you’re right! There is a flower back there. Look Carter, we have a flower. It’s summer!”

2/16/12: Raine jumping rope.

Disclaimer: I’ve said this before, but it is worth repeating: I DO NOT have any say in Raine’s outfits!

2/4/13
C: “I’m really tough.”
M: “Oh yeah? You’re really tough?”
C: “Yeah, I’m really tough like Daddy.”

2/15/13: Yes . . . those are backward!

2/11/12
R, singing the Wheels on the Bus: “The swipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish; swish, swish, swish; swish, swish, swish. The swipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish, all through the town.”

3/1/13: I have zero fashion sense. I admit it, I embrace it, it works for me. Raine . . . well, she has her own sense of style. I have decided to steer clear of it because I know I would just stifle it. So this is what she wears: boots, hot-pink leg warmers, stripes with prints, and a sequin tiara to top it all off!

2/12/13
R: “Mommy, can I make some foam shapes now? I made a real craft.”
M: “No. I already told you, ‘no foam today.'”
R, giving me a big ole crusty face: “Well then . . . Daddy’s nicer than you now!”

3/1/13: Playing together out back — their favorite thing to do. Usually, Carter is the dog and Raine is the mom.

2/17/13
M: “Carty, is that poopy in your underpants?”
C: “No. It’s skid-mark.”
M: “A skid-mark IS poopy.”
C: “No. Pee pee is pee pee. Poopy is poopy. Skid-mark is skid-mark.”

2/7/13: Carter has started putting holes in the knees of his pants. This is officially the first hole . . . the first of many, I’m sure.

2/21/13
R, as we drive across the bridge over the creek behind our house: “Mom, I think there is a whale in the water down there.”
M: “A whale!?!!”
R: “Yeah, I just saw a fin sticking out of the water.”
M: “What kind of fin?”
R:” It was black.”
M: “A black fin? Like Shamu?”
R: “Yeah!”
M: “So you think there is a killer whale down there in that six inches of water!???”
R: “Yep, there is a killer whale down in the water. I saw it.”

Every time we drove over the bridge after that, Raine would look for the killer whale. About a week later we were driving over the bridge and this conversation took place:
R: “Still no killer whale but I saw two rabbit ears.”
M: “Oh yeah? There is a rabbit down there now?”
R: “Yeah. Maybe the rabbit ate the killer whale.”
M: “What!?!! You think a rabbit could eat a killer whale!?!!”
R: “Yep, that’s what happened. The rabbit ate the killer whale.”

Raine is such a social butterfly. Her teachers are constantly telling me how much her classmates all love her. I picked her up the other day and at least eight of them had to give her a hug before she left.
2/27/13: she brought home a whole stack of papers that her classmates had colored for her. These are the portraits of her that some of her friends drew.

And a little note about the tiara, she saw it at JoAnn’s and just HAD to have it. I told her she could buy it with her own money if she had some — thinking she didn’t have enough — but, as you can see, she did. And she has been wearing it ever since! EVERYWHERE!
Repeat: “I will not interfere. I will not interfere. I will not interfere.”

Carter is definitely NOT a social butterfly. He refuses to say a word in social settings — school, nursery, the grocery store. So imagine his teachers’ surprise when he busts out singing “We wish you a Merry Christmas” during lunch the other day. He sings constantly at home — “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” “C is for Cookie,” “ABC’s,” and “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” are his favorites. They are always sung way off pitch, with his voice cracking, and with dismal pronunciation . . . but oh so cute!
1/17/2013: Give the kid a ball, however, and watch out! He will be your best friend if you have a ball.