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Raleigh Junior

I asked this little friend to set the table for us using paper plates.  And this is what we ended up with:

Personalized pictures on each of our plates.

Looks like we have another Raleigh on our hands!

We sure love you, Kensington!

(Dear Santa, Please send reams and reams of paper . . . )

Rosie-Pie

Miss Personality Herself

I cannot find the words to describe the personality of this here child.  Let this picture do the talking.

Sometimes I find myself playing Mad Gab with her as I try to figure out what she is saying.  She actually speaks very clearly, but tonight after I put her to bed, she kept yelling,

WANDER FOOLS ING ING!!

WANDER FOOLS ING ING!!

I opened her door and said, "What?  Wonderful singing?"

And she was like, "Yes.  Wonderful singing."

And I said, "Thank you."

And closed the door.  Except I wasn't the one singing.

She was.

Waiting for Bailee

Meet Choobers.

Miss Choobers has a BFF named Bailee.

One morning she found out that Bailee would be coming to pick her up for school and a playdate, and Miss Choobers was very excited.

She was so excited that she got out a piece of paper, a library book (to bear down on), and a pen.

Then she wrote down every minute until Bailee arrived JUST like she saw on the clock on the oven.

She didn't want to write normal numbers; she insisted on writing in digitized oven-numbers.

Here is her masterpiece:

These girls keep me on my toes, I tell ya.

R&M's Apparel Mart

A few weekends ago Raleigh and Madeline did some modeling downtown at America's Mart while Dallas and I worked at the market there.

The next day all of the girls were busy for hours upon hours working on this:

(This is the wall and ceiling of their bedroom.)

Learning all of the ins and outs of the market, Raleigh, in usual fashion (pardon the pun), set out to make her own.  She even gave each clothing line its own brand name.  Here are a few.

Kensington made some of her own in her corner of the room.

After ordering some clothing on this order form . . . 

 . . . Kensington took her purchases to her "boutique" where I had the privilege of buying as much as I wanted "fo fwee."  Kensington always likes to give me a good deal.  :)

She's a proud shop owner.

 After several days of "Apparel Mart," I had quite enough of the mess.  The girls happily took down every last outfit . . . 

 . . . and handed the pile to Emery. . . 

 . . . who hung up each piece of paper on all of the kitchen cabinets.

Such is our life around these parts.

Goodwill Couture

Every week I go on an exhilerating little treasure hunt . . . 

 . . . to the thrift store

while the girls are down the street at ballet.

I love buying $1.49 goodies at Goodwill.

Here is Kensington modeling our latest find:

Thrifted Dress: $1.49

White Leggings: Hand-me-ups from Lue Lue (because Kensington is just so dern skinny, she can still wear a size 2T in bottoms and call them "capri-length")

Backpack: Hand-me-down from Raleigh

(remember the roller backpacks??)

Shoes: Handmade with Love by Dallas 

Let's get a closer look at those champagne-leather ballet flats:

Shin Injury: No tellin'

Good Cooker Day

 Let's celebrate!

It's "Good Cooker Day" according to Raleigh.

Well, it was a couple of weeks ago when she left this for me on the kitchen counter.  I was cracking up, as usual. 

That's my girl.  

Why is she up so high on a swing?  Because she made it into a double-decker.

That's my girl.

P.S. - Enjoy the picture of Madeline dressed up in my old dance costume.  It's the one I used to make my brother (won't mention which one) wear when I coerced him and the others into putting on plays for our parents on Sunday afternoons.  Glad we can use it for the next generation.  :)

The Innate Nurturer

Kensington has a koala.

He is a little bear.

He sleeps in an Easter basket

Upon a reclining chair.

If you dare to shout and wake him

You'll ne'er hear a groan nor growl.

But Kensington, his mother dear 

Will raise a cry of foul.

For she has placed him neatly

Wrapped up in her "tankie,"

(At least that's what she calls

Her tattered old white blankie.)

She's left him there to slumber

For the remainder of the day

While she and her little "TEM-ery"

Have gone outside to play.

-Anonymous :)

P.S. - Kensington has an affinity for adding certain consonants to the beginning every word she says.  Last year it was the letter "P".  The past six months it's been "T".  She'll also do an "F".  This past week she's called me "Tommy" and Dallas "Faddy."  I like his name better.  :)

Parenting Tip #1

Here we go.  I'm going to post parenting tips for myself to remember and for our daughters to look back on and save themselves a wholelotta trouble.

This is how we turned a little hellion to our little "heelion".

Parenting Tip #1 at our house is this:

Presentation.

That's it.  Presentation.

In a house full of artists and designers and crafters, we recognize this as our #1 need.

If you can't figure out what to do to motivate a kid after an hour-long temper tantrum with all kinds of threats and consequences, etc., just pull out your highest heels . . . 

(breath deeply . . . )

and watch those teary-eyes become a little more sparkly

and that frowny, sulking face

begin smiling.

Because she sure feels happier to help when she feels cute.

 

It's magic.

And I'm being totally serious.

I wish I knew the heel trick a LONG time ago.

(It works best on Madeline.)

My Mom's Cooler Than Your Mom

I'm sorry for the mean-spirited, braggy-sounding title.

But it's true.

Just look at what my mom does at family Easter celebrations (and notice the awe and wonder in the eyes of Grammy's oldest granddaughter.)  Priceless.

And then watch how quickly this one jumps up to try:

Had to change into better shorts for the occasion:

Realized that handstands, not headstands, are actually her forte.

And then she had to throw in some more tricks of her own:

And then her littlest sister came to join in: 

Bravissimo!

Thanks for the great entertainment, Mom and Raleigh!

Emery Matisse (Pronounced Ahm-REE)

Seriously, what it the world could be cuter than this?

And seriously, can you even tell which coloring was hers and which was mine?

Hee hee

Carlo

Meet Carlo, a horse for all occasions.