Natalie--the master chef

So Natalie is 3 and 1/2 and absolutely loves to help me in the kitchen. Any time I am in there, she is right by my side or on the counter or chair, insisting on helping. I've been thinking for some time that she has to grow up to be a great chef, with as much as she is in the kitchen, helping and learning. Well, one of the things she is learning to master is breaking eggs. She does pretty well, with only a shell or two in the bowl or pan. Well today, I was busy on facebook, I mean, doing laundry and dusting and cleaning toilets :) while Natalie was busy doing this......

Yes, I came in to the kitchen to find 2 dozen eggs in the pan, all ready to be fried up!! I couldn't believe it. We will have our bellies full of eggs tonight! I have to say, I was impressed--barely a shell to be found, with most of the eggs yolks unbroken and really no mess!

Catching a frog!

Got him!


I took Natalie to the library today to check out some books and to go to story time. The theme for the day was frogs. The teacher was talking about frogs and asking the kids questions. She had a little stuffed frog and asked what color are frogs and the kids all yelled "green!" and then she asked where do frogs live. There were different answers like "in the forest", "by the pond", etc. Well, Natalie yells out loud and clear right away with "in the hot tub!" I was cracking up. To the rest of the world this makes no sense at all, but at our house, we go on a daily search for frogs in the hot tub:) You see, we have a hot tub that was given to us, some time ago. It was free and we were soooo excited to have a hot tub. Well, it has been sitting on our patio for, I think almost a year now with some collection of rain water, muck and is the perfect environment for frogs!

Natalie--ready to travel the world

We recently bought a ginormous mail box, so the mailman can leave packages and large things even if we aren't home. From the moment Natalie wakes up in the morning she wants to go check the chicken coop for eggs and check the mailbox for mail. Neither one gets any results until at least mid-morning, so I am always having to say, "not yet" and "it's not time yet", etc. Well, after lots of requests today, we finally went out to get the mail and I had a funny thought--she could fit in this mailbox. So that's what we did. Now I wonder how much it would be to ship her:)

David being a goofball

heaven

Today, we were headed to the library.  Natalie was giving me a really hard time about getting in her car seat and buckling up.  She was crying and fighting me and carrying on.  I was explaining to her that she had to sit in her car seat and be buckled so she would be safe and not get hurt.  She kept crying and saying," I won't get hurt, I don't want to buckle"-- over and over.  I was trying to explain that we could get in a car accident and she could go flying out of the window and die.  (I know, nice mom -huh?) Well, her response was --"but I'll go to heaven".  I couldn't believe it-- a 3 year old--talking about going to heaven.  But I then told her that I didn't want her to go to heaven YET!  

nudist

One of my first ever entries on this blog was about Lauren the nudist--I think she was 3 at the time!  I thought it was just a phase...  well the naked phase has lasted 2 years!  Yes, she still likes being naked--summer, winter, spring, fall--it doesn't matter--to her naked is good.  And if she's not naked, she will be wearing her most comfy jammies or a fuzzy dress up  animal costume.

The other day, David had a friend over for the day.  Lauren was dressed and playing, (she knows she has to wear clothes when people are over) but kept coming up to me and asking "is Jon still here?", "how long will Jon be here?", then later again- "is Jon here?".  This went on all day -on and off -until finally she comes up to me and says in an exasperated tone "when is Jon going home"?  I told her that he would be going home soon.  She was at her wits end and finally said -like she just might die if she had to wait one more second---"I just WANT to be naked!!!"  Wow, that girl really likes being naked.  Hopefully, this will get better soon.  She starts kindergarten in the fall and wearing clothes all the time might just kill her and I don't think there are any nudist kindergarten classes out there.

Here is a picture of Kaylee reading to Lauren--of course- in her birthday suit!

lost tooth

Several months ago, Lauren had a run in with her cousin's head and knocked her mouth and tooth pretty good.  We called the dentist and were told it might turn a little grey, it might feel a bit loose and to call if anything else appeared.  Well, all went fine as told, it turned a bit grey, it felt a bit loose, but no other problems... until now. IT was my weekend to work, I hadn't spent much time with the kids, but happened to be talking to Lauren and noticed that her lip and mouth were swollen like she had a fat lip.  I asked her if she had fallen or hurt herself---no, no she said, but last night my tooth was hurting and I was crying for you.  I tried to touch it and she jumped away.  I immediately  was concerned, but had to head to work and had Dan call the dentist.  After explaining the story and details,  the dentist said it sounded like an abscessed tooth and wanted us to get her on antibiotics right away and to call in the morning.  By the next morning, Lauren's face on the left side was swollen up into her cheek and  both eyes looked swollen and puffy.  She had a HUGE fat lip and looked like a little monkey!  We got her in to the dentist, they inspected it, did x-rays and sure enough--abscessed tooth.  We had to do antibiotics for a week, then the tooth had to come out!   The antibiotics worked, the swelling went down and we headed in to get a tooth pulled.  I was sooooo nervous.  I had heard horror stories about how bad it was for little kids--like hearing them yell way out in the waiting room.   I debated asking about getting some laughing gas for her.   I didn't want her to be so traumatized from the whole ordeal and never want to step foot into a dentist office again.  At this point, my kids like the dentist--mostly b/c of the prizes they always get to pick after their appt, but needless to say, the dentist is just no big deal.   In the end, I didn't get gas for her, but it ended up being just fine.  She did amazing!  Not even one tear or whimper or grimace.  A little numbing rub on stuff, three shots  and a little pulling and it was done!  I couldn't believe it!  I think I would have cried a little.  

So my now 5 year old is missing her first tooth.  She was soooo excited!  She took it to preschool to show off and then put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy.  She had been talking non-stop about what she was going to buy with her dollar from the tooth fairy.  The very next day, we HAD to go to a store!  And since it WAS just a dollar, Dollar General seemed her best best.  But a dollar seems like sooo much when you are five.  We ended up spending about 45 minutes in the store while she changed her mind a million times--there was just sooo much to pick from- it was sooo hard.  In the end, she picked a little chick that you wind up and it hops around.