A Real Mommy

Today while Talmage was at piano lessons, Anya and I ran to the store to pick up a few things. Anya enjoys shopping and talking my ear off while we do it. Today she was talking about babies and mommies and how she is a good mommy to Elmo (her stuffed animal she carries everywhere I let her). Then she said "I wish you were a real mommy." I asked her what a real mommy is like. She said, "A really mommy takes care of babies and doesn't wear braces." I just smiled a big braces smile and kept pushing my cart with a preschooler (not a baby) in it down the aisle thinking how fun it will be to see her as a "real mommy".

Gymnastics Pictures

Anya running backwards in her new leotard.

Talmage is learning head stands, to strengthen his neck.

Talmage working on the rings.

Anya wanted a picture of her and Elmo.

He's getting more and more flexible. Anya and his coach have been trying to teach him to point his toe more. Looks like he remembered!

Public Service Announcement

For all those interested we will be in Washington June 3 through June 10. We will be staying with Crystal's family and would love to see everyone. If you want to try to meet up with us please let us know so that we can try to figure out a time to get together.

Spiders for Dad

Aaron hates spiders. The kids think this is hilarious and tease him daily about it. Occasionally, Talmage puts Hemnick (the remote controlled tarantula) on his chair at the table so that Aaron finds it when he goes to sit down to breakfast. They have also been working on a plan to have a whole surprise spider party for Aaron. The plan had something to do with decorating the entry way, living room, and dining room with fake spiders. And having spider treats to surprise Aaron with when he came home from work one day. Well that sounded like a little too much work for mom, so I let them figure out a spider treat. They made these oreo spiders for Aaron. He enjoyed eating them and the kids have stopped planning a spirder extravaganza.

Anya's Hair

Often, when I do a new hair style on Anya she wants to see what it looks like. Sometimes I take a picture of it to show her. Here are a two of the latest.

Furniture and a Bridge

Talmage is being a chair for Anya.

He's so strong she can even lift her feet up. She weighs 30 pounds.

Two tables.

Talmage has a great bridge.

He can almost flip all the way over by himself.

Talmage's Great Idea

While I was upstairs showering Talmage had a great idea. He climbed on top of the fridge to get the paints down. Then he opened all of the little bottles and convinced Anya it would be a great idea to paint as much of their skin as they could reach. They then came upstairs with grins on their faces to show me how clever and cute they are. They did not get the reaction they wanted. I put them both in the tub before I realized I needed a picture for the blog. So they wouldn't think they were getting positive attention I told them I was taking a picture to show Dad when he got home so we could talk about the consequence. It took some time to wash all the paint off them and then I had to face the mess down stairs. It's too bad I had just gotten them all ready to go to my orthodontist appointment with me before I got myself ready.

View from the front-- it was much worse in person!

The back, I think Talmage tried to paint Anya's part in her hair and one of them put globs in Talmage's.

He finally had the decency to wipe the goofy grin off his face, at least while I took this picture. After that he thought the whole thing was so hilarious and the colored soap streaks in the tub were an added bonus. He thought it was like playing in a colorful mud puddle!