Little Miss Four Eyes

What could be a better present for a beautiful princess about to turn 4? 

Princess glasses, of course.

It seems that every thing about her is now changed, different. Older and yet younger all at the same time. 

And then that wears off and all I can is Madeleine. Just silly, funny, brave Madeleine.

And to show my solidarity I dragged these out an old drawer.

Yeah that's right, I do crafts

Now that Madeleine is turning four and well, practically an adult, I thought it was high time I put her to work. Can't live off us forever, right? So I decided to put her in charge of the decorations for her birthday party. She and Austin (she recruited him) started on the project today and they did a phenomenal job AND we all had fun. Hard to believe.  We have several small projects and this was today's:

And this is how Austin celebrated his hard work:

Mystery Reader

Madeleine's class has been enjoying a "Mystery Reader" each day in March. So far, all of the readers have been the mom's of the kids in her class. So Madeleine was convinced beyond all reasoning that I would be coming in to read soon. But I was able to trick her and surprise her so that she was beyond stunned. Introducing the "Mystery Reader": 

Aunt Brigid came in for a wonderful surprise. She even took a whole day off of work (I really had to twist her arm) to read to the class and have lunch with us. 

Madeleine's reaction was priceless and I so wish I had captured it on video. Her eyes bugged out of her head and she made a fart noise - like a "raspberry" or whatever it's called. Hilarious. She just lost control of herself. 

Brigid read "If You Give A Pig A Party" then gave a balloon to each of the kids in class. They were thrilled and Madeleine's aunt was a huge hit. Yay. 

Happy Birthday Grammie!

A few days late but that's the story of my life these days  :)
 

Style is a state of mind

This is what happens when you let a little girl dress herself. I love, love, love it. Besides, who doesn't look good in a tank top and snow boots. I mean, really!

Goodies from Grammie

Grammie King scored big time points today. Not only did she send a package (love packages in the mail), but the package contained a Max & Ruby DVD (obsessed with Max & Ruby), AND the main episode was about a fire truck (favorite).   This is the smile of a happy child. Couldn't she have smiled like that for her school pictures??? 

(Yes, her shirt really is that dirty. Don't judge.)

Novice Gardener

Madeleine's latest obsession is gardening (or as Austin calls it...digging). She has her own bit of land next to the house that she has claimed as her garden. She picks flowers from other parts of the yard and and attempts to replant them in her "garden". It's quite cute. Little does she realize, her grandfather is a "Master Gardener" and we are looking forward to a summer full of gardening lessons (hope he's reading this!). 

A Boy and His Dog

(That is blue crayon on Marty, by the way)

School Pictures

We just got the kids school portraits back. Austin's turned out pretty cute. 

Madeleine's, well, they weren't great but they did at least capture her true essence. Rob took one look at the second picture and said, "that is all YOU".  I wonder if they'll touch up the bags under her eyes? 

In the Spotlight

ZSpotlight.com is generally known for publishing photos of all the wild and crazy "kids" (aka people without children) drinking it up at local bars. I won't say how I know this first hand, I just know.  Last week we got snapped at the kids museum in Raleigh.  It's fun and yet depressing all at the same time. I think the look on Heather's face kind of sums it up. 

Dora, Dora, Dora the Explorer! Boots is Super Cool! Explore with Dora!

Okay, is the theme song in your head now?! Enjoy! Seriously, I can hardly even see us in this photo. We blend in nicely. Where was Rob you might ask? Skiing. In Colorado. Uh huh. 

Snow. Again.

So many people here in the South find snow days to be fun, fabulous, wonderful days. I do not. Not even close. So when our second (rare) snow storm came I was filled with dread. This is what we woke up to. 

The kids, however, were filled with glee. They desperately wanted to go outside to play at 6:30 A.M. I tried to put off as long as possible and lasted until about 10:30. Austin was like a monkey let out of his cage.

And Marty was just beside himself. 

I pray this is the end of snow. I'm so over this.

A Squirt for the Squirt

We decided it was time to get the grunge off Marty. Who knows where he has been the first 13 weeks of his life? So Marty got his first bath last night. The kids got a kick out of seeing the puppy in their bath tub. Marty did not enjoy it. At. All.