SUPER KIDS!

Before we get to the kids being super, here are some shots of other things we did on Saturday afternoon while Sonia and Erin were visiting.  While Peter slept, Charlotte and Sonia sorted out bunches of shells and pretty stones into egg cartons.

Then, after Rip Van Peter woke up, we jumped into the hot tub for some winter swimming.  Sonia debuted a gorgeous new tankini that is unfortunately hidden in this photo.

After a wild dinner (and aren't all dinners with toddlers/preschoolers "wild"?), Uncle Corey whipped out a special adventure for the kids.  They put on their superhero capes that I made earlier in the week and met with Corey for a mission briefing.  He had drawn a map of the first floor of the house and drew a route they needed to take to find the ladybug night light that the nefarious Lady Cheetah had hidden.

Sonia is a budding Dora the Explorer fan, so she was very interested in the map.

Super Sonia (aka Super Sillious) led the way along the route (which took them under the kitchen table and around the couch to start).  Super Charlotte (aka Captain Chaos) followed close behind.

Next, the little heroes had to pet Connie dog on their way through the family room.

Super Petey (aka some kind of cool name we have yet to come up with -- any suggestions?) lagged behind a little, but he made sure Connie got some love from him too.

There was some confusion when we got to the last step -- actually finding the ladybug night light.  The younger superheroes took off on a wild goose chase up the stairs, but Captain Chaos figured out how to find the ladybug based on the map.

Super Sillious tried to convince us that upstairs was the place to be, but . . .

. . . Captain Chaos completed the mission and rescued the ladybug!  Here, poor Charlotte was seriously asking me if Lady Cheetah was still here.  No, I said, we were just pretending.  She was still a little suspicious but dropped the subject.

Super Sillious immediately said, "let's do it AGAIN!"  So Uncle Corey dutifully led the teeny superheroes through the route one more time.  When they requested a third trip, we told them to come up with some other adventures upstairs.  The situation degraded quickly and the kids soon needed to retreat to their fortresses of solitude for some super sleep.

Sonia and Erin drove home the next morning, and we missed them instantly!  Charlotte is already planning new adventures for the superheroes when they are reunited.  Peter has mentioned "See-Saw" (his name for Sonia) several times since she left, and I think he misses her too.  Come back soon, guys!

The junior conductors on a field trip

Saturday morning, we took Sonia to Centennial Park to see the big engine on display.  She loves trains, and she lit up when we told her we were going to visit one.  "Like the one my daddy rides?"  Not quite, but perhaps even more fun because this one she could run up to and touch!  We put all three kids in their train engineer hats, of course.

I don't think Sonia stopped smiling the entire time we were there.

Petey is always so photogenic and adorable when we visit this engine!

Like I have written before, it's always a good time to dance in Charlotte's world.

Checking out the backside of the choo-choo.  The design on the butt of Sonia's coat kills me.

The plane wasn't of much interest to the kids, but they made a quick pass by it as they pretended to be airplanes.

Charlotte has been learning about stop signs in school, and she exclaimed excitedly when she saw this one.  Sonia loves to hug things, so they both ran over to show the sign a little love.

Piling rocks in the train's nooks and crannies was the activity of choice.

I told you Sonia loves to hug things.

The junior conductors needed some quesadillas for lunch after their train adventure.  Sonia insisted on taking a humpback whale into the restaurant with her.

No, I did not give Peter any of my Diet Coke.  He just loves playing with straws and ice.

That girl has got that crazy eyes!

We made it back to the ranch just in time for naps (even though Sonia decided that she wanted to be a big girl like cousin Charlotte and refused to sleep -- whoops, sorry Erin).  More fun to come!

The progeny of identical twins

Ever wonder if identical twins' children will look alike?  Erin and I have disproven any notion that they might.  I guess we could have married identical twins (or at least guys who vaguely resembled each other) and had more of a chance of similar-looking offspring, but alas, we did not.  Oh well -- between the two of us, we did produce three awfully cute kids who have a great time together!

Erin and Sonia made the long drive down from Illinois to see us for a long weekend, and mayhem ensued.  Charlotte is only 14 months older than Sonia, and Sonia is only 7 months older than Peter, but it was interesting to see how those small differences played out in maturity and leadership (or lack thereof).  It's amazing how much time and energy it takes to keep those three fed, clothed, bathed, and picked up after, not to mention mediating toy tussles and supervising playtime in general.  Erin and I stay home with our respective kids every day and are used to doing these things for the smaller groups, but with all three together it sometimes felt like we were caring for at least 12 howler monkeys.  It's like their energy exponentially increases and they take over the entire house in an explosion of toys and snot.

That being said, we had a wonderful time and I can't wait for us all to get together again!  Here are a couple of highlights from the first 24 hours:

Erin and Rocky are now bestest friends.  I had to extract Rocky from Erin's suitcase this morning as she tried to kidnap him on her way out of town.

We played outside on Friday afternoon and Peter showed Sonia how to scoot around with a bucket to fill with treasures.

The kids formed a biker gang and rode around the neighborhood with their trusty sidekick, Connie.

ZOOM!  Connie kept running at full tilt and buzzing by frighteningly close to Sonia.  She thought is was hilarious, luckily.

Charlotte showed Sonia how to find little rock treasures in the back yard.  Note how green everything still is around here!  We have had very warm temperatures so far this winter, and our daffodils (not pictured) are completely confused about when they are supposed to bloom.

More of the weekend fun to come!

School boy

Today, Petey started at the same 2-year-old early learning program that his sister attended last year!  Here he is, not really understanding the importance of such a momentous occasion.

His big sister demanded to be included in the modeling session.  Don't you love how Petey decided to accessorize himself by using his new school bag (made by NanaB) as a necklace?  Better than his sister, who on her first day of school decided to put the entire bag over her head.

Wow!  This is exciting!  Now what are we doing again today?  I'm a little confused.

My two school kids, taking their first steps in a long journey.

Petey reportedly did "pretty well" today -- good times and bad times.  He is quite "persistent" in his tantrums (according to the director of the program) and does not want to transition between activities if he's having a good time.  The amazing news is that the teachers were able to distract him out of his freak outs.  They're going to help recommend tools I can use to deal with his raging tantrums, and hopefully we'll all learn a little something this year.

Into uncharted territory

When Charlotte was invited to a "princess tea party" for her classmate's birthday, I panicked.  The invitation specified that Charlotte should wear her favorite princess dress.  We have one hand-me-down princess dress, but it looks more like the dress Cinderella was wearing after the wicked step-sisters ripped apart her handmade initial attempt (you know, the one she sewed with the assistance of various critters before the fairy godmother poofed her a new one).  In other words, it has been ridden hard by Charlotte and several of her playmates.

Luckily, Charlotte's buddy, Odie, in an amazing gesture of selflessness uncharacteristic for a typical four-year-old, happily agreed to lend Charlotte her Belle (from "Beauty and the Beast") dress.  The frock came complete with fingerless gloves and a petticoat.  I have never been able to pull off yellow (thanks to my olive skin), but Charlotte looked very sweet in the dress.  We accessorized it with "jewels" from Charlotte's personal collection, pinned it up in strategic places so it would fit her skinny little torso, and away we went for a great party filled with foam tiaras, pink lemonade (instead of tea), petit fours, and a pink cake.  What more could a little girl want?

Here is Princess Charlotte of Franklin, twirling in her borrowed gown:

Not to be outdone, I declared myself to be a queen and put on a tiara of sorts as well.  It was actually just the rhinestone headband that I wore at my wedding, but it gave me an air of royalty suitable for escorting Princess Charlotte to her affair.

Even mommies need to play dress-up sometimes.  And yes, even though the other moms at the party giggled politely when I explained my bling, I'm pretty sure they thought I was a nutjob.

Great Grandpa Stringer's cornet

Corey says the story is that this cornet (handed down to him by his Grandpa Stringer) is from the 1800s.  Whether true or not, the horn still worked well enough to give Charlotte and Peter another lesson in musical instruments.  [Note to self: Get a woodwind out next time, because if both kids go brass I will never forgive myself.]   Petey actually got a little noise out of it, and Charlotte got a decent blip of a note before she ran off with the lyre (pretending it was a magic musical wand, of course).

Somehow, the kids figured out that their little heads made fabulous mutes.  Peter giggled like a maniac whenever Corey played a note.

After a near-double-tantrum brawl over the lyre, I dug out Corey's old conductor's baton and gave it to Peter to use.  Predictably, Charlotte then threw a fit because SHE wanted it.  Bath and bedtime soon followed, and all controversial implements were safely stowed away for another time when everyone has a little more patience.

Snowy Day

We got our first good snow of the year last week.  By "good", I mean of course that it stayed for just over 12 hours and accumulated to nearly a half of an inch.  (Despite the fact that it was nearly gone by the next morning, the school district decided it was too dangerous and called off school.  Charlie Jo didn't have school that day anyway, but it still annoyed me.)

As soon as Peter woke up from nap that afternoon, I bundled the kids all up and we raced outside to play in the newly-fallen snow before it got too dark out.  The snow never really accumulated on the driveway or streets . . .

. . . but we had fun scooping it up out of the grass.

It's the abominable snowmen!

All we could really do in the snow was walk around to make tracks.

It was hard to scoop up enough to eat because you got grass and dirt on your mittens when you tried.

Once it got dark, I let the kids ride their bikes in the garage (which was still 61 degrees, thanks to the insulated door!).  They had a blast.

Peter likes to pretend he's turning his scooter really fast and makes squealing noises.

This smile turned to tears the next morning when the snow was gone, but I promised her we would be right back outside the next time the snow came back.  No, it didn't soothe her, but now each morning she asks if the snow has come back yet.  Sorry kid -- this is Tennessee.

Rain dancing

While Petey napped one afternoon last week, Charlotte and I seized the opportunity to try out her new umbrella (from Auntie Ernie and Uncle Andrew), coat (from NanaB and GrandDad), and rain boots (from Mommy and Daddy).  She was in heaven.

[And for those of you who may know what I'm talking about, some of her dance moves reminded me of the Del Oro High School I.D. team with their umbrellas spelling out "DEL ORO" marching in front of the band.  I always thought they were so cool, but I still loathed Del Oro, of course.]