Fun Stuff in June

EJ's first day going to dance class!
It's for 3 yrs old and up, but I asked if a potty-trained (that's relative, based on the GROSS pictures I'm sharing below) 2.5 yr old can join and see if she can handle it.  After all, she's at least the height of a 3 or 3.5 yr old!

She grew out of those adorable, sassy pink shoes WAY too fast....

It's like this child had never seen a mirror before...she was only fixated on the mirror...little attention to much else in the room!

Take note of the direction EJ is headed, and then look at where all the other kids are headed...

Seriously?  ALL the kids are lined up...except mine...standing there next to the teacher as if she's equally in charge. All a mom can do it snap a shot of that!

Random Pics (and then more dance ones and videos to follow below)

Our new "helping Mommy" station (or set up...or my solution to keeping her somewhat contained while I try to cook!)

Loves those stickers!

OK, for those of you with weak stomachs, or little appreciation for the REALNESS of having a child, close your eyes as you scroll downward and pass these next two pictures up.  It IS gross...and I AM sharing it...because likely every parent has been here before and will laugh in horror WITH me...

This was my discovery one oddly quiet morning while I was still in bed and finally wondered why things were so quiet in the bathroom next door....

As if THAT wasn't bad enough...

Yup - that's my vanity!  And, it's NOT chocolate, it's crayon and it's not marker.
To those of you who have since been to my house: I promise...all has been sanitized...MORE than once.
SO GROSS.  Have a 'fun' story of your own to share?

A Morning at the City Gardens, Downtown!

On one of our many blistering days, we headed downtown to play in what they call the  City Gardens - this artist structure that they let the kids play on/in - wading pools, fountains of water shooting up for them to run through....
Here's my kiddo in the most ADORABLE bathing suit...it has made me smile all summer...not because it's Hello Kitty, but because it's such happy colors, has daisies and strawberries and is just pretty on EJ. :)

More Mommy-and-EJ time!  We do lots together, but have very few opportunities to get pictures of us together, so I cherish these ones always. 

They have these giant, and very real, rocks that kids of EJ's age think they can just jump onto, but they are deceptively farther away than you'd think and could be very dangerous.  It's too bad they didn't make them out of that cool foam that's out that looks completely real but feels completely soft.

Not even 5 minutes into the car...it's hard to wear EJ out, so it was a job well done!

The Attempted Garden

Well, this year's garden was doing well...and I watered it more than any other year before, but the heat just won over and over again.  I have not had one cucumber taste remotely good, yet the plants got to be close to 20 feet in length!  :(  So sad.
In order of L-to-R, here's what was "cookin'" in the garden: tomatoes, beans, POPCORN (yes, you read that right!), kale with cucumbers behind it and then more tomatoes.

Videos:

Finding Cucumbers & Beans

Counting Beans...Sort Of

Dance Class, Week 2 & 3

Should I be concerned that my kiddo is playing with the cord and is standing right by the outlet??

:)

Dance Class Videos (you can see just how productive EJ is in dance class!):

Dance Class 1

Dance Class 2

Last day of dance class, WITH her tap shoes on!

Silly "us" moments

Taken by EJ!

Random Interjection from Me:

Um, YES, YES and YES!!!  ROCK ON PRINCESSES IN HIKING BOOKS!
A girl after my own heart!!!  :)

I enlarged this...if you look closely on the middle and right side, you'll see a striped tail (by EJ's foot) and a paw sticking out of the blanket.  Only THIS cat would let THIS child do something like this!  Hilarious!

This video is probably from back in March or so, based on her fresh haircut, but it's still a cute little snippet of her singing.  It's already amazing to see how much her language has improved in just a few short months from this!  Monkey While Driving Song Link

Funny Playing-With-Symba Video: Jumpin' the Rope!

Mother's Day Pics

OK, so I realize I'm TWO MONTHS late to posting these...I'm so backlogged on pictures and videos!  Just never enough time....  I have lots of updates to add in here, so please check back again soon!

Meanwhile, these pictures were taken at our friends' (Dave and Ann Louise) house, just up the street from us.  They so graciously offered to spend some time with us at a park and get a whole slew.  Unfortunately, a very active kiddo throughout all of church (and a SUPER early wake up that morning) did me in, and we settled for just whatever we could get on the walk home.  I'm so grateful now, because it was my intent to get back out later that afternoon, but we never did, so thank you again D and AL - if it weren't for you, it would have been another M's Day without pics of me and my sweetheart!

LOVE this hat on her...I wish I could pull off hats so well!  :)

Precious, eh?

Our version of climbing a tree...in a dress....

Mommy caught you!!

"I'm princess of the stump!"

Silly Pics, Silly Girl, #1

I have lots of fun and funny pictures to catch up on!  So, this will be entry #1...#2 coming next, followed by a few Mother's Day pictures.  

Found my little one being very orderly and organized!

She'll kill me for this someday, but until then....  :)
She's multi-tasking!

I think it was about 73 degrees this day, but it's still fun to put a winter hat and scarf on!  My favorite part is the kitty in the back checking to see if she's OK.

Yay!  Excitement for getting gloves on!

Same day..."let's take everything out of the basket and SIT in it!"

"But I'm a lot bigger than I was last time I did this!"

"Well, since I'm a big girl and don't need diapers anymore, I might as well use this changing table for SOMEthing!"

My favorite part?  The crossed feet...just chillin' out.

At the mall one day and stopped to play and climb...

Big girl got up all by herself....

"I'm queen of the mountain!!"

Our dear friend, Captain (or "Cap-en") was in town and spent some time hangin' with us!

EJ was insistent on doing the hair clips by herself for the first time...and this was her wonderful job!

LOVE this progression!!  :)

First, we're looking out the window to see who's outside....

"Oh, Hi Mommy!"

"Mommy you can't see me!"

"Tee hee hee hee," says Mommy in her head.  :)  So cute!

"SURPRISE!!!" she says as she pops out from the curtains!

And, now, a few moments of morning snuggles as pals....

This cat doesn't even care that she's laying her head on him!

Oh!!!  BIG SQUEEZES!  And he STILL doesn't care!
Symba doesn't really like other kids, but puts up with just about everything  that EJ does...including the brand new, painful-to-watch tail-pulling that's been going on recently!

Fun at the Fire Station!

We got to go play at a local fire station, sit inside the fire trucks and ambulances and then even go upstairs and eat cake and lunch in their kitchen!  What a treat!

Cute hat...the band-aids were BEFORE the fire station.

"I'm driving, I'm driving!!"

Mama and EJ

Inside the ambulance...listening very carefully, like a good girl.

There's the big birthday boy, too!  Don't you LOVE his dimples!?

This actually wasn't a fire fighter...it was one of the dads who got the FULL treatment of all the insanely heavy and hot gear the men and women wear.

Birthday cake time!

Love this sweet, precious face....

...and this sweet little smile, even if there is a fork in the way.  The smile is because she got to have  cake before lunch was served!

Add caption

FINALLY!  A firetruck HER size!!

And, now for some funny faces, one breakfasty morning!

"What are you talking about Mommy?  There isn't blue all over my fingers from me trying to trace my fingers with a blue marker!  And, no, I'm not supposed to use that fork you put there!  Just hands!!"

Happy face!

Surprise face!

DO YOU EVER HAVE A DAY WHERE YOU JUST WANT TO WALK AROUND LIKE THIS ALL DAY?!
:)

And, now...for some movies!  

Songs From EJ! Click here!

This one is kind of long, and she's clearly "in a mood" that day, but eventually the songs start coming out.

Goofy Gestures

This is a quick one, but pretty funny!  I have no idea what she's doing...and the grey thing in her mouth?  It's a drill bit from a toy drill, but I think she was using it as if it were a whistle, which then didn't make the sound of a whistle, so she did...followed by her karate chop!