Quick 5

1. Alaina had the day off of school on Monday, so what do mothers and daughters do?  We go shopping of course!  Actually I didn't have anywhere to go, but Alaina and Joya suggested the dollar store.  So we dug a dollar for each of them out of their respective piggy banks and set off.  The experience was enlightening.  We of course camped out in the toy aisle.  Alaina immediately went to the boy side and Joya stayed on the girl side.  Alaina fairly quickly settled on a ninja sword that glows in the dark.  Joya spent 20 minutes NOT making a decision.  I realized I needed to narrow down the choices for her, so I gave her two options to choose from.  Even that choice was taking forever, so I told her that I was going to count to ten, and if she hadn't picked something that we would have to come back another day.  I got to 7 when she ran and picked a sparkly pink baton (not one of the choices I had out for her.) I learned that Alaina will be easy to shop with and Joya will NOT.  Bless.

2. I promised myself I would just let Joya be Joya and pick out her own clothes and not subject you to it.  But if I have to look at her, so should you.

 She never wears the same outfit twice.  Always leggings, always a skirt, always some shirt that doesn't have a prayer of going with the skirt.  She inspired Alaina on Monday:

Parents of just boys really miss out on this kind of stuff.


3.  Lee has been having fun planning a guys camping trip.  There is a stack of pamphlets on our table that address every kind of camping safety topic you can imagine.  It's inspired dinner time conversations such as, "Which would you be more scared to meet on the trail, a mountain lion or a bear?"

4. Today Alaina participated in a fundraiser for the school called Run 4 Funds.  They run laps around this little track on their field and collect pledges.  The run looks fun, with a huge inflatable that they run under and everything.  Alaina gave me a huge lecture about the type of lunch I was to pack for her today: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a cheesestick, an apple and NO PIRATE'S BOOTY.  Carrot sticks were okay.  A Capri Sun was NOT, as she would be drinking water, but I snuck one of those in there anyway.  Next year, when Bria is less of a terrorist, the girls and I will go and watch her run.

5. We finally had more than 24 hours without rain, so I took the little girls to the park.  It was so fun that they fit they threw when it was time to go was Epic.  I gave them a warning like all the books and articles tell me to do, but it didn't stop the tears. 

 Bonus!!  Joya drew this picture.  I asked her if she wanted to send it to Apple Ben for his birthday (he's turning 21 on Monday!)  She said, "Yes!  And to Gramma, and to Grammy and to Grandad!"  So here it is:

Happy weekend, and Happy Becoming A Legal Adult Ben!!

Quick 5

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  #weneedthemoisture

1.  Joya got to go on the coveted Dunkin Donuts date with Daddy.  She had to wait a whole two weeks before it was her turn.  Now we can't drive past Dunkin Donuts without her shouting, "That's where I went with Daddy! Right there! That's where I got my donut! See it??"

2.   If you ignore the weather today and for the next two days, the weather is turning nice, which means we're dusting off the ol' grill.  It's time for our weekly burgers.  Last Friday we grilled some country style ribs that were off the chain.  Seriously.  Grilling is one of our favorite things to do together.  I come up with the brines and marinades, and Lee handles the heat.  We haven't had a terrible result yet.

3.  It's been a fairly quiet week, but the biggest news is probably that on Tuesday, April 14th, Joya turned four and a half.  And then we went to the library, where they have been giving books to four year olds.  Being four, Joya got one.  She's had a big week.

4.  Back when Joya was potty training, she liked the seat on the big potty the best.  So we got rid of the old tiny potty with a broken lid.  Now we're almost to the stage with Bria.  She asks to go potty all the time, which is so inconvenient because she's too little to get on herself, so I have to stop everything to help her.  And the worst part is she has never actually put anything in the potty.  I think she thinks the act of just sitting there IS going potty.  So I borrowed a tiny potty from a friend, and it has solved all our problems.  It is small enough for her to sit on, and we don't even have to take off her clothes, because she's happy just sitting on it with her pants on.  It soothes her craving anyway.  I have no idea how I'm going to know when she's REALLY ready to potty train, but for now this will suffice.

5. And here is the picture queen herself:

It's a four-day weekend in our house!  Are you so lucky?  

Quick 5

This Quick 5 is brought to you by Jamie's 35th birthday.

1.  Resurrection Sunday was a good day in the Kimble house.  The girls were decked out, services were blessed, the eggs were hunted, the ham was eaten.  It was a grand celebration all around.

2.  Bria got to participate in her first Easter egg hunt.  Except I had a hard time convincing her to actually hunt the eggs.  She was just excited to be outside.  Thankfully she has older sisters who will finish the tasks she finds to be droll.

Can you see the jelly beans in the grass?  Who needs to hunt eggs when you can just dump the jelly beans on the ground and then eat them?

 3.  Like I said, Bria was just excited to be outside.

 4.  Joya's tooth repair went beautifully.  Our first pleasant surprise was that it only took us 25 minutes to get to the dental office.  Dr. Beth is out in Parker, and that always feels like going to Kansas for us.  But it truly only took about 5 extra minutes to get there than it does to our regular office, thanks to the miracle of highways.  Then Dr. Beth was AMAZING.  She's so nice and quick and just gets kids.  Joya had brought a Jessie doll with her, so Dr. Beth examined her teeth first, to show Joya how she was going to do it.  Then quick as a wink they whisked her back to the operatory and I slipped out to the waiting room.  It only took them about 10 minutes to do a full strip crown, and Joya's tooth looks like it always did.  Dr. Beth was worth the drive, and would have been worth the drive if it had taken an hour to get out there.  It is so nice to know that she's there if we need her.
And then Joya got to do her favorite thing: eat at a rest-a-rant.  Sonic totally counts.

5.  Bria has been under the weather this week.  That girl never had so much as a fever until she was 21 months old, and now I feel like she gets sick All. The. Time.  I thought for sure we were going to have some croup nights, but thankfully that didn't happen. Oh we didn't sleep well because of the pitiful moaning, but no scary coughing, thank the Lord.  She ran a fever Monday and Tuesday, but has been fever free since then.  But she sounded like she may have lost her voice, and has a nice junky cough every now and then.  Last night she slept MUCH better, which is a good sign.  And she's as active as ever.  But for the love, it's like she's making up for being so healthy for the first 21 months of her life. Hopefully this is the last hurrah.

Glorious weekend everyone!

Quick 5

It was 78 degrees on Tuesday, so of course it snowed last night.

1. We had such nice weather for the end of Spring Break.  We commandeered Grammy and went to the park for fun and picnic on Friday.  The pictures speak for themselves.

 2.  Lee got up extra early on Saturday to take Alaina for a special date to Dunkin Donuts.  A new shop opened up 1.6 miles from our house, so he woke her up and took her in her jammies.  She loved it.  (Joya was not amused.)

 

3.  The Tooth Fairy had a reason to visit Monday night.

It's hard to see where she lost the tooth, because the big tooth was already right behind it.  Which is why she lost the tooth.  It's exciting every time a tooth gets pulled.  I asked her if she wanted me to pull it for her, but she declined and pulled her own like a champ.

4.  The day that Alaina lost her tooth, Joya decided to try and catch a Frisbee with her face.  Her face lost, and the result was a chipped tooth.  She has quite the snaggletooth now.  We've been to see our dentist, who recommended we see his wife, who happens to be a pediatric dentist.  The repair will be just a bit more than a simple filling, and she has the best tools for that.  So we'll go on Monday.  I'm still a little nervous about it, since Joya is NOT my cooperative child, but I do know Dr. Beth and I know she's amazing.  And super nice.  In fact, she came to my baby shower when I was pregnant with Alaina, so we go way back.  And I have full confidence that she'll know how to handle a non-cooperative four-year-old.

5.  If the camera comes out, you better NOT forget about Bria!  She wants her picture taken all the time.  They all look almost identical to this:

And then she wants to see the picture.  Back in my day we had to wait WEEKS before we could see pictures of ourselves.  She will never understand that.

He is RISEN!!