Appearances can be deceiving...

In the past, I've posted many, many, many times about how adorable my little Melody is.

And I've posted a few of those no-so-adorable times.

This is one of those.

When was it? Just a mere month or so ago that this happened?

Today, as she's sitting oh-so-innocently on the couch I notice the hem of her dress looked frayed.  Initially I thought may it had gotten worn, which would have been odd since she only wears it once a week on Chapel days.

So I decided to have a closer look.

Yeah, generally hems don't fray in the shape of a rectangle.

Yes, this marker-loving and, now apparently sissor-loving, child. Cut. Her. Dress.

 
Seriously.  What am I going to do with her!?

Spring means...

Soccer!!

At least for Charlie, it does!

After a rather lengthy argument discussion (which, if it had been an argument, I would have lost) Alex and I decided to sign Charlie up for 4 year old soccer.

When Jack was 3, I signed him up for soccer. 

The experience can be summed up in one word: disaster.

Out of 12 or so 3 year olds, only one actually realized how to run after the ball.  The remaing 11 children either (a) ran amok around the field.  Which was, at least, entertaining.  Or (b) whined to their parents for a snack the entire time.  Which was beyond irritating and, had that of been my child, the soccer season would have been much shorter for us.  Jack was in the running amok category.

So, when Alex suggested signing Charlie up, I had assumed he had amnesia and had forgotten our previous experience with soccer.

However, since Charlie's adorable gf, Avery, was doing it, I relented and signed him up too.

We went with a different program this time and, as it turns out, with the right program, tot soccer can be a blast!

Charlie had a ball chasing, running, and kicking.

and even managed to sneak in a little game of hide-and-seek with his main squeeze, Avery.

And at the scrimmage at the end, he scored the only goal!

Way to go, Charles!

 
(I actually didn't make it to the first practice/game.  These pics are courtesy of Avery's mommy.)

"Who" is that!?

If you have elementary aged children, you probably know that it's the infamous Dr. Seuss's birthday tomorrow!

Melody's class is celebrating with a whole week of Dr. Seuss, starting with a bonus day today!

They had to dress up as their favorite character?

Can you guess "Who" she picked??

It's only fitting of course, because as we've seen before, she's cearly more Who than Powell!

I'm petrified!

Ok, I'm not petrified, but this wood is! 
 
Last week, we took a little mini vacay to Resort Mitchell (aka my parents' house where my mom watches the kids while I eat oreo cupcakes.  Yes, you should be jealous...she's the best!)

While we were there, we went to the Petrified Forest!  This is the only petrified forest in the eastern US.  (Yes, that is how my 4yo responds when I pull out the camera.  Can anyone say "class clown"?)

 

We had a lot of fun learning about petrified wood, how wood becomes petrified, and enjoyed several hands-on activities as well...

 

We tried to move really heavy petrified logs.  This log weights 1685 pounds.  In case you're wondering, no, they could not move it.

 

 

We looked in all kind of holes for small animals.  Some of use didn't seem to understand in order for animals to come out of their hiding places, you have to be quiet. 

 

 

We climbed on petrified logs and pretended they were surfboards.

 

 

We climbed on a log that looked like a frog.

 

 

And thought about jumping off before we realized how far down it was. (It actually was quite a bit higher than it looks...I am standing uphill looking down.)

 

 

And best of all, we got some great Grammy time!

 

A little chair re-do

Those who know me IRL, know I am not crafty.  At all. 

I can draw a stick figure and...

Well, I guess that's about it.

But, after seeing my friend, Lindsey, revamp her dinning room chairs, I decided to give it a whirl!

Turns out, I'm craftier than I thought.

First you need to pick fabric.  I let Lindsey do that for me and she picked this fabulous fabric here.

I actually didn't take a before picture, but my old chairs were just plain, boring, off white.

First, I had to cut the fabric.

Next I asked my husband to be in charge of removing and then reattaching the seats from the chair.  Ok, I bribed him.  I got sushi and downloaded Total Recall.  The new one.  Whatever. Was totally worth it to have a helper with this project.

A handy staple gun is all that's needed to secure these over the old fabric. The key here is to pull it really really really tight!  There will probably be some extra fabric, so make sure to cut that off.

Screw them back on the to chair and...all done!

Super easy, only took a few hours and now my dinning room looks much fresher and livelier!

6

This little princess turned 6 a few weeks ago!
 

Yes, it is hard to believe.

We celebrated last Saturday with a... 

Jewelry Craft Party!!

It was Melody's idea.  We thought of some great crafts, invited some fun girls, and had a blast!  Unfortunately, I planned the party during Alex's Colorado ski vacation.  Fortunately, Captain and P3 stepped in and saved the day!  Captain took the boys to the driving range during the festivities and P3 was my resident photograher and took amazing pictures as usual.

 

A group shot
 

 

 

First we worked hard on our crafts.

 

 

We made jewlery boxes, decorated slap bracelets, made princess crowns, and ribbon necklaces.

 

 

After all that we took a break for cupcakes and trampoline fun

 

 

and then made silly faces.

 

 

 

  

Lots of fun presents including a bitty baby and the biggest stuffed purple hippo ever.

 

 

I'd say this party was a winner!

 

Naptime Mischief (updated)

That was the subject of the email I received from Melody's teacher on Tuesday.

And attached was this picture

Why, yes, that is my newly six year old daughter with blue marker all over her face.  AND a big smile.  (If you didn't know she was six now it's probably because I slacked again on a happy birthday post.)

When I picked her up from school, the blue had become more of a blue tint as she had been sent to the bathroom to clean up.  I'm not exactly sure how she got "color on your face" from "you may sit at your desk quietly and read, color, or rest".  Apparently, she thought "color" was subjective.

We get home later that evening and I send her upstairs to take a bath and (hopefully) wash the rest of the blue off.

I walk into the bathroom as she's undressing and see this

Apparently, her artistic vision was not yet completed.  If you look carefully you can see how she entertained herself by playing tic-tac-toe on her shins.

After expressing my surprise and reiterating yet again what markers are purposed for, she continues to undress.  She removes the rest of her clothing and turns around to toss her clothes in the hamper.

There another picture involved however I'm not going to post it.  It would be highly inappropriate to post a picture of my daughter's bottom.  Even it is totally covered in bright blue marker.

That little stinker even managed to sneak the marker into the bathroom to finish off her masterpiece.

You might be wondering what ever happened to the marker?  Yeah, I have no idea and, quite honestly, really don't want to!

*And I stand corrected. Apparently, she managed to do all this damage very quietly in the classroom.  When asked how she managed to color her fanny without getting up, she said she just, "dug in".*