Great News

At the kids' school, they give out what are called "Great News Awards." When a teacher notices a student doing something great, showing excellent schoolwork, etc., they send home these notes. V, being the overachiever that she is, has amassed quite a collection of these. (We had to get a magnet clip to hold the stack on the fridge.) H has been very aware of this and has mentioned in the past about how she hopes she'll get one when she goes to this school. (It's a big deal to her.) So just imagine the joy on her face when she brought this home her second week of school...

Super Rhino

Yesterday I was plucking thorns off of roses from the garden to give to a neighbor. H carefully picked up a large thorn, placed it on top of her nose (like a rhinoceros) and said...

Mom, I'm a rhinoceros. Hey! Now I can really fight crime!!

How you get from rhino to crime fighter, I don't know. I wish I could see inside that funny noggin of hers and how those wheels turn.

Happy! Birthday

Happy birthday big six-year-old!

Your first smile showed up on the day you were born. We thought it was a fluke (or gas) but the smiles kept coming. When you were very little, if you thought anyone in the room might be sad, you would climb up on their lap and say "happy!" You continue to bring smiles to everyone around you and happiness to everyone who is blessed to call you daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, friend….

It was a big birthday weekend.

We had a birthday picnic in the park and an afternoon at Champoeg with Grandpa, Maga, Erik, Audra, and Henry.

We had our family birthday dinner on a cheetah table—

you asked for ribs of course.

We had cake and ice cream (swirl) with Grandma and Grandpa.

The next day,

we cowgirled up for a party at a stable with your best buddies and Nana and Tom…

…and your birthday wish—you all rode horses!

Happy birthday big girl.

Sewn with Love

Ta da!

H wanted to sew a heart pillow for our cat yesterday. She stitched it all by herself with only a little help from mom to tie the knots.

Sketches

When H has to wait for some reason, she often picks up a pencil and paper and sketches. I love finding these little masterpieces around the house.

Here, she was waiting for her sister to finish putting away laundry so they could play. Can you see in the drawing it's H & V holding hands behind our cat? Aaaawwww.

Here she was waiting for me to finish a phone call and sketched this on a long post-it note. This may be the first framed post-it note on our wall.

Budding Artist

This is a picture of the bulletin board outside of H's classroom. The assignment was simply to paint flowers. Notice H's paintings–top right and in the center–compared to the others. I believe our talented girl has moved beyond the basic circle-petal flower with a stem and is exploring other styles.

Do I detect a little Monet influence?  

Little Slugger

Just a long overdue picture of H in her uniform. She's still having a lot of fun and is getting really good at batting! 

Be Polite When Rhyming

H: One, two, buckle my shoe. Three, four, shut the door. Five, six, pick up sticks. Wait! That's not good manners!

K: What do you mean?

H: Didn't say please. You know, buckle my shoe. It should say please buckle my shoe. Also, it calls the hen fat. 

K: You're right.

H: One two, please buckle my shoe. Three, four, please shut the door....

Two Things

Two things in particular about this picture that makes me smile (besides the sweet face): 1- How much she loves her cheetah blanket and it's current job of being a "fort" over her bed. 2 - How much she loves her "sleeping hat." She puts this hat on almost every night before going to sleep. 

The Good Life

These are such great moments. Times like this, when we take a break from doing laundry to have an impromptu tea party on an overturned laundry basket. 

Little cups, filled by a little teapot with little hands. It simply does not get finer than this.

A New "Hat"

H's current favorite craft is making this hat. It is a "leprechaun hat" that she invented. Notice the buckle drawn on the top. She likes it because it involves cutting with scissors, folding, and simply that she thought it up herself. It does not go on top of the head, you're supposed to tape it to your forehead. 

She really likes making these.

A lot.

If anyone would like one, we probably have extra and she would be happy to send you one. (Forehead tape not included.)

It's Official

H had her first team meeting for t-ball tonight. Not practice, just a team meeting. They did however get their shirts and hats. She's so excited that she's sleeping in her uniform right now.

Big Girl Skates!

This is the face of a happy, happy, happy kid. She now has her own big girl skates and is cruisin' around with her super skating skills. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! That was a fun surprise!

Hungry

While making a breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns, and yogurt:

M: Do you girls want anything else with breakfast? 

H: Well, if you've got a pancake, I could use one of those.

Thinking Ahead

H: I'm not old enough to get married, right? 

K: Right.

H: When I'm a grown-up?

K: Yes.

H: (whispering) Then we can run out into a field of flowers and sing a song about each other.

Dinner Conversation

H: I'm really good at doing cents. Mommy, you should have graduated from my kindergarten.

K: Oh yeah, why's that?

H: They have really good teaching... really good rules... and you can go potty there.

K & V: Oh, that's good H.

Hooray!

H just lost her first tooth! Hooray! She was very brave and pulled it out herself. She already has it stashed under her pillow for the tooth fairy. At our house the tooth fairy usually leaves gum. (More highly prized than cash.)

Perfect Example of How Thoughtful She Is

Our conversation on the drive home from kindergarten today:

K: I set something up in your room while you were at school today. 

H: You did!? Is it a surprise?

K: Yes.

H: V too?

K: No, this is just something you needed for your room.

H: Aaaww. I want V to have something too.

(I put bookshelves in her room. V already has bookshelves.)

Extreme Hungry Hungry Hippos

Yesterday we had a wild game of Hungry Hungry Hippos. How wild could it be you ask? Well, notice H's hippo has eaten all the marbles. She has figured out that when your hippo is full, if you keep pushing the lever it will literally shoot the marbles out. I'm talking across the room. 

So, if she ever asks you to play Hungry Hungry Hippos, consider wearing eye protection. It's totally worth it to hear her belly laughing. It's the best sound ever.

Happy Feet

While I was in the kitchen making coffee this morning, H was in the living room making her toes happy. She pointed out that the toes on the left are girls and the toes on the right are boys because the girls have longer hair drawn on.

She was so pleased with herself. It reminded me of the blue marker "lipstick" incident a couple years ago: