Let the sunshine in.

The first weekend in June brought sun (finally), strep throat for me (awesome), and Just Dance for Drew (seen on Facebook).

Spring pictures

I totally forgot I had taken these photos in April.

Lately she has only wanted to wear dresses. I even bought a couple of "play dresses" on clearance so she would stop pulling down the nice ones to play in. Today she told us we were her agents and she was going to tell us what to do. She enjoys making up words and repeating those she doesn't understand. Drawing is a new favorite hobby, we'll have to post her work soon. We do still enjoy watching TV, but more and more we are playing outside as it stays light later and watching movies as a family. Our most recent was Kung Fu Panda 2, which was awesome.

Memorial Day Weekend

We finally had some sun this May. But we also had wind. Notice the North Face jackets progressively appearing. We had a nice BBQ at the Sporleders with the usual suspects.

Lyrics by Drew

Song: Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People
Actual Lyrics: All the other kids with the pumped up kicks, you'd better run, better run, outrun my gun.

Drew's Lyrics: All the other kids with the pumped up kicks better run, better run, outrun my mama.

This is what I'm talking about!

Some days as a mom are reeeeeeally long. And some days are like this. 

 Drew's school had a Mother's Day Tea in each classroom. It started with each kid giving their mom a carnation and taking them into the classroom to sit at the mini table and chairs for tea.

 She showed me the Best Mom Awards they all made. 

 And the home she made with a picture of her family at Disneyland.

 Miss Ursula read all of us a Mother's Day story about a Memory Box. Each of the kids had made a box for their moms. It included a teddy bear to show how we love to bear hug, a piece of gum to show how we stick together, a nut to show how silly we can be, a bandage to show how moms come to the rescue and a chocolate kiss to show how good it feels to be loved.

The best part was the class song (posted on Facebook). Drew also got to be up at the altar to help with prayers during chapel. She thanked God (aloud) for the flowers and the jets. I don't know why we're thanking God for jets. Nevertheless I teared up no fewer than 8 times during the 45 minutes I was at school with her. 

Easter 2011: The Adventures

This is a long post. There were many stories on Easter. 

I bought Drew's Easter dress in February. Since then, she has appeared downstairs wearing it with several rotating accessories (tights, ruby shoes, necklaces) at least three times a week. She refers to it as her Alice dress from Alice in Wonderland. 

Hallelujah! Finally the day arrived when she was allowed to wear it outside. I dread the day we get her a wedding dress.

Before any Easter egg hunts or chocolate-eating, we took a few pictures on Saturday. It could be the last time the dress is actually white. We started off with her pose of choice (above), and then I had her stand in front of the "bee flowers" to snap another few. 

No Drews were stung in the shooting of these photos.

 The Easter Bunny at El Niguel. She also got a butterfly balloon animal, a butterfly painted on her arm, a few pony rides and some quality time in the bounce house (where she only managed to get kicked in the head once). 

 BFFS holding hands before the big Easter Egg Hunt.

 The hunt. This was the year of the Golden Egg. Once it was announced that the finder of the Golden Egg would win a special prize, Drew became obsessed. When they let the kids loose, Drew walked over no less than 200 eggs looking for the Golden Egg, which is why she ended up with only 6 non-golden eggs. When I finally convinced her to pick up the eggs she was stepping on to put them in her basket, there were very few left and she was pissed she hadn't found the Golden Egg. A 2-year-old boy (yeah right) found the Golden Egg...and then Drew got really pissed. She mentioned several times that day (and once this morning) that she really wanted to find the Golden Egg and didn't want that boy to win or to get another egg ever ever again. 

Any tips on how to crush a child's competitive spirit are welcome.

A bunny lollipop did cheer her up momentarily.

 After church on Easter Sunday (where miraculously the spirit of the Lord kept Drew quiet for the entire hour service), Drew came home to check out her Easter basket and hunt for eggs. In her basket she got the movie Tangled, some books, a baseball glove and mitt (to which she is totally uninterested) and some other little things. The biggest hit of the Easter gifts was the Hello Kitty wallet Grammy and Boppa gave her (which includes an expired Costco card, a Golden Spoon frequent buyer card and pictures of Baby Grace and Baby Lauren), and the Alice chapstick the Easter Bunny left her. She hasn't left the house without her purse yet.

After Saturday's "practice round" Drew found most of her eggs in less than 2 minutes. Daddy played the "hot/cold" game with her to find the remainders. The Easter Bunny may have to get a little more clever next year.

A quick family photo before we headed up to Auntie Nancy's house.

It turns out the Easter Bunny also hit Auntie Nancy and Uncle Don's house, and after waiting for the boys, Drew got down and dirty.

She didn't really need to though, the boys were giving her most of the treats they found. They were very sweet and held each other accountable for making sure they each equally gave her their candy. 

Carson (on the left) couldn't look more like my cousin in this picture if he tried. Well, maybe if he was wearing a Westlake High t-shirt and a Star Wars wristwatch.

Boppa, Drew and Grammy

The girls

Drew and Cadey Boy....moments before Drew was whispering in Cade's ear "will you take a picture with me?" I did not ask her to do that.

 And then, during the one hour of warm sunshine we had on Easter, the kids went kamikaze off the diving board. Thank the Lord for Nancy and her 85 degree pool. Drew didn't hesitate to copy her cousins and try out dives, flips and 360s. Nevermind that she hasn't done any actual swimming since October.

 She also has never been on a diving board before... or tried a half dive half flip, but that didn't stop her. Hurrah, last year's swimming lessons stuck!

  We did get a couple more photos in before the swimming took place. Boppa got the boot off the couch and Papa was happy to be crushed by his granddaughters. Drew just wanted to swim.

Springtime

Some action shots at Hummingbird Park. She's always happy to show some emotion for the camera.

 After a long day of playing with Meghan at gymnastics and at the pool, the girls had a dinner date (with the families). Meghan wore her wedding dress.

 Angels vs. Boston, April 21. I  have quit telling her to pose, she comes up with these all by herself.

Happy Belated Birthday, Jeremy! (and other stuff)

The Sweet 16 at Honda Center. SDSU vs UConn and Duke vs. UA.

Drew said "Mom, take a picture of me with Grammy and Boppa." She's learning. 

 Jeremy's 32nd Birthday...he wanted a strawberry cake and Drew was doing her best not to eat all the batter, frosting and strawberries. On Jeremy's actual birthday we went to a taping of Conan. It was so much fun...I can't wait to go again sometime. The guests were Paul Giamatti, Olivia Munn and Little Big Town. We were in the front row and 10 yards from Coco himself!

After Drew completed her ensemble with the hat and Uggs, she turned to me and said "aren't I gorgeous?" Then we did some model poses.

Oh boy.

I just got Drew out of the bath and while she stood there naked, she pointed her finger at me at waist-height and said "I'm a boy."
Me: "what do you mean?"
Drew, pointing to her finger: "This is my tongue that comes from my bottom. I'm a boy."