Baby Girl's Birthday!

I can't believe that she's already 5...

Teaching the Art of Parenting

After the boys refused to clean up and were sent to bed Tess and I sat down to have a treat, since her room was spotless. I got down her Halloween candy and she picked out a couple pieces and then I got down Tate's candy and picked a couple for myself. "Are you eating Tate's candy?" she asked me. So I clued her in. "Yeah. After the kids go to bed Mom and Dad eat their candy. Your candy too."

And she chuckled. No crying, just chuckling, "That's very sneaky Mom."

Brand-Shiny and New

Our little city recently sent around a notice informing us that they had switched companies for the weekly garbage pickup, so we'd been expecting a new can and looking forward to having the old smelly one hauled off rather than having to hose it out in the yard. Today we rounded the corner and Tess squealed when she saw this beauty sitting in the driveway...

"Dad is going to love this!" she exclaimed! You're right honey, I'll bet that that is the highlight of his whole day.

Winking

The other night as I was getting Tess to brush her teeth, I winked at her. She winked back at me and said, "I can only wink with this eye. My other eye doesn't wink."

"That's okay, maybe if you practice you will be able to wink with your other eye."

"I think I need to go to blinking school."

"I think it's adorable that you think there is a such thing as blinking school."

Landscapes the Disney Way

While driving over the lake on Monday Tess asked, "Is this a lake?" We assured her it was. "Then where are the waterfalls?" Huh. She's right. There's no waterfall here. And no rainbows or sparkly bubbles! No friendly woodland creatures either...we got cheated!

The Devil Made Her Do It...

This afternoon, after I finished a huge craft project, I was sitting on the couch enjoying the feeling of having accomplished something when I saw Tess run out of the kitchen, with something in her hands, and then heard her door slam. Huh. That's weird. So I followed her and found her face down on her bed with her hands under her pillow. I asked her what she was hiding and she said nothing. Yeah right. I'm that stupid. So I pulled her hands out from under her pillow and went from zero to irate when I saw a handful of pins and beads that had been pulled off of the project I had just finished. She got grounded for the rest of the day.

Later, after Jared got home, she really laid it on about how picked on she was and how mean her mother had been to her. Jared went in her room, probably to tell her to can it since he agreed with me, and he noticed a pile of wallpaper butterflies that were no longer on the wall. What the heck?!

Her brilliant response? "I can't stop!"

Awww...

While digging for Noah's first preschool picture I came across this one of Tess from three years ago...dang she was cute.

Becoming Her Mother

(The following statement was shrieked at her brothers while they were playing instead of cleaning up before lunch, complete with hands on hips and foot stomping)

"You guys are NOT funny and I am NOT laughing!!!"

She may not have been laughing but I sure was.

What a Weirdo

She did NOT get this from me. Ewwww.

The Most Picked On Little Girl Ever

Wow. Poor child.