Here is a way we often entertain ourselves on a lovely day outdoors in the driveway...dolly rides. They are free, they are relatively safe, and they are enjoyable for our elderly neighbors to watch. A good bit of dolly riding took place this weekend.

Meet the Alphabetites

Bennett had me write all of the uppercase letters for her. She then turned each letter into a person. This collective community of letter people call themselves The Alphabetites. If you click on the photo you'll be able to see a larger version of The Alphabetites.

It's raining in the kitchen tonight. Bennett is wearing a blanket/gown, scarf/boa, and sunglasses. Ainsley is wearing a tiny Cabbage Patch Kid on the collar of her shirt. They are so pleased. Another interesting evening at our house!

Bennett spends quite a bit of her time pretending to be a detective, only I don't think in her mind it's pretend. Here she is with her calculator and pen stuck in the waistband of her velour pants, notebook in hand. She's examining a piece of "evidence" she found at the crime scene, a rubber band. She also found a compact mirror shaped like lips and a journal of some sort. All of these items lead her to believe her suspect is a female. Ainsley better look out...I don't know what the crime is, but I can only assume that Bennett is about to take her in to custody if captured (Usually she takes on some police officer duties as she wraps up the case.)

The Good Samaritan

Bennett and I are playing the story of The Good Samaritan. She is the Samaritan who helped the injured man along the road, played by Oopsy Bear. I am the injured man/bear's caretaker. However, Bennett took it upon herself to wrap his arm and leg in baby wipe casts. As I type she is coming across masses of injured stuffed animals along the very same road where she found the original injured man/bear. Some of them have been scraped by thorny bushes, one has a broken leg from falling out of a roadside tree. The hospital beds are filling up, and worst of all, I don't think any of these people are insured! I hope the Good Samaritan is a rich Samaritan!

It's their trademark...Double Donkey Kick!

Two girls in their easter outfits are seen here, ready for an exciting day of church, family, candy and whatnot. Grant and I are pretty sure these two kids produced some of their loudest talking and wild playing ever today. They were pretty crazy, even with limited candy consumption.

We took a roadtrip to see family this weekend. The girls got to go for a carousel ride with their baby cousin. Bennett chose a lovely horse to ride. Ainsley was forced to ride an ostrich because it was the closest animal to Bennett, allowing for adult supervision of both children. This was pretty ironic because prior to arriving at the mall for the carousel ride, Ainsley and her uncle had been discussing her aunt's ostrich collection. She told him she doesn't like ostriches and that they scare her. You can tell by her face that she's a bit uneasy. She remained composed though, faced her fear, and enjoyed the ostrich ride. She even told her uncle later, as they again viewed the ostrich collection, "I'm not scared of these anymore. I'm fine with these (ostriches) now." Who knew a trip to the mall ride would be so helpful in conquering her great fear!

Language Explosion!!!

Every day I am amazed at the vocabulary skills of small children. It is beyond me how they learn to talk and understand so many words...Today Ainsley used the phrase "brand spanking new." That was fun. Also, Bennett was looking at a large pile of Mercer Mayer books. We have a lot of them. I asked her if she had come across any "duplicates," certain that she had not heard this word previously. She said that yes, she had. I said, "Do you know what duplicate means?"

Her response was, "Yes, it's when you have more than one of something or two of the same thing." What the heck?!! Who teaches this child these things? She is like a walking dictionary!

Aunt Courtney brought Bennett and Ainsley some unopened daffodils this week. It took about a day and a half for them to open up, and these girls LOVED watching the transformation. They are quite lovely looking and smelling, and they have pepped us up a little as we anxiously await spring. We did see a "robin redbreast" also this week. (at our house they cannot just be called "robins" for some reason, according to Bennett) Seeing that bird pepped us up, too!

"What's up with the chicken?" you may be asking yourself. Well, yesterday we went on a neighborhood walk and decided to go a couple of blocks farther than usual, as it was a lovely day. As we approached a house on the corner we saw this crazy looking chicken walking around in the front yard, along with a huge black and white rooster of some sort. They were alive, clucking and looking at us. As we approached them the rooster began to cluck loudly and raise up its tail feathers. Bennett and I were getting nervous, but we were able to pass without incident. We had a nice talk about how animals deemed "livestock" are not allowed to live in town, and how we were actually witnessing illegal activity. This is the type of illegal activity I prefer my child to be exposed to in order to teach her words like "illegal" and "outlawed", rather than true crime. It was fun to see these extraordinary birds on our ordinary walk. And it was a great lesson in law.

This morning I provided the girls with a little flashback to my own childhood by making them a paper fortune teller. Secretly I thought it would also be a handy way to help Bennett learn some of her color and number words. It was a hit! First, I made a fortune teller with all optimistic fortunes. Apparently it was kind of boring to Bennett to know all roads ended positively...she wanted an element of chance. So, I made a fortune teller with an equal number of good and bad fortunes. Unfortunately for Bennett, she kept ending up with only the bad fortunes...that's why she's looking a bit beaten down in the picture. Her most recent fortune was "Your supper will taste gross!"

Bennett performed a fine puppet show for us last night. It was about a pig who kind of looks like a mouse (left) and a brave knight (the Q-tip with a silver hair clip on the right). Interesting...

Cupcake? What cupcake? I don't know what you're talking about...

Here is what Bennett was doing at 4:06 p.m. today...growing. I think she's having a growth spurt because she has been starving all the time lately, and she's been napping in the afternoon, which is not typical for her. She is in the midst of a pretty lengthy nap, and to attempt to wake her from it prematurely would be disasterous for our entire family. If she keeps this up, she's going to be 5 feet tall by the start of kindergarten!

Ainsley and her dad were digging through a drawer and came across this crazy photo. Ainsley said she had never seen this boy before, so he explained that the photo was actually of him. In her tiny toddler voice she said, "I do not remember you looking like this." Thank goodness!

Shortly before bed last night, Bennett decided it would be fun to have a family foot massage event. We had never heard of nor held such and event before, but it was a huge success. The girls gave us fantastic foot massages with some lavendar massage lotion, and we returned the favor. There were spells where far too much lotion was being applied and things got a bit messy, but overall we had a very relaxing and rejuvinating experience. In the photo of them working on Dad, you can see that they took their jobs very seriously.

Wrestle-Mania

Dad=Wrestlemania at our house, even with little girls. Nearly every night, Grant teaches the girls the latest and greatest in WWF moves, although I don't think he's seen any WWF for about 15 years. Usually the girls wrestle against him, but tonight they decided to take each other on. I'm not sure who was winning the match in the above picture. Both were enjoying use of the sleeper hold, the cradle, and the people's elbow.

Suzy Von Square

I'd like to introduce you to Bennett's latest creation. Her name is Suzy Von Square...an appropriate name for a creature shaped sort of squarish. Bennett rummaged around the house and found the following items used to create this creature...a couple of blankets, two cat purses, wash cloths, a stick we found on the bike trail long ago, a sparkly baton, mardi gras beads, a pillow, a headband, and two disposable snack cups. Voila! You have a fine looking square lady. Oh, and notice who gets to be Suzy's closest companion. It's none other than Grumpy Bear!

Bribery

Tonight we had an impromptu family movie night with our little sicklings. They were allowed to share a can of soda during this event. I had asked both girls to please bring me their water cups (located in the living room) so that I could put soda in them. Bennett was very cozy in her movie viewing chair and didn't want to make the long trek to the kitchen. It is oh, so long. So, in comes Ainsley with Bennett's cup. I said, "Why are you bringing Bennett's cup in for her?" She said, "Sissy will give me a lot of pretend money." Bribery at it's finest. And the poor little child is even willing to work for pretend money. Oh dear.

Illness could not keep us indoors today. We had to get out for fifteen minutes of fresh, 64 degree air, even if it was in pajamas. Thumbs up for renewed spirits and hopes that spring will soon arrive!

We must remember to respect the basic rights of all people, even the very young. Today Ainsley asked me to "Please close the door while I poop." I asked her why she wanted the door closed and her reply was, "I need privacy." Yes, privacy...a word common in the 2 year-old's vocabulary. Funny that she needs privacy to poop, but she'll gladly run around the house without pants, if permitted. I think the main reason she requested privacy was so she could unroll the entire roll of toilet paper without getting in trouble until she had completed the task. Fortunately, I'm on to her. Also, it amazes me how they learn to play these little games at such a young age...making a reasonable request with alterior motives behind it. As Grant always says, it's a good thing God makes little kids cute!

In Like a Lion

March is in like a lion for Bennett and Ainsley. The weather has been quite pleasant, but they are not feeling pleasant at all. I think Ainsley would use the word "nasty" to describe how she is feeling, as that is one of her favorite words right now. Here is the face Ainsley has had on for a few days now. She has kind of a "don't mess with me, people" attitude. I think it's because her nose is so sore from using about 125,000 Kleenex in 48 hours. Bennett won't even allow her photo to be taken. I understand why. Hopefully tomorrow, just as the weather becomes hideous again, the girls will feel good as new! Side note for Aunt Lindsey...just as state basketball and snowstorms go together, so do visits from baby cousins and my kids' bad colds!