Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially the retired Nebraska farmer I call my dad! In lieu of a Father's Day tribute (since we don't have one of those in the house - a father, that is, not a tribute), I thought it would be a good time to post the Mother's Day tribute produced and directed by Aunt Barb (complete with outtakes when you get the full DVD version):

So cool! And Barb was quite impressed with Amanda's skill with the microphone!

I had some window Easter stencils and paint that I was going to give to Cheryl & Mike's kids years ago but always forgot. Good thing! Cheryl would have shot me - the stencils were SUCH A PAIN! They were perforated thick paper that ripped easily. Before Easter, I got most of it punched out and realized that was just the beginning of the ordeal, so I put them in a sack for "later", and when later came, I threw them away with no niggling of my conscience. (Don't even give me a hard time about it, Mom.) But, Amanda wanted to paint, and I thought, "Why not, just paint!" She had a ball making butterflies and flowers and the black sun (by her right shoulder). We had some spring stickers on the window, but her drawings made our door down right cheerful (and I felt like a fun mom).
Here's her "princess" face painting from the picnic. It was really pretty - detail you can't even really see here.

Had to get a picture with our home study worker, Evell. She said everyone got such a kick out of Amanda at the picnic. It's so awesome how she just makes people smile wherever she goes. She has such a joyful personality, and such a fun personality, too. And, yes, the curls themselves make people smile.

Does this look very "white trash"? I ran out of room on my drying rack and upon looking around, was seized with the inspiration to use her swing set as a clothesline. She was quite amused and tried to swing under the clothes.

This drying technique worked better than my drying rack, which I had on my patio, because....our entire backyard is shaded by a huge maple tree. Good for playing in the summertime, bad for having clean clothes under. Tree = birds and one of our feathered friends had eaten some mulberries and left evidence on the clean clothes. I felt pretty stupid at that point, as I rewashed the stained clothes. Maybe I'll go back to my dryer for the summer, or set up a spot in the garage like Patty had in Hawaii. Or, I could continue with the white trash theme and put the drying rack in the front driveway. Who cares, right? Just me, probably.

She wanted me to braid her hair, so Saturday, when we had plenty of time, I found I was able to do two french braids that looked fairly decent, at least for a little while, and she loved it.

Now I fear I've created a monster (so to speak). She wanted braids this morning. I squeezed the time in and we still got out of the house on time, but I told her I was NOT going to do it every morning! Oh, I should have taken a picture - when I picked her up after work, her hair was half coming out, frizzy all over - cute. It's just not quite long enough to hold a braid for a whole day of playing and napping.

She is officially sleeping in the "big bed" in her room, instead of the toddler bed. She has not only been able to wake herself up when she needs to go potty, but also to hold it through the entire night without wetting the bed. I did take precautions (it's a fairly new mattress!) and have plastic covering the mattress, but she's just doing awesome. I'm so proud of her, and glad that when we visit the pediatrician in August for her kindergarten checkup, I'll be able to answer his question regarding night time affirmatively!

It was so hot today! 90-something, with maybe 100 tomorrow. It wasn't too bad tonight in our shade, but after Amanda saw the neighbor kids across the street playing in their little pool, she asked to get wet, so we got this sprinkler toy out.

(The swimsuit is a little bit too big for her.) Can you see the pools in their driveway, to the right of the tree on the left? Not very well. They have a little circular one and a cool looking 8-shaped one. I probably should get a little pool, too.

I think I forgot to mention this water toy in my past blog. When we made plans to have a picnic with Mike across the street, he not only bought most of the picnic food, he also came home with this water toy for her! It is a sprinkler on the bottom sides, with a fountain in the middle, and the orange is a tube that you put the 4 balls in, they wind down and are shot out the top with the water fountain. Very fun!

She had so much fun, and got very wet! Then inside to wash off with warm water and to bed.

Ok, random thoughts:

She has a new teacher, Dani, for when Ms. Boidee leaves at 4pm, and to help during the day. Dani has braces, clear braces. I know this not only by looking at her, but because for the last couple of weeks, I have to hear Amanda taking on Dani's persona on a regular basis, saying: "I have braces. Them clear. Wanna see?" and then a big, show-her-teeth grin ... over and over and over again. I mentioned this to Dani and she smiled.

"I have braces. Them clear. Wanna see?"

Before that, she was Brittany, constantly ringing the pretend doorbell. I'd have to say come in, who is it. "I'm Brittany" (with her long plastic black hair, and her plastic dress-up shoes). Oh Brittany, I love your hair, it's beautiful "Ask if you can see my shoes." Can I see your shoes? (She shows them) They're beautiful. ... over and over and over again. Sometimes she was Brittany in a "contest" (concert) and she'd be dancing, then she'd move back to the wall/bay window and tell me, "Say, 'Oh, Brittany's in the back, we can't see her'", so I'd oblige and she'd move up, so I'd say, "Oh, yea, there she is, now we can see her!"

Tonight, as she was finishing up her supper she asked me, "Know why I'm so strong? Because I eat my food, and drink my milk, and I don't eat bugs!" .... ok.

A few weeks ago, when she was getting ready for bed, she was talking about her birthday, or being six, and she said, "When I'm six, I get to do whatever I want, and I get a phone!" ... Hmmm, I don't think so, dearie. After telling her that isn't really what's going to happen when she turns six, I asked her where she got these ideas. She shrugged and said, "I don't know, I just...that's what I thought."

"I have braces. Them clear. Wanna see them?"

I also forgot to mention that another mom came up to me after the preschool graduation and asked for a picture with her son and Amanda. She said he talks about Amanda all the time, says that she's so funny and he really likes her. Yea! My kid is popular! Last week, it was so hot outside so they were inside and just starting a movie when I picked Amanda up from preschool, and one kid wanted a hug, then another kid, then she was just making the rounds through her whole class. Ms. Boidee laughed and said, "She's popular". =)

"I have braces. Them clear. Wanna see?"