Emma Bits

Bit #1:
I am running the Soldier Field 10 Mile race this Saturday, and I told Em that she and her sister are coming to the football stadium to cheer me on.
Em: "Again????"
Me: "What do you mean, 'Again?' You've only seen me in one other race! I thought you'd be excited."
Em: "But why do you keep running? Adults don't run! What are you running from?"
Me: "I'm not running from anything. I am running to something. In a race, everyone is trying to get to the finish line as quickly as they can."
Em: "Well, can't you just take the bus? It's faster."

Bit #2:
She rocks a mean hula hoop.

Bit #3:
I found this in a stack of papers this morning, and I actually teared up a little.

Emma and Kelso

Kelso the frog, Emma's class mascot, was allowed to come home with us this weekend. The kids take turns bringing Kelso home, and Emma has waited all year for Kelso to stay with us. We were tasked with creating a documentation of our time with Kelso that Emma can share with the class on Monday morning. I thought I'd replicate Em's Kelso journal here, so below are the photos we took and her comments exactly as she wrote them.

Emma and Kelso
May 14-16

me and Kelso and my little sisster sophie at home kelso and me jomping on the bed.

kelso and me and Daddy sleping in Daddes bed you can cind of see my undrwar

tamy and me and kelso plaing soprman kelsos riding on my bak.

me and kelso kelso is heping my rite on my homewrk.

me and kelso at the prck going down the slid.

me and kelso at the groshry stor kelsos riding in the cort

Catching Up

Snippets from the last week or so...

• Sophie met someone new at Em's bus stop recently. "Hi, I'm Sophie!" she exclaimed. "And this is fun Mama!" she added, pointing at me.
  
• Watching Bambi II, I teared up at the end...like always. "Mom, why are you crying?" demanded Emma. "When you do that, it makes my tummy feel like it wants to throw up."
• Mid-tantrum, Sophie threw a toy across the room and screamed, "You stupid!" I explained that we don't say that word. "Why? Emma say stupid," Sophie asked. "Sometimes she does," I agreed. "But it is against the rules, and when she says it, she is put in time out." "Okay Mama," Sophie said. I turned to walk away. Sophie suddenly threw her head back and wailed, "Stuuuuuuuuu-pid!" Before I could even respond, she walked happily to the time out chair and climbed right on. "Time out for Sophie! Two minutes!"
• I overheard Emma telling a friend, "When I was a baby, I went outside and there were black beetles EVERYWHERE and they crawled on me and I cried and cried and cried." Noticing my stunned face, she then clarified, "Mom, you weren't there. We didn't know each other yet."
• Our babysitter Margaret shared the following exchange from when she was coloring with the girls. Emma: "I am only good at drawing 5 year old things like ballerinas, and Sophie only does squibbles." Sophie: "No Emma, these not squibbles. These are diapers."
  
• Sophie is constantly underfoot, and the other day I did a face plant while trying to keep from stepping on her. Sophie looked terrified, but once I assured her I was fine, she started giggling and her eyes got really wide. "Wow, Mama! Wow! You felled right on your face! I never seen dat before in my whole LIFE! Dat's a cool trick."
• Emma: "Sophie, stop. You're annoying me." Sophie: "Oh! Sorry Emma. It was an accident." Emma: "That's okay, Sophie. I know you can't help it. It's just the way you are."

And a video example of a random afternoon at home...

Fit for a Princess

Chris didn't come to Indiana with us this weekend because he was very busy painting at home. I now have a lavender bedroom! Whoo-hoo! I've wanted to paint our room for sooooooo long, and I am so grateful to my husband for making my wish a reality. But that's not all that SuperDad accomplished this weekend. Oh, no.

He also transformed Emma's former Winnie the Pooh bedroom into a true princess fairyland. The bedroom switcheroo was an early birthday surprise for Emma, and Chris did all the planning and the implementation. Em went absolutely nuts when she saw it. Daddy really outdid himself this time.

The photos below are some examples of the wonderful Poohs that Chris and our friend Angie painted on Emma's walls six years ago, back when Em was chillaxing in my tummy and I was divinely oblivious to the parenthood insanity that would soon take over our lives. They did such a fabulous job. Those Pooh bears watched over our little girl and kept her company for so many years. When Em was a baby, we used to start each day by saying "good morning" to Pooh. As she got older, she'd measure her growth progress by how much shorter or taller she was than the giant Pooh bear painted just inches off the floor. As weird as it sounds, I think of those bears as her first friends, and I think she did too. We'll miss them.


And here's a video of Emma's new princess oasis. Yeah, I know...Holy Pink, Batman! But the girl loves herself some pink, I tell ya. (By the way, don't you think the lame narration and weird scuffling noises in the background add terrific ambiance to the video? I'm a real auteur.)

Happy Mother's Day

The girls and I just had a great Mother's Day weekend in Indiana. I'm too exhausted to write more, but here are some pics from the trip.

Inseparable duo #1: Sophie & Cadin

Inseparable Duo #2: Callie & Emma

Mother's Day card from Emma

Mother's Day gift from girls
(It kinda looks like a cake in the picture, but it's a clay heart
they made and decorated - with Daddy's fabulous help, of course!)