Make a Right on Washer and Dryer

My brother Scott called this afternoon. His battery had died (oops, left the headlights on) and he was at school. The girls and I rushed down to Cols. State to get his truck started. Vanessa is now the backseat driver. She will tell you when to stop and when to go (just ask my dad about running a red light and her yelling at him). She gets all the directions, turn left, turn right, etc. She's our personal navigation system.

So I was on the phone with my brother clearing up the directions to the parking garage. Vanessa heard me and became my helper. We were to make a left and then a right on Washington St. She laughed when I told her the street name. She said "Mama, you're so funny, we can't turn right on a WASHING MACHINE!" I clarified that it was "Wash-ing-ton Street". "oh" she said. After we turned onto Washington St., Vanessa asks "Where's the washer and dryer? I don't see a washer and dryer."

Various Pictures

Children's Fair

We went to the Children's Fair a while ago. Here are some pictures from our adventure:

Above Harley shows off her face-painted bandaid.
Vanessa is sporting the flames look.

They got to meet Dora.
Vanessa is intently watching the magician.
Going through the maze.
Sliding down the giant inflatable slide.

The Beauty Queen

Vanessa has never taken an interest in picking out her own clothes. She dresses herself and always likes what I pick for her to wear but if I say to her ‘go pick out something to wear’ she’ll say ‘you can help me!’. Last night was her first attempt to pick out her own clothes. She picked her favorites. I suggested at least a change in pants but she said with a cry “Daddy said I was cute!” So we strolled through the neighborhood as is.

Note the purple and green stripped pants. The black SEQUIN shirt (not noticeable in the picture) and lovely brown sandals.

Uncle Scott and Aunt Liz

Yesterday was the Woods' family dinner. Unfortunately for Uncle Scott and Aunt Liz they got put in their place by a 2 yr old and a 4 yr old.

Aunt Liz was first greeted as "Aunt Josie". Then while "threatening" Harley, Aunt Liz was scoffed at. Even the 2 yr old wasn't buying it.

Uncle Scott received his share both girls too. While playing on Harley's new keyboard, Harley didn't care for the music Uncle Scott was playing or the fact that he wasn't sharing so she turned the keyboard off. Vanessa found the fact that Uncle Scott is a poet to be very funny. When he tried to explain that he was indeed a poet and wrote poetry, Vanessa says "me too" and tries to walk away.

You can't put anything past our girls!

Harley, the artist

This is a picture of Harley's first 'real' drawing. She did this about 2 wks ago. Over the weekend she was drawing cartoon characters. Even drawing them sideways and upside down. The girl's got skills!

Oh, The Boys...

Sunday afternoon the girls had a lot of energy. So we went to Eastland mall. We looked around a little. Harley made friends with one of the Security guards. When we were done, since they had been very good young ladies I let them play in the OSU play area Eastland has now.

Harley goes off and does her thing. Every once in a while she'll come and ask where Vanessa is but she entertains herself.

Vanessa loves people. So she wanted to be in the middle of all the kids. One boy, around 6 yrs old, asks me if Vanessa is a girl. (In his defense, she was wearing a blue Spongebob Squarepants windsuit, but her hair was down...) I told him 'yes, she's a girl'. Then he wanted to play with her all the time. He was helping her climb on things and at one point he was tickling her feet. Then another boy had been watching her the whole time. He wouldn't take his eyes off her. At one point she climbed up on something he was standing on. Still watching her intensely, he pushed her off. That's the boy I'm used to!

UPDATE to Vanessa the Artist

I told y'all the story of Vanessa wanting verification from my friends at work that her artwork was beautiful. This is a continuation of that story.

Friday when I walked into the house that was the first thing she asked me. "What did your friends think of my drawing?!!" I told her they all thought it was beautiful, lovely, a splendid use of color, etc. She was very happy.

Monday night she was sitting on my lap and she says to me "Maybe you can take my pictures to work and your friends can buy them. I'll make lots of drawings and they can give you money for them!"

Now either I should impressed that she is becoming a young entrepreneur or I should be scared because she's learned to hustle early. Either way, the girls out to make money!

SUPERHEROS ARE NOT AFRAID OF TEETH

We went to visit with my dad and Margaret yesterday. My dad thought he would be funny and popped his dentures halfway out of his mouth. Vanessa was traumatized. She ran from him, crying and jumped in my lap. She wouldn't even look at him. Harley walks over to grandpa and quietly says 'do it again' (that's my girl!). I had to tell Vanessa that grandpa was just being silly and they weren't real teeth, they were dentures and he could take them in and out of his mouth. She wasn't swayed by any of it. She was still scared. Finally I had to say, "You want to be a superhero, right? Well, superheros aren't afrraid of teeth." She thought about it and finally agreed that superheros would not be afriad of teeth.

Speaking your mind...

Yesterday while cooking breakfast Harley says "I think I don't feel so good". I ask her where it hurts. She says "my brain hurts" I felt really bad for her, she had a headache. So I point to her head and ask "your head hurts?". No, she says, my brain hurts and points to her throat.

Vanessa the Artist

Yesterday when I got home from work Vanessa presented her latest artwork to me. I told her it was beautiful!! She said "Mama, I know you said it was beautiful, but could you take it work and ask your friends?" I said I would do that and then made the mistake of asking her what it was. She said "it's a bunch of colors." Silly me! It was a picture of colorful twisters.

I took her drawing to work just as she asked. It was verified, I wasn't exaggerating when I said it was 'beautiful'.

Walmart, Temper Tantrum and a Redneck

This happened several weeks ago. Since I'm really bad about updating the blog, I'm posting several stories today.

Taking the girls to a store is always a crapshoot. They could be good, they could bad, they could be anything in between. This particular day Harley fell asleep on the way to Walmart. That means she got 5 minutes of sleep. Not a good thing. Harley stayed in the cart most of the time, whining. Vanessa was skipping and dancing down the aisles. I had to repeatedly tell her to come back. Harley saw all the fun Vanessa was having and wanted out. I let her out of the cart and they both went hopping and dancing down the aisles. Because they wouldn't listen to me, I put back Tom & Jerry t-shirts they wanted. That started the waterworks. Both were crying. However, by the time we got to the check-out Vanessa had stopped. Harley was still upset and grabbed some candy. I told her she could not have candy because she wasn't being a good girl. That started the total meltdown. She threw herself on the floor, screaming at the top of her lungs, kicking the floor. I threatened her, I talked to her and finally I ignored her.

A guy in the aisle next to ours yells over at me "You need to beat her butt!!" I say "but if I do, someone here will get upset and I'll go to jail". He repeats his insightful wisdom again as he is walking away.

I carried her out of the store kicking and screaming the whole way. The only reason someone didn't stop me to make sure I wasn't kidnapping her was because no one would want a child who acted like that!

She did get spanked and sent to bed as soon as we got home. But we all know that had I spanked her in the store I would have ended up on the 6 o'clock news with video of "abuse" and been hauled away to jail!

The next weekend Harley redeemed herself when we had to wait 2 hours to get her hair done and she was a complete angel!! I took her over and got her the t-shirt she had wanted.

You just never know...