Conversations With a 5-Year-Old: Do You Wanna Build a Fort?

Today was a lazy day at our house.  Chase was playing video games, Chloe was playing in her room, and Mom was playing on her phone.  Suddenly Chloe comes in...

CHLOE: Hey, Mom!  Wanna build a fort? 

MOM (feeling lazy): *sigh* I don't really wanna build a fort.... 

CHLOE:  You don't think you can do it? All you have to do is believe in yourself!

Who can argue with that?

So I followed her to her room and apparently she had been trying to make a fort on her own, but something was missing:

Hahahaha!!  We always use books to anchor the blankets down.  She just forgot the blankets!  Man, I love this girl.

Conversations With a 5-Year-Old: Banana Butts

Chloe doesn't like the "butt" of the banana. You know... that little part at the bottom with a tiny bit of brown in it. Well sometimes she and I split a banana, and when I cut it in half I take the butt end and give her the "head." Today at dinner she was about to eat her half and we had the following conversation:

CHLOE: Mom, did you give me the butt?  

MOM: No, baby. Mommy loves you so much I always eat the butt for you.  

CHLOE: Oh, good. You're my BUTT-ler!

Nice.

Mom's New Toy

I got a new toy!  I have been going to the gym for years to work out on the elliptical, and now that I am teaching... and directing shows... and going to school... and doing a principal practicum... and an action research project... and being a mom....  Yeah.  It was time to just put one in my house.

I have never been so excited about exercise in my LIFE.

The day it came I got my FedEx delivery notification and did a happy dance... til I got home and realized I was going to have to somehow get it into my house by myself:

But I DID IT!

Then I had to get it upstairs.  I did have offers to help but I wanted it done RIGHT. THEN.

So I hauled them up there myself....

Yeah.  I did that.

And I just COULD. NOT. WAIT.  I had to put it together that night as well.  Chloe fell in love with it instantly!

She actually did the machine for 25 minutes until I made her get off to take a bath!

I have to admit I love it too, and I am using it in the mornings!  Yes, this non-morning person is actually setting her alarm early to do the elliptical in the mornings.  Not quite sure who I am right now, but this is saving me serious gym time!  It is going to help with my mental sanity this year, for sure!

Austin's Park & Pizza

We had the opportunity to go to Austin's Park & Pizza for a birthday party and the kids had such a blast!  They played air hockey....

and rode the rides...

...and they had a lot of fun with Laser Tag.  It was like pulling teeth to get them to try it, but once they did, they couldn't get enough of it!  Chase tried it first and then Chloe was scared so I went in there with her.  She started crying as I got her into the vest and everything, but when I asked her if she was gonna quit she said no (through her tears).  She cried all the way up until her first shot, and then she laughed the rest of the way.

Mission accomplished.

Back to School

It's that time again!  Time to go back to school.

The kids love coming to my school, so they got to "help" me get my classroom/office ready:

They have it pretty good, having a theatre teacher mom, because I have fun props they can play with!  The "snakes and slugs" bin is their favorite:

I had a storage room to clean out, which was great fun:

Chloe started Kindergarten this year, so we got to go to her Kindergarten orientation...

And here are both of my babies on the first day of school (Chloe in Kindergarten, Chase in 3rd grade)!  It's the first time I have ever gotten the chance to take them.  Their dad has always done it in the past, so this was a treat!

When I picked them up from school I took them to dinner so they could tell me about their first day.  The results are in:

Happy School Daze!

Goodbye, Summer

We had a busy summer!  Here are just a few random photos of some of our fun.  Enjoy!

We swam...

Ate frozen yogurt (our favorite!)...

Played board games...

(And video games...)

Went to some local festival-y things...

(where they won crazy prizes)...

The kids went to a church camp through their dad's church and I got to see their final "show" (Chloe took art, Chase took soccer)...

Chloe made me lots of fun jewelry with paper and tape...

And by the end, we were pooped!

Time to go back to school!

Austin Mini Vacation

I took classes all summer, so we did not have much time for vacation.  I had one week with the kids to squeeze in some serious summer fun, so we took a "mini vacation" around the Austin area and downtown.

We went to the Hill Country Science Mill for some hands-on fun:

Then we went downtown, where we spent a bit of time at the hotel pool (of course!)...

And we saw the first half of "Hairspray" at Zilker Park (shame on Mom for getting there too late because we couldn't see a thing).  The kids were beat and frustrated so we had to leave at intermission...

I had to get a workout in, so I dragged the kids to the hotel gym with me, fully armed with electronics to occupy themselves... but they surprised me by exercising with me!  How fun!

It's a good thing we got all that exercise in, because then we went to the Ice Cream Festival:

And then we took a downtown boat tour.  It was HOT, but interesting, and the views of the city were beautiful!

In the end, we just love to get away.  Even though we didn't get all fancy and board a plane to an exotic destination, we had fun.  It's all about the time you spend together, anyway.