Riddles for thought

Emelye has recently gotten into riddle-telling. She hasn't quite caught on to how they work, though.

She and Josh regularly "quiz" each other, making up their own riddles. I wrote a few down from the other night. Enjoy!

Some of Josh's
What kind of plane doesn't fly?
One that doesn't have wings

What clock doesn't work?
A broken one

What strawberry are you not supposed to eat?
A poison one

What dinosaur does not bite?
A baby dinosaur

. . . and some of Emelye's
What kind of door doesn't open?
One that is locked

What kind of horse can fly?
A horsefly? Not so quick . . . It's a Pegasus

What do you call a fairy without wings?
A walking fairy

What bird can't fly?
A baby bird

What egg does not open?
An egg that's empty

Birthday catch-up#2

A few months ago, I set out to make plans for a combined bday party for the two older ones whose birthdays fall 10 days apart. In the past, I have made two specialty cakes which take (for me) inordinate amounts of time. This year I was to make only one cake.

The design? Well, I left that up to Josh & Emelye. They had to agree. The rules were simple -- talk to each other. I am not mediating. Don't beat each other. When you've reached a decision, let me know.

I thought this assignment in negotiation & compromise would, if nothing else, be entertaining for me. And honestly, being that she is older & more cunning than her 4-year-old brother, I thought I'd be making some kind of pink fru-fru cake that Josh "approved" and "wanted."

Emelye campaigned heavily for a pink Polly Pocket cake full of rainbows, unicorns, flowers and all sorts of pinky goodness. Josh would hear none of it. (I was cheering on his stead-fastness inside!) Josh said that having a Batman cake would be the better option. I was afraid that a stalemate would ensue & maybe even a physical fight. Gridlock. Two stubborn wills trying to go at it.

Then, in a truly "aha" moment, Emelye came to Josh with the ultimate compromise. A wedding cake. For Batman & Polly Pocket.


And, so, I (crudely) fashioned a Batman/Polly Pocket wedding birthday cake.

Now for a little pic explaining, top down . . .
#1 -- Mimi gave Emelye an American GIrl Doll, Emily.
#2 -- Emelye's new book, Danny the Duck with no Quack
#3 -- Emelye reading about Jenn & Mike taking her to the America Girl Doll place in ATL.





#4 & 5 -- Addie reaction upon seeing her new "Minnie Mouse" polka dot pants.
#6 -- Addie's very own Bitty Baby, American Doll.





#7 & 8 -- Josh opening a remote control Drifting Lightning & upon learning that Jenn & Mike were taking him to Dinosaur World in KY.




#9 & 10 -- The cake!



#11 -- the food

Birthday Bonanza!

A bit of a catch-up post here . . . we had a combined bday party for the older two in August & our November Addie had her celebration last week.

Addie's first, since hers is fresher in the mind. ;)

We had her party at Miller's Grocery, a neat little place in Christiana. I made her a "Minnie Mouse" cake. This year's was a plain sheet cake iced with pink buttercream icing & white polka dots & trim. (Anything pink or red with white polka dots is automatically christened a "Minnie Mouse _____________.")



Her outfit was made by Melissa Flowers of Puddin Pop Designs. She had outgrown her official Minnie Mouse dress that my mom had made a year or two ago, so she's got a new one now!

And no visit to/ from Mimi would be complete without some fabulous "prizes" & clothes for the other kids! Josh got some new Cars stuff & Emelye got some Pet Shop toys.

My Little Artist

When HP & I moved into our house 6 years ago, we re-painted all of the walls. (Well, HP & some of our friends did. I was quite preggo, so I tried to look busy doing something else.)

I picked out a higher gloss paint thinking that we would soon have little hands touching & probably drawing on them. And I wanted a slick finish so we could (theoretically) clean off the wall surfaces a little more easily.

Emelye came. Then Josh came. And there were no written markings on the wall. I had a mixture of emotion -- patting myself on the back for having awesome kids that don't mark on the walls and kicking myself a little thinking the high gloss paint wasn't really worth it.

Then Addie came. Addie met markers, crayons, pencils, & pens. She will mark on any surface, including herself, with any type of marking instrument. And don't blink. She's quite sneaky, holding pens under the table & looking so innocent all the while drawing on the chair where she sits.

My friend Shawna remarked that she had never seen Addie w/o some lovely Addie illustrations to decorate her legs & arms. She also told me that she & Scamp hide the markers & crayons before Addie comes over.

Last month I went on a crusade to round up all marking instruments & put them in a combination safe. No joking here. I found a lovely little locking file box at Office Depot. That helped some. The thing to remember about Addie is that she is sneaky. So, I may have the crayons out for the kids to color while I make dinner. She will actually take a few crayons out of her box & hide them for later use.

So, while I don't always take her markings in stride, I am glad that we have high gloss paint & I am thankful for her creativity. And I do smile (usually) to myself when I see her latest drawing on her legs. (Truth be told, those don't really bother me because they get rid of themselves in the bath.

Here's one of her latest (before I hid the crayons):

Our Moths Have Emerged!

So in my last post, I mentioned something about finding some white caterpillars around the b'fly garden & identifying them as Virginia Tiger Moth caterpillars. Well, the first one emerged a few days ago & I wanted to share some pics.

Emelye put him outside to "be with his family" once he emerged.


Smile!

Our Butterfly Garden -- updated

Well, the lovely little bordered patch caterpillars have thoroughly destroyed Mr. Sunflower. His head even lies in repose.



Most of the caterpillars have moved on to greener pastures, but there are a few hanging around still.


We also have found some of these guys around:


They are Virginia Tiger Moth caterpillars. They eat just about anything we've found. I found them on the sunflower, the coreopsis, and some weeds. We "adopted" one. (Emelye named him/ her Fuzzy.) A few days ago, s/he spun his cocoon:


We'll see how long he needs before he emerges (and if I've correctly identified him as a caterpillar!)

Slumber Party Time!

Emelye had her first sleepover last night with her best-friend, Scamp. Scamp absolutely insisted on doing make-up & Emelye insisted on painting fingernails. (And, of course, Addie got in on the action by default.)

Josh was on the verge of tears when finding out that boys just don't wear make-up & nail lacquer. So, during the mini-makeover, he got to play his Lighting McQueen video game. This proved to be a bigger plus in his book.

After the girls got all dolled-up, they watched Tinkerbell & the Lost Treasure, ate popcorn & chocolate milk.

Here are a few highlights from the girls.

Notice all of the marker on Addie's legs. She's quite the artist . . .


Scamp is SUCH a poser1 HeHe!