Shake It Up, Baby!

My kids love music. Lately it has been a little bit of a war when we get in the car to decide whose turn it is to choose what song we listen to. A while ago I burned a bunch of songs that I thought the kids might like onto some CDs and we always have them in the car.

When it is Daxton's turn to choose the song, 99 times out of 100, he chooses "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys. He LOVES that song. He sings it ALL the TIME. In the car, around the house, at the store, at the park. "Baba Aaannn! Take a Hand! Baba Aaannn!" I must admit I have just about reached my Barbara Ann limit. The other 1 out of 100 times his turn comes, Dax chooses "Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles. We were in Hires eating dinner the other day and he was singing it out loud for everyone to hear "WE ALL WIVE IN YEWWOW SUMMERINE!" Such a funny guy.

Arden (thankfully) has more than two songs she likes to listen to. Some of her current favorites are "Teddy Bear" by Elvis Presley, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper and "Here Comes Your Man" by the Pixies. My parents gave me a birthday card last week that played "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and Arden played it over and over (and over) until Preston couldn't stand it anymore and took the card away. I still don't know where he hid it. :)

Cora can't really speak up for herself about which song she wants next, so I get to choose for her. (I usually choose any song I haven't heard 500 times in the last month). However, I suspect that Corbie's favorite song is "Twist and Shout." Whenever that song comes on in the car I can always see her head swinging back and forth in the rear view mirror and her little feet are kicking like crazy.

Cora loves to dance outside of the car as well. Until a few weeks ago, Cora's dance moves (I mean move) pretty much consisted of Corbie standing still and swaying back and forth and giggling. Recently, she has discovered the "spin." Now whenever she hears music she likes, she just turns around and around and around (you get the idea) in circles until she falls down or until the song ends. I wanted to capture her spin on video the other day, and Arden and Dax decided to join in:

Daxton's Entourage

I have heard of some kids who have a favorite toy that they have to take with them everywhere. Dax has really been my only kid (so far) who has really carried toys around. He has carried his cat around with him off and on over the past few months, but it wasn't an every day thing until recently.

The cat doesn't bother me.

It is all of the cat's friends.

About a month or so ago Daxton decided that he had to have an ENTIRE POSSE of toys with him nearly 24 hours a day. This is NOT a small group of friends. This is a full-on ENTOURAGE. The key members of Dax's peeps include:

1. His cat (who is named "Tat")
2. A great big panda bear (who is named "Tanda")
3. A great big stuffed lion (who is named "Wion")
4. A large stuffed teddy bear (who is named "Bear")
5. A little pig toy (who is named "Piddy")
6. A plastic dinosaur toy (who is named "Dine-for")

As you can see, Dax is not the most creative toy-namer ever. But what he lacks in creativity he makes up for in loyalty. This key group of hangers-on are sometimes joined by other toys, but these six are the core group that Dax must keep around at ALL TIMES.

Dax wedges each and every one of these toys into his bed and then somehow crams himself in with them every single night and every single naptime. How he ever gets to sleep I have no idea.

In the morning, if I try to take him out of his room without bringing his ENTIRE crew, he lets me know that it is unacceptable in no uncertain terms. So, we have developed a system. Every morning, Dax hands me his friends one by one ("Mom, hold a Wion! Mom, hold a Tanda! Mom, hold a Tat!" you get the idea). I get the honor of being the transportation for the entourage since Dax can't carry them all down the stairs to breakfast and hold on to the handrail at the same time. It sometimes gets a little tricky even for me since I have to hold ALL of these creatures in one hand while trying to hold Cora in the other. Once we finally make it down the stairs, I will put these toys NOT on the couch or floor. I must pile them on a kitchen chair so that they may watch their leader consume his oatmeal at close range.

When Dax goes back upstairs for a nap, his buddies go with him. When nap is over, the toys follow wherever Dax may go. Despite much whining and complaining, his posse is confined to the house. There is no way they would all fit in the car. Dax has tried to take them nearly everywhere else with him, including the bathtub (luckily I caught him before the cat got in the tub...I don't want to have to buy cat #3 already!)

I thought it was just a phase that Dax would quickly get tired of, but it has been a few weeks now and he is still going strong.

Looks comfy, doesn't he? Night-night Dax.

Camera Pirate

Arden stole my camera. She told me she took a "few" pictures.
More like 30.
Mostly of herself.
Here is a small sample:

Such a sweet, dainty, delicate flower.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Forever!

I met some friends at the park a couple of weeks ago. I packed a lunch for me and the kids, including peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all around. Someone at the park said something like "Oh, you made a peanut butter sandwich for you too? How funny."

What?

Are adults not supposed to eat PB&J's?

If so, I respectfully decline to be an adult.

Peanut butter and jelly is an American classic! I have eaten peanut butter sandwiches my whole life...childhood, teenage years, young adult with NO kids, and up to today. Once I even spent like $14 on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from room service at the W Hotel in San Francisco (okay, I personally would never spend that much, but it was on the firm's dime). I LOVE peanut butter sandwiches.

.

I assumed everyone else did too.

When I was really little I wanted no crusts and of course white bread only. When I got a little older I loved gobs and gobs of peanut butter on my sandwich. I sometimes switch out the jelly for honey...delicious!. I even enjoy a peanut butter and banana sandwich once in a while (don't knock it before you try it!). I have recently rediscovered the joys of crunchy peanut butter after years of being a creamy devotee. I like them on wheat bread, I like them on white bread, I like them on multi grain bread, I like them on bagels. I like Jif best for crunchy, and I love the natural creamy peanut butters, but creamy Skippy is great too if I am not in the mood to stir. I love all sorts of jellies and jams, but I think raspberry jam is my all-time fave. Sometimes I toast the bread. The possibilities are seriously endless.

I doubt that there has been a month in all of my life (well...since I turned 2 years old, anyway) during which I have not had at least one PB&J. Lately I probably have at least one or two a week. I even learned a song about them in elementary school that I occasionally sing while I make them (Pea-nuuuuut, peanut butter! JELLY! Pea-nuuuuut, peanut butter! JELLY!).

When I first moved out of my house during college, I seriously overdosed on Ramen Noodles and have never recovered. They were SOOO cheap at the store that I bought a ton of them. I ate them nearly every day for a month or two, and then one day I was about halfway through a bowl of noodles, and it hit me. I was sick and tired of Ramen. I couldn't STAND to eat one more bite. It has been years and years since that day and I still can't bring myself to buy those things.

But peanut butter and jelly NEVER gets old.

Yesterday I had crunchy PB on wheat bread with raspberry jam. I put PB on one side, jam on the other. How do you like yours? (What kind of bread? Jelly or jam? Toasted? Triple-decker? Do you mix up your peanut butter and jam before you spread it? )

You may all look down on me now if you wish, but I hope I never grow out of peanut butter sandwiches. I will eat PB&J's till I DIE!!!

Happy Fourth (I mean Third) of July!

We had a great time celebrating Independence Day this year! Since the 4th was on a Sunday pretty much everything happened on Saturday, the 3rd. Over the past few years we have kind of developed a routine that includes the 3 big "must-dos" of any Zaugg Independence Day:

1. Parade (the more candy thrown, the better),
2. Barbecue (the more food, the better), and
3. Fireworks (the more candy and food, the better!)

We started our day at the parade in Riverdale, where my sister lives. We like this parade because it doesn't last too long, and (obviously) they throw a lot of CANDY! Here is Cora, waiting for the parade to start in her festive outfit that my Grandma gave her:

This year all THREE of the kids were running up and down the street after the flying taffy. SCARY! Luckily, we had a lot of family around to make sure everyone stayed out of the way of the floats.

I must admit that once the parade got going I spent about 95% of the time looking down at Corbie picking up candy off of the pavement. I didn't see very much of the actual parade itself, as my job as Corbie's official designated candy-bag-holder took up nearly all of my time. She figured out what to do almost immediately, and got quite a bagful of candy (which she of course agreed to share with me!)

I foolishly gave her half of a mini-Tootsie Roll about halfway through the parade. This was a bad decision for a number of reasons. First, she stopped picking up the candy and putting in the bag, and instead started picking up the candy and trying to put it in her mouth. Only after she had given each piece a good bite to make sure she couldn't taste it through the wrapper would she put it in the bag (which made the prospect of sharing the candy a little less appealing to me). Second, she slobbered Tootsie Roll slobber ALL OVER her little red, white and blue outfit. Who knew that so much slobber could come from such a small piece of candy?

After a while she started picking up handfuls of candy and throwing them at people instead of putting them in the bag. I guess she was imitating the people in the parade...it was hilarious. After picking up a ton or two of candy, Arden started to slow down, but Dax had a great time and was so excited. This is the picture that pretty much sums up the parade experience, at least through Daxton's eyes:

After the parade was over, we decided to head over to the nearby Hill Air Force museum and look at the planes until it was BBQ time. Dax LOVES to point out the airplanes and helicopters that fly over our house, so we thought he and the other kids might enjoy seeing some up close.

(that's Preston and the kids right below the airplane in case you couldn't tell....)

Dax really liked looking at all the planes, and Arden liked the helicopters best (Corbie didn't much care). We got to go inside of one of the really large helicopters and take a peek. Here is Arden inside the chopper:

And here is my dad peeking out through the window:

The kids had fun getting so close to the aircraft, and especially liked the ones with faces painted on them. However, Arden asked me a few tough questions. For example:

.

Arden: Mom, what are those things?

Me: Those are the doors in the bottom of the plane that open up so the bombs can fall out.

Arden: What are bombs?

Me: Um....well, they are things that explode and blow things up when they hit the ground.

Arden: Blow things up? Why?

Hmmmmm......

.

(another time)

Me: Look Arden, a soldier would sit in that teeny glass bubble on the bottom of the plane!

Arden: Why he have to sit down there?

Me: Well, he would sit down there so he could shoot that gun at the other planes.

Arden (looking concerned): Why did he want to shoot the other planes?

Hmmmmmm......

.

How do I explain war to a 4-year old? Should I even try? I don't want to. Sometimes the world is no fun.

.

Anyway.

.

We headed over to sister Amanda's house for the barbecue, where we had a great time eating WAY to much delicious food. After stuffing ourselves, we headed home for a much-needed nap.

.

Next, we headed up to the golf course to watch the fireworks. The kids played in the sand trap, and we spent a couple of bucks so Dax and Arden could play on some bouncy toys they had there. They had some skydivers and a flyover just before dark. We sat around and talked and ate a bunch of our parade spoils. Preston spent another buck to get the kids some light sticks, which provided hours of entertainment. As it started to get dark, Dax (who amazingly hadn't tried to run off all day) made a break for it. There were so many people there that if we hadn't been watching him he could have gotten completely lost so very easily. Luckily, my dad who was closest to the little runaway was all over it and chased him through the maze of blankets and camp chairs and caught him pretty quick. I didn't trust Dax not to bolt again during the fireworks, so he spent the rest of the outing imprisoned in the stroller:

He didn't seem to mind too much. Stinker! Good thing he is so dang cute.

.

The fireworks were AMAZING! I was worried Dax or Cora might be afraid of them, but they were both mesmerized. It was a great show. We were luckily able to escape the traffic afterwards pretty quickly. Even so, by the time we got home it was close to 11 p.m. and the kids were exhausted.

.

Their mom was kinda tired too.

More Painting

My quest to color up my house continues...

Over a year ago Arden colored on my boring beige and brown bedspread with a pen. Despite my best efforts, the pen mark remained. We lived with it, and lived with it. But finally I could stand it no more. So I finally found a new bedspread that I liked, but I was worried it was too girlie for Preston. He said it was too girlie....but I bought it anyway. So of course I had to repaint the wall to match:
And of course then I had switch out the curtains.


But Preston pulled the plug on me when I started talking about a new pictures for the wall and maybe an area rug...

It has been a crazy busy summer so far. I can't believe it is July (my FAVORITE month) already!! We had a great June and have been to the park a gazillion times already this summer. We even got brave and took the kids to see Toy Story 3 last weekend. You DON'T want to know all of the details and I am not naming any names....but let's just say a little too much popcorn and skittles were eaten by a certain member of my family whose name starts with D and ends with AX (with DISASTROUS consequences) and a small head injury was sustained by another member of the family whose name rhymes with Zorbie. I don't think I will be tempted to take all 3 kids to the movies again anytime in the foreseeable future.

Or possibly never. Ever. Again.

But what I saw of the movie was good :)