Entries from July 2013 ↓

Ezri had a lot of fun splashing, swimming and playing in the sand with friends at Phillips Park in Aurora.

Ezri enjoys the first strawberries from our containers in the backyard.

Ezri tells me this drawing is a giant with a cold. He wears a pink hat that his Uncle Tom made him to stay warm. His snot is pink. Later she decided that it wasn’t snot but a bloody nose like the one she got last winter when the air was so dry.

Here are a couple of other conversations with Ezri.

Our Charles Darwin doll wants to be “the king of all Grandpas.” To do this he must win The Grandpa Competition four times in a row. Ezri has combed his hair to perfect smoothness to prepare him for the competition. She tells me he will sing in the competition.

e: Amanda, the robots want me to have a donut.
A: Which robots?
e: R2D2 and C3PO’s friends.
A: The droids think we should drive through Dunkin’ Donuts?
e: Yes, the robots think Ivan wants a donut too. Robots like sprinkles.

Ezri taught me how to play Ball Bounce Bonanza. Put a ball in a bucket of water and dump it over your opponent’s head yelling “Ball Bounce Bonanza!” This game is best played in a wading pool.

We’ve also been making a lot of play dough worm families for whom Ezri narrates adventures. She makes them beds with worm pillows, blankets (worms need very long blankets) and teddy worms. She uses a worm voice to whine that they are hungry and in a weary voice Ezri says, “Okay, okay, okay, I will make you some food.” She helps them learn to use the potty. Nothing like helping a playdough worm use the playdough worm potty and wipe with playdough toilet paper and wash its wiggles (since it has no hands) and dry on the playdough towel. She makes them playdough balls to play with and she carries them around in a bucket for safe travel. “I made them the worm potty because they don’t want worm poop all over their house.” She made them a table and a bathtub too. She will declare, “I’m going back to the factory. The worms need a cozy!” This repeats for the many material needs of her worm family. Just when I thought they had all they could need, Ezri began work on a worm bookshelf with books. Everyone needs books.

Ezri had a lot of fun having Ivan file her around the playground equipment.

Yesterday was a practically perfect summer day. We went to the park, set up the wading pool in the backyard, and went to an outdoor kids concert at the arboretum in the evening.

Nothing says summer quite like popsicles in the backyard after splashing.

What color is your tongue when you’re done? PURPLE!

Ezri decorates her Grandpa Mark.

It’s a fashion show!

When the Jedi are wounded, Ezri takes them to the hospital where they get tucked into beds made of food. They also get bounced up and down on a row of muffins for exercise until they need to nap and fed plastic strawberries for strength.

I love how kids can make a baby doll of anything. Jedi like bedtime songs when they are hurt. I think my girl may be a Jedi herself.

Darth got a lettuce blanket because he is a bad guy.

I didn’t have the camera out much at reunion. Too busy with good people and running all over with the kids.

Ezri loved that there were bouncy houses, face painting, dancing to a live band, and a lot of new friends right around her age. Ivan was big on the fruit bar at breakfast.

Reuniting with Charlotte Quigley and meeting her sister, Katherine, in person was a special treat. Ezri told us the day after returning that now she is sad because she misses two Charlottes. One Charlotte is in New Zealand and one Charlotte is in San Francisco. Neither is close enough for play dates. Sarah Quigley gave me a lesson in putting hair up in a bun – and the secret tools of hair pins (NOT bobby pins) and a hair net. Our girls still have their buns in this photo of a march to get treats in the Chapel.

Sarah gave me some of my first “Friday Flowers”- a Carleton tradition. So, we had our girls exchange flowers. Our daisies are still looking pretty good in the kitchen many miles and more than a week later.

Oh, there was minigolf set-up too. They didn’t play by the rules but they had a lot of fun.

An all around good trip for Ezri and the whole family.

Here are a couple photos from the Quigley girls’ blog. You can see how much Ezri is loving Charlotte. I love the smiling cheeks of both girls.