Our Little Picassa

Today during church Abby didn't want to go to class... I was substituting in another junior primary class, so she went with me. While in class, I realized we had a little Picasso in our midst! Notice this man holding a balloon.

This woman is probably nicer than she looks. This one kinda scares me... It reminds me of the "The Scream" painting by Edvard Munch. After church, Abby and I played with several mediums. This is a colored pencil drawing from the "Giant Head Era". (Notice all the teeth, but then again, maybe he is part shark OR he has a drug problem. Meth really screws up your mouth!)

This one Abby told me was a "Flying Rabbit" on the Bottom Left (I think it looks like the Hamburger Helper Glove). Top Center and Right is a "Momma Bee and Baby Bee". The Object to the left is a flower, very pretty!

This picture is a little more obscure/impressionistic, can you guess what it is? It's a family portrait. Mike is the green circle in the back (Top Left), I am the large brown haired "thing" in the fore-front. I'm not sure what is coming out of my face... hopefully it isn't yelling. Abby is the green face to my Right. She has flowers in her hair, love the large head and small features... (At least we are all smiling!)

I wish I could post the picture she painted of Gpa and of Kiki, the cat. Both were REALLY good. However, they didn't make it and were painted over. Gpa was great because it looked like he was jumping rope. If you know my father, well I can't picture him jumping rope and that makes me laugh. The picture of the cat was amazingly like a cat. Maybe she will make another one!

I hope these make you laugh and be in awe as they did me, remember she is only 3!

Our Crazy Obsession

I remember watching the cartoon at home in the early 80's. I was completely frightened. I hated the scene where they cut Aslan's hair and killed him in the ceremony on the table. Infact, when the movie came out, I was not a fan until after I saw it again.

Jump twenty-five years.... Abby has opened the wardrobe, and loves it. I think it WAS on constant rotation at our house until yesterday, after five days. The first day, she watched it 3 times in a row. That Friday night, with a long power nap to sustain her, we stayed up until 2:00am only with her fighting me when I turned it off. Now the movie is on, she gets upset when it's off, but she will bring her activities to the movie and play while it is going on.

Can you guess which scene she stops to watch, no matter what we are doing? Yep, the scene where they cut Aslan's hair, he dies, and resurrects. I not only do we watch, but she claps, whistles, and cheers when he appears!

She loves it so much, that when our deaf mentor came to our house, she told him about the movie... IN CONSTANT ROTATION.

I do love this version of the movie. I love the religious undertones. I love that Abby understands, but right now I need a break!

Perfect, Perfect, Perfect

Today Abby had an audiology appointment in Sandy, Mike wanted to come, so he took the day off. After the audiology appointment, we went to the Olive Garden for lunch (thank you Kathy and Hilary!) As we pulled into the parking lot, we could see across the street to Sugar House park. During our meal, we talked about how fun it would be to feed the "ducks".

When our meal was finished we decided to follow it up. We had breadsticks leftover, usually we take them home, this time we decided to give them to the ducks. Abby had a blast! The weather was perfect, lunch was perfect, spending quality time with my family... was perfect; best of all, Abby loved it!

As it turned out, the "ducks" we could see from Olive Garden parking lot were seagulls posing as ducks. They have a pretty good "racket" posing as ducks, there were five other families feeding them while we were there.

Schools Out for Summer!

I didn't realize when school got out, teachers and staff were just as anxious for the last day as the kids. I have been looking forward to this day since Christmas! Well Friday was our last day. The teacher I work with bought me a yearbook, so I was in the cafeteria with the other teachers and students saying, "Wanna sign my yearbook?" It made me laugh at the irony!

I worked in the Special Ed department and was relieved when another teacher explained when students wrote H.A.G.S. it meant "Have a great summer." I thought students were writing "HUGS" just mispelled, such a relief!

Saturday, we went with some friends to see the movie "Up". For those of you not wanting to see it, I LOVED IT. The jokes were smart, Pixar paid attention to detail, and it kept my 3 year old's attention... can't beat that! Afterwhich we went to a park to have the kids picnic and play. As the "grown-ups" were sitting on the blankets to visit. One of my kids from school with two others from the junior high passed. I recognized them but didn't say anything to them because they were not looking at me. About an hour later, they passed again... this time, they ALL looked. My first reaction was to say, "Hey guys, howya doing?" They all said, "Hi" back... but then one of them (not my student) said, "See I told you it was the 'lady' from the school!" I have been laughing about that ever since! I have a feeling that won't be the last time I hear that comment before school starts again!

My "Holly" Dilemma

Before Abby was born, Holly was our baby. She was very spoiled. She went EVERYWHERE with us. When she was 7 years old, Abby was born. Our arrival home from the hospital we had family and friends visiting... it was getting late, they started thinning out. I remember studing Holly. The look on her face as everyone left leaving was, "Well, when's that 'thing' gonna leave?" referring to Abby.
Well, a year went by, we had infrequent, but frequent enough "mistakes/on purposes" that I couldn't take the stress. We couldn't afford new carpet but we didn't want to make a perminent decision about Holly, either.
So for about two years Holly has been living in the confines of the kitchen, linoleum, most importantly. I knew she was unhappy, but I couldn't handle one more "on purpose".
Well about two weeks ago, we were in Petsmart and noticed doggie diapers called "Wee Wee Diapers". I had heard about them, but didn't know if they would work for Holly. We decided if they didn't work, we were only down $20 (their expensive for 17). Well I can honestly say, "they work!" As infrequent as her "on purposes" are, we can use the same diaper multiple days, yeah!
In our house everyone seems to be happier. Here are our pictures...