Kid Sushi

The kids and I had recently fallen into a lunch rut when I found these fun soy-paper wrappers at the grocery store. I have never had sushi before, but I thought I could sure try to make it. May helped to season the rice and then I rolled up some carrots and cucumbers that we had laying around.
Wow, did May ever love it! James, on the other hand, pounded four rolls, decided he didn't like it, left the table, only to return and pound four more. After lunch he told me he wasn't sure if he liked lunch or not. Whatever, kid. I'm on to you.

To the Zoo! James Style

Anyone remember this kid from July of 2008? Here he is at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. How things have changed. It is constantly on my mind that next year James will go to school five mornings a week and he and I won't have the luxury of going on as many adventures together, so we are trying to make the most of it this spring. Here's some highlights from our Hogle Zoo trip earlier this week:
Ok, so maybe not that much has changed. James is still a big primate fan.
In 2008 he wouldn't leave my side. In 2012, I can't keep him in sight.
We arrived at the zoo early enough to watch everyone eating breakfast, a real treat at the big ape exhibit where we watched this young orangutan climb on ropes and logs to find all her treats.
Then we found this monkey, who appears to be meditating.
And we were inspired. (It actually is pretty wild to me that I have a kid old enough to make this meditation joke.)
This lemur was genuinely convinced that somehow James was going to slip that cracker through the glass to him.
Here's James riding the elephant statue. He doesn't need help on or off anymore.
And he's also old enough to wonder about what's behind the "Authorized Personnel Only" doors.

Still loves the carousel, but can now do that solo, as well.

Thank goodness he's still little enough to do tons of cute stuff, like curl up in this giant egg shell to eat his lunch!

It's funny, Chad and I talk about how everyone beyond the young child stage tells us "treasure every moment." (And I mean everyone: cashiers, old ladies walking down the street, dudes that we have seen at the library year after year . . .) At any rate, we really and truly do treasure our time with our kids. We really do get how fleeting this all is. But isn't it exciting to watch our kids grow up? They are seriously amazing!

The (Cropped) Hair Club for Ladies

Wednesday morning after May dressed I asked her, "How should we do your hair today?" Her answer was: "Let's go to Cookie Cutters and get it cut short." Being a fan of shorter hair, myself, and having talked it over with the hubby who feels it will make summer more enjoyable for her, I had no objections.
In fact, I was kind of excited to try to get rid of the cotton candy disaster that is her hair in the morning, after nap, and at the end of the day.
She happily sat in her little car while that lady chopped the living daylights out of her hair. By this point I was having mixed feelings because I simply love giving May cute braids, buns and ponies, and it's just so her. But there was no turning back.
Fortunately, she was pleased as punch with the results, and so was I. I think her new look emphasizes her cute face and spunky personality. What do you think?

Spirit Week!

Last week was Spirit Week at the kids' school. May was a particularly big fan. Tuesday was Wacky Hair/Hat Day. I tried to convince May to go for a hat, but she was insistent that I do her hair "like clown hair." (Above is my best attempt at that.) Then Thursday was beach day. It was impossible for me to get a good picture of her entire outfit (wearing her flip-flops with jeans made her look like a real beach baby) but if you look hard you can see the fruit-loop lei that she made during craft time. I love Let Me Shine, it's been such a good first school experience for my kids!

Budding Artist -- mini edition

A few days ago while James was at school, May decided to spend the morning drawing in her notebook. She drew a few pictures and then abruptly stopped. I could almost see the light bulb flash on above her head. "Mommy," she said, "can I put this in an envelope and send it to Wisconsin? Please?!?!?"

So after cranking out a few more drawings (mostly squid, some fish, one diver with no arms), we addressed the envelopes and May stuck down the return address labels and stamps.
She tried licking the first envelope but received a little paper cut on her tiny toddler lip for her effort. I thought she would be sad, but she was outraged and demanded I take a picture of her wound (sadly, you can't see it in this picture, but you can still appreciate her expression.) So after that, I took licking duty.

When we were done, we had a whopping ten envelopes to send out.

May excitedly put them in the mailbox, and then asked if we could send more. Unfortunately, we were out of stamps, so we had to move on to something more boring - like toys.