Diggin' Up Bones

Yesterday Kaylin found a bone outside and was so excited about it. I'm not sure what kind of creature it came from - although she is quite sure. I made her leave it outside so she asked for a wet paper towel to clean it off. All the while telling me how fragile bones are and how you have to treat them very carefully. Of course when she came in I made her wash her hands. I mean who knows what she was touching. Her excitement was still evident. She said "I can't believe I finally discovered a bone." Clearly she has been anticipating this discovery for years. I asked what kind of animal she thinks the bone came from. To which she assured me that it's a dinosaur bone. Now bear in mind the bone she found is all of about 2 1/2 inches long. "It's a triceratops bone." she said. "Oh, I said. I think maybe it's a little small to be a triceratops bone." She was not daunted. "Well, some triceratops are small." I let it go. There was no need to dampen her discovery. She went on to tell me that she might be a paleontologist when she grows up. This is all thanks to the show "Dinosaur Train". She has learned a lot from it (albeit from a clearly scientific viewpoint). I'm still impressed - I probably couldn't have said dinosaur when I was five - let alone triceratops or paleontologist.

Graduation Day

Thursday night Kaylin graduated from Pre-K. Here are some of the pictures from her special night:

The kids surprised us by walking into the gym to the song "Pomp and Circumstance" wearing little caps and gowns. (I admit I got a little teary-eyed.)

Here the kids are saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

Here they are doing the motions for their first song. In past performances Kaylin has only just stood there and rubbed her eyes. She was very brave at graduation. She not only sang but did all the hand motions as well. We were so proud of her. Here she is receiving her diploma. Afterwards a teacher handed her a carnation and she walked it over and handed it to me. (Okay - I got teary-eyed again.) While the audience watched video highlights of the past year the kids removed their caps and gowns and got ready for their final numbers. Here she is swaying: "JAZZ HANDS" And their finale: "You'd better watch out, 'cause I'm a star!" When Granddad asked her if she was going back to school in September she answered "No. I'm going to college." That is quite some curriculum they've got at that Pre-K.

Toothless Wonder

My baby girl has lost two front teeth. It freaked me out a little at first. Well, actually it freaked us both out but for different reasons. Kaylin had eaten a crunchy dill pickle slice at lunch and when she bit down it hurt her teeth. A little while later she came up to me and started to cry. She had noticed her two loose teeth and was sure the pickle had broken them. I reassured her the best I could that it wasn't the pickle's fault and that her loose teeth were a sign of her growing up. So - now I was sad!! This wasn't supposed to happen for a while. My baby can't be losing her teeth already. After Kaylin got over her initial fears she began getting excited for the impending visit from the Tooth Fairy. I'd been getting anxious for the teeth to come out because her other teeth were already poking through. Eventually, one tooth was loose enough for Daddy to pull. (Thanks Dear for sparing me that unpleasant task.) And what about that Tooth Fairy? Thanks to an episode of the show "Super Why" she was convinced it was okay to leave the Tooth Fairy a note requesting that the tooth not be taken (but of course a gift is still expected). She had actually written the Tooth Fairy the note right after she'd seen the show which was months ago. So we dug the note out of her nightstand drawer and placed it under her pillow with her first tooth. I convinced her, though, that the Tooth Fairy could only leave a tooth once. All other teeth have to be taken. You see - the fairy gets her flying power from the teeth. If every kid keeps all their teeth then she won't be able to get from kid to kid leaving gifts. That seemed to work. We'll see tonight when we put the second tooth under the pillow. Here are the pictures of her with the two loose teeth, the one missing tooth and then the two missing teeth. (You can tell from the pics that she doesn't like the flash on the camera.)

Happy 9th Anniversary

This past Thursday James and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. Actually - we celebrated over the weekend. Kaylin got to spend some quality time with Grandma while James and I took a little road trip.

First we woke up at 4:30am (doesn't sound very much like a vacationy thing to do, does it?) so that we could make it to Ridgeway, Colorado for the "Balloon and Varoom" show. If you can't tell by the name - it was a hot air balloon and antique car show. After we finished there we headed further down the road to Ouray (pronounced "yur a"), Colorado. We took in some of the sites, wondered around town, ate a lot, took a nap (that's what happens when you're old and you wake up at 4:30). The next day we headed on further to Silverton, CO. These are very touristy towns. They are very beautiful in their surroundings but there's not a lot of action in the off-season. Seems we were a couple of weeks early in our venture. Here are a few photos.

I've always wanted to see a hot air balloon show. Someday I'll make it to the one in Albuquerque. But for now - this was a fun prelude. We got to walk around and watch everyone set and blow them up. Very cool to be up close and personal.

Here are a few of the cars. Very cool! I just love this little black truck.

This is a Mercedes. James said it's very very expensive.

Who doesn't need one of these little red accessories?

This is Ouray nestled in a valley. They also call it "Little Switzerland" which you may understand better from the third and forth pics. They also have a natural hot springs pool. We plan on taking Kaylin sometime to enjoy that experience.

Kaylinisms 9

**Last night I made some semi-homemade tomato soup. I was out of crackers so I thought crushed up croutons would be a nice touch. As Kaylin was putting the bits into her soup she said something along the line of "These croutons are good. They add nice texture to the soup." Okay - so maybe she's been watching too much Food Network.

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**My little girl loves music and loves to dance - just not preforming. Several months ago her preschool show was putting on a little show. A few days before hand I mentioned something about it to her on the way home. Here is our exchange:

Me: Did you practice your songs today for your program?

Kaylin: Who told you about that? Did Mrs. Carlson tell you that? (She's upset that I know.)

Me: Well, I know it's on the calendar.

Kaylin: I don't want you to watch me.

Me: Your daddy and I will be there. How about you just pretend that we're not there?

To which she responded with: How about you pretend you are there?

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**Recently I walked into the room where Kaylin was sitting having breakfast. She was in the mood for talking and began asking me questions. I, of course, answered and she kept up the discussion. Then she felt the need to tell me what was going on. She said "We're having an adult conversation."

My Little Van Gogh

This is a picture Kaylin drew. As you can tell it is a flower bouquet. I thought she did a great job with the flowers themselves but I was even more impressed with her outline of a glass vase with dirt on the bottom. She is very talented. No - I'm not biased. This is Kaylin's version of Van Gogh's "Irises" or "Sunflowers". It'll be selling for millions some day.

Paper Money and Hard Lessons

Kaylin has been begging me lately for paper money. I'm not exactly sure what brought this on but after some thought I decided to roll with it. I decided to put together a chore chart for her. It's never too early to have a to-do list, right? Well - right now the chart consists of only three things. The list will grow with her. She is responsible for feeding her fish, making her bed, and picking up all toys, clothes, clutter she gets out in a day's time. After she marks off her chores I give her a dime. If she successfully gets 7 dimes in a row, she can trade them in for paper money ($1). Yes, I realize she gets a profit of 30 cents but breaking down a dollar into seven days would have been more of a headache for me. Besides it gives her extra incentive to complete all seven days. The reality is I'm not sure whom the chart benefits more - her or me. It helps me to be more disciplined in reminding/teaching her to help around the house.

Well - Sunday I gave her her first paper money. I explained her options. We needed to share with God first. Then she could either spend or save. She wanted to spend. I told her we could go to the dollar store and find something. But first we made a trip to Target. And this is where she learned a hard lesson - you can't buy much for a dollar. Now Target does have it's small little dollar section at the front of the store but she didn't find anything that tripped her fancy. Then she wanted to go back to the toy section. Poor girl! Everytime she found something she might like I had to break it to her. She couldn't afford it. Sure there were a couple of items that were around the $2.50-$3.50 range. I technically could have made up the difference but what kind of lesson would I have been teaching her? So I stuck with the dollar price tag. I again explained she could buy something small with a little bit of money or save it and buy something bigger. She was intent on spending this dollar so off we went to the dollar store. How do you teach a child not to buy something just because you can afford it but buy it becuase you actually want it. I felt like she was getting desperate just to buy something. In the end - we went to Target and two dollar stores before she settled on a princess wand. I'm hoping next week I can talk her into saving the dollar.