Ladybug Girl to the Rescue!

Tuesday afternoon.  I am cleaning house, sorting through the kids' clothes and packing up winter things, etc. The kids are running around playing and entertaining themselves, so I'm not paying too much attention to them.  Then the Doodlebug wants to go outside and help Dad, who is working in the front yard.  So I let him out, and when I come back inside, I can't find Franny-girl anywhere.  Then I see her running through the backyard, like this:

 

She looks like some strange Frog-Butterfly Superhero on a mission.  In case you are wondering, those are Christmas trees on her glasses.

 She was running around the backyard carrying on this intense running monologue.  "Look at those puddles!  Those are BEAU-tiful puddles!  Let's count those puddles.  One...two...three...four...Look at those birds!  Those are beau-tiful birds!!  Let's count those birds!"  I couldn't quit laughing.

 

 The Doodle came back with some dandelions he had collected.  

  

Which makes me think of this sweet little book:

 Does anyone remember this book?  We'll have to look for it at the library.  By the way, have I mentioned how much I love it that the kids are old enough now to follow actual stories, and not just read picture books?  So much fun!!  (Except that Frances still wants to read Go, Dog, Go! every single night.  I feel like I've read it at least once a day for the past four months.  Would it be wrong of me to hide this book?)

Little Chef and the Alligator

I just have a few random pictures so I thought I'd post a life here the past few weeks.  First, the Doodlebug thinks he's this guy from the movie Ratatouille:

 In case you haven't seen the movie, this kid who works in a restaurant but can't cook meets a rat who is a great cook but can't work in a restaurant because, you know, he's a rat.  So the rat hides in the kid's chef's hat and helps him cook, propelling him into a career as a celebrity chef.  The kid calls the rat "Little Chef."

So the Doodle has this little plastic lion that he carries around and calls Little Chef.  I guess because it has whiskers like a rat?  Anyway, Craig made him this chef's hat from posterboard.  The Doodle keeps the Little Chef in his hat.  It's mildly hilarious.

 
Now Lady Frances.  I post this picture even though her eyes are closed for two reasons.  One, because she insisted on wearing this ensemble all day, including at the dinner table.  Two, her eyes are closed because she is preparing to jump.  Which she did, off of the rim of the wagon.  I don't know how it didn't turn over on top of her.

Here they are at the zoo last week:

What else? We were driving the other day when Craig turned around and looked at Atticus sitting there in his carseat, serious as can be, wearing the chef's hat (yes, I know).  Craig laughs, saying, "He looks like the pope...or a priest...whoever it is that wears those hats."  Atticus says, "What's a BEAST?  I look like a beast?"

As for Franny-bug, she loves to ride the elevator at the museum, but she calls it the alligator.  As in, "Mommy, we went up in the Alligator today."  And she insists on wearing her brother's underwear.  You know, because they have Thomas the Train on them.  Sooo much cooler than her own.  She'll love that story someday.