The Thoughts and Sayings of Preschoolers ~ Volume II

"Teacher... I forgot your name" - boy
"My name is Rene'" - me (obviously)
"Oh.  Can I call you something else?" - boy

"So do mommy and daddy speak spanish a lot at home?" - me
"sometimes" - girl
"do you know spanish too?" - me
"yup!" - girl
"That's awesome!  Can you tell me something in spanish?" - me
"no... (looking at me as if I were a crazy person) ...I don't think in spanish!" - girl

[working on an art project with a little boy, who apparently doesn't like glue]
"okay, now use your glue finger to spread around the glue." - me
(blank stare)
"well if you don't use your glue finger to spread the glue around how will it get glued and stick on?" - me
(boy takes MY hand and uses MY finger to spread around the glue, and giggles)

"I'm going to DJ a party this weekend.  That means I have to pretend to like Justin Beiber, because *girl* really likes Justin Beiber.  When I DJ I bring the house down!  That means that they all think I'm awesome." - boy
"Oh really?  I bet you're a great DJ!" - me
"Ya... I like to DJ most of the time." - boy

[same boy]
"I can't wait until payday!  I get payday every two weeks.  I've been saving up all my paydays so that I can get my special toy that's number 1 on my wish list!" - boy
"You get paydays, huh?  Lucky you!" - me
"Ya.  Not every Saturday, but almost every Saturday.  Usually I get to go buy a toy, but I've been saving up my paydays because I need $100." - boy
"$100??  Must be a pretty special toy!  And you must have been saving for a long time, too!" - me
"No... just two weeks." - boy
[Teacher Becky and I exchanged looks... both hoping that a 4 year old doesn't get paid better than we do ;) or just that his special toy isn't really that expensive!]

"TEACHER!!!! (coming from across the room) - boy
"Boy!" - me
(confused look....) "Teacherrrrrrr!!!" - boy
"Boyyyy!" - me
"Teee Cherrrr!" - boy
"Boy?" - me
"Are you talking to me?" - boy
"Well that depends, are you talking to me?" - me
"Teacher... ...Rene'" - boy

[The next few are from Halloween.  We took each of our four classes trick-or-treating!  Don't worry, I survived!]

"Ooooooo, batman is here!" - me
"No... I'm John Wayne." - boy
(and yes, he was in the batman suit)

(taking a piece of candy out of his bucket and handing it to me) "You can have this" - boy
"Oh, thank you!  That's very nice of you to share!" - me
"I don't want it, she said it was a broken" - boy
(it was a little box of milkduds...)

(at snack time we had cupcakes with spiders on top)
"Okay, *girl*, which kind of cupcake do you want; chocolate or strawberry?" - me
"I want a spider!" - girl
"No, which flavor do you want?" - me
"The spider!" - girl
"All of them have spiders... which flavor?  Chocolate or strawberry?" - me
"Oh... the spider one!" - girl

Origami: it's harder than you might think!

Dustin and I just celebrated our 1 year anniversary!  As many of you know, each anniversary is traditionally paired with an item or material.  The first anniversary is 'Paper'.  How appropriate!  Unless you are an heir to a family fortune, or a rare breed that lands a hugely successful job straight out of school, OR are even luckier and hit the lottery, your first year of marriage is likely marked by tight budgets and living paycheck to paycheck trying to figure out how to finance the life of a 'big kid' while balancing all your wants and gimmies.  Because of this, it is unlikely to have a handful of money to spend on a lavish celebration of, let's face it, surviving a year of new experiences as a married couple.  But paper... everybody has paper!  So paper it is!

Dustin and I decided (or rather, Dustin was tricked into participating) to take this milestone quite literally and celebrate with paper.  We pulled out some paper from my craft stash and searched for an easy origami pattern to attempt.  Quickly, we discovered that there is no such thing as an 'easy' origami pattern.

Our first effort was to make a rose.  This began with approximately 20 folds into a square piece of paper... and ended at that!  Dustin tried to connect with his inner asian, attempting the next steps, but quickly realized that he does not have an inner asian.  The rose pattern and instructions were scrapped and we moved onto a google search for 'easy origami for kids'.  This search produced a much less complicated flower pattern with pictures and detailed instructions.  Thanks to the kid-friendly origami we finally succeeded at creating our mostly recognizable flowers.

The adventure with origami taught us a few things.  First, origami is much harder than you might think.  Second, we are not as good at following directions as we think.  Third, I am better at following directions than Dustin.  : )  And finally, Dustin loves me enough to sit around on our anniversary folding paper.

Here is a look at our creations.  I'll let you guess which one is mine and which one is Dustin's!   : )

Take me out to the ball game!

Two years ago Dustin and I were lucky enough to get free tickets to a Mariner's game.  We had a great time with a couple good friends and couldn't wait until we could go back again.  We were lucky to still have contacts for tickets and planned another Mariner's trip!  This time a good friend, Kellen, and my sister went with us.

This was Sarah's first Mariner's game... and I hope it won't be the last.

I love this sign, and this place.  It's even better when there's a soccer game going on in the background and the fireworks go off!  It's also fun when it's 'Fan Appreciation Night' and they give out tons of prizes.  Too bad we didn't win any of them...

This was the beginning of the end.  I claim that Dustin jinxed the Mariner's because he posted that they were winning... then in a matter of minutes the Ranger's had three home runs to tie up the score.

Even though the Mariner's spent the rest of the game trying to catch up, it was still pretty eventful.

Ichiro, gotta love him. 

Our seats were amazing!  (Thanks, Kevin!!!)  We were sitting behind home plate twenty seats up, just to the right, towards the Mariner's dugout.

Rally Time!!!  ...but it didn't work.  (note: check out the kid behind Kellen and Dustin.  He's intense!)

Me and Sarah  : )  We'll have to go to more games together in the future.

All in all, it was a very fun night!  Although, make sure you're hydrated before going to the games!  A water bottle is $4.50, beer is between $8 and $12 dollars and food is as greasy as it is expensive!  But it's all party of the experience I hear...

Table Talk

The following is a summarized version of the conversation that Dustin (and I) had while eating dinner last night.  It was a doozy!



Dustin wishes he knew what Porter was thinking, or that Porter could talk.

Problem: What if Porter could speak, but he only spoke chinese?

Dustin's solution: Hire a chinese kid to be our live-in translator.

Problem: Child labor laws.

Solution: Not tell anyone?  OR hire (cough *adopt* cough) a little chinese girl, whose parents sent her to the US because they can only have 1 kid and they want it to be a boy.

Problem: Little chinese girls are good at gymnastics???  (side note: the parents wouldn't have smuggled her into the US if she were a good gymnast, therefore there might not be many little chinese girls out there for hire)

Solution: A little girl who is bad at gymnastics can still be a good translator. 

Problem:  Porter doesn't really speak any language... not even chinese.

No Solution.  Darn.

I guess we'll never know what Porter is really thinking.

Love list...

After the post entirely about things that I dislike, I thought it would be nice to create a list of things that I DO like!  : )

• Chai tea lattes
• Bubble baths
• A good book that you can't put down
• Finding money in a coat or pants pocket
• Strawberry Lemondrop martinis
• Mail... real mail, no junk mail
• A perfect hair day
• Flip flops and painted toenails
• Sleeping in
• The little things; love notes, helping hands, etc.
• Puppy dreams and puppy tongues
• Chocolate!!!  ...without nuts, coconut, creme or toffee
• Thunderstorms
• Polka dots
• Taking photos
• Pizza
• Show tunes
• Black and white photos
• Cinnamon
• Organization
• Lunchables... yes, lunchables
• HGTV
• Writing, Drawing and Painting
• Fluffy pillows
• S'mores!
• Sunglasses
• Fresh flowers
• Dill pickles and baby corn
• Massages
• Anything vintage or antique
• Dimples
• Crossword puzzles
• Playing Piano
• Scrapbooks
• Yard sales!
• Sweatpants
• Green eyes
• Swing dancing
• Pearls
• Fresh fruit
• Eyeshadow
• Craigslist
• Ice-cream
• Purses
• Cosmo
• Sunsets
• Inside jokes
• Butterfly kisses
• Clearance sales
• Swingsets and seasaws
• Pandora
• Bobbypins
• Slippers and bathrobes
• Netflix
• Finding something that was lost
• Driving with the windows down, radio up and feet on the dash
• Cover-up, concealer and foundation
• Musicals and old black and white films
• Night-lit skylines
• The Original Super Mario Bros.
• Cute old men and little old ladies
• Freckle-faced kids
• Stained glass windows
• British and Irish accents
• Scratch Tickets
• Curly hair and pigtails
• The smell of fresh rain and fresh cut grass
• Fireworks and sparklers
• Rainbows and double rainbows
• Cracking open a new can of tennis balls
• Minigolf
• Running through sprinklers
• Rubber Duckies
• Baking cookies, cheesecake, cupcakes, etc.
• Rainboots
• Paydays
• (some) surprises
• Airconditioning
• Chocolate Malts
• People-watching
• Spending time with friends and family