Laddie Turns Twelve

Laddie turned twelve this month and when Sadie found out she was insistent we have a party for him.

Well, I've promised Laddie that I would never make him wear a party hat. Although there is a picture floating around out there of him wearing an afro wig- maybe Aunt Schleck can find it as I lost it when the old computer crashed. Well, I never promised him he wouldn't have to wear an afro.

Turns out, the big draw of a party was to give him treats- they love giving him treats- and to blow out candles and sing. Of course.

So we did.

Doesn't this bowl of chicken scraps and dog treats look delicious?

It was great fun to make.

Then they practiced for the big blow.

Which is on video somewhere on Will's iPod. Which I have no access to at this moment. And rather than putting off a blog post (again!) I just decided you could see it later.

Or never.

And Laddie loved this treat. And the bone from the butcher we gave him as a present.

He deserves them, since he is the world's sweetest doggy.

And then Sadie asked me if we ever had another dog if he would be as good as Laddie.

And I thought, maybe, but probably not.

Happy 12th birthday, Rusty-Old-Lad-Dog.

Paper Bags

Once again our Sesame Street books from the 70s have given us a completely low-tech craft. We all made these growing up and it appears that it is just as thrilling in 2011 as it was in 1977.

Paper bag masks.

Paper bags, yarn, markers, glue, why do these kinds of things make me so happy? Add in a pompom or pipe cleaner and I'm in heaven.

I guess I can still remember how things like pompoms and pipe cleaners only made an appearance every so often, so it always made things more fun.

And you should have seen these two when the pipe cleaners hit the table.

Silas was a robot.

Sadie was a fancy lady with a hat and antennae. All fancy ladies have antennae, don't they?

I got this pose.

Silas's robot eye hole was bothering him, so we cut it bigger.

So then he looked like a television from the 70s, which I found extremely amusing.

All this reminds me to pull out the pipe cleaners more often.

We only have so long that they will the highlight of their day. And mine.

First Day

Sadie had her first day of preschool last Thursday, and her second today.

I tried to take pictures but this is what I got when I tried to get her to pose:

So that went well.

Maybe for her first day of kindergarten I can get a picture of her behind a door or something.

It took her about a half an hour when we first arrived to be comfortable with me leaving. She was so excited to be there but she has been having a bit of separation anxiety in the last few months.

I told her that I was pretty sure that when I returned in a few hours she wouldn't be happy to see me as she would be having so much fun and wouldn't want to leave.

I was right. Although I happened to arrive at the precise moment that she managed to lock herself in the bathroom. Of course the door isn't supposed to be closed all the way but being my child she managed to not only close it but lock it.

We talked her through the unlocking of the lock and she ran into my arms. All I could think was that the fun she had probably had for the past 3 hours was now going to be negated by the bathroom fiasco and she would never want to return.

But no, she hugged me for a minute, stopped crying, blamed ME for the door locking (!), and ran back into the classroom to read a book.

And this is how I found her, happy as a clam on Miss Lindsey.

And while I'm glad that the experience didn't ruin preschool forever, it would be nice not to be the scapegoat on this one. I'm sure I'll get blamed for enough things in the next 18 years or so.

I guess that's what we mothers do, huh?

Take one for the team, smooth over the rough spots, carry the load and all that fun stuff.

But look at her and Miss Lindsey. She's in heaven:

I guess I'll have to take the fall this time, since she now says I wish I could go to preschool EVERY day!

And that's what we mothers want, as many experiences as possible to be filled with joy and fun and laughter. And not traumatizing bathroom lockage and fears.

Glad I could help, Sadiecakes.

Cabin 9

We went camping at Silver Falls the last couple of days. Or maybe I should say "cabinning," although spell-check has informed me that it is not a word. Too bad.

And let me tell you, cabinning is awesome.

Just a little two room cabin. But real-ish beds, heat for the cold mornings and electric lights and outlets really jazz up the camping experience.

Some of you might argue that this is not really a camping experience, and I would probably agree. But then I would ask you why you are groaning in pain and you will tell me about that freaking inescapable ROCK that was under your back all night in your tent.

And I will remember all of my "real" camping nights in my life and go and give my cabin a great, big hug.

See, no frills:

But awesome.

And those waterfalls are pretty cool too.

You even go behind some of them.

And here are our shoes.

Do you hear that? That is the sound of my 16 year-old self screaming in agony that I am wearing Birkenstock sandals with socks.

And to her I say, Woman, but they are just so darn comfortable. You'll forgive me in 21 years.

And Sadie's favorite part. Toasting marshmallows for s'mores.

And, of course, eating them.

Then she would say, Mama, I have a headache and a tummy ache and might throw up. Which is usually the sign of enough s'more. N'more, if you will.

But then 2 minutes later she was back in action. And she was very proud of her toasting technique with this one below.

I have no pictures of when Silas decided to terrify us all by hiding in the bushes and not answering when we were screaming his name.

Turns out, he was pooping. He hides and doesn't like to answer when he's pooping.

Thank god the kid has blond hair and I spotted him standing there watching us all go cracker-cakes. Stinker.

I don't think I can ever go camping again unless he's on a leash. Oh, that's not legal?

OK, maybe we can go when he's 37 years old and won't wander off. My heart can't take that again.

Barring runaway toddlers, it was great to be out-of-doors. Cooking over the fire, washing dishes under cold spigots, going for moonlit walks, sleeping in a real-ish bed, remembering how dirty it is possible to get.

I can't wait to do it again with the kids in 35 years.