A Bug's Life - enough already!

Elizabeth's obsession for the week is the movie A Bug's Life. She's had the movie for some time and a friend of ours gave her a series of books based on the movie a while back. But, it wasn't until this past week when her cousin Brooke was here and they both watched the movie (many times) and read the books (even more times) together that Elizabeth's obsession started. I always know when a movie obsession is here, because it means she wants me to pretend to act out the movie with her...over and over and over and over again. And, this movie obsession is even worse than the others she's had - mainly because she's starting to remember more of the scenes, which means it takes a lot longer to act it out. Not to mention the fact that the movie has a ton of characters, and there are only 2 of us, so each of us has to pretend to be about a dozen different bugs throughout the course of the movie. It's mind-numbing and exhausting, all at once.

On Sunday afternoon, after the 3rd round of the Bug's Life reenactment, I had reached my limit. I was lamenting the fact that the weather was nasty and we couldn't play outside. But, then, I stumbled upon a moment of pure parenting genius. I brought up one of the big boxes that our furniture had come in. I told her we could turn it into a house...or a ship...or anything we could think of. The possibilities were endless.

She was really excited:







And, I was too...until she told me what the box was going to be...the ant colony...and it was time for the Bug's Life game to start all over again...sigh...somebody please squish me and put me out of my misery.

Cousin Week, Part 2

All the cousins went home today, and our house is eerily quiet. David even took Elizabeth with him when he went to drop Jonathan off at the airport, so I got some much-needed time to catch up on work stuff while they were gone.

Here are some pictures from the 2nd half of the week:

On Wednesday, Gran and I took Elizabeth to her ballet class. She fell asleep in the car, so she was pretty tired at first:



But, she eventually woke up and enjoyed it - especially when it was her turn to be a ladybug!



That night, we all had fun making and decorating cookies at Gran's house:











Granddad and Granny Pat came over to play also, and the kids all enjoyed hearing Granddad read them stories:





Bridger continued to enjoy playing with the girls' things, including a pretty pink raincoat:



William still enjoyed watching the bigger kids, but his Mommy still seems to be his favorite thing in the world (except when he's hungry, of course...):









His paci also ranks right up there:



He's still not sure about the jumperoo, but he's willing to try it now and again:



All the kids were very happy to see their Daddies at the end of the week:



and so were the Mommies! The boys had a great time on their trip to Washington, D.C. We've decided their trip can be a bi-annual trip. And on the other years, the Mommies are going to go away - without any kids. That means next year is our turn!

Cousin week

This week, all of the Waggener girls and babies are in Lexington while Neal, David, Jack, and Jonathan are off exploring Washington, D.C. The kids are having so much fun together! As you can imagine, our houses have been pure chaos with them running around, but we've all really enjoyed it. Fortunately, we've had beautiful weather the past few days, so they have spent a lot of time playing outside.

The girls are having a great time playing together. It's been a lot of fun to watch them really start to interact with each other. We've had a few times when they've acted like true siblings (reminding us a lot of me and Amy when we were kids), but for the most part they're getting along great.

Here are some pictures of the dynamic duo:

Brooke and Elizabeth in their matching Kentucky outfits:



Playing together on the swingset:



Having a tea party (or should I say a bean party?):



Feeding the ducks:





Reading with Gran:



Playing dress-up after bathtime:



Bridger is also having a great time. He is full of energy, and loves to chase after balls, the cat and the dog (or the "oof oof", as he calls all dogs).

Tonight, he wanted his own turn at dress-up:



But, even though he does succumb to the temptation of a pink tutu and princess wand every once in a while, he's definitely all rough and tumble boy. Here's a picture of him mowing the lawn:



Baby William really enjoys watching the big kids run around, but his true loves seem to be his Mommy and eating (not necessarily in that order...). Feeding him has become a group effort:





He doesn't seem to care who holds the spoon - as long as it goes in his mouth!





I also have a blackmail picture of him too, wearing Elizabeth's pink sunhat:



These poor boys - they didn't know what they were getting into when they joined the Waggener family!

Preschool art

Elizabeth brings home something that she's made at school everyday. We call these things "crafts" because, while they're cute, they usually don't involve much more on her part than gluing or coloring. Until now, I haven't considered much of what she does "art", because there wasn't any creativity involved. But, recently, she's started to actually draw a lot more on her own.

Here's a picture she drew on her Etch-a-sketch recently:




You probably won't recognize it on your own, but this is a picture of King Triton from the Little Mermaid:



I thought this was a pretty good representation - she got his crown, beard, and scepter. She told me his tail would have been better, but she ran out of room. I think it's safe to say her artistic ability has now surpassed mine!

By the way, "The Little Mermaid" has recently become one of her favorite movies. She's even currently saying she wants an Ariel birthday cake - which means Ariel has replaced Dora as the character of choice (at least for the time being). She even told us tonight that she wants to add an Ariel doll to her birthday list.

Catching up

I've been way too busy at work the last few weeks to post anything. But, I'm finally caught up enough at work to catch up on the blog. So, here we go!

Last Saturday, we had the tile backsplash installed in our kitchen. It looks great! We also picked out our new light fixture, since our furniture is supposed to come in sometime this week. David is now done painting the walls (and has admitted he LOVES the new color).

Here's a picture of Elizabeth helping him paint:



I'll post a final update picture once the furniture and lights are in.

Last Saturday, we took Elizabeth to Winterfest, which is the winter carnival at Stonewall Elementary (the elementary school she will attend). She had a lot of fun playing all the games:



But, I'm pretty sure her favorite part was the cotton candy!



Pat fixed David a wonderful birthday dinner last weekend, and Elizabeth helped him blow out the candles on his cake:



Of course, she was also more than happy to help him lick the frosting off the candles too!





Then, she spent a long time playing with the birthday balloons:



She came up with a "new" game - trying to keep the balloons up in the air without letting them fall onto the ground. She didn't seem to believe me when I told her that her aunts and I used to play the same game when we were little!