Guess who made dessert?

Hey Mom

Happy Mother's Day to our favorite Moms.

Where would we be without you?

Free Comicbook Day

Good times. But only Ghostbusters are cool enough to bend down to have their photo taken with a shorty.

In other news ...

So, what did you tell Mommy her new haircut looked like?

Justin Bieber. Do you know who that is, Daddy?

No, who is it?

He's this boy who is a singer and he has pretty hair. And he sings like a girl.

Eat your oatmeal

Daddy, are you OK?

I'm starting my day with a migraine, honey.

What's a minegram?

A migraine is a very bad headache. Daddy gets them when he gets stressed out.

Why?

Eat your oatmeal.

Several minutes of eating - and being reminded to eat - go by.

Hey, if you hurry up and eat, I can show you something special this morning?

What?!

Well, there is a wedding this morning. A girl is marrying a prince - so she becomes a real princess!

Really?

Yup.

Just like Uncle Ry and Erinn?

Well, not quite. But close.

Are they on TV?

Yes. They live in another country.

See? Just like Uncle Ry is in another country!

Eat your oatmeal.

Several more minutes go by with various levels of eating productivity.

Maybe we should go to the Chinese place.

The Chinese place?

Yeah.

What Chinese place?

The Chinese place next to the Target.

Oh, the Pei Wei restaurant?

Yeah.

Why should we go there?

Because they have soup.

Why do we need soup?

To make you feel better.

Maybe we should. Eat your oatmeal.

Man down

Whoopsie. Happy Easter.

Lazy Sunday

The neighbors surprised Kaylee with a new kite.

So we all went to the park and flew it.

It was a good day.

She says "cheese" ...

Just playing with my latest app.

Air 'em out

Apparently, the cool thing to do on the way home from school is to take off your shoes and socks and hang your foot out the window.
Try it sometime. Just not while you're driving.

My artist

"Black Horse"
Kaylee Rice, marker and paper
2011

Fear the worst

Mom? Can I go outside and play with Allison for five minutes?
OK, but I'm making dinner soon.

OK, I'll come back soon!

Door opens. Pitter patter of feet running on the front walk

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Parents fearing the worst scramble for the door.

MOM! Pork Chop peed on our new plants!

Parents retreat inside, shaking their heads.

Big kid

Sometimes I snap a picture and it hits me just how much she's grown. Not just physically, but as an individual.

Fightin' the Irish

Daddy, do you know what tomorrow is?

No. What?

It's St. Patrick's Day! So we have to wear green!

Oh, OK. Remind me in the morning.

Do you know what you do on St. Patrick's Day?

No. Tell me.

You put out gold for the St. Patricks.

You put out gold FOR the St. Patricks?

Yes. And you dig a hole. And you put the gold on top. And you trap them.

Oh really. And what do you do after you trap them?

You smile at them.

So why are we trapping St. Patricks?

St. Patricks come into your house and they play tricks on you.

Tricks? What kind of tricks?

Well, they come in your house and surprise you. And when you go outside, they drew Xs all over your rocks.

Xs?

Yes. So we have to trap them.

Obviously. I don't want any St. Patricks in my house.

No. Me neither.

Daddy?

Yes?

Do we have any gold?

Surrounded by LARPers

Renaissance Festival tickets for the adults. $80

Full tank of gas. Too much to think about

Five bottles of water. $10

Chicken on a stick. $4

Mermaid arm painting. $15

Braided hair. $13

Wooden sword & shield. $22

Frozen ball of orange stuff. $2

Llama ride. $4

Camel ride. $4 (plus $4 for mom)

Elephant ride. $5

Ride in a giant wooden swan. $6

One good photo if two girls at the one moment they weren't fighting over the parasol? Priceless.

U of A. U of A.

I took Kaylee to her first Widcats game today.
She met Wilbur. They won the PAC-10 championship. She got cotton candy. They locked an undefeated season at home.
Not bad for one afternoon.

XXOO

Kaylee gives great hugs. Even if she is a bit camera shy these days.

Penwheel

It's called a penwheel because it has a stick shaped like a pen with a wheel on it.

The send off

Stay safe Uncle Ry.

Stolen moments

Play times have been few and far between this weekend. But the ones we have had have been worth the trip.

Love stinks

Happy trails

Every girl's dream is to ride a horse.

I don't know what it is about the things, but the girls love 'em. Kaylee has been asking about riding a horse for almost as long as she could string together a sentence. Unfortunately, everything we looked into required her to be five years old.

Then our friends introduced us to Chip.

Chip is a tiny little thing – not much taller than Kaylee. He's got a soft, brown coat. He likes to lick the salt off your hands. And best of all – you only have to be four years old to ride him.

Kaylee seemed to get the hang of things quickly. Not that there's a lot to riding a horse this size. Especially when he's actually being led around by a rope. But she sat up straight, worked the reins and loved every minute of it.

I have a feeling Chip and Kaylee are going to be seeing more of each other in the near future.

Breakfast of champions

Maple & Brown Sugar oatmeal with Cheez-Its.
For dipping.
Ew.

Dear Kaylee

Dear Kaylee,

You asked me to send you pictures of my trip and of snow. This is both in one shot!

I took this while I was in the airplane this afternoon. That's Chicago! Doesn't it look tiny? (If you look closely at the bottom of the photo, you can see Wrigley Field. That's where the Cubs play baseball!)

I got to see all the snow from the air. It was cool. We even flew over the lake. It was covered in ice!

Be good for Mommy. I miss you and will see you soon.

Love, Daddy

The kid's got taste

New artwork for the bedroom. Kaylee approves.

On the way to school

Daddy, why is it Grandpa Charlie's birthday?

Because this is the day he was born, kid.

He was borned? Then who's his mommy?

GG is his mommy. Everybody has a mommy.

Yeah. I have a mommy and she has a mommy and you have a mommy.

Yup.

I bet Grandma Susie is in your heart even though she died.

Yeah …

Kids. They say the darndest things.

Someone should make a TV show about that.

Snow art

"I'm throwing snowballs at the stop light."

Quote of the night

"My bottom is burning!!"

Running around the McDonald's playplace while singing Mr. Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire"

My geek is learning to spell

Momma cow.

Octopus.

Lion.

Ghostbuster.

Wolverine.

Captain America.

Awesome

Cheeeeesssseeeee ...

The latest favorite

Fruit Ninja. Watch out for the bombs.

Growing up

Watching her get ready for school this morning, I laughed to myself as she strained to look in the mirror to wipe the toothpaste from her chin. So grown up, yet so far to go.

Then I realized it wasn't too long ago that she couldn't see her face in the mirror.

Then I realized it wouldn't be long before she didn't need the step stool to see what she was doing.

Then I asked her to check her face again so I could save the moment.

Also ...

… because of our little trip up a little mountain – Kaylee now wants to try rock climbing.

At least she did before she tripped on some loose gravel and face-planted.

Luckily, we were already at the bottom.