Once upon a time ...

It's Fairy Tale Week at school — an here's the kid's take on it all.
Bonus points for "porage." Based on the spelling you know she came up with that herself. Either that or school needs to spend more money on books of higher quality for her to copy from.
And yes, Lumpy should be capitalized as it is a brand-name porridge.

Meeting the New Elephants at the Zoo

Surprise! Neighbors were at the zoo too.

Feeding the giraffes was one of the highlights of the trip.

But we were really all about the new elephant family at our city's zoo. There are five of them, including a 1-year-old and a 5-year-old sister and brother.

Kaylee and dad with the papa of the elephant herd. He weighs 10,500 pounds!

Spring Performance

Time to get funky y'all

Getting ready for the Cha Cha Slide...

Doing the Cha Cha

Angry pants and space aliens

Kaylee doesn't wear pants.

It's not that she doesn't like them – she hates them. She's constantly complaining about how uncomfortable they are and how they hurt her belly.

Being good parents, we chalk it up to her just wanting to only wear her dresses and ignore her.

Ow. My belly hurts.

It does not.

Yes it does. Look!

Now imagine our surprise when we find, not ten minutes after having her put the pants on, an angry red line cutting across her mid-section.

The pants! They're too small! That's the problem!

To Target!

Now, nothing excites me more than hanging out in the clothing section of our local department store and watching my wife pick up every pair of pants.

Every. Pair. Of. Pants.

Seriously, I don't think she leaves a stone unturned. If there is a 5T pair of pants to find, she's going to have them in her hands. And half of them aren't good enough. I personally don't see much difference between this one or that one – but then that's probably why she's the one doing the looking.

So I do what every other dad does. I wander.

I usually find myself drifting over to the boys' clothing section. Let's face it – 6-year-old boys and I are practically the same demographic when it comes to our interests. Monsters. Legos. Super heroes …

So it was no surprise when I grabbed a Star Wars shirt off the rack and showed it to my daughter. And since she's my daughter, she was actually interested in it.

It was a nice shirt. One of those vintage-looking numbers with a long-sleeved tee sewn inside. On the front there was a grid of various characters from the original trilogy.

Being the good dad that I am, I began to quiz her on the various droids, bounty hunters and scruffy-looking nerd-herders.

She did pretty well …

That's Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight.

Princess Leia. (Of course she knows the princess.)

Han Solo. He's friends with Chewbacca.

Ummm … Star Wars alien …

IT'S A TRAP!*

Someday, this girl is going to be so embarrassed to admit the things she knows. But right now, I'm so proud of my little geek.

* Basically, the point of this whole post was to get to this punch line. If you don't understand this, or didn't find it humorous, I can't help you. In fact, you are probably my father.**

** NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!***

*** C'mon. Even my Dad has to get that reference.

Bikin'

She's getting harder and harder to keep up with. At least on foot.

Pals

I'm too lazy to crop and/or tone (or even caption) these today. But I figure the cuteness of it all overshadows that.

Yeehaw

I think we finally found a way to get her to wear blue jeans. Unfortunately, I don't think we can let her wear the same shirt every day. (And mom's hat is a little big on her.)

Even if it would make her smell like a cowboy.

Lipstick for elephants

Dad, look what I did. I put lipstick on my elephant. You should take a picture of it and put it on the blogs. That's why I did it. So you would put it on the blogs.

Random Collection of Kaylee Photo Fun

Hanging with Uncle Chuck and Erin at Sabino Canyon

Hanging with two girlfriends at the cupcake shop

Hanging with her bestie at the comic shop

Being "Ladybug Girl" -- a character from one of her favorite books

Playing "bug squad" with bestie and new friend made at the zoo

Showing Uncle Chuck and Erin it's brave to put their feet in the water

Trying not to get her dress wet

Watching out for her toes

Feeling the big splash

Warming up in the sand at Sabino Canyon

Taking the lead

Putting on the sunscreen

Singing...

Singing...

Cracking herself up

Sunday morning movie

Daddy. I want to watch a movie.

OK. Which one?

Return of the Jedi.

My work here is done.

Saylee

I thought it was cute when Kaylee made drawings of herself and her best friend. Then it got REALLY cute when she glued them together so they could be a Saylee. (We've covered this before, right? When the two of them put their heads together, that's what they call themselves.)
How cute? Super cute.

I got a rock

Kaylee chose her gift from GG to open on Christmas Eve.

For months, ever since she saw one at school, she's been talking about geodes and how cool these "rocks with crystals inside" are. Well, GG heard about this and decided to share part of Grandpa Rice's rock collection with her.

As you can see, she was thrilled to receive it – and I was thrilled that something that meant so much to GG is going to be a gift she cherishes for years to come.

Or at least until she sees that doll house Santa is dropping off tonight.

More to come tomorrow I am sure. But for now – Merry Christmas to all.

Can't put anything past a five-year-old

"Dad, what color was Michael Jackson when he was a kid?"

Happy Holidays

From the backs of Kaylee and Sara's heads. (And a mule butt or two.)

It's cold

Dad, look at my arms. I have moose bumps.

Goose bumps, Kaylee. They're called goose bumps.

No dad, these are bigger than gooses.

Quote of the day

"Dad, could you please not put this in your newspaper? I would be so embarrassed."

Best. Quote. Ever.

I only wish I could give you context.

Five

She got a bike. She got a Batgirl. She got a Barbie.

And a crown.

Gotta love the crown.

The big show

Watch the kid in the middle. She's cute.

Pecan Festival

Look at all the cool stuff going on this weekend. Kinda makes you wish you were here, doesn't it?

Yeah, I thought so.

Maggie came to visit

I can totally see right up her nose from here.