Too nice

They decided they wanted to do their homework outside.

What is it?

Anna looks on as Victor opens a present.

Things found in Anna's pockets

When doing laundry there's always something interesting to be found as I check the pockets of Anna's clothes. The yoghurt raisins box is, in this case, unopened, but in the past she's eaten the raisins and filled the box with little things. I managed to get her to wear her neckerchief on her the last time the kids went to Beavers... but when I picked them up she wasn't wearing it anymore (it was in the pocket of her vest).

Unfolding/unrolling the paper yields what appears to be a leaf.

Non-latex balloon

Anna made a non-latex balloon to bring on the weekend, since Mommy is allergic.

Meanwhile Victor was packing mini-figures, in the midst of all the regular balloons that Anna can't bring.

The Brick

When I arrived at the daycare, this is what Anna was doing. My understanding is that they were pretending to be puppies, and not that she was being dragged around like in one of those Westerns. Sure looked like the latter to me, though.

They found a brick in the Dark Forest of Doom (the forest seems to have acquired an extra adjective).

They decided they had to share the burden.

And then they had to run.

Almost home, they're still carrying it.

They didn't play with it at home, though, they decided to rediscover all their porch toys.

And then Anna remembered the bubbles she'd acquired at school (no idea why she was given bubbles and a yo-yo at school). Anna is trying to pop the bubbles as Victor blows them.

Anna's turn to blow bubbles while Victor pops.

Anna in the box

As I'm shaving, I hear a bedroom door open, and then “Dad, did you get the hand out?”

Victor, as he was going to bed, wanted to get the detached hand of this Lego minifigure out of the screw-hole in the Millenium Falcon where it had ended up stuck. I had promised I would do it. Clearly it was on his mind as he awoke and here he is showing the hand (which you can't see because it is tiny) and the screw-hole in question.

When I went downstairs this is how I found Anna. I think she's part kitten. The balloons and the box are detritus from KT's birthday party.

At school, the play structure was finally open. I have no idea how these bars are supposed to be utilized, but this is what she and a few other kids were doing.

And she had to do it backwards too.

I think I'm finally getting the hang of doing braids, although I certainly have a lot of room for improvement.

Anna refused to wear her coat on the way home but decided she didn't want to get wet. At this point she is saying, ”Trees! Trees! Trees!” as she dashes forward to take cover under the next tree. Although most of the trees are deciduous and so don't provide much cover. I did offer her coat many times, but she didn't want it.

Just after we entered the house and Anna had emptied her backpack, she started singing:

“Space Unicorn sailing through the sky
Delivering the mail
All around the world”

She has a little brightly coloured unicorn figure that she calls the space unicorn, and she was telling all about the story (she said movie) of the space unicorn and the bad guy that wanted to get her and so on. I don't know whether any of this material came from an actual movie or show or whether it all just came out of her imagination.

I told them they couldn't assemble their army on the stairway landing. They promptly moved into the stairway closet.

Happy Birthday KT!

Victor and Anna: “Happy Birthday KT!” Of course, they were tickling each other at the same time!

Happy Birthday from all of us, KT!

Shady clientele

Anna is pointing out that Rattie is in the Millenium Falcon. It seems to me that Rattie is entirely appropriate as clientele for the Millenium Falcon.

I think Victor is moving Rattie around and doing an impression of Rattie here.

Of course, the Millenium Falcon wasn't big enough for all the passengers Anna wanted, so there is a companion ship.

Thermonuclear

I'm not sure I remember the circumstances of this picture, even though I certainly took it today. I think we must be taking shelter beside the house from a thermonuclear blast. I'll have to check the news. I mean, it is well into spring, if it were just sunny, it would be warm, right?

Victor announced that he does like it spicy, and proceeded to pretty much empty the jar of peppers into his fajita (yes, leftovers from friday). He did make sure to have milk on hand.

He must be thirsty, I don't think that's his first cup of milk.

Hmm, not hungry after only half a fajita? Normally he eats at least two! I guess he did fill up on pancakes at brunch.

Brunch was supposed to be breakfast but the kids wanted to help... for some reason it took way longer than usual. The kids are pros at measuring flour etc properly but are working on their egg cracking skills.

Anna was still eating long after Victor was done. Perhaps this is due to the fact that she sees monsters in her fajitas.

Tough audience

As I was shaving, Anna came upstairs: “Daddy, when you're finished, could you come down and see something? Victor's playing the piano like a grown-up and all the stuffies are watching him! I can't play the piano, I can only play the horn.” Not sure she said “horn”, I meant to ask her later but it didn't happen.

Balance bike

Victor mastered riding a bike last year, and certainly didn't forget. Although I had told him a couple weeks ago about the expression “it's like riding a bike”, that the expression had arisen because once you learn to ride a bike you never forget. So when he first rode his bike this year and promptly fell down, he said, “Dad! You told me I wouldn't forget!” He was very indignant. I don't remember how I responded, but I think he was thinking it over in his own head anyway and didn't hear me. He then said that he'd try again and had no issues since. Anyway, that was monday, the goal now is to get Anna riding without training wheels, and to that end I borrowed a balance bike for the weekend. We're on the driveway which has a gentle slope so Anna can see how far she can go with her feet off the ground.

Anna was doing something on her own near the house, but Victor raised the alarm: “Anna, save me!” Apparently this is the rescue process.

Anna finished her fajitas and decided she wanted just a bit more beef. I thought I'd capture the fact that she likes to add Frank's Original Red Hot Sauce. I'll also note that the beef already has medium-hot Taco sauce in it. Victor “doesn't like it spicy”, which means he'll have fajitas with the beef and medium spicy salsa and sometimes hot banana pepper slices, but he won't add the Frank's.

They insisted I take a picture after we did the bedtime reading. They pretended to sleep.

I have no idea how Victor got that scrape on his nose... and neither does he, which is typical Victor. I love Victor's expression here, which is also typical Victor!

Grumpy

After I denied his request this morning, Victor decided to go back to bed in a grump.

But a few minutes later I heard him giggling.

Happy to see

Victor had choir this morning, so Victor went to school early and Anna went later. Anna was very happy to see Victor when she arrived at school.

The Forest of Doom is still a mandatory part of the journey home, even though Anna complains continuously all the way through.

They also insisted on hiding behind all the trees.

Not that they were hard to find.

Caity was on her way out just before our arrival. “Yay Caity!”

This is how I found Anna when I went to get her for supper.

And this is how I found Victor when I went back downstairs: I'd forgotten the cutlery and he had realized the problem and decided to finish setting the table himself.

Travel delay

I tried to get Anna to stop it with the tongue-out face. This was the best alternative I could get.

They were speedy on the way to school.

Still pretty quick on the way home...

...until Anna had a problem.

Itchy leg!

Victor waited patiently at the corner for the issue to be resolved...

...but seized the lead again when we had crossed!

Only to wait once more, this time for the keys to arrive.