May 2015 Tidbits

Drew, standing in line at 7-11: "Dad, who's that white guy over there?" 
Embarrassed, I looked to the spot where he was pointing.  It was a package of rolls with the Pillsbury Doughboy on the wrapper. 


Apparently Drew wasn't impressed with tonight's dessert of angel food cake with fresh fruit.  "Mom, can you take the whipped cream and just squirt it on my tongue?"




Tess, complaining about a taxi driver who was late picking us up: "When I see that taxi driver, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind--or my lunch!"

Tess, the seasoned traveler: "When we get to the hotel, we need to check some things. We need to check if the toilet is working, then if the faucet is working, then if the bed is comfortable, and then if the TV is working. That's it."

Drew, looking at my bedhead hairdo: "Dad, know why I like you? Because your hair is so cool!"

 

Drew: "Dad, how you throw up? I think we need to build a throw-up store so we can see how it happens."

 

Drew, speaking in an overly loud voice while pointing to a male employee at Panera Bread: "I think that 'nera person needs a haircut 'cause his hair goes down to here [pointing to his shoulders]."

 

Miriam: "I need to go to the church tonight."
Drew's response: "Dad, you can keep an eye on us?"

Tess, commenting about running races with the neighborhood kids: "I'm not really a racer; I'm more of a starter."




Ryan, running with Tess around the pond where goslings were recently hatched: "I wonder where the goslings are this morning?"
Tess: "I think they went on vacation to the other pond and brought their beach chairs, umbrellas, towels, and sunglasses." 

 

New Drew expression: "In really life."  Example: "Today at the church, in really life, I hurt my hand."

 

Drew (bouncing one leg up and down): "Look, Dad, I can dribble my leg."

Drew's latest song:

The itchy, itchy spider climbed up the water spout;

Down came the rain and washed the tummy out;

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain;

And the itchy, itchy spider went down the tube and then got the belly.

After church, Miriam and I were giving hugs to Drew. Tess, lying on the couch, complained, "How come Drew's getting all the love here? I'm not getting any love over here!"

Drew: "When I get big, I'm gonna live in Idaho and I'm going to have a motorcycle. Dad can ride on the back." Ryan: "Where in Idaho are you going to live? Are you going to live near Dipsy and Papa?" Drew replied: "I'm going to live WITH Dipsy and Papa."

Drew and I (Ryan) were talking about feelings. I asked what made him feel happy. He responded: "What make me happy is a balloon to play with." He added: Dad, you know what make me feel quiet? A back scratch. It make me stay still. I like to feel it. It make me feel good."

Drew: "Dad, you're the best pancaker maker ever!"

While Miriam, I, and Drew were driving in the car, Drew spotted an SUV with a couch loaded in the back. Part of the couch was sticking out of the back and the rear car gate was partially open. Sounding exactly like Tess, Drew exclaimed, "Okayyy, that is not even safe!"

 

Drew: "I'm not even kidding, Mom."

Ryan: "Drew, when you get big, how tall are you going to be?" Drew: "I'm going to be Ninja Turtle feet tall."

Drew, bouncing his balloon: "Look, Mom, that gravity." Miriam: "What's gravity?" Drew: "Gravity pull the balloon down." Miriam: "Where did you learn about gravity?" Drew: "Dad told me about gravity."


Drew was helping me (Miriam) change out the toilet paper roll.  When we were done, he said, "I know what time it is now! Time for marble-run making!"

Tess, at the dinner table: "This broth is so good that I can't even taste it."

Drew: "Dad, I love you better than anything. I love you better than dinosaurs.  I love you better than a trailer and a truck.  I love you better than Ninja Turtles.  I love you better than paper."

Drew suddenly told me (Ryan) tonight that he had to throw up. He then ran into the bathroom. Afterwards, we said, "Good job telling Daddy and going into the bathroom."  Drew later told me: "Dad, I did a good job throwing up, so that means I get a sticker."


Drew came to the bedroom this morning holding a piece of bread slathered with a half-inch layer of butter.  He said, "Look, Mom!  I made my own bread this morning!  I needed to use a LOT of butter!"


Drew: "Mom, I love Dad more than you.  But I still love you too."


Drew was filmed by his joy school teacher for a Mother's Day video.  She asked: "Drew, what is your favorite thing to do with Mom?"
Drew: "I like to build my marble run with my mom and dad.  Dad is my favorite person!"

Another original song from Drew: "I love carrots, yum, yum, yum! I love carrots, yum, yum, yum!"

 

Tess, watching two players chase the ball into the woods during Drew's soccer game: "Well, this isn't professional soccer."

Drew: "Dad, I can speak a different English. 'BONJOUR!'"

April 2015 Tidbits

I was calling for Ryan outside with little luck, when Drew explained: "Da problem is you gotta call out 'Dad Higginbotham!'" Tess concurred: "He's kinda true, you know. Cuz if you just called for 'Dad!' lots of different people could answer."

Tess and I were talking about the day we went to the Viva! Vienna! festival five years ago. Drew asked, "Was I next to Jesus then?" I replied, "Yes, you were. Drew, what did you do in heaven with Jesus? Did you play football?" Drew's response: "No, we just talked about music and words." 

While eating dinner together as a family, we talked about patterns: girl, girl, boy, boy; big glass, big glass, small glass, small glass, etc. Pointing in succession to Miriam, Tess, and me, Drew chimed in, "Bad, bad, bad." He then pointed to himself: "Cool!" 

Drew, talking about a tummy ache: "I ate too much food. I need to go to the doctor and get something to block the food so I don't eat too much."

I asked Drew to explain why he had a froggy voice. He told me it was because he had "goopy stuff in my mouth." Ryan: "How did that goopy stuff get inside you? Did it come from your body?" Drew: "It might come from a yellow marker that I taste and it goes down in my mouth and it comes out of my nose. And I won't feel good and I need to go to the doctor and the doctor uses a tool and I get a toy. You need to go to a store to get something to fix your voice. Like a light to see the goopy stuff in my mouth."

Drew: "Mom, I love the flowers. I'm going to send them a card: 'Dear flowers, I love you! Love, Drew.'"

Miriam: "Drew, I sure love you!" Drew: "I love you too, Mom! When I grow up big, I'm going to marry you!"

I (Ryan) asked Drew to tell me when he does his growing. Drew's matter-of-fact reply: "I just eat some broccoli at bedtime and I grow at nighttime. That's how I do it."

Drew's been singing some original songs. Some lyrics: 

     "Apple on a mission, apple on a mission."

     "Bouncing bum, bum, bum, bum, bum bum! I'm a 

     bouncing bum!"

Drew's dinner prayer: "Please bless that Daddy will get home quickly and that Daddy will get home"--he looks out the window for a few seconds--"when the sky still looks like this."

Tess' response to the scene in "The Fox and the Hound" in which two foxes escape through a fire set inside a hole where the foxes are hiding: "That would never happen. That would be in the newspaper if that really happened."

Drew, after putting earrings on Miriam: "Now it looks like a real Mommy!"

Drew: "Going to my bed and going to sleep is my favorite thing to do." (Ha!)

One of Tess' friends was extolling the virtues of being the youngest in her family. I (Miriam) asked her to tell us something good about being the youngest. She replied: "Well, you get to live the longest. Everybody else dies before you."

Drew told me about going inside a "cave" next to the dinosaur exhibit at the Children's Museum in Richmond: "The dinosaur tunnel was a little bit spooky. It scared my eyes."

I read an "ABCs" book to Drew for bedtime. He grew visibly bored, sighed, and said, "Dad, this is getting old." 

Drew: "Dad, you's my friend and Mom too." Ryan: "What about Tess?" Drew: "Tess is almost my friend cuz sometimes she gets mad at me and sometimes she's nice to me." 

Spring Happenings: Spring Break, Easter, Children's Museum, Soccer & the Bookmark Contest!

Tess' ready for Crazy Outfit Day at school.

The first grade also put on a performance of the Little Red Hen.

Drew doing his usual green thing.

Kids in their Easter finery.

Drew gave his first talk in Primary.

  

I let the kids pick out their own Easter craft.  Drew was not happy with the selection of bunnies and eggs, so he decided to make a Easter Alligator.

A favorite tradition: Easter cookies at Nana's house!

Easter decorations for Nana's dollhouse.

Spring break brought lots of playdates with friends.  Tess went to a movie with Danielle James, had her school friend Abby Robinson, and a stay late with Lindsay Watson.  Then spring break brought strep.   That was less fun.

Chalk drawings with a social conscience:  "Don't judge people's races.  'I have a dream.'  Martin Luther King Jr."

 Drew employing his easter basket so he can be a turtle.

 Super fun money cards from our Dipsy!

We used gel colors for the eggs this year and got some vibrant ones!

Easter morning, and the Easter Bunny went all out this year!  This Easter Bunny decided to hide the baskets this year, so we had to "hunt" for them.  Drew was leaping with joy everywhere he went.  Very fun and magical.

And the Easter Bunny brought cool scooters for both kids!  Major win!  Drew has been riding his scooter so much that he woke up with a major limp from over-scooter-leg usage.

Hunt at our house, and then a hunt at Nana's house too.

 The hunt at Nana's used mustaches.  In Drew's words:  "What these have to do with Easter?" 

The last day of Spring Break, we ventured down to the Richmond's children museum and had a total blast.  On the way down, our car signaled that we had a flat, so we had to detour to "Shorty's Garage," which let's just say is off the beaten path.  But we made it to Richmond even though it was a little late.  Good thing was that the museum was practically empty and we had the run of the place.  We stayed until it closed and didn't make it home until 9 pm.  But boy, was it fun!

Since it was a beautiful day I let the kids stay and ride scooters in front of the Science Museum.

Saturday both kids started soccer.  Drew was on cloud 9 and Tess liked it too, at least once it started.  Fitting, since she was awarded this at school:

Big news came on Sunday, when we headed to the library for the children's bookmark contest awards.  The library called to tell us that Tess was going to be honored for her entry, but we didn't know what she won.  There was a great presentation by Mary Quattlebaum, author of the children's book, Pirate vs. Pirate, which was the contest theme.  She lives in DC and talked about her writing process and even brought a copy of the notes she made when starting the book and a draft of the cover illustration.  Tess was enthralled.  

Then came time for the awards.  There were 10 semifinalists in each grade k-5, and each grade level had a winner.  So they start reading the names, but when it comes to first grade they go over all the names and SKIP Tessie!  She thought they forgot her and she was devastated!  I told her we'd figure it out, but we were all confused.  Then it dawned on us that maybe they skipped her because she was the Grand Prize winner. I told her to pull it together because she might have to go up as the winner.  And we were right!  400 entries K-5, and they picked hers as the Grand Prize winner!  Phew!  Too much drama for us! But Tessie did great.  She got a copy of the book with a sweet autograph by the author and we told her how Tess loves drawing and writing about mermaids.  We decided Pirate vs. Mermaid would make a great sequel!