PUUCHINI!!!

It was pretty hot today, so in an effort to distract Madelyn from all the fun stuff in our backyard, I tried to get her interested in eating supper so we could head straight inside to our cool house.

As I took her out of her car seat, the following exchange took place...

Daddy: Alright, Madelyn! Do you want to go in and have BIG NOODLES?!?! (Her term for Beefaroni!)
Madelyn: No! Daddy, I want to have Puuchini!
Daddy (perplexed): Uhhh... sorry, what do you want?
Madelyn: Puuchini! Puuchini!
Daddy (not wanting to seem stupid because he doesn't know what Puuchini is...): OH! You want Puuchini!
Madelyn: No, Daddy! I want to have PUUCHINI!
Daddy: (thinking) Could have sworn that's what I said... there must be some subtle nuance with my double-"u" pronunciation that's causing some confusion here..

Luckily, as soon as we got in, Madelyn was distracted enough with her pencil crayons that I could just make the Beefaroni I'd planned on making in the first place! Whew!

In the meantime, guess what I'm going to look for next time I'm at Safeway!

PS - it is entirely possible that she was just hoping to listen to some opera when she got inside, but we haven't introduced her to Puccini. Probably never will. ;)

We're not on Kinver anymore, Toto!

A couple of funnel clouds were spotted in Winnipeg today. This one came halfway to the ground on Kinver avenue, a block or two from Madelyn's daycare!
Luckily, she's still in Kansas, Toto!

Tomorrow, I'm off to buy her some ruby red slippers so that she can make it home if, God forbid, the next one touches down!

The Roo plays her version of Where's Waldo?!

My little girl couldn't fall asleep without her (aptly-named) Kitty Cat this evening. So I located said Kitty Cat, and she gave big big snuggles to her friend. Then the Roo asked for Floppy Bunny. So I found Floppy Bunny.

And, well, I decided, why stop there?

As you can see, she had no problem falling asleep surrounded by all her friends!

Reba, Raggedy Ann, Woodsy, Cora Cow, Monkey-Do, Chickadoodle, Freddie Frog, Teddy Bear (and not shown, the culprit who started it all, Kitty Cat)!

On another note, for the information of all those wanting to buy this child more toys, SHE HAS ENOUGH!!! :)

"Have a surprise for you, Mommy!"

These precious little words were being yelled at me in an eager little voice as I was making supper tonight, through the open window in the kitchen.

Turns out when Daddy took the Roo for a bike-a-cycle ride, she took it upon herself to load up the back carriage part of her trike with "cooorns" (pine cones) for Mommy!

This is what I saw when I went outside to see what my surprise was:

She was so proud of herself! And she should be, she picked the best cooorns on the block! When I asked her how many she picked for me, she proceeded to "count": "Oonnnne" (as she moves 3 to the side), "Twoooooooooooo" (again, drawing this out long enough to move more than 2 over to the "counted" pile), "Freeeee, fouuuur..." all the way up to 11, before she decided that 6 would be her final number! What a thoughtful little girl we have!

The Best Day Ever

We wrapped up a really fun day at the zoo by barbecuing some chicken and eating outside in our gazebo!

Cat was putting away the dishes in the house while Madelyn and I enjoyed the sunset. During a quiet moment, she turned to me and said, "This is the best day EVER, Daddy!".

I had to agree with her....

Here are two shots from our day at the zoo! In Madelyn's words, the best. Day. EVER!

Madelyn's friend, the Polar Bear!

Madelyn has been going to day care for just over a year. Ever morning on the drive over, we'd pass by a business who had a giant polar bear for a logo, and every morning we would greet him with a hearty "Good morning Polar Bear!".

It was a morning ritual thatI looked forward to.

Suddenly, about 6 months after it began... it just stopped.

If she said it at all, it almost seemed like it was to please me.

The other morning, after a long absence, her interest in the polar bear returned.

Good morning polar bear!

Did you have good patchi? (sleep)

What did you dream about, polar bear?

Bye polar bear! Have a good day, polar bear!

It was the exact same routine that Cat has gone through with her in the mornings since Madelyn was a newborn, and she was now re-enacting it with her old friend, the polar bear. It was very sweet!

Ukrainian dancing!

Tonight was Alexis's first big Ukrainian Dance recital! We are all SO proud of her, but Madelyn was especially excited! All dolled up in her authentic Ukrainian shirt, brought from overseas thanks to Great Auntie Rose, Madelyn was getting right in there, fascinated by the dance moves and bouncing to the music!

Especially all throughout Alexis's dance, the Roo would be sure to show her support for her cousin by shouting "AYEXIS!" and waving! It was super sweet!