Laine's Back to School Open House

Today was Open House at Laine's new school, Centreville Elementary School. My good friend from work watched Eve and James so that Laine could have some special time with mom and dad while we all get to know her new environment. Earlier this week, Laine got a letter of introduction from her new teacher, so last night Laine wrote this letter to give to them. I was so proud. The only words I helped her with were her teachers' names. In case you're not accustomed to deciphering kindergarten writing, the letter says:
Dear Mrs. Moulder and Mes Leitch My naem is Lainey My sister is Evey 3 1/2 My beruther isNaeMis James 1 THIS is Mom and Dad I AM 5 I Am SkcaerD for schooL I wiL BE HAPey to See you SinSeeerLy Lainey

On the way to school, Laine told me a heartbreaking confession. It went like this: "Um, Mom. I really have to tell you something. One time, a while ago, I broke the plate that says 'Less Dessert' on it and I didn't want you to know so I swept up the pieces and while I was cleaning it I got a cut on the tip of my finger, so that was why I had to wear a sock over my hand. So you wouldn't find out." It was so sweet and sad! I was worried that this had happened at someone else's house because I couldn't figure out for the life of me why I of all people would own a plate that had 'Less Dessert' written on it. Then I realized she meant 'Les Dessert' which is one of the plates from my french themed dessert plate collection that my sister gave me.

When we got there, Laine found her classroom and quickly located the backpack hook with her name on it.

She delivered her letter to her teachers. Here she is getting to know Mrs. Moulder, one of her new kindergarten teachers. She got to eat some snacks, meet some friends, and get familiar with her new classroom.

We were so proud of her for being so good that afterward, Chris and I took her out to a lunch restaurant of her choice. She chose Pho. Here she is with her proud Daddy. We're so proud of our big kindergarten girl! This has all gone my so fast.

Six years of truly, madly, deeply

We celebrated our six year anniversary tonight with a date out to a nice Lebanese restaurant in Tyson's Corner. For those who don't have the benefit of living in the DC area, that's a very upscale shopping district just outside the beltway on the Virginia side. For some reason we can't figure out, it doesn't feel like we've been married for six years. For me, it's pretty clear we've been married forever, since I can't remember a time when we weren't together. Christine tells me that can't possibly be the case, since we still feel and act like newlyweds we must have been married just last week.

After we got home, we let Laine play photographer and get some shots so we can always remember how crazy in love we still were after six years. I think we look pretty good, except for that silly looking guy in the blue shirt.

Laine's Rambling Insomnia Monologue

Laine is having some trouble sleeping tonight and while she's always very talkative, she gets ultra talkative when she's exhausted. The one-sided conversation is getting somewhat amusing, so I'll write it down for you:

Do you know that I've seen FOUR frogs? It's true. Well, maybe I've seen three frogs. One of them might have been a frog, or it might have been a jumping caterpillar. I'm not SO sure. Hmm but it was jumping, so that probably means it was a frog, right? Heeyyyyy what are you writing? You're writing something about me, aren't you? I can tell because it has the word 'Laine' in it. What are you writing about me, mom? 'Laine is having some trouble sleeping tonight and while she's always very tt...' Mom! I can't read this because I don't know that word! Oh. Talkative. Now I get it. Wow! This is all about me? Aren't you done writing that now? You just like to write write write. How come wolves like to howl at the moon? Does the word 'wolf' have a letter 'L' in it because it sounds wwwoooLf? When I'm six I'm probably gonna lose all my teeth. Hey! Did you just write that when you're six, you're gonna lose all your teeth? That's Brrdiculous because you're never going to be six! What's all this nonsense, mom? Hey, will it take me 11 more years until I'm sixteen? Dad told me when I'm sixteen I might learn how to drive. How come you keep writing and writing and writing and writing?

I'm writing down what you say because it's so funny.

You're writing down what I say? Whoa. I bet that's a lot of stuff. Man, it's like I'm never gonna get to sleep. Is it past midnight yet? I could stay up a whole hour.

Please don't.

Or two. One time, I had a nap for two whole hours. Oh, I know I'm not supposed to put my fingers in your face. I forgot I shouldn't do that. *giggles* Oh, I know I'm not supposed to... *giggles* Oh man! This is so funny! Stop writing what I say! Man, I'll never get to sleep!! This is just so funny! I'm so funny! heheheehe. Oh, I know I'm funny. I know I shouldn't be laughing so much, but this is so uuhhhlarious! Is that a giggle? You wrote down my giggle? HAHAHAHA

Laine, okay seriously now try to sleep, ok? It's way past your bedtime.

I can't! I was giggling so much.

Good, you should be all worn out.

I'm not. How'd you know how to write giggles? Bublabublabula. Mom, I'm serious. How'd you know how to write giggles?

I'm just smart.

Oh so it's just cuz you're smart. Well, I'm smart. I know I'm smart. Hey, you keep writing things I say. Oww! I hurt my eye! Haha I'm pretending I hurt my eye to be silly! *sigh* oh man, it's just a night I can't sleep. What does dad call that again when he can't sleep? Kasomnia?

Insomnia.

I have INSOMNIA!!!!!!!!!!

What are you gonna do about it?

I'm gonna not sleep.

Why don't you think of a different solution?

I don't know. I'll run up and down the stairs 'til I'm tired! *panting* Okay well I don't want to do that anymore. Hey mom, actually I didn't just go up one flight of stairs. I did it more than once, it was just really fast. I think I'm about to have a knee cramp. Maybe cuz I stayed up so late. Hey, who's all this writing for anyway? Dad?

It's for our blog.

Let me see all the stuff you wrote. Wow, I talk a lot. Sometimes when I tell dad that I didn't brush my teeth, I'm just joking him and I really brushed my teeth.

Lainey? Do you think it's time to go to bed for real now?

I can't! I can not sleep.

Okay, I'm turning off the computer now. Time to close our eyes.

Okay you can do that. Time to close my ears? But I can't close my ears!

Read it again.

It says ears.

Look carefully.

Eyes. It says eyes. Oh, I can close my eyes, but I can't sleep!

Good night Laine.

Hmph.

Laine's Experiment

Yesterday, Laine thought of a little experiment she wanted to do all on her own. She had a cup of ice and she wanted to see if it would melt faster if she put it outside in the sun. So she took her little cup of ice and left it out on the back deck.Well, she forgot about it until today and when she went out to check on it, all that was left was a few drops of water in the bottom of the cup. When I asked her what she thought happened to the melted ice, she responded, "Uhhh... Problee a raccoon drank it." So we had a little learning moment about evaporation.

James thought it was great.

Also, lately the girls have thought that it's a lot of fun to make home videos. Here's a sample of what our budding cinematographers are up to. Mostly, I delete them because they're just as absurd as the clip below, but I save a few of them so that they can look back and see just how ridiculous they are.

Eve's Pretending Games

Today was a fairly typical day at our house, which means a day full of pretending. Out of all our kids, Eve seems to have the wildest imagination and is almost always pretending to be something or someone else. She started off the day wanting to be Mom. She asked me to style her hair into an 'exquisite hairdo' for the role, which I found hilarious since I haven't showered for two days and my hair is always in a messy ponytail.

Then we had a HUGE clean up effort. Our house looks about a hundred times better. Eve, oh excuse me, I mean Mom, helped by folding and putting away laundry. She amazingly did a good job. She really worked hard and told me she was 'figure-outing where all the clothes go.' Then, since all her toys were put away, she decided to make a pretending game out of my tubs of body butter.

I had no idea playing with body butter could be so fascinating! I have a little video clip of her playing, but it was too long to post, so I'll give you the highlights:

"Now, princess pink and princess shea butter are going to fight the bad guys! Oh, but here comes orange witchy, casting her spells to put people to sleep. She's doing her curse. Curse! Curse! Curse! Ha, now they're asleep, but then she decided to join the good guys. Now she is happy and content and she's gonna marry blueberry." This went on for a good 20 minutes before she got bored of the monologue and decided to make a Noah's Ark out of a laundry basket.

Next, Eve found Laine and convinced her to play ballerina princesses with her. First, they were pretending to be ballet princess Laine and ballet princess Eve, but then they decided that wasn't fun enough, so they swapped tutus and Laine became ballet princess Eve and Eve became ballet princess Laine. Here they are below. Ballet princess Laine is the one in the black tutu and ballet princess Eve is the one in the pink tutu.

And that's been our day so far. Filled with imagination.

Updated Bradley Family Rules

Dear friends and family,

The past couple of weeks, I've been out of school and other than when I'm at work, I've pretty much been hanging out with the kids all day long. This increased exposure to my children has made me realize that we've been in need of a few new house rules. If you are a guest in our home, these rules also apply to you, so please pay attention to the following changes:

***UPDATES TO THE BRADLEY FAMILY RULES***
I. Making a noise that a dying pig would make is not a preferable method of communication. However, we the parental unit, Mr. and Mrs. Bradley, acknowledge that making dying pig noises are warranted and even permissible in certain situations. These situations are limited to:
1. Getting attacked by hungry piranhas
2. Being approached by someone who is trying to abduct you
3. Trying to get your mom out of a speeding ticket by annoying the cop and getting him to feel
sorry for your mom
Dying pig noises are not permitted in the vast majority of situations including (but not limited to) the following:
1. Having your sister point at you.
2. Having your sister sing the "Chin up" song from Charlotte's Web while you're trying to sing the Trogdor the Burninator song
3. Running out of trail mix when you really want to eat trail mix
4. Getting a smooch from your baby brother while you're trying to slide down the banister

II. You may change clothes TWICE during the day. Once in the morning to change out of your pajamas and into your play clothes, and once in the evening to change back into your pajamas. If it is necessary to change into a costume to get in character for a pretending game, the costume is not considered dirty and may be folded up and returned to the appropriate drawer upon return to regular activity. Discarded clothing is NOT to touch the floor. Boredom or disdain for one's underpants is an insufficient reason for changing them. Outfits worn for less than 20 minutes are not considered dirty unless visibly soiled. Dirty clothing is to be put directly in the hamper. Clean clothing is to remain in it's drawer unless it is being worn.

III. You may take a dump in one of two places:
1. The loo (preferred)
2. Your diaper (permissible for incontinent family members and house guests)
While we're on the subject of relieving ourselves, let's make it clear that everyone is entitled to the same amount of privacy. It is unfair to expect one member of the family to endure an audience during tampon insertion while another family member makes the dying pig sound when anyone comes within 5 feet of the bathroom door.

IV. The floor is not a trash can. Neither is the sink, the nightstand, the bookshelves, the bed, the hallway, the staircase, or the dining room table. The only thing that is a trash can is the trash can. Kindly remember this when finding a home for your half-eaten banana.

V. In this family, we descend the staircase in a civilized manner. In this case, the term 'civilized' is defined as: 'doing things in a way that does not bore holes through your clothing or cause concussions.' Also, please remember that while equipment such as wagons, blankets, and plastic bags may seem to enhance and shorten the duration of the stair descending experience, these objects can cause injury when used by the smallest members of the family. Legs are perfectly suitable for accomplishing the task of transporting oneself between floors.

We appreciate your efforts in observing the rules of our home. We look forward to hosting you in our home.
Respectfully yours,
The maternal unit

P.S. The other day, Eve said something really funny. We were going to the bookstore to pick out some new reading material and she said to me, "Yay! We're going to my favorite place! Barnestantinoble!

James Almost Passed His First Anatomy Exam...

...But he missed the bonus question at the end. The funny thing was, after we took this video, he climbed on my lap and wanted to watch it and when we got to the end when I asked "Who loves Mama?" He smiled at the screen and raised his hand and said "Me! Me! Me!"

Grocery Shopping with the Kids

I really don't like going to the store with the kids. Chris totally loves it. Sometimes even when he could just grab milk and bread from the store on his way home, he'll actually come home, take the kids, and then go to the grocery store. Even when he's going to get tons of groceries, he'll convince me to let him at least take one little buddy with him. Today, I wound up taking the kids to Trader Joe's with me to get some bare necessities and I saw how it could maybe be sort of cute.
The people who work at Trader Joe's think it's pretty cute too. The kids always come away with balloons and smiles.