Our Little "Painter"

After cleaning the house all day today, we decided

a). we needed to go on a long drive to find potential camping spots; and then
b). that we needed to stain the bench and arbor in the back yard.

So we headed home and Adam pulled out the stain and a paintbrush and headed to the back yard. I went downstairs to change laundry when a few minutes later I heard frantic thumping down the stairs and Taylor yelling "Mom I need a TOOTHBRUSH!"

I finally figured out what she really was looking for was a paintbrush to help Dad stain outside. So we stripped her down to her underwear and put her to work. She was a pretty big helper...

and the neighbors laughed as they saw her streaking across the back yard to get into the tub.

Wow...

What a day.

Better late than never...

Easter!

 Every year, Adam’s work has an Easter egg hunt for the workers and resident families of the Care Center. The floor is so covered with real boiled eggs that it is almost impossible to walk without stepping on an egg or candy. They send the littlest kids down one hallway and the older kids down another so no one gets trampled. The little kids go around and get eggs and candy from the residents, too. It is fun for everyone.

We took Taylor this year and she had a blast picking up eggs and meeting the Easter Bunny. We went to the free matinee (HOP) and then played at the park. The next morning she went on an egg hunt in the living room and was thrilled to see she has her own gloves, shovel and rake for the garden this year. Grandma and Grandpa Bench came up a little later and “found” some Easter candy outside that the Bunny left for Taylor. She had fun running around in the grass finding all of the candy. Then we went on a walk to the park and played for a while before heading home.

We had a nice day… and got waaaaaay too much candy.

"I can do it MYSELF!"

Meet Taylor "I can do it MYSELF" Bench!

She takes her clothes off at will. She tries to flush whole toilet paper rolls down the toilet. She can do everything by HERSELF, thank you very much. But she is also entering such a fun stage. She recognizes and can sing most of the words to her favorite songs: Spongebob Squarepants, I Love to See the Temple; Hakuna Matata, I am a Child of God, 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed. She is so funny and so dang smart. She says her own prayers. She prays every night for her food, the bathrooms on the airplanes... (she is excited about our trip to KS) and for her grandma and grandpa and nana and grandpa. Everything else is sketchy.

Here are some common phrases lately around our house.

"I got it." (When Mom says, "don't do such and such... you got it?)

"Mom, I can hold MY OWN hand, so I don't get lost."

"But Mom... what I gonna do?!" (insert hysterical tears)

"Do you HEAR me?"

"Mom... I SO PROUD of you for going potty! Now you get CANDY!"

"That's AMAZING/BEAUTIFUL/SO NEAT!"

"You made a mess. Now you got to stand in the corner. RIGHT NOW."

"GOOD MORNING MOM! I can get up now?"

"Where did the sun go? Just behind the cloud? It will be right back?"

"COME ON ASPEN YOU CAN DO IT!"

"It's getting LATE!"

"I want a shower by MYSELF! GO AWAY MOM!"

You crazy girl. Good thing we love you .

The Butter Girl

This little girl loves BUTTER.

It doesn't matter what we are eating, she will ask to have butter on it, then salt and pepper, then ketchup. The other day she went down to go to the bathroom... and didn't come back for a long time. When I went down to check on her... this is what I found:

She had pushed the chair from the table up to the counter, got a cube of butter, ate half of it, and then started to "draw my name" with butter all over the counter. She was pretty proud of herself. What a crazy kid.