Making It Tasty

Ah!!!  3 year olds!!!  Declan fought eating dinner tonight.  He usually loves this meal, but tonight he wasn't in the mood.  Everyone else finished eating, and he still had a plate full of food.  I stayed in the kitchen to do dishes so that I could encourage him to finish eating.  While I was busy cleaning up, he decided to spice up his mashed potatoes.  We don't have a pantry, and our cabinets ... well I shudder to think what kind of things lurk in them when they are closed because things definitely lurk in them.  Anyway, our solution was to buy heavy duty metal shelves and have our pantry on the shelves right by our kitchen table.  My observant little boy must have noticed me grabbing spices while cooking, so he figured he knew just what to do to make his potatoes tasty ...

He's lucky I didn't actually make him taste them.  I'm not even sure how many different spices he put on there, but it was a lot!!!  I guess he won the battle tonight, but I will definitely be more watchful next time!!

UIL

Here in Texas we have something called UIL.  I never knew what it was, only that it governed academic, athletic, and music competitions.  I don't know when I began participating in UIL, but Shelby has been able to participate the past 2 years.  This year, the elementary schools had early release, so that our school district and two other school districts (all small towns and all districts with just 1 school for each grade level) could hold the academic UIL competition at our elementary school.  Shelby tried out and was asked to join the spelling team.  She was on it last year, so it was a perfect fit.  Too bad we kept forgetting to study for it after school; fortunately, she did have practice at school from time to time.  

At the competition, our PTO held a Kids' Fair, setting up games throughout the building as well as selling snacks and treats in the cafeteria.  Shelby had a blast hanging out with her two friends Maddie and Maggie as they waited for all the different competitions to be held.  We joined her at the end to hear the results.  We were excited when her name was announced as the second place winner for spelling.  She was tickled that she got second place for the second year in a row.  We'll have to work harder next year to see if she can get first.  

The next day, her school had an assembly to present all of the winners and participants with trophies and ribbons.  

Mr. G, her Spelling coach, and the other members of the Spelling team.

Way to go Shelby!

Hanging Out

We have a TV in our room and with the addition of our new bed last fall, it has become a perfect place for the kids to play video games when Tom is watching something on the TV downstairs.  It's fun hearing them laughing and giggling and having fun.  

Of course by the time they're done, our bed is chaotic, the curtains are askew, the blinds are open, and once ... and only once ... my bed was filled with a million crumbs, but in the end, I LOVE hearing them playing happily together ... and I don't mind the little peace and quiet it gives me.