Word Play

Last week, I (Deb) was in the car with Mackenzie and Jenna. I had just picked up Mackenzie from preschool, and we were on the highway, headed down to Mason's school for the next pickup. On the shoulder of the road was a truck (a tow truck, I think). From the back seat, I hear, "Mommy, is that a *uck?"
"Oh! A teh-RUCK?" I asked.
"Yes. A *UCK!!" (said much louder)
"A TEH-RUCK!"
"Oh-KAY!" said with emphasis from the back seat.
Turns out, Mackenzie doesn't pronounce "tr" words very well. She substitutes an "f." You can't be angry, because she believes she's saying it properly. It's also hard not to laugh.
A couple days later, Alan was home with Mackenzie and Jenna. He was reorganizing a bottom drawer in the kitchen, full of kid-friendly dishes. Jenna, in her usual form, was foiling him every step of the way.
"You're getting on my fricking nerves!" said Alan playfully to Jenna.
Mackenzie, who was at the table, heard this and said, "Daddy, is Jenna getting on your *ucking nerves?"
What's a dad to do? Keep laughing. We are!

Halloween

The leadup to Halloween was definitely most exciting for Mason this year. We contemplated her costume for more than a month. At one point, she said she would like to be R2D2. We thought that was cool. But then, she decided on Ariel the Mermaid. Much more conventional. After a couple weeks insistence, we purchased Ariel the Mermaid, with hair and shoes, to boot. A couple weeks before Halloween, Mason went to a birthday party and needed a costume. We found her devil costume, complete with horns and pitchfork. She had worn it two (?) years ago in Germany. It still fits. Imagine that, for our little pipsqueak. From that point on, we were informed that she would wear the Ariel red hair with her devil costume for Halloween. Fine fine fine. But, on Halloween day, Mason's school said they could come with funny hair. She planned to wear her wig, but at the last minute said no. We put eight ponytails in her hair instead. That night, she also opted out of the wig. I told her she would have to make next year's Halloween costume, because the outlay of money was a bit much for a costume that was never worn. Fortunately, it can still become dressup clothes.

As for Mackenzie, she was not at all interested in dressing up for Halloween. We asked her if she would like to wear a fairy dress. She said, "Oh, yeah!" Then she followed that with, "No. I can't." What????? For school, the best we managed was an orange Halloween bat shirt. For trick-or-treating, she refused to remove the bat shirt, but Alan successfully got the fairy dress (sans wings) over the shirt, so she could join in the fun.

Jenna was agreeable to most everything. For the afternoon, she was a ladybug. By evening, she was a turtle, and a real ham about it! Jenna fell asleep on Alan's shoulder while out trick-or-treating, but fun was had by all. Enjoy the pics.

One last note - Mason entered a coloring contest for the first time. It was held at the local library. Her pumpkin picture won her a real pumpkin. The pictures were voted on by age group. Our little girl has won her first contest! Yay! They equated her rendition of the pumpkin to Indian corn. We're certain that wasn't her intent, but she was excited. So, here's a picture of the winning pumpkin, as well as our carved pumpkins. The skeleton face was on the pumpkin she won.

We Voted!

Today, the Bice adults took part in what will no doubt be a historic election. We cast our ballots for the 2008 presidential election, and most significantly in California, for the Proposition 8 measure about equal rights. While standing side-by-side at the foldout cardboard booths (no curtains), with Jenna in Alan's arms, we were gripped by laughter as we heard a little "toot." Alan said to Jenna, "did you toot?" She said slyly, "yeeaaaahhh." Fun fun fun! Happy voting to all! We'll blog with our Halloween photo shoot later today (if possible).

P.S. It's raining in CA. What a great day for elections! We haven't had rain in months!!!