Daily Dose of Sesame Street

It's true, our dose of Sesame Street is hardly daily these days, but this one came up yesterday. It's definitely a classic, and a personal favorite, although that puppet is really ugly.

The kids asked me to sing this over and over and over right around lunch. Guess what happened!? They both wanted carrots for lunch! That has never happened. Grace doesn't like carrots at all, but she ate them! Thanks, Captain Vegetable.

Gardens are fun

Time to make some sauce!

In 2013 I will plant and tend a garden. Check.

Gracie Pony

Many young girls have princess obsessions. Grace has never even kind of been there. But in the past month or so, she has finally developed another young girl obsession: ponies.

Her favorite which I hear about all the time is "Twilight Sparkle." However, her obsession is not just My Little Pony, but any horse or pony. For the past few days she as literally burst into tears because she wants to be a real pony so badly. She wishes it. She dreams it. Yesterday morning, Grace woke up and in a miserably depressed funk told Scott, "Dad, I haven't turned into a pony yet."

Last night Scott and I remembered we were given a pink unicorn pegasus costume two years ago by a cousin. It's been in a box for awhile because it was too big, but not anymore. This morning during breakfast, Grace was expressing her desire to be a pony again, and absently singing "12 days of Christmas" but filling in all the unknown words with things like "Five golden horses, four silver ponies...hmm, hmm, doo, doo... and a partridge in a pear tree." I decided it was time to break out the costume.

She was elated.

She wore it all day, even when she took an afternoon nap.

It got even better when Daddy got home and made her fly "for real" which was nice, since she had already tried that earlier by jumping down the stairs and bumping her head. This was way better.

Dear mice,

Please don't get the wrong idea by the scattered food on the floor left by my children, you are not welcome. You are not welcome to scamper around on my countertops when we are sleeping, leaving your perfect claw prints in the dusting of flour I forgot to wipe up. You are not welcome to traipse through our drawers, dropping filthy excrement in our spoons, spatulas and tupperware. How do you get in our drawers anyway? It's rather disturbing. You are not welcome to run around our family room at your leisure, hiding your chewed up refuse behind my piano.

I've seen you run, I know you're guilty. Now every bug that flies in the corner of my vision, every shadow, every movement becomes a mouse, and that is not ok.

We have waged war on your kind before and won. This is war again. You are welcome to move outside, where the weather is lovely, the growth is abundant and the traps aren't set. In the last two nights we have already claimed two of your buddies, who left the house in paper bags, never to scamper again. Stay, if your wish for the same fate. The choice is yours.

Sincerely,
The Peterson Posse

Lazy Blogging Picture Post

Here are some photos from good ol' small town Michigan over the past few months.

We all know who the puppet masters are in this family...

(To see the puppet, click here.)

Grace got this slide for her birthday. It's best as a water slide.

We really love pizza at our house.

Grace has started showing interest in helping in the kitchen! Henry wants to help, too, but his helping is of the eating variety. I figure we have that covered in the above photo... and the below.

Blueberry picking. Does this pose look familiar? (see here)

These were the most sour blueberries I've ever tasted. Henry loved eating them, obviously. Grace was just happy to help pick. She only ate them after they had lots of sugar added and were baked into something.