While C was in DC, L and I making 7 minute bow-tie noodles (takes 25mins) ; I suggest she try some butter on them --she trys it .... L says: "What have I been missing out on ?!"

Lauren and I at O'Hare heading to Co-Springs....very busy/small/confusing terminal-concourse E?

At the scheduled departure time, we get in "a line" and start toward the ticket-check.  L looks up at the monitor and says, "Dad, where's Aspen?" .... we're supposed to be flying to Colorado Springs-OY! .... we laugh and quickly get out of this wrong line.

Burpee seed catalog

During dinner, L and I reviewed the latest Burpee seed catalog-getting the gardening juices flowing. As we flipped the pages, Lauren was so excited about all the pretty flowers and veggies....and she said: "Let's just get every single thing in this book!" ....awesome!

more kid humor

this past week, Lauren was saying that her arm pits and then her leg pits and her neck pits were hot...

good quote...

Tonight, while eating dinner, Lauren was eating some bread and said:

"I love crust...if it had lips, I would kiss it." ~love it!

ant-plants

after leaving mass and driving past a home across the street from Church, Lauren says... 'hey, there are a lot of ant-plants there.' ~meaning peonies...which typically have a lot of ants on them :)

all right

"Corn chips are my favorite corn!"

excitement and joy

Lauren was excited on two 'new' fronts today...(never experienced)

~ after getting the '2nd' train to function...a raised arms 'awesome!' was exclaimed!

~ on the Melles Park (train park) detention pond hill for the 1st time sledding ... a snow filled face of joy!

You see me now

Most of this year, when I come home from work and say to Lauren...

"I've missed you!"

she says w/o hesitation...

"It's good that you see me now."

----living in the moment and not the past...keenly seen by a 4 year old----

not Puzzled at all...

As we were playing with puzzles and talking about how fast she is able to put them together, Lauren says:

The quickest will be a one piece puzzle. I'm faster now that I'm older.

luv her perspective

on the car ride home from the Kane Co. 1st annual Oktoberfest last night...
C drove home and L and I were in the back seat and as I cuddled up next to her, she says:
"I am not a buddy" as in not one of her many stuffed animals that gets cuddled....

playing games...

"...it's fun and it makes me smart."

Lauren says as we played Mosaic and put together this cool-crab!

good one :)

L says: "hey dad, you have your underwear over your shorts!"

seeing me in my biking shorts (before the 51 mile ride!), w/ spandex under the plaid shorts--that kind of look like some boxers I wear...

too funny

two good ones from a kids eyes...

This afternoon, as we were all out in the yard enjoying the nice weather, (1st non-rainy w/e in a long while) and while we were doing some yard work... Lauren was grabbing some pink buds/flowers from the crab apple tree in the front yard and says as she's grabbing a low hanging branch, "I'm shaking hands with the tree."

This evening, after Rosie's 1st communion dinner celebration at Monzo's, as were were walking to the car in the parking lot, Lauren asks, "When will Rosie have her 2nd communion?"

Laughing feet

"...that really made my feet laugh!" ... says Lauren after a funny part of the movie Madagascar...while the three of us sat on the two couches together...

Oct-Nov '08

'I'm going to be taking a 'bshower' or 'shbath'

Playing games...

~as we played Chutes & Ladders, I landed at the bottom of a chute and asked Lauren if I could go up the chute...to which she politely said. 'sure!'

and her response gave me an idea, so 1st we played the game backwards, starting at 100 and going to 0, going down chutes was good this round and up ladders was bad...

then we played in reverse starting as usual at 1 but going up chutes and down ladders...

she won all three games...

Update...we now have many different ways to play...
1. regular, starting at 1, up ladders and down chutes
2. backwards, starting at 100, up ladders and down chutes
3. reverse, starting at 1, up chutes and down ladders
4.
5. double
6. two in one,
7.

L and C in the newspaper...

Library offers parents, kids a chance to get creative together

By Sue Ter Maat Daily Herald Staff
Published: 3/24/2008 12:09 AM

With a glue stick in one hand and a crayon in the other, Lauren Mueller knows her part in the construction of crafts at the Mount Prospect Library since she and her mother are regulars at the library's Create-a-Craft program.
She's in charge of drawing and gluing, and sometimes, if she thinks she's up to it, to wield a hole punch. Her mother cuts paper and handles more difficult operations at the library, 10 S. Emerson St.
"We come here all the time," Carolyn Mueller said. "Maybe I like it more than her."
The Mueller mother and daughter team were just one of many kids and parents who recently stopped by the library program that meets several times per year. For Valentine's Day, the library sponsored a Valentine card-making craft.
This time, parents with their kids could make a paper baby chick, bunny or St Patrick's Day hat.
The program is for kids about 2 to 8 years old, and it's one of the more popular programs at the library, said Erin Emerick, program coordinator.
Parents like the free program because there's no set time during the day since it occurs from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on various Fridays, she said.
Denise Davis of Schaumburg says the program allows her to do an activity with her 19-month-old daughter, Anna Marie.
"It's good for her to socialize with other children," Davis said.
The remaining Create-a-Craft 2008 schedule is as follows:
May 9: Mother's Day Crafts
June 13: Decorate your Dad!
July 18: Make your own toys and games
Oct. 17: Cultural Month Crafts (British Isles)
Nov. 14: Fantastic Fall Crafts
Dec. 5: Holiday Hullabaloo

Oct '07

"my finger is watering"

it was bleeding from a small cut

bug talk

" you swallowed a bug daddy? what color was it..?"

when I cough, she thinks I swallowed a bug...started asking this over the w/e