Can't...stop...eating...

...these blasted cookies.

We take the Trader Joe's truffle brownie mix and make cookies from the mix.

What you get are these chewy chocolate cookies with chocolate chips in them. They are ridiculously addicting.

Katie insisted on decorating them because in Katie-land, everything is better with sprinkles on them.

There is this Sex in the City episode where Miranda cannot stop eating cake. She dumps the cake in the trash can.

You see her return to take a piece out of the trash with her hand and put it in her mouth.

She calls her friend to tell her what just happened "so she can tell the people at Betty Crocker Clinic when she gets checked in."

She then proceeds to take dish soap and squirts it on the cake in the trash.

This is what I need to do right now -- I need to Dawn these cookies.

Maddie as Groucho Marx

Holy new fence Batman!

About a week after I did this the fence came down. We have had no fence since then.

Alas, this weekend the fence project began -- HOORAY!

I have been itching to plant on the side of our property. I've held off because I didn't want any new plants to be smooshed during the fence-building process.

Perhaps me and my little gardener will be able to plant again soon!

A misnomer

Who ever said less is more, did not consult with my three-year old.

Accessories have no boundaries when it comes to Kaitlyn.

Each morning she tells me she is “going to go get pretty.” Then, she emerges some time later wearing a watch, bracelet and anywhere between 2 to 5 necklaces.

Last month we went to her friend Ryder’s house to do a St. Paddy's Day project. She used just about every sticker in the house to decorate her green hat.

Now, whenever she gets a sticker – e.g., from Trader Joes, Easter stickers – they go onto the St. Paddy’s Day hat.

“Mama," she tells me. "I’m making my hat fancier and fancier.”

The hat looks like a TGIF restaurant at this point. Or, at the very least some enthusiastic employee wearing a ton of "flare."

Because sometimes more, is just, well – more.

The things she says

One day when waiting for Song to come home from work Katie turns to me, puts her hands on her hips and says adamantly, “Where is my husband?”

I explained to her that Papa was my husband and he was her daddy.

Katie got visibly upset. “Why I don’t have a husband?”

The conversation followed with sadly asked questions such as “when can I have a husband?”

Then, a week or two later at bedtime she said, “Mama, I want you to sleep with me.”

I told her that I don’t sleep with her.

“How come you and Papa sleep together?”

I explained that we shared a room and that we were married.

Since then, she has been obsessed with getting married.

Last week in the car Katie says, “Mama, I want to get married.”

I told her okay, when she gets older she can get married.

“I want to marry a daddy.”

Umm, okay.

Pause in the conversation.

“Mama, all the daddys are taken.”

Another long pause in the conversation.

“Oh no!”

“What’s the matter Katie.”

“I don’t have a white dress!”

Hot, Hot, Hot

We had a mini heat wave this weekend.

Okay, it wasn't 100 degrees or anything, but in a beach town in Southern California, anything over 80 feels very warm.

We met up with our friends (it was also Miyo's birthday) who set up a fab camp for the day complete with camper, bbq and canopy.

Maddie started with some taste-testing.

There were these great little pools left behind by the tide.

We go this beach often and I think this is the first time we'd ever seen these little pools form. They were shallow, warm and perfect for splashing and lounging in.

Logan hung out in the shade.

Katie and Dylann played.

And, Maddie ate more sand.

I let her eat the first handful thinking -- she'll realize it's yucky and stop, right?

Apparently Maddie is lacking in some sort of mineral found in sand and would not stop shoving it in her mouth.

After the beach we went back and threw all the children that could sit on there own in the tub.

Needless to say the the tub had a pretty good layer of sand at the bottom of it by the time the girls were done in there.

We finished the day off with Japanese food and pie and ice cream.

Yum.

Big Fun

The Little Wickies went to an amusement park for the very first time today.

I wasn't sure what to expect. I haven't been to Magic Mountain since my high school boyfriend took me there a zillion years ago.

We conferred with the map and we were off.

Katie was excited, and I mean excited.

She actually squealed with delight the first five minutes in the park when she saw the big carousel.

As our friend Megan said, that squeal alone was worth the trip.

I have to admit, I was completely scared for my little girl going on her first roller coaster ride.

I know, I know it was just a kiddie roller coaster -- but still, she's my little girl.

So, I stood there with bated breath and watched her.

And she loved it.

She loved all of the rides.

Even those awful rides that spin.

This is Song after going on one of the spinning rides with Katie. I'm so glad that he went and not me. He was actually sweating when he got off.

Katie, of course, was completely unfazed and kept asking "Why you don't like the spinning Papa?"

Katie didn't even want to stop to eat. For those of you who know Katie you will recognize that this is HUGE. To put it in perspective, one of the few times she had an accident after being potty trained was because she didn't want to stop eating her lunch.

We had to go to a show (a really bad one) to get her to sit down and eat.

Then, it was back to the rides.

She liked this one so much she went on it twice. Once with me and once with Song.

Song and I discussed the fact that we now firmly believe she is going to absolutely love Disneyland.

Song is not thrilled with this since it is not his favorite place. I've heard him tell Katie that Disneyland is a make believe place...not sure how long he's thinking that is going to work.

She even went on rides by herself. Here she is squeezed between two bigger boys.

And, of course a day would not be complete without a train ride.

She went on three carousel rides and three different train rides.

Maddie enjoyed her first day of carousel riding with her big sister like a true Little Wickie.

It was hot today, so Katie enjoyed the fountains.

As we were leaving Katie was complaining and asked multiple times why we were leaving so soon (mind you it was 4 p.m. and we had been there since 10:30 a.m.)

And, by the time we reached the car...

Skirball with Jake

I had been planning to take Katie to the Skirball for at least a year .

I kept seeing other people's posts and hearing great stories from friends.

So, finally my friend Carrie and I took just the older kids (good idea Carrie) earlier this week.

There was a Superhero exhibit which was a bit lost on them.

Katie has no idea who Superman is.

They both just stared blankly at the actual-sized phone booth -- the kind Clark Kent would change into Superman inside of -- as Carrie explained this was how people used to make phone calls.

Geez, sometimes I feel old.

Katie really liked the room at the Noah's Ark exhibit where you can climb up high in the rope tunnels and ramps.

I love watching her and Jake together, they're like a little old married couple.

Farm Time!

This past "special Monday," we went to Underwood Farms with Papa.

I love watching Katie trot around the farm carefully deciding which animals are going to get which and what size carrots.

The peacocks were out and about. Their colors were so beautiful. One of them had all his feathers outspread, but I failed to take a worthy picture -- believe me, it was impressive.

A big must for the Little Wickies is riding the mini tractors.

Katie and Papa took a ride together and Maddie sat on a tractor -- happy as a clam.

There usually aren't shows on the weekdays because it isn't very crowded (a big reason we like going during the week).

But, we got lucky because there was a class visiting so we caught the animal show where they bring out and tell you about pigs, goats, chickens, ducks and the farm dog who's name is -- of course, Bingo.

Katie really likes shows. She'll generally sit through just about any show -- good, or bad.

We also went out and picked some veggies and fruit.

Katie picked some miniature carrots.

And, then we hit up the strawberry fields and picked some choice berries!

Our house backs up to a lemon orchard and strawberry field, but Katie still really enjoys getting out there and picking the fruit and veggies which I like to see.

She was very proud of her strawberry bounty.

We trekked out to the furthest outreaches of the farm in search of some navel oranges only to find that they were pretty much all picked!

Katie just ran up and down the side of the orchard.

And, like so many Little Wickie adventures, the day ended with a train ride.

Good times.