allisonisms

All previously posted on Facebook:

Allison is singing this over and over. I asked where she heard this and she said she made up yhe second half....
Happy Birthday to you,
You're a hundred and two,
You still go to preschool and you want your mom,
But you're mom is at work,
She fired a jerk,
Then hired a monkey who ate your homework.

Allison had a substitute today...Ms. Vogel. She told me she corrected her pronunciation of her name (in German you pronounce it Fogel) and then kept calling her "Ms. Bird" and laughing all day, which is what Vogel translates to. Somehow I think I owe the poor lady a beer.

As Erin and I approached the twins they started shouting, "Code red! Code red!"
Erin: What? Code red is what the teachers are supposed to say if a bad guy gets into the school.
Allison: that's also what you say when mamma is coming and we don't want her to hear the bad words in the song we just made up.

Me: "Your blonde hair is really pretty."
Allison: "You have pretty blonde hair too, until it turns grey, which is going to happen really soon I think."

Allison: "When daddy dies I want his big car."
Kate: "I want his convertible."
Me: "Hey, that's really not a nice way to talk about daddy."
Allison: "Okay, I take it back. I'll be too busy with my [car that bakes pies while you drive] invention anyway."
Kate: "I still want the convertible."

Erin: "Allison, what are you going to be when you grow up?"
Allison: "i'm going to make that car that bakes pies while you drive, remember?"
Erin: "Oh yeah. Kate, what are you going to be?"
Kate: "I don't know."
Allison: "Well I know! I need an assistant with all of my pie-car work so you're going to help me."

While driving by the high school:
Allison: "Hey, it's after 5:00, what are those kids still outside for?"
Me: "Maybe they had sports practice after school, or band or newspaper or something."
Allison: "But there is no after-school care there."
Me: "Right. High school kids are big enough to go home alone and do their homework."
Allison: "And when they're done they can eat a snack and download inappropriate things on the computer."

pumpkin park

While mom and Peter visited us for the weekend, we thought we'd do something ver fall-like. Who needs giant trees with colorful leaves when we have bright, sunny fall days near 80 degrees and gigantic pumpkin parks to play in?

There were cow rides and pony rides.


All sorts of animal friends to visit with.


A corn maze to wander through.


Hayrides, a rock band that threw candy out to kids in the audience, hay bales stacked up to play on, and, oh yeah, and pumpkins to select and bring home.

end of the season

At the end of September Erin's last dance competition of the year took place. We didn't enter Kate to dance because, having turned 7, she'd need to dance in the Beginner class and she doesn't know enough of the dances to really compete there yet.

Erin competed against 7 other, sometimes much bigger Beginners.

I still think the judging at these things is strange. The one dance I noticed some obvious mistakes was the dance Erin ranked highest in. But all day she was confident and it turned out to be her best competition yet. She took her very first FIRST place, two second places, and two fourth places.

At this rate we're going to need a special dance award display case, just for her and Kate.

birthday bikes

The girls have been requesting new bikes for many months since the ones they have were outgrown a long while ago. Kate and Allison's bikes had 12-inch wheels and Erin's had 16-inch wheels, which were great sizes for them nearly four years ago. Part of our hesitation about getting new ones were that the twins were still using training wheels, but in the spring each of them left the trainers behind for good. By that time I thought we might as well wait until the fall. At first I thought we should pass Erin's bike down, but sometimes the twins rode it and even that one looked too small for them.
As their birthdays approached we surprised them one afternoon by taking them all bike shopping. We didn't have much luck at the first shop but at the second we hit the jackpot. The twins' new bikes have 20-inch wheels and Erin now has a 24, which should last them all several more years. By the time they outgrow these I have a feeling they'll start hinting to us about cars.