Maybe a mechanic

Well, if I can't convince her to be an engineer, maybe she'll show some aptitude as a mechanic.  It'd actually be quite nice to have one in the family, I'm amazingly useless with cars...

So I go to pick her up from day care and I find her, Colin, and Amber either making a car or fixing a bike, depending on when I asked. 

Some videos of their antics:

The moon has been a big deal as of late.  She insists that it's going to fall on her head, but she seems to ignore my explanations of orbital mechanics...

Eating the moon has also been a thing recently:

Halloween 2013

We do have a creative child.  Must have gotten it from her mother.  She (Gwen, not Jenni) decided on a costume over a month ago and has stuck to her guns.  She was...

A flashlight.

I can't take any credit for the costume - Jenni found all the stuff and showed me how to put it together.  I just assembled it to the best of my ability, which is pretty lacking unfortunately.  So here's some random pics:

And some videos too:

It turned out to be heavier than we had expected, but apparently she didn't complain or take it off once while trick or treating at daycare.  Halloween night was another matter.  I was carrying it between stations at Hy-Vee, then we used a different costume for walking through the neighborhood.  It probably weighs a good 10 pounds - we could't expect a 25 pound munchkin to walk around in it all night.

And now she is three

Although she DOES insist that next year she'll be one.  Arithmetic is one area we still need to work on, quite frankly.

She insisted she wanted a pink cake:

[Video]

Every girl is a princess on her birthday.  I couldn't decide which pic I liked better, so have both:

There must be presents:

I don't want to grow up!

In case you couldn't tell from the fact that she's in a stroller with two babies...

RenFest 2013

Jenni and I love the Renaissance Festival.  I've gone since high school, no sure how long she has but it's certainly been a long time.  This was Gwen's second RenFest, and she certainly seemed to enjoy herself pretty well.  Aunt Emily came along to play too.

First up, we have Gwen as a butterfly-like thing riding a robin:

Next, as a cat:

Now, making a magic shaker.  She's being helped by a vegetarian werewolf whose baby (hiding under the blue skirt) doesn't ever change out of wolf form:

And here she's getting a dragon's tear and giving a dragon kiss:

And of course, she was promoted to princess and took part in the princess parade:

(I had to include the last one just to show that Aunt Emily is silly)

She was also made a special friend of the princesses:

Pickle!

Of all the animals to choose from (pony, llama, and cow), which does she choose?  She's the first one there, can choose any of them, and...

Moo.

I bought myself a cider float.  I didn't end up getting much of it...

We had to abandon my friends for a good 20 minutes because Gwen saw this swing and just HAD to do it.  It was worth the $2, she had a great time on it.

And finally, I just added this one because I liked it:

You know you've had a busy day when...

... you fall asleep on the swing.

From Emily

This post is a quote from Aunt Emily.  Gwen was staying with her and Grammers a while back:

While Grammer Judy and Gwen enjoy current pics on Gwen's blog, Grammers pulls up Facebook.  Clicking on Luke's Facebook photo, we see pre-Gwen family photo: Jennifer looking just the same as always... radiant, ageless.  We see a short-haired, rather CHUBBY Luke (yes, it's true. And by the way, Gwen did NOT recognize him. At all.). And right in the middle of Luke and Jen is good old George.  The Gwen is absolutely stupefied by the photo, and you can almost hear her two-year-olds brain trying hard to turns its cogs of logic around this scene.  Finally, her extremely concerned question comes loudly: "Grammers, when did I turn into a dog?"

For reference, the photo is here:

Be very afraid...

Dinnertime yesterday.  Gwen is having a little play, with different pieces of food acting out the plot.  I found the character development to be a bit lacking, but the players certainly were giving it there all.  I'm playing on my phone and then I hear loud and clear, in a perfectly calm voice:

I will cut you.

I look up, eyes wide open, expecting to see eyes locked on mine, maybe a head twisting around, already planning on calling an old priest and a young priest, but there is just Gwen.  Two pieces of cheese, one in each hand, with one starting to tear.  I'm assuming that's the one that was being cut and not doing the cutting, but I didn't inquire further.  Just went back to my phone.

And since I can't just leave without some form of graphical extravaganza for the adoring masses.  One of my old coworkers was getting rid of an old swing set so I rounded up some competent workers (I'm useless when it comes to moving heavy objects OR assembling things) and got it moved over:

Keith (classy as always), Joseph, Eric, and Eric's dad

I come home from work and find that Amie lowered one of the swings to Gwen's height

I'm looking directly into the sun with no glasses on. Your star burns!

 

 Swinging with Amie

Driving to work with spaghetti cream

Gwen's First Equine Adventure

Have I mentioned how much we like Gwen's daycare?  Yesterday they tell me to have Gwen wear boots since they'd be going horseback riding.  Gwen was super excited, including repeatedly telling us that she was excited and waving her fists in the air.  I was afraid she'd show up and be terrified - think about how much larger than a 25 pound toddler a full-grown horse is. 

It didn't help that she was asking to go to the carousel the entire car ride home.  It took me forever to figure out that she thought horse riding was the same as going on the wooden horses at Worlds of Fun.  Ah, the minds of these little creatures are absolutely fascinating...

Apparently I needn't have worried, since Gwen happily rode both Smokey the horse and Britches the pony, apparently with no issues.  And with no further ado, I'll shut up now.

More shopping

This is a minion from Despicable Me, which I still haven't seen - really need to get on that:

This is Gwen, wearing a backpack of said minion:

This is Gwen waiting (as patiently as a toddler can be expected to) for our pizza to be made [Video]:

 

This is Gwen and Sydney at a Chinese restaurant [Video]:

Finally, here is Gwen pushing a tiny cart at Hy-Vee.  I have to recommend strongly that you do NOT do this with your own child.  However, if you'd like to do it with my child, you're welcome to.  One guy stopped me as I was chasing her around and told me I was a saint.  He obviously doesn't know me at all, but apparently I made a good show at being patient [Video]:

And yes, she should like a balloon.

More daycare pics