Guess what I have on my lap? Nope, not a baby but a little furball named Jaq! This scruffy little white, dashund type dog showed up at Mom's the other day, he was filthy and starving, poor thing. He's a little old man with a bum knee but he is super sweet and just needs some love. We had planned on getting a puppy but well things just happen don't they? He is fabulous with the kids! Just sits and lets them love on him, when Evie watches t.v he sits in the crook of her arm, he's been brushed with sponges and a paint brushe, worn a crown, had a dishtowel cape and even gone for a ride in the doll buggy! Mom had originally named him Max but Evie had other ideas, all you Disney fans should remember Jaq-Jaq, the little mouse from Cinderella, I'm guess ing this is where it came from. Evie told us "no Max, Jaq" and to be honest he is a little rodenty looking, but in a cute way, I guess it's his long little nose, who knows what goes on in that pretty little head of hers.
Oh and I just wanted to add that I feel slightly guilty for bashing Dora the other day, she is one the only female lead cartoon characters so I do have to give her that. I think my anti-Doraism just comes from watching this child with a severe speech delay say "arriba" and count in spanish when I can't get her to do those things in English. Maybe if they would clearly state that it's spanish and not just say "we need to go fast, say arriba" I wouldn't feel so irritated. I'm sure for kids that don't have a speech problem, Dora is a wonderful learning tool. There, now I feel better and less guilty although why I should feel guilty about hurting a cartoon character is beyond me. I guess she can't help it if her head is so big, can she? And yes for the record I tried just banishing her from the house, but if you've opposed the will of a 3 year old or had those big brown eyes turn on you and won well then you're a better parent than I am. I'm picking my battles and in the very long scheme of things, I'm hoping this will all work out. We just found out insurance won't cover her speech therapy, if she'd had an accident and needed to relearn language skills they would cover it, but they don't just cover learning lnguage. Go figure. In NC she would have been in a program through the school system but here they're telling us she doesn't get that until she's actually in school. Now keep in mind there is an early intervention program until the age of 3, so do they just abandon the kids until school? Seems fishy to me so I've got some more calling to do.

the luv machine

An ode to the luv, I guess it's on mind because I'm waiting for the towtruck to come and pick it up since it's been sitting in the driveway for a week out of commision. It's one of Nathan's new toys for our so called "farm", after much searching for a small, non 4x4 diesel(for the biodiesel you know) farm truck, this is what we ended up with. An itty bitty baby pickup that looks as if it was attacked by smurfs. It's so very Nathan though, especially with the recycling always in the back! Apparantly the gas mileage is fantastic when it's working which is important for his 20 minute commute (you do get the sarcasm in that, don't you?). I'm not complaining mind you, he likes it, the girls love it (at least at this age) and it's paid for, sometimes I just wonder what the neighbors think! Oh, and the color is actually a very pretty light blue, not the funky color in these pictures, I was just playing around in photoshop with some new actions I got, fun stuff!
I guess I never read the terms of service for this place but apparantly Evie has and they include breakfast in bed. Yep, that's right it's 9:20 and she is still under the covers and calling for crackers! The only thing I can think of is that I told her MiMi would be here when she got up and she took me literally. I guess she's not geting out of that bed until MiMi is here! What I can't understand is why she wants crackers, if I'm going to protest for breakfast in bed then I'm going to make it something yummy, not crackers. I don't know if we even have crakers! She's so goofy but then I guess she can't really help it, can she?
Meri did the cutest thing yesterday! Evie is forever telling her to "STOP" and putting out he hand like a crossing guard, I guess she picked it up form me but really I'm not quite so ugly when I do it. Well, Evie was being her usual mean big sister self while we were outside and did her stop thing in Meri's face and Meri did it right back with this little twinkle in her eye. That little hand went out and she said "Sa"! I thought Evie was gonna fall over, she just doesn't know what's coming does she? I guess it's one of those things you'd have to see in person to realize how funny it was. It's just nice to see her giving it back to Evie in her mischevious little elfin way!

Everybody keeps asking about the house, wanting pictures. Well houses aren't nearly as fun as kids butI did get some shots this weekend - it was crazy windy, notice the sideways directions of the ferns. Here's the front but it's kinda hard to see because of the big trees, maybe this will give you and idea though. We loooove the porch, very inviting and of course there is the hot pink door :) That was an accident by the way, we had communication problems (isn't that always the case?) it's really supposed to be red, maybe one of these days we'll get around to it. That's the cleanest it's been since we bought it - just for y'all!

Ahhh, sisters. I was so excited when I found out we were having another girl. Not having a sister m self I imagined all the fun things they would do growing up, how close they would be. Well the reality is somewhat different, I hope it gets better as they get older! Maybe I should have listened to my two very close in age sister friends, Ash &Emily, they did warn me...
The girls do love on each other and they act like it at least a fourth of the time. My favorite moment is when they very fist wake up and Evie goes "oh baby, you up!" and pats her head. It's so sweet, then they hug, I think it lasts oh about 5 minutes before they wake up fully and then they're off. Currently they are sharing an obsession for all things Dora. Evie walks around imitating her "hi, I'm Dora" and Meri carries around this small Dora doll and this little musical lego that plays all the pertinant Dora sounds(thanks Auntie Karen). Evie watches the show while Meri points at the screen and goes "Do, Do, Do," over and over and over and over again. Well, you get the idea. Did I mention I can't stand the show? I don't get why they need to learn spanish right this moment, Evie has a hard enough time with English! And why is Dora's head so big anyway, the rest of her family all have normal size appendages. Okay sorry, this is a little off topic! I'm done with my Dora rant... have a nice day!

Meri chugging her way across the back yard. Don't worry, we bought a tractor to deal with that grass! Do you suppose she'll flounce her way through life like that?





We had so much fun with the hose this summer, the girls were so good about sharing! Do notice our little tomboy with her scrapes and black eye!. I'm glad fall is knocking but I'm still sad to see summer go. Next time we pull the hose out I'll be hearing two voices asking for turns instead of Meri's little baby grunts!

Oh Miss E, you are so three! From "No!" to "It's MINE!" to "Ebie do!" your passion for being independent never fails to bring about surprise, annoyance and pride. You definately have your own path and are intent on sticking to it! What will I do when everything isn't a struggle?

Ha! So much for daily, maybe, let's say bi-annually?
Things are going... slow, very slow. I am so very not organized and this little house needs some super anal organization to get it going. It's been 2 months and I still have boxes siting around, meanwhile the dust is accumulation under the furniture because I can't find the vacuum cleaner bags. The good news? Well, I just found a solution to our shelving challanged living, a cube room divider for behind the couch. Now to purchase and (gasp!) get stuff put away in it. Still waffling between the elcheapo ikea version and this more solid one I found at a store called West Elm.
Oooh, in other breaking news we got a tractor(I can't decide if I think it's sexy or not) and I put the order in for our trees. Anybody want to come help dig 20 holes? Let's see. E started preschool and dropped out of gymnastics already. I hate my living room floor, love the stars and need to rake the yard. Maybe I'll get some pictures up one of these days.