Her better side.

Nothing to say, just sharing a prettier view of my for now baby.

my genius girl

Slight exaggeration maybe...  but this week she did figure out the potty thing all on her own. With the help of a few skittles. The bribery offer has been long standing but I certainly haven't been in a position to be proactive about it. I just threw it out there every now and then. And this week she decided to take me up on it. Smart girl!

no toys

This is how to entertain yourself when Mama hasn't unpacked your toys but has unpacked the art room. Note, it also helps to have a patient dog (yes, the same dog the neighbors think is vicious). And I have no idea what was up with that face, she was obviously telling me something and I either wasn't understanding or was telling her no. Possibly she was wanting another victim and I wasn't cooperating? Regardless it's a look I get quite often. She could learn  little about patience from the dog.

8... in pictures

Rosie's eating all the herbivores!

Overheard last night.

the summer of swim

Finally. Finally! I have children that love the water. Evie was terrified of it until she was like 4 and even as late as last summer neither one of them would really get their faces wet (although, Juliana as always been a water baby ). So finally, after many, many swim lessons and a whole lot of hotel pools this spring , the big girls are officially swimming(and real swimming not the doggy paddle they were previously calling swimming). Today is the last day of this round of swim lessons and we're debating more. They have had the best instructor this time and I've been so impressed with the whole program. If we do go another round it would be for stroke development, how cool is that?  However, none of that really has anything to do with playing in the baby pool on the deck...

6!

Look!

I have a computer that can talk to both my camera and the internet. Amazing! I'm not promising anything though - life is kicking my behind just right now ...

8.

It's true. In the midst of my blogging hiatus, somebody turned 8. I need to hunt down her birthday pictures as it's been so long they're not in my current folder! Life might be a smidge more difficult for her but she is my ever sunny child. Unlike a certain sister she never complains and if a whine is heard from her we know something needs attention. She is ever faithful to her favorites and ever so patiently waiting for those lessons and one of her own.  School is still the enemy (not necessarily learning though) but with the help of this mamas patience and Rosies peer pressure  I would say she's not too far off track. And we did finally find a book series to draw her, although why I ever worried about reading is a mystery (I'm trying to remember this about spelling!). It's an interesting road we're traveling ... a fine line to keep to as we enter these tween years. I'll admit I thought the whole tween thing was bogus but as always I'm having to alter my opinion. We've been accused of sheltering our girls and still ... things they are a changin, as they say. But with her? It's fun. A joy to hear her opinions  as we prowl the stores and witness the pride she find in accessorizing every day. She is an amazing help to me and any other Mama she happens to be around ...  she is so, so beyond excited about this new little one and is adamant that it's a boy. Her creativity is still endless and thank goodness she's keeping to her tomboy ways. I'm  sitting back and relishing the changes as my  horse loving, nature girl dons her gaudy shades of choice and finds her way.

The mess

Middle of our big maple gone. Any carvers out there? Pile of maple branches by the road.

Massive tree along edge of property fell across the yard and creek.

Pile of 5 or so downed trees. That yellow thing in the middle is a little tykes slide.

More trees in the creek.

 

Smallish tree in backyard.

We are so grateful everything fell away from the house!And really, this is so, so soooooo minor to what you see when you drive around. If you were comparing it to the mess left in a stadium, it might qualify as an m&m on the ground, or maybe a piece of salt off a pretzel.  Nothing really. All we really suffered was a few days of inconvenience.

I like to enjoy the babyness of her self comforting now. You know, before she's Rosies age and I have to yell at her to stop. It's nice to see the sweetness and not worry about the orthodontist bills.

Easter

I think I took more pictures yesterday than I have in the past 3 months combined. That's a good sign, right? This is just the basket portion of our day...

Goodness.

2 months? I can only say that I've just recently returned to land of the feeling alive... and that's the best excuse I've got. This shirt was one of Juliana's birthday presents. And if anybody can ever tell me how to get my flip software back onto my computer then I can also share the hysterical video evidence of the confusion involved in the gifting. The big girls thought she was a big sister merely because she turned two. Quite fun to inform them otherwise!

be loved.

Happy Valentine's Day!

continuing on a theme... 3 in one room.

A month or so ago we moved Juliana into the girls room. We finally put (almost all of) the finishing touches in there this weekend. Adding a crib and moving beds around necessitated quite a bit "stuff" rearranging and "stuff" putting away. The point? Well, their room is finally clean and pretty and they let me take pictures of them up there! These were all taken in a 15 minute span of them basically just enjoying their room and hanging out up there, no candy bribes, no melt downs,  and no pouts. Remind me to clean more often! And I just realized I didn't include the of stuff that needed so much work. Whoops. Right now, they love sharing a room, we'll see how long that lasts!

Finding three.

I come across three together a lot these days. Those two have always been good, patient big sisters but there is something about them playing together versus just juju being entertained, does my heart good I tell ya.

snow fort

Snow fort we made during the great snow this year. The girls were not interested in snow people making instead they wanted to build something. Which really meant that Daddy had to do all the work while they played and watched. I think he'd say it was worth it though!

Cookies. Eamon style.

We took the liberty of tweaking his recipe by removing the goldfish and adding some toe jam. The girls and I are in the kitchen nearly every day but rarely ever does Juliana get some baking time so this was extra special.

go away!

Please, can we have some sun again?