In The Midst...

In the midst of a frustrating afternoon came a beautiful moment. One that made me stop focusing on the mundane and redundant tasks, stop focusing on a challenging parental issue where you're natural tendency is to be high strung about it (and to do high strung well)....
It made me stop.

It made me sit and watch the beauty, the magic, the silliness, the fun...

It made me laugh and enjoy my two beautiful girls.

I'm pretty certain I've asked them not to jump on the bed before.
I'm pretty certain I've told them not to jump on the bed before.

(Because sometimes they hit their head on the wall. And once Amelia hit her mouth and made it bleed).

But most of the time they don't.


And, really, what is the purpose of Daddy and Mommy's bed if not for jumping on?

This Week

(ignore the slight snot-nose here, please. it was one of those times where it became dried before you even realized it was there,
and she wouldn't let me do the 'lick my thumb and wipe it' trick. shameful.)

We have been experiencing gorgeous weather this week! Needless to say, we've been spending a lot of time playing outside and blowing bubbles, taking wagon rides, going to the park, etc.Hannah showing us her latest trick! She even dangled with no hands for a few seconds!

Hannah wanted to take a picture of us. So, in a rare moment, the parents on the other side of the camera.

Hannah looking ever so precious at breakfast the other day. The girls are on a big breakfast kick this week; every day the girls gobble up two bowls of Nature's Path flakes each! Which is Mommy and Daddy's favorite cereal right now, as well. Needless to say, we're having trouble keeping the pantry stocked.
One of our crafts themed around "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Hannah wrote her name on the circles, one letter per circle. Then, she glued them in order onto a piece of construction paper, and added a face and antennas. Amelia needed Mommy to write her name and draw the face, but she very much enjoyed playing with the glue.
We also tried this craft from "No Time for Flash Cards" where you use cookie cutters dipped in paint to make shapes on your paper. Our cookie cutters are cheap plastic ones (Dollar Tree-- they were 6 for $1), so while we weren't quite able to identify every animal, it was still fun.
After a little while, and by that I mean 4 minutes, the girls just wanted to finger paint anyway.
Hannah has gotten fairly good at writing letters. Maybe half the alphabet? Either big, little or both. The only word she writes is her name. And our little lefty has started switching hands on me lately! Strange. She has a few 'sight words' she can read: 'a, I, no, on,' and 'all.' Hannah also is showing a natural propensity for math. When we are eating multiples of an item, say grapes, we will use subtraction as we eat. "I have seven grapes. If I takeaway one, that leaves me... six!" It's awesome to see children learn through simple play, with no stress or strict agenda.
Amelia has also made some huge strides in her vocabulary recently! In the last week, she has added the following phrases to her repertoire:

"I wu you!"--I love you!
"Boo!"--blue, or really any color. She will point at other colors correctly if you ask her to, but verbally identifies them all as blue.
"Na-na!"--Hannah! (this generally has a negative connotation)
"Dee-du, Mom."--Thank you, Mom.
"Okay, Mommy."--Okay, Mommy. (she replies to everything I say to her with this phrase)
"See Amy!"--Show me my dang picture, woman! (as she's pointing to the digital camera)
"Tickle me, Daddy"--Father, would you please engage in the sport of tickling me for my amusement?

Leaps and bounds, I tell ya!

Springing Forward

Well, Kentucky weather is unusually freakish lately. Even for Kentucky. Sunday afternoon we skipped grocery shopping to stay home and wait out the tornado warnings. Exciting stuff! Now can I please just go get the dang bananas and dish detergent??
We've had high's in the 60's this past week, with tomorrow forecasted to be a whopping 78 degrees! And, true to form, Wednesday will be back in the mid-40's. Nice. But we are certainly taking advantage of our springish days while we can....

Here's our little vegetarian, who has recently also sworn off eggs. She will, however, root under the table for any dropped raisins that Walter didn't get. Remind me to add 'children's vitamins' to that grocery list....

Hannah found a little purple flower in our front yard. It's probably a weed, but we were still excited to find signs of spring life.

Amelia playing in dirt. The girls adore playing in dirt lately. Forget the park! Give them shovels and any and all of my currently plantless pots with dirt, and they just go back and forth, shoveling to and fro... "planting" flowers. I look forward to planting a few annuals with them in May, when Kentucky is finally considered safe from freeze.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the answer is 'yes.' Amelia did sample the dirt.

That hair is still crazy, even after a recent cut and even more recent brushing!

Hannah found 'treasure' at the field opposite our place. We spent some time running from pirates and trying to bury it. We also tried drawing a map to it's location, but Hannah is experiencing a desire to draw things beyond her years, and naturally, is frustrated by that. I've been trying to lightly outline things for her in basic shapes with pencil, allowing her to draw over it in color and elaborate. I don't know, is this wrong? I don't want to condition a perfectionist, but I understand that she can't yet draw what she sees.

Warm weather for a day!

Last Thursday it was gorgeous out!  A whopping 50-some odd degrees and not breezy!!  We just had to get out and spend quality time at our park.  I'll admit, on 30-degree days when it's wet and windy, I'm less motivated to go outside.  We haven't logged in enough hours at our park this winter...  

Walter, our lovey boy.  He enjoyed chatting with a few pals on the walk to and from...

Hannah climbing up the curved ladder thingy, with her wild woman hair that cannot be tamed.  (She says she wants to grow it long.  But she doesn't like me putting it in pony tails, and I dislike it looking like I neglect her.  This is now an 'issue.')  

Amelia brought her "baw" to the park, and we tossed and kicked it around.

I attempted to get a recent picture of both the girls, together, smiling and looking precious.  Amelia wasn't feeling it.  Neither was Hannah's hair.  Maybe next time...

Autumn in Kentucky...

at least, earlier this week, was amazing.  We had a few days of absolutely gorgeous weather, and we know exactly what to do when the weather is right: you put down your color crayons and laundry, and get your bumper outside!  So we did!