whatever

i don’t want the warm weather to end.
annie was completely entertaining herself…
soaking in the sun…
laughing like crazy.
i think she may like this quiet house more than i thought.

so far….
these girls are enjoying their time with mommy.
and i am too.
the house is pretty quiet in the mornings now.
i spend time on the computer…
do some laundry…
clean up a little (very little).
they watch the shows they want without being bugged by the boys.
play dress up…and babies
and right now talby is drawing on the bathroom wall.

this project is about half done.
i am still filling in their drawings…a few a day.
i will have to paint a few in to cover annie’s “contributions”.
talby wrote the abc’s today.
a few letters are backwards and i am going to leave it that way.
i made a mosaic mirror that is not grouted yet to hang in here.
i need a fun rug…towel hooks that are low enough for the kids…
and i want to paint the cabinet that is in there.
not too much right?
i’ll show pictures when i am finished (of course).

a self portrait at our park picnic outing yesterday.
so sunny and warm.
annie only ate the marshmallow pie and not any of the healthy things i packed.

i am frustrated.
yesterday sean’s new bike was stolen from the school bike rack.
last week…scott’s bike was stolen from our house.
this past christmas…my bike was stolen from our house.
this “small town” is very quickly losing its charm.
we did not have any of them locked up at the time.
that is stupidity on our part.
i take responsiblity for not forcing the lock thing.
i just never think it’s going to happen…
who does that?
yesterday when sean was just standing there where his bike was…
i thought “am i on candid camera? am i being punked?”
how could this be happening again!
so frustrating.
the police officer said “there’s just always going to be people who take.”
so true…
our bikes will now be in maximum security lock down at all times.
(and watch one more get stolen before we make it to the store to buy locks)

so a few happy things after that yucky stuff.

2 butterflies in the jar that talby caught and observed.

morning glories…all a mess.

my little white rabbit in the garden guarding this bike from being stolen.

my favorite window in the house as i peek through the zinnias

now…go lock up all your bikes!

preschool open house was last night.
the whole family went to make it special for annie.
she was so happy and ready to be there.
she didn’t want to go when it was over.
we stayed outside at the park an extra half hour.

*talby drew the design that is now the logo for new creation preschool!*
(more to come on another post)

their room is so colorful.
this preschool is such a loving environment.
it’s fun, energetic, creative, kind, safe, happy, full of life…
i love this place.

she is going to have a great year!
no doubt about it.

this is what potty training looks like at our house.
i don’t know how other people do it
(nor do i care how others do it)
i just let them be naked as much as possible.
it’s what works for me…5 times over.

we had a laid back weekend.
cleaned the house on saturday…
cleaned out my dresser and closet…
baked a cake…
craig got the groceries (less time for me in a grocery store is always good)
we invited some neighbors over for dinner…
very last minute.
talby and sophie are buddies.
i can see them having lots of fun growing up together.
they can be quite silly.

it was pure summer to eat dinner outside
talking with friends
listening to the cicadas
surrounded by flowers
eating watermelon and corn on the cob
swatting at mosquitos…..

this is the yummiest cake!
it was the cover of country living magazine 3 or 4 years ago.
pumpkin cake with pumpkin cream cheese frosting…yum.
it was gone in a day.
craig requested another one…maybe i will post the recipe.

then today there was more neighborhood fun
one of our neighbors has this!

usually the big kids are on here
but today the little kids were loving it!
talby was so sweet and helpful to annie.
annie was scared but talby convinced her to climb up and slide down together.
it was darling.

thanks thomas’ for sharing this with us.
it made for a great sunday afternoon.

and they were all in bed before 8:00.
they needed it…very cranky kiddos.

annie is nearly potty trained.
i hesitate even writing that.
i don’t want to jinx it.

i took her to the store yesterday to pick a toy for her great efforts she’s made.
it was just the 2 of us.
she wanted me right beside her.
she slowly looked at all the toys….pushed the buttons…touched each one.
we looked at each baby doll.
i was sure she’d pick a baby.
she kept walking.
she passed the bubbles…the books…the noisy toys
and then a squeal of delight….this tin box of marbles.

she was so excited.
she was clapping and jumping up and down.
we brought them home and peeled off the wrapper.
when i opened the lid she made this little gasp…
“ohhhhh pretty mama”
she was right.
there were all sizes…

‘the biddest huuuuuge one”
(biggest huge always means very big)
i love this picture…she’s holding it so gently.
her hands are shaped like a heart.

“bid and wittel!!” (big and little)
can you see my reflection?

“the tiny babies”
they were so little in her hand.
she lined them up and played a song for them from her mcDonald’s american idol toy.
“music for the babies.”
seriously.

then they had to be dumped.
and then sorted and rolled and dropped.
each one was touched at least once.

can’t you just feel that on your hands?
cold glass rolling under your fingers?
and can you hear it?
all the glass clicking together..
i love annie’s choice…
even though i will be cleaning up marbles for the next year and half.

i call this one…’Marbles in the Sun.’
ha ha

i guess we aren’t waiting for the last day we have the pool up….

they have been asking to do this since the day we got the pool.
i told them many times
“on the last day we have the pool up i will let you”
then last night at 8:15…that’s fifteen minutes after bedtime already…
craig yells “you need to see this!”
and there they were jumping from one to the other.
the boys still had their clothes on!
it was the only thing that could have pulled lauren from the tv.
she was out there in 10 seconds!

i wanted to wait till the last day so we would have a lesser chance for injuries.
i will just hope for the best…
i just won’t watch.

happy anniversary mom and dad.
hope you have a nice one.

want to know what a 2 year old keeps in her purse?
this is my old purse that i gave to talby…which annie quickly claimed for herself.
she is constantly filling and emptying it with treasures.
this was all inside…

pink sunglasses…baby bottle…tiny radio (purple)…
2 green poker chips…5 DQ gift cards (with no $$ on them)…
a budweiser bottle opener (it’s our neighbor’s – honest)…
plastic pancakes…old powder mirror…broken snowglobe…
a sonic receipt…thousands of dollars (play money)…
2 AAA batteries…a remote finder keychain…$.04….
a broken but repaired eye examiner from a toy doctor’s kit.
the old broken cell phone is missing from this picture because she couldn’t find it at the moment.
it’s back now though.
thank goodness.

we had a fun morning!
we met ms. kristin and lizzie for coffee downtown.

annie took this one of my arm.
talby chose our seat…on the step looking out the window…perfect spot.
the mommies tried to talk between the little girls’ questions and talby’s movie quotes.
the 3 girls took turns jumping off the step.
we were the only people there so we just let them play.
notice the newspaper in the background…how appropiate.

so nice to get out of the house, see friends and drink coffee.
these 2 little girls are going to have so much fun at preschool this year!
kristin…i promise i won’t blog about it every time we get together.