Conversation In The Car: Skyla, Mama and August

Skyla is very interested in teenagers and eager to be one.

Skyla: I saw my teacher's two kids today. They are teenagers.
Me: You did?
Skyla: Yes and one of them had a phone. (BIG SMILE)
Me: You will probably have a phone too when you are a teenager.
Skyla: I will?
Me: Yes, so I can call you.
Skyla: Will you write me messages too?
Me: Yes
Skyla: Can I have a purse too?
Me: Yes, you need somewhere to put your phone.
Skyla: And all of my teenager stuff.
Skyla: I can't wait to be a teenager!
August: Mama, I want to still be an August.

Rain and Rainbows

Back to reality... today is the last day of our vacation. We were disappointed in the weather the last FIVE days. But, we did our best to focus on what we did enjoy/accomplish this week instead of focus on what we couldn't do because of the rain. Skyla has been interested in seeing a rainbow for about a year now. I always told her I hoped to be with her the first time she sees one. Yesterday Les walked out our front door and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect rainbow. It wasn't extremely bright but it was huge and a perfect arch across one side of the sky to the other. The girls were screaming and jumping with delight in the yard and Skyla commented on the fact that we were all together to see it. It only lasted a few minutes and it was almost as if it was a special surprise for us to see and then it disappeared. I think I'll take that as a sign that we should enjoy the beautiful moments we have and not harbor negative energy about the moments we didn't have.



** Les you are probably back at work reading this today. We miss you already.**

Zoo Day

Les is on vacation this week. It has been a challenge to try to balance our "to do" list and still feel like we are on vacation at the same time. Today we spent the day at the zoo. It was great to be together and away from any responsibilities for a little while. Les and I were fascinated by the gorillas and the orangutans and agreed that we could have watched them all day. One orangutan even put on quite a show for us hanging up side down and swinging around. We also took a ride on the train and carousel. The girls enjoyed the animals but seemed the most excited playing on the zoo playground. Did you know... elephants drink about 30 gallons of water a day? Also, a female naked mole rat can have up to 27 babies at one time and a total of 500 through out a lifetime.

Happy Birthday Lester

Thank you for giving so much of yourself to our family! We love you!

Skyla's Drawing

This is a picture of our family. The girls and I have the curly hair and Les and Jude have the straight hair. Skyla's smiley face people bring me instant happiness. Children's art work is really one of life's simple treasures!

Girls Day Out

The girls and I enjoyed an afternoon together on Saturday. We had a "fancy" lunch at a really cute cafe above an antique store. They even had hats, jewelry and boas for us to wear while we were there. I really enjoyed the chance to sit and talk with them and ask each other questions. Funny how all of August's answers seemed familiar (repeating what ever Skyla said.) It was also an opportunity for me to say thank you to the girls. Thank you for being patient while so much of the day and my time is required for caring for their baby brother. I wanted to tell them how lucky Jude is to have two amazing sisters who care for him so much. We also went to the musical, "Your a Good Man Charlie Brown". When ever we have outings like this Skyla loves to pick out her outfit and also to see me wear anything fancier then jeans and a t-shirt. She packed her little purse with all the necessities a girl would need while going out for the day. Then she let me know she had taken some money out of her piggy bank and if I needed anything she wanted to buy it for me. So sweet! She bought she and August a honey stick at lunch and popcorn at the show.

Finding Time To Relax

The busy pace continues around here...it's been a week since I've wanted to post about a wonderful night with friends, music, smores and fresh air! I didn't capture the best pictures but we had a bonfire last weekend and all enjoyed some much needed down time. Well, much needed down time for the adults and much needed hard play running and screaming outside for the kids. Poor little August got a splinter in her hand at the beginning of the festivities but eventually (I think she turned a corner after the smore) she too joined in the fun. Before I forget... a note about the smores. The kids call them snores and Ely said his was like "tasting heaven". It was so great to see all the kids ages 1-7 running around and playing so well together. Les, you are a genius for putting the slide on the shed's ramp. I hope we have many more nights like that one. Good friends bring good times! (Oh... and the splinter is still in August's finger.)

Sweet Baby Jude

I am so in love with this baby boy. For one thing, he thinks I'm hilarious and smiles at me constantly. I'm really looking forward to this boys love their mamas theory I've heard about. He is sitting up and playing now and shrieks whenever he wants someone to look at him. His two top teeth have now come in and they have this wonderful gap between them that make him look tough and funny at the same time. His super fine white hair stands straight up. We read "Goodnight Moon", every night and he smiles each time I get the book out and begin to read. If he is crying he stops and enjoys the book staring at the illustrations and smacking the pages with his little hands. He thinks August is really funny and is so lucky to have Skyla to mama him when I need help. As soon as Jude sees Les when he comes home from work he cries. It is such a tender way of saying pick me up daddy and he starts smiling right away.

I like this picture of him with his cousin Ely.

It looks like Ely is whispering something important in his ear.

I found some pictures on the camera that Les took. Apparently while mama was a way the girls fed him a little sweet potato.

A "Birdie Dress" For August

I was excited to try to make a t-shirt dress for the girls. I couldn't really find directions on the web so I tried to figure it out on my own. I tend to get really excited about these types of new projects and I'm not really patient through out the process. I found the t-shirt on clearance at Target for $1.50 and I already had the fabric. The dress is a little more potato sack shaped then I was hoping for but that is because I didn't gather the material at the top. I also accidentally cut a hole in the shirt while doing a little seam ripping (oops, it's not the first time this has happened). I covered the hole by making an applique out of an another piece of fabric. Bottom line ~I have a new dress for $1.50 that my three year old loves and has named her "birdie dress".

A Snowy Sunday

I am so excited that for the second year in a row we were able to enjoy at least one day of snow. The falling snow was absolutely beautiful. I will admit that after that I enjoyed the rest of the day inside the house all warm and cozy with Jude. The girls loved it! They were outside with Les building a snowman and eating (yuck) the snow for as long as they could stand it. After they decided they were too cold to be outside any longer they moved in by the fire. Skyla set up a little pallet on the floor and August was camped out on the couch. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

More Fun With Trash

Skyla's love of making things from trash continues. I appreciate the creativity and the recycling but... it's kind of driving me crazy at the same time. With the girls sharing a small room there isn't really a lot of space for all the little treasures I find stashed around the room. There is an empty carton of Almond milk that she wants to keep because she uses it as a conveyor belt when they play grocery store. There are lots of pieces of wrapping paper that she got out of a trash bag from a baby shower I had last week. These are for the "excellent idea" she came up with to use the paper to wrap gifts for her baby shower. So this led them to wrap up different things around their room as presents for their baby shower. I'm not sure when they are having this baby shower but they are putting their dolls under their shirts and "having a baby" at least once a day lately. Also, Skyla and August have been holding on to an empty beer box that they decided to make cookies with. They cut out pieces of the box and used stickers and markers to decorate them. I even found a plate of them in our refrigerator drawer and was told they were baking and would be ready the next day.