The girls are making a movie

The girls decided to make their own version of X-Men First Class. They are not done filming it yet, but here's the teaser trailer.  (I know I'm the Mom and everything, but I have to say I am legitimately impressed!)

The ugly truth

Christmas-time can be very stressful.  As hard as I try to not make it so, I often find myself here in mid-December, feeling completely overwhelmed.  I know that most other mothers (if they are honest ones) struggle with this as well:  walking the fine line between creating a festive, warm atmosphere without getting bogged down in the enormous amount of work it takes to get there.

For me, it's my own lack of organizational skills that really gets me this time of year.  I want to get out cards, to re-connect to people we've otherwise lost touch with.  I want to send little packages to friends and family.  I want to remember the school bus drivers and cafeteria workers, who help my children every day and get very little recognition.  I want to do fun things, like making gingerbread men or going to see light displays or hosting cookie-parties.  The reality is.....I will probably only accomplish half of the things I plan to do.  We've already been derailed by a stomach flu and  I just realized that while I was busy cleaning out the upstairs, the basement has become completely unlivable.  A last minute party or school event is bound to pop up.  Add into all of this Baby Ruth, who deserves her own category.  She does not like our life to be too busy, she needs downtime built into every day and it's not just for naps;  she needs to spend time just playing with me on the floor, or reading books, or making a game out of eating yogurt.  The other girls are all big enough now to roll with the program (more or less), but Ruth just can't take it if the day is all go-go-go.

So, my basement stinks.  (Literally.)  The tree is not up.  My list of Christmas cookies is already getting pared down.  The kitchen is a mess and the laundry has piled up and I have once again failed to figure out how to get the outdoor plugs to work, so our yard is dark and Scroogish.

I have, however, played peek-a-boo and danced to the musical card Grandma Niccoli sent Abbie for her birthday (which, by the way, was a favorite) and I've sat beside the tub while the my two youngest took a nice long bath.  And I have to remind myself that it doesn't matter how the other mothers judge my Christmas preparedness, whether my gifts are all wrapped (they are not) or my cards are out (I haven't even taken the picture yet.)  I have to remind myself what Ruth is telling me every day:  the criteria I should judge myself by is whether or not I am taking good care of my family, and that has more to do with their peace of mind than with the number of items I've ticked off of a list. 

So here I go into the third week of Advent and my mantra is:  Keep Home Calm, Don't Worry About What Everyone Else is Doing.

Or in other words:  Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men.

Pictures from Thanksgiving

As always I didn't take as many pictures as I had planned to, but here are a few from an afternoon the girls and I spent making sand sculptures:

Mermaid (pregnant, in honor of Aunt Becky)
And I need to just say, real quick, that it makes my heart prouder than proud to know that when my girls want to be mermaids, they don't even consider sexy siren mermaid in their haste to opt for pregnant mermaid.

Crab (complete with claws - see them?)

Sea Horse

This was meant to be a giant jellyfish, but I was getting tired and kinda phoned it in

Happy Halloween!

Ruth and I are both currently plague-ridden, which explains why I am sitting here posting on the blog while feeding Ruth pieces of chocolate, instead of out with my family trick-or-treating.  The girls were highly energized while they got ready before going over to Becky and Dante's to trick-or-treat, though, and here are the pictures I took before they left.

 We had Hermione-being-turned-into-a-cat:

 A zombie sleepwalker:

 A zombie bride:

A butterfly (who, it broke my heart, had to wear a heavy coat over her costume since it snowed four inches this weekend!)

 And a surly pre-teen.  Oh, wait, I mean....a bumble-bee.

Poor Ruth never even put on her costume, she is too boogery and unhappy.  She was going to reprise her role as a butterfly, since she still fits into her costume from last year, but it was not meant to be.  Now I am going to go make myself some tea and watch as much of a scary movie as Ruth will let me!  Happy Halloween to everyone!

Abbie's first fifteen minutes of fame. Huzzah!

We went to the Renaissance Festival last weekend, one of our favorite yearly things to do.  Huzzah!  We love the cheesiness of it!  Huzzah!  We love the people who come in elaborate costumes, many of them having quite literally nothing to do with the Renaissance!  Huzzah!  Most of all, though, we freaking love the performers.  Knife-throwers, jugglers, singing wenches - Huzzah!  I have this itchy feeling whenever we go, the same feeling I get when we go to the circus,  this feeling that I could have very easily ended up as a Carnie.  The idea is very, very appealing some days!

This is not about my desire to run off and join the circus, though.  This about Abbie, and whatever magic she's got going on that makes people kneel at her feet.  Here she is in this video, plucked from the audience to assist our all-time favorite Renaissance Festival performer, Hilby the Skinny German Juggle Boy.  We have literally been watching him (and loving his act) for years.  Note the crown she is wearing;  some random woman stopped us and insisted on giving it to her earlier.

What cracks me up is this:  I understand when people who know about Abbie's brain tumor make a fuss over her.  I understand (although it gets on my nerves) when people ask me how Abbie is, as though she's my only kid who matters.  The random lady who gave Abbie a crown, though, she did not know a thing about Abbie.  Hilby, when he called her to the stage, had no way of knowing that she was ever a cancer-patient.  The crowd, who cheered so much for her that she ended up going back up to bow again at the end of the show (something that we've never seen happen in all the years we've been going to this) did not know that she was once one of those brave-but-plucky kids they put on St. Jude commercials.  This is just the pure attractive magic of Abbie at work. Is it because she actually cares so little for what people think of her that they always seem to love her so much?  I don't know, it's kind of a mystery to me.  But she had a blast here, as you will see on the video, and whatever the various reasons that go behind why people single her out for attention, she always handles it well.

The winner of the first Pittsburgh StorySlam was....

...My Uncle Mike!!!

I am extremely proud!  Here's the video of his talk (which is sideways, but still effective.)

7 Quick Takes, because I feel silly writing a post *just* about how I made a blanket

1:  I finished it!!!
 
Finally, after two years of toil and uncertainty, Lucy's quilt is finished!  It's not exactly perfect;  I ditched my original plan for the blanket and ended up cobbling together what I had already done with scraps from other abandoned projects.

2:  Now I have to do one for everybody
 
Notice the other waif in this picture, looking on with pathetic longing?  Suddenly, everyone is dying for their own blanket.  I don't know how I am going to handle this, draw straws?  Beth thinks I should pick based on age;  I think she's afraid that she will be grown and gone by the time I get around to her blanket.  I have promised a blanket to everyone sometime before they leave for college, but I have to say that I am a little daunted by the amount of time this is going to take.

3:  Here's a little slice of life with Ruth

She's pretty scattered, focus-wise.  Isn't it cute, though, how she waves to people out the window?  She does this all the time.  And Mom - she really likes the book!  It's significant that she keeps coming back to it.


4: The cooler weather is here to stay which means, ugh, the changing of the clothes

I want to curl up into a ball and die.
I wonder how other mothers with lots of kids do this.  Is the pain and suffering unavoidable?  Or is it avoidable, and I'm just doing it wrong?
I wish we could go back to only having one, two outfits at most.  It would be so much easier.


5:  Did you know that facial-recognition deficiency is, like, a thing?

It is!  I've recently read two separate accounts of people mentioning that they have trouble remembering faces.  It's a relief to know that I am not the only freak pretending to know who has just stopped them in the grocery store.

This is how bad it's become for me:  I was in Target last week, lugging Ruth in my arms and trying to navigate a cart overladen with two huge stools (which are working out great for our homework table!  I am a genius!)  I saw, over the stools, a glimpse of someone at the end of the aisle, looking directly at me.  I knew that her face was familiar somehow, but I ducked back behind the stool to give myself time.  I knew it was a familiar face, not just someone I see once in a while.  Still, though, I had no idea who she was or how I knew her.   Finally, near the end of the aisle myself, I sighed and came out from behind my hiding spot to face the music.

It was  mirror.  The face I had not recognized was my own face. 

All this is to say:  If I run in to you, and can't immediately remember who you are, please don't take it personally.  I really can't help it.

6:  The nights that Ruth does not sleep well teach me something

I really need sleep.  Babies should not try to play peek-a-boo at 3am, it's mean.  And Middle Schools should not open so early, some of us like to sleep in. 

7: I've been on an old movie kick and:  what's with all the scandalous behavior?!?!

How did I never notice before how so many of these old movies (like, 40s and early 50s) treat adultery like something that's just mildly amusing?  I can't believe how many meet-cute romances I've rewatched, not remembering that one or both of the main characters were married to other people at the start of the movie.

It's making me feel a little better about our current culture, at least.

Thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary!

One? Already?!?!

I can't believe this little booger is one, already.

She is an extremely quirky kid.  This is one of her default faces, and I worry that people who do not know this is her "teasing face" might think she is Rosemary's Baby.

Ruth is also extremely sweet and loving.  She gives us all hugs and kisses all day long.  If I catch her doing something she knows she shouldn't (like touching the laptop)  she will immediately bend down and give the offending object (like the laptop) the head-bump that for her means a hug and a kiss.

She loves her family so much!  When the girls come downstairs in the morning, Ruth will literally cheer for them, waving her arms and squealing with delight.  When Chris comes home from work, Ruth can tell by the sound of his footsteps and she goes off like a shotgun, crawling with abandon over any object that might be in her way, to get to her Daddy.

 Ruth is a people-person.  She loves to wave to strangers, and she will often work very hard to catch the attention of sour-faced people who ignore her.  I've witnessed her coax smiles out of surly teenage stockboys, leather-clad bikers, gigantic gangster-looking guys hanging around streetcorners and bitter faced old ladies.  This kid is a miracle worker.

She also has a dark side.  When mildly upset, she will shriek in a register that can only fully be heard by dogs.  If she is slightly annoyed, she will cry big crocodile tears that would break your heart if you only weren't aware that, by 7  months of age, this baby was already a consummate actress. 

She makes us all laugh every day, and she torments us all with her constant desire to get into the good stuff.  She can tell the difference between banana slices and donuts, and woe to anybody who thinks they can sneak it past her.  She is so, so loving - if anyone is sad you can bet that Ruth will be right there, bending down her big bobble-head to give them a hug.  She has a sense of humor, loving to shake her head "no" to solicit laughs or to play hide-and-seek when she should be going to sleep.  She has a way of concentrating her face, a look that says, "Yes, I know that you have this or that on your mind, but can't you see how hilarious I am?"  and it works, every time.  We laugh, and forget our cares, and are so thankful to have this crazy baby in our lives.

Seriously, though, why is this her default face???

Evangelizing

We were not having a great morning.

Ruth woke up at 6am and then refused to take a nap, despite her weary red eyes and body-racking yawns.  The older girls had been told to straighten up the top floor, but the situation up there quickly devolved into an unacceptable atmosphere.  Things were confiscated, tears were shed, wails were wailed.

Add to this attractive scenario a front yard that is also devolving, due to the weeds which clearly have a personal vendetta against us and an overflowing recycling bin.  It's been....I can't even remember, weeks?  since we remembered to set the stupid bin out, so it is now more a mountain of trash than an identifiable bin.  I have multiple secondary boxes that I keep in the kitchen, but I tend to keep the milk jugs (which are sealable) and other contained, non-sticky stuff in those while the beer bottles still get tossed outside in the overflowing bin.  In other words, if you looked at our recycling bin right now (which isn't even an official recycling bin, it's just a blue plastic container with a big X duct-taped on the side) we totally look like alcoholics. 

So, to recap:  cranky, exhausted-eyed baby, wailing and crying from upstairs, and a mountain of beer bottles by the front door.  This is the morning the Mormons decide to drop in.

I, being upstairs amidst the crying and wailing, actually missed it.  Chris answered the door, trashy baby in hand, and politely (over the sounds of torture from directly overhead) let the women know that we are already a praying sort of family and that now (you know, with all the screaming) was not really a good time to discuss things further.

The women left without exactly making it clear whether they will be returning or not, but when Chris told me all this I had to wonder:  did they guess we are Catholic?

I kind of hope not.

7 Quick Takes, wherein Lucy is released into the Wild

-1-

Lucy started Preschool this past Tuesday.  It's at a local Nature Center, and I think it is going to be a good fit for her.  I haven't, in general, been a big fan of Preschool but I could tell that Lucy both needed a primer on how to behave in a classroom and that she was desperate to go to school like her big sisters.  This program is only two days a week and is "nature-based" which translates into playing outside and taking a lot of walks, with some visits from awesome animals thrown in.  (They've already visited the barn owls they keep on the grounds and have begun to raise horseshoe crabs!)  

-2- 

We are wondering if this will signal the end of the Imaginary Classroom:  Rosie,who lives above a coffee-shop and has hot chocolate every morning, the wise teacher Mrs. Orangie Power, who once died of a broken leg and whispered to Lucy with her last breath, "Don't be afraid of ghosts!"  (Mrs. Orangie Power eventually resurrected, although the details on that are unclear.)  I will be kind of sad to see it all go.  It's been fun to see the crazy things Lucy comes up with, like her 'second-best' imaginary friend Amy, who had a pet stink bug, not to mention the fact that Orangie Power is a freaking awesome name and it makes me happy every time I hear Lucy say it.

-3-

After her first day of school, Lucy said that she was a little homesick but had fun.  (She also told me all the details so that I could tell everyone else - she did not want to waste her own time repeating herself.)  

The second day, when I asked her how her day was, Lucy said, "I had a lot of fun!  I didn't miss you at all!  Actually, I forgot you existed!"

I'm going to take that as a good sign.

-4- 

Claire had an incident in lunch this week.  A boy started harassing her about the size of our family, telling her that "Eight people in one family is too much!" etc.   She held her own and told him that he must be unhappy with his own family if he was focusing so much on hers.  (Claire, at 8, is sometimes remarkably insightful.)  It all worked for the good, though, because now this boy is not allowed to sit anywhere near her during lunch.  He's been a thorn in her side for years now, so I'm glad she gets a break.

Still, this is the first time any of the girls have encountered a really negative attitude towards having six sisters.  Claire handled it well and didn't get unduly upset, yet still...The whole thing makes me sad.

 -5-

I stole my neice and nephew for a few hours earlier this week, and I'm sorry Becky but I couldn't help myself!

I could not get him to stay still enough to take a unblurred picture, which cracks me up.  He may end up wearing Minnie-Mouse shoes when he comes here, but this kid is always all-boy!

-6-

Yesterday, while I was putting Ruth to sleep and Chris was picking up the Girl Scouts, Lucy went on a rampage of sorts.  She opened the Ovaltine and ate about a third of the powder with a spoon, then she went into the bathroom and ate 3 Children's Chewable Tylenol tablets.

The positives:  I got to catch up with my good friends at Poison Control.  The medicine cabinet was in need of a good cleaning-out anyways (I found some stuff we haven't used in close to a decade, stuff I'm mystified ever survived the move.)  I have one less portion of dessert to worry about for the next week, as Lucy is most definitely cut off.  Ah, and I realized that she can reach the faucet just fine so the stool (which gives her access to the medicine cabinet as well) is now comfortably nestled in storage.

-7-

I just made this blanket for friends of ours who just had a baby (incidentally also named Ruth).

This is by far the best blanket I've ever made.  I think I'm finally getting the hang of it!  I'm also now just finishing up an epic blanket that I've been making for Lucy.  I began it two years ago, so it feels good to almost be finished!  I'll post a picture once it's done.

Thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary for hosting 7 Quick Takes!

How Matt Berninger from The National almost stepped on Beth

Alternate title:  How I turned out to be a worse mother than I thought

 The National just came to Merriweather, and since we had three tickets, and since Katie had come along for our pilgrimage to see Mumford and Sons, and since I never quite got around to having a birthday party for Beth, we figured it was the second-eldest's turn.

We had a great time, and Beth (who, if you recall, had one previous concert experience) thoroughly enjoyed herself.  Towards the end of the evening, the lead singer - as he often does- started weaving through the crowds.  In a moment of pure blind instinct, I realized that he was heading our way and I grabbed Beth by the scruff of her neck and propelled her through the crowd to get her a spot up front.  Thou Shalt not be Obnoxiously Pushy could reasonably be considered one of the guiding principles of my life,  but apparently my principles don't hold up to the temptation of standing kind of in the vicinity of a guy in a spotlight. 

Beth's view was mostly of his backside as he sung to the crowd in front of him, and even though he almost stepped on her as he turned back to the stage, and even though he almost hit her on the head with the mike when he dropped it, she was extremely excited.  As I stood on the sidelines watching her, it hit me that I had just shoved my kid into a screaming throng and then abandoned her there.  I was struck by two disparate thoughts:  #1- that I was so instinctively willing to do something (be obnoxiously pushy) for my child that I would never have done for myself, and #2- the fact that it didn't occur to me until it was too late that throwing my kid into a howling mob like her life depended on getting close to a Rock Star wasn't really the smartest thing to do.

Anyway, she not only survived to tell the tale, it was the highlight of her night.  We found this video on YouTube, much to Beth's delight.  You can see her around the 26 sec mark, lower left hand corner.  She's the really short person standing behind the singer.

One of the major benefits of having the older girls in school....

....is that the non sequiturs of Miss Lucy are easier to catch.

WARNING!  The second story in this post is pretty explicit.  I've actually put some thought into ways to clean it up, but there is no other way to convey the horror of that moment but to come out and say it.

1- Daddy's Girl

Not five minutes after the girls left on the bus this morning, Lucy sat down next to Ruth and I on the living room floor and said:

"So, Mommy, did you have to fight all the other girls so you could marry Daddy?"

"Fight the other girls?" I asked, not quite following.

"Yes," she said, "all the other girls wouldn't want to marry that other guy*, so did you fight them?"

I thought about it for a second, then answered,"Yes.  I had to fight all the other girls, and I won."

2- Thank God there were no men at the park!

Later that same morning, we were at the park when Lucy started digging through my diaper bag.
"Hey!" she yelled out, "You have jingle bells in here!"

I was blithely chatting with another mother and nodded in her general direction, not really paying attention, but she persisted.  "Try this!" she exclaimed, trying to get the attention of another little girl, "I can't get it to jingle."

I glanced at her, and then did an exact replica of a cartoon double-take.  I'm pretty sure my eyes literally bugged out of my head.  What Lucy was holding, what she had just unwrapped and taken out of my bag, what she was swinging wildly around and trying to give to other children was....a tampon.


3- Correct assessment of the situation

As we drove home, Lucy noticed a hitch-hiker on the side of the road.  "Is that a policeman?" she asked me, "Or just some random guy?"

* I don't know who "that other guy" is, but I'd be curious to meet him.

First day of school

Above:  our traditional "spa day" before the start of school.
Below:  the elementary girls waiting for the bus

We were beginning to think this day would never come, as school was canceled on Monday and then Tuesday.  I think the girls were a little more nervous than usual because of the delays, but they were ready and all set to go in record time and the morning went as smoothly as it could.  Now Lucy and I are just puttering around the house while Ruth naps and we await their return, to hear how it all went!

We're ready, just not sure what it is we're ready for...

The laundry is completely done (something I can almost never say.)  The pantry is full of crackers, tuna, and the makings for s'mores. The house is clean top to bottom, especially the tubs (in case we need to fill them with water.)  School supplies have been organized, labeled and are in backpacks and ready to go.  The freezer is full of water bottles, the phones have been charged, batteries are ready and candles are on the counter.

All of which means:  Irene is probably going to peter out before she reaches here.  We are so ready for the first day of school, though, I can't believe it.

Seven Quick Takes, before the storm

1- About the earthquake;  this may be something that is only understandable to my old Steubenville friends, but in retrospect I thought it was too funny not to share. When my bed began to shake, for a split second my first thought was Demons!?!  It wasn't until the whole room rumbled that I thought the until-now equally incomprehensible but less hysterical Earthquake!?!

2- My children were not afraid in the least.....until they heard me screaming for everyone to come downstairs.  Kids have an amazing ability to just accept things as they happen and not worry about them.  I, on the other hand, have watched too many apocalyptic movies for my own good.

3- I just turned 35!  Chris and the girls were unbelievably good to me this year:  Chris let me sleep in and had my favorite breakfast (bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon) ready for me, along with coffee from my favorite place.  Katie made a beautiful card and a big bunch of adorable earrings (her latest hobby), Claire and Abbie performed a comical song, Lucy did a dance ("I just made it up just now," she said , "And I didn't feel like making a card, okay?  I love you very, very much.") and Beth made a card that had me laughing for quite a while.  We went to a historic grain mill for a little tour, and we all really enjoyed it (along with the cornmeal cookies they gave us - surprisingly delicious!)  Then, later that night, Chris whipped up some swordfish and tomato-prosciutto bruschetta for dinner.  I have to love a man who can make a delicious bruschetta!!  All in all, it was a really great day and I went to sleep feeling very grateful for my wonderful family.  It was a good way to ring in 35 years of life! 

4- I have always thought of my age in terms of how it would sound were I killed in some manner that made the evening news.  When I turned 20, I remember thinking that I would probably make the shift from "a 19-year-old-girl was hit by a bus this morning," to "a 20-year-old-woman was stabbed to death at Dunkin' Donuts."  I think I have now passed the "what a tragedy!" phase and am somewhere between "oh, how sad" and "meh" depending on how the news story plays out.  I think I'll probably be in this category for a while, until I hit the "Whatever, she was probably going to die soon anyway" bracket.  Unless I die in Aruba, in which case how I look in a bikini would supersede how old I am.  (In other words, should I die in Aruba I will not be making the evening news.)

5- About Beth's card:  a few weeks ago she asked me if she could save some pistachio nut shells.  Beth has a bit of a problem with hoarding, so I said, "NO! Nuh-uh, no way!"  She actually already had an old stash of shells, and after realizing this I told her that unless she could think of a good use for them immediately, in the trash they would go.  She thought for a moment and then said, "I have a good use for them!"  Fast forward to yesterday morning, when I opened up her homemade birthday card to find.....pistachio nut shells glued on the inside. 

6- Ruth still refuses to say, "Mama."  She will mimic just about any sound you make to her (including a Donald Duck voice,) and I am pretty sure that she says "this" and "night-night."  Every time I try to get her to say "ma-ma-ma" though: nothing but laughs.  

7-I just had my first discussion with the doctor about the HPV shot for Katie.  I had all sorts of arguments prepared, but when the time came I ended up just saying, "No thanks."  At the end of the day I realized that there was no reason to justify the decision:  I felt confident in my judgment on this (and Katie and I did have a brief discussion about it) and I did not particularly care whether the doctor agreed with me or not.  (He is a lovely doctor and didn't push it.)  This is what I like best about being in my 30s - not caring so much about what other people think.  It's freeing, especially for someone chronically neurotic like myself.

Thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary for hosting Seven Quick Takes.  Now I'm off to make sure we have enough water and fireplace-cook-able foods in case of hurricane.  Good times!

Earthquake

Well, that was pretty scary.

I was in my room putting Ruth down for a nap when the bed began to rock slightly.  At first I just thought that the frame, which has needed tightening, was about to give up but then the whole house started to shake.

We're all fine.  My mom called to say they felt it in Pittsburgh, and the Lobers told Chris they felt it in Cleveland.  Crazy!  This was my first (and hopefully only) earthquake, and I have to say - the idea of living in California never seemed less appealing. 

We are trying something new...

Katie has been more and more interested in posting on my blog, so after some thought I've decided to give her a blog of her own.  I am going to keep a tight rein on who can view it (and what Katie can post), but any family or friends (so- if you are one of our 14 loyal readers, this means you!  You too, Natalie!) can get access to Katie's opinion on family, the world, and life in general.  Just email us at  rebecca mlinek at g mail dot com.  (take the spaces out etc.) and we'll grant you access to Katie's exclusive club.

Slice of Life

Summer is wonderful, but exhausting

I realize that I haven't updated this in a long time.  We have been very busy with swimming and making blanket forts and amassing vast fortunes in Lego Harry Potter.  We have been to beautiful and fun weddings, visited with family, hosted friends here, witnessed the miraculous resurrection of our beloved Dusty Camel, had playdates, had more playdates, gone to parties, picked insane amounts of fresh fruit and then feasted on pies, muffins, scones, jam and...fresh fruit.  We have gathered in the evenings to take in such classics as Rear Window (loved by all excepting Lucy, who spent the time playing behind the couch), Where the Wild Things Are (loved it), and Phineas and Ferb's 2D Adventure (also loved it- don't judge!) We have been reading, we have been lolling around the basement watching nothing in particular, we have been learning to sew and to make beaded jewelry.

We have been remembering Chris' Grandmother, Dora, who passed away last week and will be sorely missed.  She, along with my own Grandma Niccoli who passed away 18 years ago, exemplify for me what it means to be a loving and devoted wife.  

We have been chasing a wayward baby, trying to keep her from eating inedible objects (curse you, Squinkies!), from falling down stairs, from pulling chairs and cups and heavy books onto her head, from unplugging lamps and sticking her fingers into outlets, from eating bugs and licking pool water off the deck, from breaking computers and ripping artwork to shreds.  We have spent a lot of time chasing our wayward baby.

It has been a good summer thus far.  But busy in that way that makes it hard to explain, where days and weeks go by in a whirl of activity that, when it is over, makes you look back and think wait, what were we doing all that time?

Swimming and playing, goofing off and doing nothing at all:  we've been busy having summer.

Little Models: Part 1 (by Katie)

  The girls love it when I give them "makeovers". My little trick is using gel pens. Take a pink one and put it on your cheek then get rid of the lines and make it look like blush by rubbing it with a wet paper towel. For eyeshadow I do the same to their eyes except I don't rub a wet paper towel on it. It comes off super easy. Anyways, the girls got the idea to do modeling, where I am supposed to give them makeovers and take pictures of them in outfits I choose. Beth was at a friend's house and it ended up taking over 2 hours just to do Lucy and Claire, so I'll do Abbie and Beth another day. Lucy demanded that she gets pictures not only of her in two outfits, but in a costume as well. I gave Lucy purple "eyeshadow" for her green eyes (I love green eyes!) and actually, she looked natural with it, as in I didn't need to "get used to it". Here are Lucy pictures:

This was the only good picture of this pose, and its REALLY blurry.

I wish I knew how to turn pictures. *Sigghh...* Oh well.

I love this picture of Lucy. She really rocks Hello Kitty!

She made up this pose herself!

Notice that tuft of hair sticking out at the top of her head?

And do you remember when she cut off a bit of her hair?

We do sometimes have trouble hiding it.

She just had to be a ballerina :)

After an hour taking of pictures (Trust me, these are only 1/4 of her pictures. The others aren't so good.) Lucy had finally been convinced that she had taken enough, and I could do Claire. Of course, I thought this would be more fun until I realized that Claire will only wear like 5 shirts and has pretty much only dirty pants in her drawer. I had sooo much trouble choosing her outfits. I mean, look at this one:

A funky, modern short-sleeved shirt with a frilly bottom and hood...

with rolled up fuzzy winter pants?

It's all she would wear.

Well, the top is cute.

We really had fun with this outfit...

...a LOT of fun :P

Claire's kinda like me, we can't really smile on command.

It's a super cute picture though.