August/September Nuggets

As this month rapidly comes to a close, I realize the waning days of summer are all too quickly behind us.  For the past few Septembers, the weather has been absolutely beautiful with cool mornings turning into shorts & flip flops afternoons.  Then, in the evening after the girls’ bedtime, we can open the windows and cool the house down again.  I love summer in Montana, but it is entirely too short.  Each day has to hold the memories of an entire week to make up for the long, slow, dark winters we endure.  Perhaps this is why I haven’t sat down to write much.  But tonight I decided it was time to catch up, back up all the photos off the camera and begin October with a fresh slate.  So with that said, here’s what we’ve been up to the last few weeks. 

My girls have such amazing blue eyes, sometimes the light is just right and I have to take a few random pictures to catch the beauty of them.  Everyone who meets the girls, whether it be a waitress in a restaurant or the older lady at the end of the block, makes a remark about their eyes.  Then they look at my husband and me and ask where the blue eyes come from.  We have done a little bit of research about the genetics involved in eye color, and by research I mean we’ve done a few searches on the Internet.  Turns out blue eyes are recessive.  Although my husband and I have brown eyes, we are both carriers of the blue-eyed gene.  Hubby’s family has a lot of blue eyes, his mom, his mom’s mom and dad.  Most of his grandparents’ offspring have the same eyes.  I on the other hand, have never met a relative of mine with blue eyes.  I am of Jewish descent and until we had kids with blue eyes, I was certain that being Jewish meant you had brown eyes.  Apparently not.  Someone, somewhere in my family tree had blue eyes.  What are the chances that two brown-eyed people would produce two blue-eyed beauties?  Not sure, but we like it all the same.

 

Little sis is a champion crawler, and at 14 months has proven that she is in no hurry to begin walking.  Big sis started walking on her own at 14 months and 4 days, so unless the little one has an amazing trick up her sleeve, she will be a little later than her sis at this milestone.  Not to worry, she gets into enough trouble on all fours.  I found the first pair of shoes that C.R. wore when she began walking, so for fun we tried them on a few weeks ago.  Little Boo looked so proud to be wearing shoes!  For someone who can’t go five minutes without yanking off a pair of socks or a hat, she wore those shoes (with a huge s*#t-eating grin on her face) for hours!  

The girls had an impromptu playdate with their new cousin, Smitty.  Smitty is a Boston terrier puppy belonging to my brother in law and his girlfriend, Mitten.  The baby was completely unfazed by the dog, he climbed on her, chewed on her binky, licked her, and generally made a menace of himself (as all puppies do) and she loved it.

One evening after dinner, against my better judgment, I took the girls to the library.  Since big sis isn’t napping regularly, the evening hours have become tricky.  Sometimes she reaches her breaking point earlier than other nights.  Luckily the library was deserted and no one had to witness the tantrum.  We managed to look at books for a few minutes and even check out a few before we made a beeline for the car and the refuge of our beds. 

The baby is finally big enough to play with C.R.  Now that the toys must be shared, a few more fights break out but usually they play together very nicely.  Although I'm sure there was a time that my sister and I played together like this, I don't have any memory of it.  These sweet sister moments are made that much sweeter because of this.

I made cupcakes for my birthday this year.  The pigs were supposed to be for the baby’s party, but it was so hot in July that I made an ice cream cake instead.  Three cupcakes didn’t make it to the party at my in-laws, their neighbor’s dog almost made off with one too.  They were cute.  I told myself it was practice for being a good preschool mom.  Who can resist a pink piggie cupcake?

Big sister apparently has a streaking fetish.  She insisted on dropping trou while she was playing in the sprinkler.  I am sure these pictures will embarrass the heck out of her in years to come, but I will remind her that as she ran naked through the yard, it was HER idea to take pictures.   Luckily her dad was there to back up my story.

My in-laws invited us to join them for a day trip up to Placid Lake.  The girls enjoyed the water and the company.  Me too.

 Big sis thinks that the baby is pushing Daddy into the lake in this photo.  I think she looks like a little explorer surveying the sea.

 Sister was thirsty after all that sunbathing.

When my dad was visiting for the baby’s birthday in late July, a plan was hatched to fly to Atlanta the following month and surprise my sister for her 40^th birthday.  Since my husband had to work, I took the girls by myself.  We arranged the flights so that my dad was there to help on one leg of the trip.  Without a job to return to, I had the luxury to stay for a good long time and we visited with my mom as well as my sis, her husband and two boys for almost two weeks.   The girls enjoyed playing at my mom’s house and with her enormous, silly dog, Charcoal.  It is also so fun to have my whole family together at one time.  It was only the second time all four grandkids were together, and as C.R. gets bigger and bolder, she has more fun with her rambunctious cousins.  

 Playing with cousins' hand-me-down toys at Grammy's house.  

 Making art with glitter glue and watercolors.  Mixed media, very sophisticated.

 Cream cheese face  

 Atlanta Aquarium with cousins  

Detour from the fish for a quick snack break  

This tank held "Nemo" according to my three year old.  "But, Mommy?  Where's Nemo's dad?"

Big sister started preschool when we got back from our trip.  She was very proud to have her very own backpack and was looking forward to playing with new friends.  Everyone told me I would cry when I dropped her off the first day, but I held it together.  She is definitely NOT shy and barely acknowledged me when I turned to go.  In fact, we had more of a scene when it was time to be picked up.  Other kids were running to their moms with open arms.  My kid screamed and said she was not ready to go home.  I have been trying and prying to get any little detail from her about school, but she has very little to say.  It is very weird that she has a life away from home that we know nothing about, but I figure that if there is something I need to know, Miss Wendy will fill me in.  During dinner the other night, she finally let loose with some gossip.  She told me that a little girl in her class made pee-pee all over the floor and another girl stepped in it.  Hmmm, not exactly what I was hoping to learn.

Like father, like daughter

When my dad was visiting this summer, he tuned up our bikes and replaced all the broken and worn parts so that we could ride them again.  We were inspired to pull our bike trailer out of storage and have since gone out on several rides with the kids in tow.  We are hoping to get out several more times before the cold weather chases us indoors.  Apparently it is a pleasant ride since big sis took the opportunity one afternoon to snag a quick nap.  Little sis didn't make a very good pillow and she kept trying to wake her up, but there was definitely snoring coming from back there.

This year was the 2^nd time I’ve participated in the Missoula Buddy Walk.  This time I brought the entire family.  Big sis was beyond excited to see that they had cookies for the kids.  We scored some new t-shirts and donated some dollars to the National Down Syndrome Society.  All in all, it was a beautiful day for a walk and we were excited to be a part of such a special event.

Last but not least.  The baby has been eying her sister's hippo chair for weeks.  Today she finally decided she was taking a turn.  Girlfriend knows how to kick back.

 

 Bye for now!

My first Nuggets: This & That

I have borrowed an idea, after being given permission by the author, to try my hand at Nuggets.  Dig’s definition is as follows: little bits of the season in photos and words about the last week.  I have yet to post any pictures on this blog, because I use an old point and shoot and I don’t really know how to use it.  I use the ‘easy’ mode, I’m not afraid to admit it.  I sometimes throw my hands up in disgust and pass the camera to my husband.  Faces blown out, blurry shots, red eye, too dark- yeah, I can do that. Every now and then I take a decent picture- but I like to focus on the subject matter rather than the technique.  My bucket list includes a top-of-the-line camera and lessons on how to use it.  Someday…

My lil Boo turned one last week.  She rocked not one, but two birthday parties.  She got the song and (crooked because it was made by yours truly) cake routine at each- but the second time around she reacted with much more thrill.  My heart melted to see how wonderful she felt.  That particular moment when she realized that we were singing to her!

Sugar buzz!!!!!!

She really preferred squishing it between her fingers to eating it.  



My dad was visiting for the baby’s birthday.  He good-naturedly came along on our trip to the party supply store to buy a balloon.  Big sis has done it for each of her three birthdays.  The tradition continues.  He also tirelessly shleped the baby into and out of the car seat a bazillion times and pushed the double stroller all over town.  On the morning of the baby's birthday, we walked over to our neighborhood park and played for a bit.

     

   She can pull herself up to stand, sometimes.  If her decision to wait until 10 months and 30 days to begin crawling is any sort of indication- lil sis has no intention of walking any time soon.

                         

  

 An impromptu game of catch proved to be amazingly entertaining. Watching anything roll or crash down the stairs is always funny.  Thump, thump, thump, giggle, clap, do it again, do it again!  Repeat 27 times.

  

Saturday was our sixth wedding anniversary.  We bathed the girls and put them to bed like any other night.  We watched a movie.  Sadly I cannot remember what we watched.  Must not have been very good.  I took big sis out for a little errand during R.C.’s morning nap.  We took the camera out to the grounds of the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula.  The location of above mentioned nuptials six years ago.   I wanted to try my hand at this.  Thanks Nici for passing this along.  I highly suggest checking the website out, my pictures don’t do it justice. Dear Photograph: Take a picture of a picture from the past in the present.  I framed the one that sucked the least and gave it to my husband for our anniversary.  There was another wedding being set up when we arrived.  Big sister wanted to go to the party.  She also wanted to go to a park and swing, but I had an agenda.  She enjoyed looking at the helicopter and tank situated on the grounds of the Military Museum and also liked climbing the fire tower steps.  She wanted to go up and see the “tree house” at the top, but it was locked.

 We had our first family outing to the river.  The girls played in the shallow muddy water at a put-in for throngs of tubing enthusiasts and even a few rafts and canoes.  Everyone who passed the girls commented on how much fun they seemed to be having.  Big sis sat on a piece of cast-off driftwood about 3 feet from shore.  She was pretending that she was on a boat.  Poor thing paddled and paddled for eternity, alas her vessel marooned, she switched to singing Row Row Row Your Boat.  Our choice spot on the beach made for good people watching.  Luckily the baby, who will try to eat ANYTHING (more on that later...), didn't seem interested in eating the sand.

 

Daddy took big sis to her first Osprey game.  They made it through six innings.  She was wired on sugar, flush from being outdoors, and completely filthy when she returned- but it was so worth it.  Ollie the Osprey signed her ticket.  She called him that big, silly bird. 

I once dated a guy who refused to attend the fair with me.  I was so glad when I met my husband and he loved going.  We go every year.  Sometimes twice.   Having children really changes your priorities at an event like this, so we decided to divide and conquer.  Hubby played bingo while I took both girls to the rides.   It was crowded, dirty, loud, hot, and hectic.  The evening ended in tears (big sis didn’t have a nap that day) but I don’t think any of us regretted going.  I do regret my dinner choice- chicken stir fry made by a local church group does not make for good fair food.  Sorry.  Go with the vikings and fry bread if you have the stomach for it.  Just my humble opinion. 

 next year you'll get to ride too

Sometimes, I am forced to shower while the lil Boo is awake.  This is always tricky because she cannot be left alone for one second without the fear she’ll pull something over on top of herself or put something inappropriate in her mouth.  I’ve seen her try to eat lint out of the carpet, magnetic letters from sister’s easel, rocks, doll clothing, and once I fished my friend’s earring out of her mouth.  Hillary didn’t even know she’d gotten it out of her ear.  That girl’s got stealthy moves.  This morning I busied her in the bathroom with the bottle of (childproof) ibuprofen.  She likes the noise it makes when she shakes it.  After a few minutes I realized it had grown awfully quiet on the other side of the curtain.  When I pulled the vinyl curtain back I didn’t expect to see this:

 mama got to play 52 panty liner pick-up

She was quite proud of the mess she had made.  While I was cleaning them up- she tried to quench her thirst from a near-empty bottle of lotion.  Thankfully she didn’t think it tasted too good.  My dad says it’s karma that I got a kid who will try to eat anything.  Family legend has it that I drank an airplane size bottle of tequila at 18 months of age and before I was two, I tried my hand at a bottle of my mom’s india ink she had stored in the basement. 

   And finally, while I put the little one down for her late morning nap today, big sister got her mitts on my camera.  She unzipped the case, turned it on, and managed to take seven pictures.  SEVEN!  Did I mention I was only out of the room for about 90 seconds??  My girl is into landscapes.

 

    

  Have a great weekend.