Pipes

A funny nickname for a very funny girl.  (Even if she is driving me crazy this afternoon!)

All kids are imitators, but Piper seems to do what we do even more than Kyla ever did. That’s her doll’s leg sticking out there.  The frame is about a quarter-inch above the floor.

 

 

She looks pretty cute in pink punk.

 

 

Riding a horse for a quarter.  Does this make it a quarter horse?

 

  

Swimming lessons were a new kind of adventure.  This kid couldn’t follow the two rules (stay in the pool and hold on to the edge when you aren’t swimming) to save her own life, swallowed lots of pool water, jumped without hesitation into the water every time, always put her face in the water when instructed (the only instruction I believe she listened), had the only time-outs in the entire session, and never, ever stopped smiling.  Her teacher would speak sternly to her, but then turn away to smile so Piper wouldn’t see her.  She’s infectious, that one. 

Why Do We Even Bother To Buy Her Clothes?

Kyla loves being naked (as does her copycat sister).  There have been days that I unbuckle the girls from their carseats and by the time I get inside with Wesley and our groceries, there are clothes strewn everywhere.  How’s a mom supposed to keep up?

Kyla puts a pillow in a basket to cushion her sled down the slide.

 

Then, because it is raining and about 50 degrees outside, Kyla gets the great idea of putting on a sweatshirt and her red cowboy boots and getting Piper to lay soccer with her.  Pipes is at least wearing a pull-up and a full rain jacket.

 

Notice how little of their boots you can see?  We had our lawn overseeded, so I last mowed the weekend before it was done and then had to wait two more weeks before mowing it again.  I mowed between showers, but at least I won’t lose any kids out there.

 

Then Kyla gets too hot wearing her sweatshirt.

  Cutie!! 

Books, Books, Books

Warning: as the title suggests, this is all about books. Not kids. Not me reading books to kids. Not naked kids reading books. Just books to myself, for myself.

This started as an email to Daniel and Talinn who graciously shared some recommended titles with me. They have excellent taste, and because I think I have excellent taste (after all, I like every book that I recommend), I wanted to return the favor.

Here is my measuring tape for good books—(1) great storytelling, (2) superb writing, and (3) the kicker, makes me feel good.

I actually have Love Walked In and Belong to Me because after checking them out of the library, I had to own them for myself. So far, everyone I’ve lent them to has loved them as much as I do. I want to be the main character’s friend.

This is the first of six books of a fantastic fantasy series. Each one is better than the last until the final book, which I suspect Butcher rushed. Like the two novels above, I have bought these so I can read them over and over. Everyone, except one scrawny little boy, has at least a little magical power in this ancient Roman-like world. Always makes me laugh and cheer.

Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants was recommended by Sheryl in our book group. She is always right and I loved this book.

You will swear Jude Morgan is Jane Austin reincarnate, but with another century or two of experience under her belt.

Did you know there was a place called Guernsey? Okay, well I didn’t. This is this month’s book club book, and Juliet’s letters (written and received) make up this book about post-war London and Guernsey. Entertaining and educational, it made me feel good whenever I picked it up.

I listened to Magic Thief and its sequel as a book on CD while I was working on some projects last year. Excellent story-telling and I loved the main character. Truly worth picking up.

If you can skip one page early on (it deals with a particularly unjust tragedy that you can spot ahead of time), Prayers for Sale is an amazing book that deals with friendship, hardship, and impossible forgiveness. Like Help (blogged about March 2), the novel made me feel like I had a good understanding of its setting, the high mining country of Colorado in the 19th century.

I do actually read and enjoy nonfiction as well. SuperFreakonomics and books by Malcolm Gladwell are interesting, well written, and contain so many new (to me) ideas that I am energized just reading them. Nurtureshock (blogged on March 11) did this for me as well. Whether or not I agreed with the ideas, I certainly thought about them!

More Pictures

[Our portrait wall in the office.]

I posted earlier the link to our annual Mother’s Day pictures.  Well, I still had one “free” 8x10 to get and I wanted to try once more to get shots of Wesley smiling.  Nailed it!  Check out these pictures.

And just in case you want to see the first portrait session, here’s the link.

Kylaisms

I wish I wrote down the last hundred things she said that made me laugh—and I swore I wouldn’t forget.  But here’s two of them:

1. [Regarding the baby shower I went to yesterday. I brought Wes with me.] Mama, how was the baby shower?  (A minute later).  Did Wesley like being showered?
2. [On why her light was on after the timer dinged for her to turn it off.]  I did turn it off, Daddy.  But then I couldn’t see anything.

Three’s Company…

…while decreasing exponentially your chances of getting a good picture.

Kyla, smile!

Piper, please look at the camera!

Piper—take that out of your mouth! Piper—come back here!

Okay, fine, here’s the shot we’re going with.

Wesley!!

I’m pretty taken with the little dude.  He is just a few days shy of 4 months and numbers smiling, laughing, spitting up, rolling over, getting the hang of the exersaucer and jumperoo, and sleeping really, really well as his accomplishments in his first months outa-utero.  (I may have made that last word up.)

Yesterday, he reached the depths and the pinnacle of his spit-up-ness.  First, while he was hanging out in the Baby Bjorn, he spit up about half a gallon, give or take, of milk right into the bathroom sink as I was brushing my teeth!  (This is the good news, for those who are unsure of what to do with spit up stories.)   However, he made up for it later while he was sitting on my lap helping me put away laundry when without any warning, he covered every single item in my newly folded laundry.  We avoided the middle man and the clothes when straight back into the wash. 

 

Left to Her Own Devices: The Sequel

Oh, no! Not again! I heard Kyla get up a little after 7 this morning, but the rest of us were still sleepy. When I got up at 8, I found a trail…

First her pajama's.

Then her diaper.

And then the girl herself. Kyla decided to get an early start on her day by sweeping up the sand around the sandbox. Thanks, Kyla!

Elevator

Wesley will be four months old soon and it just occurred to me to get out the jumperoo and exersaucer. The jumperoo was immediately confiscated by the Kid Grab Bureau (KGB) and put to use as an elevator for stuffed animals who couldn’t make it up the stairs on their own.

Instructions

Mama: Sorry, Piper, you can’t come and get the mail with me unless you have clothes and shoes on. [Note: Post-nap naked time is quite common in our household.]

Mama leaves to get the mail. As I return to the house, Piper comes out to meet me “dressed” in her sister’s coat turned upside down and wearing boots. I took her out to the mailbox.

Mother’s Day

We did Mother’s Day a little differently this year and, oops, skipped church. I wanted to stomp around Cougar Mountain Zoo with the family, so to be home for naptime, we went out there Sunday morning.

This is a very small zoo and advertises itself as a training zoo. What I like about it (besides the great views on a clear day) is that we can see all the exhibits in a few hours. (We went to Woodland Park Zoo twice this week, and between both visits, probably saw almost half of the animals.) Another point of interest about CMZ is that what they lack in real animal quantity, they make up for in statues.

One day I will write a post entitled “Ode to a Green Stroller”. I love this stroller that much.

We bought apple slices to feed some of the animals. No Fear Piper feed the alpacas by hand. Kyla threw food at their feet.

Isn’t this a cute bench?