Wesley has outgrown his baby bath, so we put him in with the girls tonight. He was thrilled, as he could get much “splashier” water when sitting up than in that old bathtub for little babies. I suspect I will be taking a lot of these sorts of pictures in the next few months…
I’ve gotten to read two books recently that each completed a trilogy I have written about earlier on this blog.
The first was Found, the conclusion to The Magic Thief and Lost. Ironically, I have not actually the read the first two; I checked out the audiobooks from the library on a whim. This is a series that is best when read aloud. The “unintended” humor shines when one takes the time to hear the boy’s voice. The concluding book was delightful, but I wished I would have waited for the audiobook version. It would have made cleaning/ironing/cooking/washing much more enjoyable.
This is a series I would bring on a car trip for the whole family to listen to when the kids are in grade school.
The second novel reached out, grabbed my arms in a iron embrace, and didn’t let go, even when I wasn’t physically touching the book. Mockingjay is the conclusion to the Hunger Games series. Supposedly, a movie is being made on this series. I probably won’t see it because 1) it would have to be rated R for violence and 2) I don’t want it to take away the power of the series for me. It doesn’t sound like my usual type of book, does it? But I did go down to Barnes and Noble 10 minutes before closing the day it came to buy my copy because I could not wait any longer. And it has been worth the late nights spent reading it.
I will have to wait until the kids are teenagers to read this one aloud. But we are going to love talking about it.
The firstborns in our playgroup have their birthdays all clumped together (it’s how we all first met). Today was the day we celebrated Kyla’s birthday. The day before, we made her birthday treats, “birds nests” with jelly bellys for eggs. Kyla approves.
The results:
After lots of play and snacks, it was time to have treats and open gifts. I got some pictures of my buds, the women (besides my mother) who have kept me relatively sane the last almost-r years. Thank you, friends!
Baby Parker was born to Keith and Julie about 8:15 this morning. We got to visit him (and his parents) in the hospital.
Check this out. First, perfectly ordinary looking newborn, sound asleep.
But take off the hat and you have….
Where did all that hair come from???? Parker Scott looks more like Dwayne’s child than any of Dwayne’s children. How did two people who both were blond as babies, and who both had parents who all were blond babies, have this little guy?! And this hair came out fully conditioned with extra body. It’s gorgeous.
If I didn’t already fully love this child 8 months before it was born, this little thing with the abundant hair would have had me at “WAAAH”. Love him, love him.
And I think his parents feel the same way. Congrats, my brother, my sister.
Okay, maybe I was the one who grabbed that camera, but it is Dwayne’s bottle!
Piper loves to be the little mama. She briefly observes what I do and then wrests it from my grasp to do it herself. Here, she feeds Wesley. And I grab the camera. Notice that the series begins and ends with Wesley’s fingers in his mouth.
(Oops, missed.)
Because Piper’s half birthday is just a few weeks from Kyla’s birthday (and vise-versa, of course), we make a slight ado about it. Half-birthday celebrators get to have a breakfast date with Daddy. And, Daddy, because he loves getting surprises for his kids, brought home a special balloon for Piper. She was a happy little 2 1/2 year old.
Asked about her special breakfast, she said in her own Piper way of speaking: “Pancake. Eggs. Sausage!”
Our hometown does 6 weeks of lunchtime concerts. We went to every single one of them this year and always left more in love with my city. (Except the time I dropped Piper from my shoulders onto the gravel below. I already blogged about that.) This year, we met friends from playgroup most weeks, and I got to meet a new friend quite by chance of blanket arrangement . Her daughter is two months older than Kyla and her son is one month younger than Wesley.
Here’s some fun shots from the weeks.
I love this one of Wes. He really is this happy most of the time.
Kyla and Amalie love to play chase.
Piper loves to dance.
It actually caught their attention!
But not for long. Here, the aforementioned gravel calls.
The boy sometimes inhales his food.
Why do I have to do tummy time?! Wesley’s mom isn’t making him….
Um, Kyla, this is a children’s concert. They are singing songs to and for children. Could you put down the dirt?
We went to the children’s museum today, so I dressed the girls in orange, so I can see them running around while I meander in their general direction. But the museum had a day camp going on this particular day, and to help identify the campers, they all were given orange shirts. On one hand, it foiled my plans. On the other hand, Kyla did go over to the group during a special story time and blended right in with her camouflage.
Here, we are back at home after naps.
It was a happy accident that Wesley was also wearing orange. In fact, it was just a plain miracle that he was still wearing the same shirt at the end of the day that I had put him in at the beginning. So I took some pictures of the posse.
And because I can’t help taking pictures of my baby, here’s another one.
And here is just another outfit that must be shared….
We went camping last weekend. Yeah, the weekend, the only weekend of the summer, that it rained. Actually, since we were with 3 other families (friend-families, at that), it was still enjoyable.
My camera never made it out from the bottom of the diaper bag, so I am relying on Sharla’s pictures of our time at the beach during low tide. Marcie took some great shots, but I am going to have to drive to her house, tear down the door, and demand she update her blog with pictures of my kids. Or, perhaps I will just try to download them onto a thumbdrive next time I see her.
Here’s the picture I took a few days after the camping trip. This is our backyard. I think it speaks for itself.
We are going camping this weekend and I was trying to plan what food I could prep, freeze, reheat for Wesley. Then it occurred to me (it took 2 days) to buy baby food. Aha!
TOP Foods—the best grocery store, period—has a great deal this week. For every $25 you spend on diapers (Huggies/store brand), food (some brands, including some organic), Avent products, etc. you get $10 off immediately. The items are already on sale ($5 off Huggies, 10/$10 on Earth’s Best Organic). I talked to one mom in the diaper aisle who had already been there earlier that day. She had bought $50+ worth of stuff, and after the promotions and extra coupons she had, she paid $7. I didn’t do that well, but I loved the $10 off!
See http://top-foods.gsnrecipes.com/Shop/WeeklyAd.aspx, page 6 for more info.
A friend of mine is a real pro at saving money and she writes a blog at www.aresourcefulhome.com.
The girls go inside and out these days as they will. They have to stay in our yard/driveway and let me know where they are when I call for them.
Today, I looked out the window expecting to see them on the trampoline. Dude, where’s my kids?
Can you spot them?
Look over in the tree well.
Kyla is teaching Piper to climb the tree. You can’t see Kyla as she is too far up in the branches.
Yeah, she’s barefoot.
Success!
Almost a week after the first tooth broke through, Wesley cut his second tooth. This is what he may look like in a few more weeks.
Notice the oatmeal/cranberry facial. He wants to keep that baby soft skin!
Ha, Mom! You’re so funny!
