Less is Actually More

 My Girls still don't buy it.

Ruffles and Lace

 Ruffles and lace do not a perfect picture make.  I got these lacy, ruffle shorts for all the girls with grand ideas for a fun and picturesque photo shoot with willing participants.  One participant in particular was not so willing.  Hmmm, wonder if you can guess which one.  Maybe the one whose Mom is always pulling out the camera, shoving it in her face and chanting, "Just say cheese then we'll be done!"  Baby Sister had matching shorts as well but once she saw the swing set there was no prying her away.

At least I had two cooperative subjects.

Loving the tall grass and trees with leafy, low-hanging branches.  All of this lies just beyond the fence of our friends' backyard.  They have a gate granting them direct access.  When night falls the cicadas living in the trees make themselves known with a vibrant high-pitched hum.  It's quite amazing to think about the sheer numbers that are required to make such loud and constant noise.

After putting them through such a torturous photo shoot we rewarded them with a trip to a nature

conservancy park that boasts a playground, river, nature trails, educational center and a myriad of wildlife.

This...

and this were my two favorite images of the day.

It was another day of oppressive heat but with plenty of towering trees providing shade and the river to dip our toes in complaints were null...at least not because of the heat.  The Girl slipped on the rocks just moments after I took this picture and was none to happy about getting her bottom, or more specifically, her new shorts wet.

Puppy Love

This is Sallie.  Best dog.  Ever.

 Baby Sister instantly took a shine to her.  The feeling was not necessarily mutual...

but Sally has endured the endless love and affection of her newest adoring fan with extreme patience.

Good dog, Sallie!

Heat Wave!

 Meet ReeRee.  This sweet girl was so excited to wake up and find that we had finally arrived.  She'd made a countdown, posted it on the fridge and had been eagerly crossing of the days.  The last time I saw her smiling little face was when she was a mere eight weeks old.  Now she is five!

ReeRee and Little Sister hit it off instantly.  It didn't take long for them to discover shared interests.

Likewise for these two.  Underneath the cat exterior is Miss S.  During the first two years of her life, I saw her at least four days out of the week, usually more.  I was lucky enough to witness several of her 'first' milestones.  Now she is nine!

Oklahoma is experiencing a heat wave with temperatures well in excess of 100 degrees for the past several days.  Today was no exception.  You won't hear me complain.  Hot is a welcome departure from the drizzle and mid-50 degree temps at home.  We welcomed the heat by slipping into our suits and splashing around outside.

Baby Sister loved the kiddie pool, maybe a bit too much.  She would stand up and fling herself face down into the water then pop-up spluttering

and laughing.  My friend and I were constantly on the ready and always had her within arm's reach but finally it just became too much.  We had to take her out and lure her away with a popsicle before either of us had a heart attack.

Call Me Crazy

 Late this morning, the Girls and I boarded a plane. Alone.  Call me crazy.  J certainly has, countless times in fact, since I

booked our flight.  Admittedly, I was a bit nervous about flying solo with all three of them, mainly about keeping Baby Sister entertained.  That and the fact that our flight was not direct, but rather three separate flights with short layovers that left us little wiggle room to get from one gate to the next.  Surprisingly, the biggest challenge we faced was on our last flight and it came from the Girl who had been a wonderful helper all day.  The plane was small with two seats on either side of a very

narrow aisle.  I had planned on having the Girl and Little Sister sit together with Baby Sis and I across the aisle.  But, as she was a lap passenger we were required to sit on the other side of the plane as it was equipped with the extra oxygen mask.  The Girl went into hysterics at the thought of having to sit next to a "strange man," who in fact wasn't a man at all but rather a friendly looking teenage boy quietly reading a book and apparently oblivious to the commotion being caused on his behalf.  We were in the very last aisle and

as such the stewardess witnessed the Girl's panic and unwillingness to switch seats.  She was very sweet and tried her best to convince the Girl that it would be fine but in the end the only thing that worked was my reasoning that we had two choices 1) switch seats or 2) get off the plane and be stranded in the airport.  Luckily, she chose option one.  As a reward, the stewardess who had a jumpseat in our row, let the Girl announce over the plane's PA, "Welcome to Oklahoma City" as the plane was

touching down.  She thought that was pretty cool and so did I!  I was thankful to have such an empathetic and helpful ally in our last and longest flight.  Ten hours after our journey began we arrived in our destination city at 10:20pm.  As for the "why"...all for the love of friends.  The kind that fall into the category of 'the family that you choose.'  We met them when we lived in Colorado, we bought their condo.  A meeting that I know without a doubt was divinely orchestrated.  A simple prayer that God answered in ways that I didn't expect and couldn't have ever imagined!  His plans for us are always infintely better than our own.

Water Carnival

 One more day and the 2011-2012 school year will be in the books for us.  Not that you would know it.  The Girl has barely mentioned it let alone anticipated it.  But she has been looking forward to this day.  Water Carnival day.  The amateurish face painting of last year was kicked up a few notches. Out with hearts and butterflies on the cheek, hello Cirque du Soleil.  The Girl loved it so much that she forfeited

 one of these and

this, just so as not to mess it up.

 There were games and prizes.  Bubbles and inflatables.  And making an appearance this year...warm-ish weather!

The dunk tank of last year was replaced by the 'Pitch Burst'...

which was no less fun!

This teacher was a great sport and a hoot to watch.

The Girl and her friends were having a blast.

Squirt bottle duck races.

I know she will miss not seeing these girls five days a week and spending recesses brainstorming up new clubs.  But, it won't take her long to recognize the possibilities of summer and the lack of constraints placed upon her time.  Soon she will be savoring the opportunity to stay up later and the unhurried pace of mornings when there is not a school bus to catch.

Oh this one.

 She has character.  Lots of it.  She is asking questions these days.  Not that she didn't before.  But now she asks lots and lots of questions.  J said that she is just being inquisitive.  Maybe.  But I don't have all the answers.  Like why the label on this particular haircare product is pink.  Or why the next door neighbor has three dogs.  Or what the name is of the grandma at the end of the aisle in the grocery store.  It is incessant.  She answers questions, with more questions.  On the rare occasion that her lips are not forming a question she is making us laugh with bold statements.  Last night it was that her middle name was weird and

the Girl's was fancy.  {In a few instances over the past month or so she has been extremely adamant that her name is ________ (insert her first name here) ________ (and the Girl's middle name here).}  Tonight she informed us that she doesn't like boys because, "they are boring."  Mind you, this proclamation came out of the blue and was completely off topic.  We had to laugh, especially as it seems she has an admirer in her swim class.  This afternoon we saw him as we were entering the Y and he immediately started trying to get Little Sister's attention.  He kept calling her name and saying, "Hi."  She wouldn't even look at him.  We saw him again with his Mom in the locker room and still she completely ignored him despite my coaching that it is not polite to be unresponsive.  Then there are the words that she mixes up.  The most hilarious - tortilla which she has confused with diarrhea.  For instance, she will walk out of the bathroom exclaiming, "Mom I didn't have a tortilla!"  Thankfully, she does not interchange the words, can you imagine...  Yikes!

Ladybug Girl!

This day has been a long-time coming and for one three-year old it couldn't come soon enough.  Little Sister is always asking why she can't do a number of things that the Girl does and the answer is always the same, "You're not old enough yet."  That doesn't go over well.  And it's new territory for us.  A problem that we never had with the Girl cause she never knew all the things that she wasn't old enough to do.  For Little Sister it's blatant and she desperately wishes that she could be in Girl Scouts, ride the bus, participate in a triathalon, do ZumbaTomic, be in a ballet recital, go to school (this is the one she wants to do most badly) and the list goes on.  Well this afternoon she got to mark one of those off her ever-increasing list.  For the past three months she has been learning and practicing her newly acquired ballet skills leading up to this performance.

Pre-performance.  Can you tell that she's excited?

Her and eight other Little Ladybugs danced their hearts out.

I didn't capture too many photos.  I knew the performance would be short and sweet.  I chose to enjoy most of it firsthand instead of through a lens.

We are so proud of our Lil Dancer!