Story time

Claire is working on reading as many books as she can this summer, so she decided to read some to Mia tonight for their bedtime story. Mia got into my makeup drawer and put some cover stick on, thinking it was chapstick. :-)

My hydrangeas!

Last year we had that late killing freeze, and I didn't have a hydrangea bloom until September. What few I had were soon zapped by frost. It was a long and dreary summer for our yard.

But this summer I am having a bumper crop! I absolutely am nuts about these flowers. I have over 15 bushes in my front yard, and a bunch in the back and on the sides, too. If I see that a branch has drooped down and rooted, I get happy. I snip it off and plant it somewhere else in the yard. Ahhhh - just looking at them soothes my soul!

Our Princesas

Claire and Mia really love a good dress-up session. Here they are dressed as ballerinas a few days ago.


Mia wore her ballerina outfit almost all day today, and even let me take a few photos.




These were taken Friday evening, spinning on the swings. I couldn't get a good picture of Claire spinning. She tucks in and spins so fast, they were just a blur.

FFF - Daddy and Me

The Favorite Foto Friday theme for today is "Daddy and Me". I've got quite a few pics of Claire and her daddy, since I'm usually the one behind the camera, and I managed to find a few of Mia and daddy, too. Both girls love their dad, and are getting even closer to him, as he's being a stay-at-home dad this summer. It's a little hard for me not to be the "preferred" parent, but it takes off some of the pressure, so it can be nice in ways, too :-). All too soon school will start back up, and I'll be the commanding officer again, getting the troops ready and out the door each morning, so I'll just enjoy being off-duty for awhile.

More random pictures

Here are some pictures from the last few days.


I'm amazed at how well Mia eats - she likes just about everything, including every veggie-meat that she's tried. We've got another corn-on-the-cob lover in the family!


Doing a few pre-4th of July sparklers. They're very good at staying close and stacking the leftovers in a little pile. I remember when we were kids we used to run wildly around the yard and then lose the metal sticks once they burned out. My dad would get so mad when he'd hit them later with the mower!

Picnic and water fun

We went with friends for a picnic on Saturday afternoon at Cherokee. The kids had a wonderful time wading and swimming in the Oconaluftee River. I don't know how they stood it - it was COLD!

Wordless Wednesday - Dereka the Raccoon . . .

A few random photos

Here are some photos from the last week or so.

Eating ice cream on the deck, with a Dora spoon AND fork!

Yum!

She LOVES Doritos!

Playing with the marble run. We finally had to turn on the air conditioner, and poor Mia Ruth freezes most of the time.

Daddy trying to help them share. They are both deathly jealous of each other, so a lot of grabbing, whining and tattling takes place whenever they try to play together.

We needed a picture of all of us together for our home study follow-up visit, and these were taken afterwards.

FFF - Messy Spaces/Disorderly Conduct

The theme for this week's Favorite Foto Friday made me remember this little incident from when Claire was 3. This is what happened when she had some sunscreen, Mommy was in the bathroom, and Daddy was at the computer. Hmm - I wonder if she got in so much trouble that it forever put her off lotion - she hates it now!