Wordless Wednesday

FFF - Me!

The Favorite Foto Friday theme for this week is Me - pictures of ourselves. Well, since my weight is at an all-time high, I REALLY don't like having my picture taken, so I could hardly find one. Here's one that Mia took on Christmas day, playing with the camera. I look slightly intoxicated - I think I was sleepy from a big Christmas dinner and clean-up.

And then Claire took this one, but of course it's better, since one's eye is drawn to the cute little girl!



For more FFF posts, see Sarah's blog.

A Day at the Zoo

Yesterday the weather was excellent, and we decided to take the girls to the zoo. We don't have a local zoo, so we took them to Knoxville. This was Mia's first zoo trip, and she really enjoyed it. The times we've taken Claire to places like this before, she's always been very bored because she didn't have a friend with her. This time she really had fun, too. Here are a bunch of pictures in no particular order.

This beaver was standing near the entrance, and it took Mia a little while to get up the courage to touch his hand and then get her picture taken with him.






Mia really wanted to see the elephants, and asked for them numerous times until we finally got to that section. Here she was watching them.

As seems to always be our luck, the big cats were all napping...

The turtle statue was hot from the sun!



I think the giraffes were my favorite.





This one is blurry because it was taken through glass (with lots of little handprints) into a 2nd room where a baby chimp was playing with a piece of fabric, and swinging on this rope. He was SO cute!

His very human-like ears are so weird!

Not too bad for being taken through glass.

The gorilla was fascinating. He came right up by the glass and leaned on it.



Right at the end Mia saw this little tree and wanted to pose by it - she'll never get any complaints from me about that!



We were tired, but it was a fun day.

A new nickname

This is our cat Tristan. I don't think I've ever posted about him. We got him about a year before we adopted Claire. He's had a hard time socially - he's not really a team player, and has always wanted to be an only cat, so now he finally has his wish, and gets to be the recipient of all of our cat-love. His personality is kind of like his coloring - black and white. He's either being really good, or he's being rotten. You'll be petting him, when suddenly he'll turn and bite you. If only he was as sweet as he is cute! Anyway, he has accumulated a few nicknames over the years:

Budder Bean
Trissy
Trissy Bug
Twissy
Sir Trissom Bug
Love Bug

He's been a healthy cat as far a sickness, but has gotten into quite a few scrapes due to his fighting with various neighborhood intruder cats. His latest injury was last week, when he came in limping. Larry took him to the vet, and while they could tell us his leg was not broken, they didn't really know what was wrong with it - it just appeared to be bruised. In order to determine this, they had to shave part of his leg. Now he has a new nickname:

Poodle Foot.

FFF - Wet!

The Favorite Foto Friday theme for today is "WET". This is one of my favorites of Mia all wet. This was taken on Memorial Day last year, when she had been home just 6 days. She would not sit down in the little wading pool, but would stand up, take a container and dump water on her head over and over again. She would do the same thing in the bathtub. Probably at the hogar they weren't allowed to sit down and play in the tub - they had too many kids to crank through the process! She's mellowed some over the year, and will actually occasionally lie down in the tub, just for fun!

For more FFF wet photos, see Sarah's blog.

Have a good Friday!

Last First Holiday Home

I was thinking the other day - Mia came home last May, so as of today she's now had every major holiday here. It's hard to believe that she's been home nearly a year. It's been fascinating seeing the holidays through her eyes, being so unfamiliar, and not knowing what to expect. This one seemed to be the most uncharted for her - she really did not have a clue what was going on.

Friday I was off, but the girls had 1/2 day of school. The school is about 30 minutes drive away, so I decided to just keep them out. We spent a leisurely morning, and went for brunch at I-Hop. Then they went over to my mom and dad's house to color eggs. (My mom's braver than I am - it looks like a potential big mess!)


Those eggs are all in our fridge now - P U!

Yesterday was a bit blustery, but they insisted on wearing their matching sun dresses to church. They were not too thrilled when I wanted to take pictures afterward, without their sweaters, so these smiles are very forced.


In the afternoon we made egg-shaped Rice Krispie treats, with some Trix thrown in for Easter-y color.
Yum!

Then today we hid eggs for them to find. Though they've been playing hiding and finding them for a couple of weeks, this was the first time Mia had found any with stuff in them. The first couple that she found she stopped to open and look inside. I was telling her, "Go, Mia - put them in your basket and go!" I could just imagine Claire making a fast sweep of the yard and finding them all. In the end they each found half, and with only a few hints.


Oooh - a gold dollar!





Showing her new bunny socks from her Easter basket...


And just being cute...

A weekend of way too much sugar, but a lot of fun. I hope you all had a nice Easter, too!

FFF - Bubbles

Last weekend the weather was beautiful, and we went outside Saturday afternoon to take a few pictures. (Well, I did, anyway - good pictures are always my goal!) Claire and Mia ended up getting into the bubbles, and I got quite a few pictures as they played.




The mega bubble maker was working better than I've ever seen it work.

I love how the sun made those huge sparkles on the bubble.



Have a nice Easter!
For more FFF posts, hop over to Sarah's blog.

FFF - BEACH!

The Favorite Foto Friday theme for today is "Beach". I hate to admit it, but we've only taken Claire to the beach twice, and one of those times was just to stop for an hour as we were driving back from central Florida. These pictures were taken in 2002, when she was 23 months old. We drove to Charleston to stay for a few days. As soon as we got there it clouded up, and it poured all weekend. These were taken just before it started to rain, right after we arrived. I've always loved the ocean, and was hoping Claire would play in the sand so I could enjoy, but NO. She wanted to get in the water, and swim out to sea.

A second after this photo was snapped, she fell down, and a wave went over her head. I thought, "whew, now she'll hate it and I can relax". Nope, it didn't even faze her.


Later we walked out on that long pier, and she got really miffed at us because we wouldn't let her dive in!



Finally, just before time to leave, the sun peeped out, and we got to get in the water for a little bit.


This is my favorite beach picture --- it was taken when we stopped in Florida to look (notice that she has her swimsuit on --- she fell in and got her clothes all wet - how convenient for her!). I got so nervous, because it wasn't a very wide beach, and it dropped off quickly. Claire kept trying to pull me farther out, and I was trying to pull her back. I finally had to man the camera from afar, and let her daddy keep an eye on her.

Now that she's bigger and can understand better, maybe my nerves can stand to go back!

For more FFF posts, check out Sarah's blog. Have a good weekend --- we're hoping for some sunshine here!