In case you were wondering who REALLY wears the pants in the family.

Indian Summer

We've been enjoying some lo-ver-ly weather lately, and spending all the time we can soaking up the warm sunshine! Today for homeschooling we had lots of recess. :) During this photo shoot this afternoon, I sat on our front steps and sipped a cup of tea while the girls ran back and forth.

Taking Dolly for a walk.

Katie demonstrating the proper use of a scooter. (she rarely sits on it -- she learned she can go faster by pushing!) This picture was taken milliseconds before Miriam crashed into the scooter and Katie shrieked.

Katie always waves bye-bye before she leaves.

A Slice of Pickles Life

Most of the time when Katie wakes up from her afternoon nap, she quietly creeps downstairs and says cheerfully, "Hi, Mommy!" Today, however, is not one of those days. She has been whining ever since she woke up. I pulled her into my lap to help her "hatch"while I work on the computer. She continued whining for a bit, then suddenly I realized she was unusually quiet. Looking down I saw she was taking off her socks. This accomplished, she smiled and transformed into her usually cheerful self.

Happiness is...


"yaked" feet!


Epilogue:

Katie [handing me her socks]: Eego. ("here you go")
Me: Does having free toes make you feel better?
Katie: *bellllllch* Mmmmmmm! [snuggling into me]

Recipe for Happiness

S'mores-in-a-bowl and Tension Tamer Tea. All is right with the world.

Just because your browser doesn't already have enough to do

Some more pictures!
The last purge -- I promise! Everything else will be current after this. :) (I have GOT to blog more often...)

In the mornings, when the girls actually stayed in their room to play instead of jumping on my bed at o'dark thirty, I'd often stumble down the hallway and open their door to scenes like this one. (More often than not Katie would be wearing Miriam's clothes.)


Who said homemaking is unfashionable?

teeny-tiny teenie bopper

Super babyyyyyyyy!!! (note the diaper on the OUTSIDE of the overalls)

What a stud. Love you, Mr. Pickles! (this photo was actually taken by Miriam)


Certifiable.


Another adorable reading-together picture, just because they're so cute when they're good!


And some old but-not-quite-as-old-as-the-even-older-news news:

Trip to the DC Zoo (can't believe we didn't get a picture of you & the hubby, Suebee!) There's an elephant in the background, I swear!


Learning all about giraffes. Alternative caption: if there's something to climb, she'll climb it.


Ah joy, a puddle to splash in!

Week 3 of Homeschooling

Well, last week I slacked off, in a way. I declard it to be home ec week, complete with baking (Miriam's learning how to knead bread), cooking (we brought dinner to friends with a new baby), sewing, and lots of cleaning, because...

...on Tuesday our basement went (through various stages) from this:

(is carpet supposed to give off a reflection? I didn't think so...)

...to THIS!!! tan tan ta-RAAAAA!!!

(well, at least it was tidy for 48 hours, before the girls left their mark!) The girls were FASCINATED watching the men install the carpet. Miriam spent all day on the stairs watching & chatting with them.

The walls were supposed to be more creamy than yellow -- darned hardware store flourescent lighting! Oh well. We like it anyway. (although it DOES make the 5th yellow room in our house...) The bathroom door is propped against the wall b/c it won't slide across our super-fluffy carpet! We're going to have to shave about 1/8" or more off the bottom.
I love my little corner -- it's my combination sewing/writing desk. I've already used it for both purposes.

We also got a new back door, which we painted one weekend. While it was threatening to rain. And then it stopped threatening and started to rain in earnest. But thanks to my ever-resourceful hubby:

We were going to get that door finished, by gum!
It still needs another coat, and we have to apply the tile in front of the back door (it's still icy concrete), but for all intents and purposes, our downstairs is livable again! Wa-hoo! It became official when Mr. Pickles set up the TV and all accompanying accessories. :)

So aside from cleaning up & moving in downstairs, I also made this last week:


Medieval princess and a Suomalainen! (Katie wanted to dress up too.) Miriam wore it for 3 days straight. I made an apron too, but hadn't finished it yet when I took this picture.

So, even though we didn't crack a book, it was still an educational weekend!

More Even Older News

Some pics pertaining to the wedding in CA.

The happy couple.... AND the bride & groom! ;) Miriam & Edy were SO happy to see each other -- so much so that I don't think Miriam even minded that she wasn't a flower girl too! (especially since she got to hold her new Aunt Sara's flowers)

Party tiiiiiiime!!! What wedding is complete without little kids dancing like crazy all over the dance floor?

The reception was held at a bee-yu-tiful house complete with entertainment for the children...



I can't BELIEVE I didn't get a shot of our two girls together in their matching dresses! I'm kicking myself now, b/c I just packed them away for the fall! :( They looked adorable, and I was very proud of how they came out -- I made them both out of a gorgeous eyelet, button-holed with rainbow-colored thread, and trimmed with pearls.


Just had to get a shot of this:

first kiss, first dance, first trampoline bounce...


Edy demonstrating how it's done.

At the gift-opening brunch.

I'm SUPERBABY!


three little maids: Maggie Lu, Katie Bear, and The Meenumator


Weddings are such great opportunities for family reunions! We had a great time visiting with all the family, although there never seems to be enough time to really catch up on everything that's going on in everyone's lives. It was good for the girls to get to know various relatives that they don't get to see very often. I was just happy they warmed up to everyone so quickly. Katie is outgoing anyway, and Miriam gets along with anyone who will adore her, so they made lots of friends. :)

hamming it up with Great-Aunt Goey

Even Older News

I feel like I'm purging my photo files! Sorry we haven't gotten around to posting all these till now. (of course, it's not like we haven't had anything else on our minds lately...) I also apologize to those whose computers will take a long time to load all these pics!

Some pics from our June trip to CA.

I seem to remember once seeing a similar picture of me pushing the same cart in the same yard...

Katie helping Grandpa sweep the patio.

Whatchoo lookin' at? (this was a very tame squirrel -- or maybe very hungry)

bottoms up! (I can't get over how flexible Katie is...)

One evening during dinner the palm tree just spontaneously decided to shed about 3/4 of its deadwood. It sounded like an explosion as it all came crashing down. Thank goodness it was the evening and the girls weren't outside -- some of those branches are sharp as razors!

Katie making friends with one of Uncle Joe's practice babies. They got along great.

What summer is complete without...

playing in the sprinkler?

giving a flower a drink

deciding to brave it!

And of course, no visit to So. Cal. is complete without a trip to...

the BEACH!!!

bathing beauties

Ah, to be able to nap anywhere...


There is STILL sand stuck in that swimsuit.

I-I-I'm c-c-c-c-c-cooooooooold-d-d-d-d-d!!!

Grandma helps keep me warm!

mmm, all better!

Old News

Ahh, those fleeting days of summer. These pictures were actually taken back in June, the day before our basement flooded in fact. (which kinda explains why I forgot about them...) Soon after we returned from our big family vacation (hmm, guess I haven't posted pics from then either!) we took a little trip into Old Town Alexandria to eat ice cream along the waterfront.
Mommy, will you buy me one?

chocolate baby face!

This is one of the reasons we haven't posted an updated family photo on our blog in, oh, a year. It would have been perfect if Miriam hadn't been acting like a little snot. Grandma B., consider yourself avenged. She's just like her mother. Nobody's going to tell HER what to do if she doesn't FEEL like doing it, by gum!


I look at these pictures now with a sigh of reminiscence... ah, those happy, carefree days! We were so young and naive! Had we known what events would follow close on the heels of that evening of innocent family pleasures.... Seriously, that was a busy weekend for us. That night we found out I was pregnant, and the next night our basement flooded. Enter crazy summer of 2006!

What political stereotype are you?

Hmmm, I always thought I was more conservative than this... maybe that's what happens when I pick random answers for questions I don't understand...
It was interesting to get the rusty political-thinking gears working again -- it's been a few years since I've had to think about these kinds of things.

Neo-Conservative You scored 30% Personal Liberty and 46% Economic Liberty!

A neo-conservative believes in moderate to high government intervention on personal matters and moderate government intervention on economic matters. Unlike most other conservatives, they may tend to support a social safety net, though to a lesser extent then most leftists. Others are more capitalistically inclined. They tend to support war, police powers, foreign intervention and laws restricting personal liberty. Neo-conservatives tend to emphasize foreign policy. Neo-conservatism is the result of "fusion" between "old left" and "new right" tendencies.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on Personal You scored higher than 99% on Economic

Link: The Politics Test written by brainpolice on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test