Texas Blue Bonnets

Spring in Texas...means the Blue Bonnets are in full bloom.  Most often, they are planted along freeways and busy roads, but someone told me about this beautiful patch, in a field behind a church.

It was an impromptu photo shoot with the girls.  I'm lucky they had combed hair!

They would rather have just enjoyed the flowers...

Than sit and let me take pictures.

They are a state flower and beautiful.

The girls were all very careful to sit where others had already come....

And there was to be NO PICKING OF THE BLUE BONNETS!

And they kept each other in check!

And everyone had a good time!

Everyone got their fill of beauty...

I got beautiful pictures and they got to do what they wanted.

I have long learned that sometimes the best pictures and moments are not always of them looking at the camera and smiling.  Sometimes it is just seeing them doing what THEY love to do...enjoying the beauty around them.

This FAIRYTALE photo shoot was followed by a trip to the doctor's office for Miss Aubrey.

Apparently, the mom taking the photos should have worried less about the couple bees that she saw and more about the ants that were biting her youngest baby!  

(for the record, she didn't even cry!  I only noticed all the bites and welts as I was sticking her back into the car)

Some meds and a bath to get her all washed down and clean, she was doing much better.  They are almost gone now, but she keeps pointing to the bites:)  Her one hand got it the worst.

Summer weekend?

And just like spring came last week for me...the kids have decided that SUMMER is here for them!  80 is warm, but I don't find that to be swimsuit/water season quite yet.  After all of the begging for weeks now, they finally convinced their Daddy to get out the slip and slide.  And so begins the weekends of setting it up at the end of the playset slide and creating summer, backyard memories.

(if he had been able to find the plugs for the pool, he'd have set that up at the end of the slide...maybe next week!)

This takes some thought.  First you fill up the "sandbox" with water.  

Fill buckets from "sandbox" and dump on slide to make wet.

Then slide...

And slide...

And slide some more.

For those who felt that it was not quite warm enough for water fun,

we swung.  Aubrey could spend all day in the swing.

She just exudes happiness in that swing.  

Worth all the money that we spent on the playset and swing to see that precious face.

Our little girl has discovered a love for this bitty baby doll.

It's just the right size.

And Ella learned how to ride a "Big Girl Bike" with training wheels.

She is soooo proud of her accomplishments and so are we!

Library...Ordinary Days

Our lives are like a kalidascope...you might look into it one day and see a beautiful array of flowers...turn it just a fraction of an inch the next day and it is a crazy mess!  That is how our days can be.  In the beginning...19 months ago...there were a lot of crazy messy days...lack of sleep...new information...almost daily appointments and medication...and yet there were moments in those days, that we stopped to gaze at the beautiful eyes of our newborn daughter.  She was beautiful and life is beautiful and she was snuggly and warm and oh so fragile.  And we all loved her so much.

There are less crazy days and more...ordinary days...and we have come to love and appreciate ORDINARY.  It is slow and relaxed and beautifully quiet.  Ordinary is comfortable and happy.  Ordinary...means that there are no appointments or meetings or therapies.  Ordinary is playing at home or at the park or a trip to the library.  

(don't you wish all children just sat and read quietly like this:)

This is the art at the library.  It is not fragile, but meant to be touched and beautiful.

Some children do sit quietly here...

And some lean back to read even...

Isn't this how it should be?  Quiet and relaxing and comfortable at the library.

Some can be quite silly on these ordinary days:)

We love the comfort of cozily fitting into someones arms, don't we...

And if you are ever so patient, this art will tell you a wonderful tale of 

faries or princesses or even a dragon school (our newest favorite chapter books).

I think that the real beauty in these ordinary moments and days is the love between sisters that is fostered and strengthened.  The care and love and nurturing and teaching that happens spontaneously is so beautiful.

(I will not kid you into thinking that all interaction between sisters is so peaceful and lovely...

but on my birthday, this day at the library, it was my present from them:)

Oh the choices...This is the princess aisle...

The sheer joy that all those fancily dressed princesses bring to a three year old.

The choice can take a lot of time...too long sometimes...and then it happens...

they pick just the right book to read...

And they stand right there by the shelf to read it. 

 There is no waiting to get to the table or the comfy chairs or heaven forbid, HOME,

Right there in the aisle with all the books surrounding them.  

That is where my beautiful readers like to read.  

Maybe the surrounding of the books is the comfort for them. 

The ability at the last minute to change their mind, "turn the kolidiscope", 

and look at a completely different story,

that is also simply wonderful.

I love that no matter how many times we go to the library or how many times we look at the same books over and over and over again, they are still amazed and in awe of a good book...

and the beauty of learning to read it yourself...

Here at our ordinary library...they have a puppet theater...and since we like to go when the library is quiet, and empty...we have it all to ourselves and they get to send their imaginations into new places of wonder and excitement and discovery of new stories to tell...

And they sure can captivate an audience with those stories.

But the plugs on the floor are also equally captivating to this audience member.

Not every day is so quiet and beautiful and ordinary, but I am thankful that our lives have settled down and our new "normal" and ordinary are a bit different than they used to be...but still so wonderful and we so enjoy the ordinary days that come around every so often to recharge us for the messy crazy days that come along too.

So...Have an ORDINARY and quiet day today!

Milestones

Milestones seem to be around every corner...she hits some and misses others only to come back and surprise us when we least expect her too.  Aubrey seems to be following a path of "size".  She does thing when she reaches the right "size" and not the "right" age.  Since she is the "size" of a 9 month old, she is doing those things.
1.  She is starting to pull up on everything!
2.  She is scooting around (could crawl, but chooses NOT too--I detect some stubborness:)
3.  She is getting teeth....5 of them now.  Two top MOLORS (one on each side) the two bottom front teeth and one bottom molor.
4.  She is using manners (not throwing her table wear) and has been granted the right to have her own plate and fork at every meal!
5.  She loves to be outside and like all little ones has learned to have a little tantrum when you don't take her with you or you come in before she is ready!
6.  She is communicating with us.  She is starting to actually use more of her signs but also seems to be saying something when we talk to her and screaming less.
and

7. Last week she started climbing the stairs, but just one and then sit down and we would have to coax her into going to the next one where she would sit again...but today:)  She did it.  She climbed all the way up all 12 stairs virtually without stopping!  We just love her and are so proud of her (as you can see from her proud big sister in the video above, who was there for safety so that I could capture the moment:)  Our buddy Noah taught her the ropes last weekend.  Noah, you can come visit Texas any time and teach Aubrey some new moves!

Happy Easter!

He is RISEN!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

For most everyone else, spring comes when the calendar says that it is day light savings time and we get an "extra" hour in the day...or when the pear trees bloom...or the crocuses poke through the ground...not me...spring comes hand in hand with EASTER.

It is finally warm enough to wear sleeveless dresses and sandals.  And it is a warm and breezy day and we can open the windows and breath in the fresh air and enjoy the sunshine and blow away all the stuffiness of WINTER.

And I feel renewed and refreshed and forgiven and grateful.  

And life is soooo good.

I love how they can be so excited...I mean over the top excited to do something that we do every year and they never tire of it.  And it is all new to them again and they are excited.  They sit and remember the years past...where we were...what things we did to celebrate...where the baskets were hidden...IF we dyed the eggs...the DRESSES.

And I LOVE when it is NEW again.  This is her second Easter, but it is all new again to her.  And he beautiful eyes looked up at me in amazement over all those colorful eggs around her.  And she wanted to know if they were really for her...and I assured her they were ALL hers (specially "reserved").

And I encouraged her to put those beautiful eggs in her basket...but she had other plans...

Aubrey: "MOM, THESE THINGS SHAKE...AND THEY ARE FILLED WITH CHOCOLATE!"

Me: "PUT THEM IN THE BASKET...YOU DON"T GET TO EAT ANY OF IT...

unless maybe you can actually get one of those eggs open:)

What girl doesn't love the thrill of the hunt.  A girl will hunt for anything, won't she, especially if she thinks there might be chocolate involved.  And a parent has to get creative and maybe TOO obvious with the baskets so that there is at least SOME challenge to it.

One was high!

One low and hidden amongst the animals.

One tucked away, where other baskets usually reside.

And one in just the right spot, low to the ground, where she was sure to find it...easy...so that when she saw it, she would go right for it and we could enjoy the light in her eyes as she made her way over...

And then we got to enjoy her discovering something new and wonderful!

I love her...because it was the book she was drawn too and stayed with for so long.  I love my readers.  They love a good story...but who doesn't.

She spent quite awhile "sassing" the Easter Bunny.  

Apparently he was not aware of her deep LOVE for chocolate and didn't put ANY in her basket.

Spring is when vinegar is in the air!  And those plastic cups are full of bright colors!

And the eyes that have such anticipation for what is to come and what is happening.

The grin of a job well done and a GOOD day...that all started out at church with a celebration of our risen Savior, who died on the cross and rose again, so that SOMEDAY we may enjoy days even more heavenly than these.

A special thank you to Grandma for the ears!  

I didn't know where to include this photo and there really isn't much to say.

It speaks for itself...or at least for the little girl that is all MINE, 

but totally her OWN person! 

We love you Ella Bella!

I guess spring is also for puddle jumping boots and tutus as well...