New Outfit Photo Shoot

A few weeks ago, we got an envelope in the mail from Mark's Aunt Cathie with some new outfits! Of course, part of getting new outfits as gifts is taking pictures in the outfits to show the giver how much you love them (and the girls do LOVE them!).

My lovely daughters may have taken the New Outfit Photo Shoot
as an opportunity to make as many funny faces as possible.

She thought the whole thing was hilarious.

Penny has to concentrate pretty hard to stick out her tongue.

Apparently, Norah really has to think about it too.

I was persistent enough to get a good picture... eventually.

For this one I asked her, "Do you like your new dress?"

This one of Norah is my favorite.

Thanks for the new clothes Aunt Cathie!

Kids in Hats!

Actually, it's two kids sharing one hat, but whatever.

Who knew wearing a hat was so exciting?

I couldn't get a clearer picture of her, she was so excited to be wearing a hat.

Despite what this last photo might make you think, Norah did not knock her sister down and steal the hat. Penny was just so excited she bounced herself right over.

Crazy kids.

Library Time!

The same day we went to the museum, we went to the library. Again, Norah was busy showing Grandma her favorite computer game and I didn't get a picture. However, here's a picture my mom took a couple of weeks later that'll give you a pretty good idea of what she looked like.

"This game is SOOOOO cool!"

Penny worked on her puzzlin' skills. My mom says this is by far
her favorite thing to do at the library. 

Laser-focused concentration...

"I did it!" She was so proud!
She got the chain lock off the green door and placed the chain
in the holder next to the door. Not bad, kiddo! I suspect
that there's a few of her dad's engineer genes in her little head.

Magic, Magnets, and Museums!

While Mark's parents were in town visiting, we did a few of the girls' favorite activities. I've decided to break them up a bit because:
1) the're photo heavy and
2) it makes it look like I'm blogging more, and I've been seriously lacking in that area recently

Our first activity was the museum. Norah was running around showing Grandma (literally) everything, so I didn't get a picture of her. Penny and I hung out in the little kids' area.

She loves playing with magnets. Also, she insisted on the cape.
It adds to the mystery of sticking magnets together, or something.

She refused to look at me (since, you know, I was trying to take a
picture!). Thank goodness she was sitting in front of a mirror.

I got her to turn around by asking if she saw Grandma.

She got really excited when she thought Grandma was coming!

Then she got annoyed that I had tricked her into looking at me
and went back to concentrating on her magnets.

Then she decided that one of the curved magnets was a phone.
Here, she's saying, "Helloooooo!" Just after I snapped this picture,
She informed me, "It Daddy. Shhh!"

I Am That Hero!

After going for a swim in Grammy's little pool, Norah decided that she would ride her bike. Then she decided that her outfit looked like Larry Boy in the Veggie Tales movies. She proceeded to do a dance singing the Larry Boy theme song. The song concludes with the proclamation, "I am that HERO!"

Things I Miss From Where I Sit

It's always good to change your perspective once in a while. When Mark's parents were visiting a couple of weeks ago, I spent several car rides in the back seat with the girls rather than in the front where I usually sit.

When I sit in the front seat, I hear the girls talking and giggling, singing to each other, or (if someone tries to take someone else's something away) screaming at the top of their lungs. But since I'm in the front seat, I don't get to actually see what goes on. 

Beyond the noise, the silliness, the singing, the endless talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking talking and talking, there's a real affection between these two. 

I love that I got to change seats for a bit and witness it.

Dinosaur Train!

On Father's Day weekend, the Dinosaur Train came to our little town. If you don't know what the Dinosaur Train is, you probably don't live in the same house as a pre-schooler. Dinosaur Train is a fantastically informative and entertaining show on PBS about a family of dinosaurs who ride a train to different areas of the world - and even different time periods, with the help of a time tunnel - to learn all about different species of dinosaurs.

If you're like me, you're probably thinking, "If dinosaurs could build themselves a train, complete with time tunnel, why couldn't they avoid extinction?" What? You're not thinking that? Well fine. Never mind then.

Anyway, Norah loves the show and has learned a ton from watching it. A few of the choice morsels of learning include the following vocabulary words and their correct definitions:

Herbivore

Carnivore

Omnivore

Nocturnal

Diurnal

Predator

Prey

Cretaceous

A bunch more, but you get the idea.

We were able to arrange it so that Norah and her friend got to go on the Dinosaur Train together with their dads. It might not have been the relaxing afternoon that the dads had envisioned for the start to their Father's Day weekend, but they were great sports to take some time out to spend with their kids. I guarantee that it was a trip the girls won't forget!

Between kid-wrangling and mom-absence, there wasn't too much time for pictures, but this one is my favorite. They may have been a little excited.

Win-eeee

Another thing about June:

We had some really weird high winds. Being their father's daughters, both girls absolutely loved it. Norah thought the trees were dancing and stood at the window watching for minutes (which is like hours in three-year-old time). Every time we heard the leaves rustle outside the (perpetually open) windows, Penny would exclaim, "Win-eeeeee!" Truth be told, it was much win-eeee-er than we've ever seen it. 

Here are some photos of the aftermath.

Down the street from our house.

Normally when the wind blows, it just knocks over the trees that
are already dead. The winds were... a little bit higher, as evidenced
 by this tree trunk.

We definitely heard this one! It was right across the street from us.

But, of course, this little narrow miss at the construction site down the street was our all time favorite. :-D

Snails, Slugs & Science!

Norah went to her second day camp at the museum during the first week of June. The theme was Snails, Slugs & Science. The kids spent the week learning about gardening, plants, and insects. Norah had a blast and has been relaying facts about "organic matter" to us ever since.

We were only able to get a few pictures on the very first day. At the end of their first class, the kids released ladybugs in the garden. It was one of Norah's favorite activities of the week.

June? Oops!

So, you may or may not have noticed that I had exactly zero posts during the month of June. Oops. What can I say? We were busy. Over the next few days I'll do my best to catch you all up on what we've been up to in the past few (okay, okay, several) weeks.

For now, I'll leave you with some awesome pictures of my hummingbird feeder that I took from below while "supervising" my children while they were playing on the deck.

Because that's how I roll.

A Birthday Tribute

Back in college, my then best friend ("Ew, no Mom! I would never date Mark Jones!") convinced me that it was his birthday. The date was December 3. I sang him happy birthday and everything before he started laughing at me. His birthday is July 3rd. Two and a half years later, I married the guy.

Here's how we looked when we met. I know. Super embarrassing!

I don't know what it says about my judgement that I believed him when he was pretty obviously messing with me, but I have never once doubted my judgement in marrying him.

Now, more than a decade after we first met, I am more sure than ever of the decision I made to place my heart, my future, and my children in his care. 

I picked a winner.

Here's how we looked when we got married. This was just a few
months later at a friend's wedding.

Happy birthday Mark!

(And he hasn't just gotten older... he's gotten cuter too. Yup, definitely some good judgement on my part!)

Here's what we look like now. Or, actually, a few months
ago, which is the most recent good photo I have of us.