Hittin' the Sauce

The other day at small group we had pasta with marinara for dinner. Everything was awesome until, in the words of my sweet husband, "Pink Baby got sauced."

The best I could tell (through the sobs of my three-year-old), Norah was holding her while she was eating dinner, turned to look at something, and dropped Pink Baby face first onto her dinner.

We weren't at our house, so I couldn't wash her right away. Since Norah absolutely cannot sleep without her (but was also terrified that she'd "get the bed all saucy"), we wrapped her up in a towel like a swaddled infant.

I'm happy to say that Pink Baby came through the ordeal like a champ after a much needed ride in the washing machine.

If you ask Norah about the experience, she will gravely intone that she will, "never ever hold Pink Baby during dinner ever again, ever."

Locusts on a Wheat Field

That's the best description I can give of what it looked like at the easter egg hunt out church sponsored this year. I've never actually seen locusts descend on a wheat field. I've seen a cartoon reenactment of it several times on one of the Land Before Time sequel movies that Norah watches - don't judge! - and it seems pretty similar. 

Let's just say this:

From the time they let the kids out onto the lawn full of eggs to the time a vast, empty, candy egg-less, wasteland was left in their wake was maybe 45 seconds. I only got two or three pictures of the actual hunt. The two below are seriously the best ones. That's how fast this thing went, people!

Hey, at least you can see her adorable new red Converse.
Mark picked them up on a recent business trip. He texted me
photos of the color choices. She decided on red because,
"The pink is too bright."

Proof that the kids weren't fighting.

After showing me her basket, she exclaimed,
"Mom, did you know there's CANDY IN THESE!?!"
We had successfully hidden that fact for the first 3 years of her life.

Norah and her friend Elise.
If I were to caption their thoughts, it would be something like,
"C'mon, c'mon! Take the picture so we can eat more candy!!"

Penny Talk - Standing Up for Yourself

Hi there Blog People! Did you know that standing up can be
really fun? It can even lead to other activities, like walking.

Unless, of course, you're afraid to walk on your own.

Then standing up really only leads to...
Standing up and looking a little confused as to your next step.

Then again, with all the attention that standing up gets you,
someone's bound to come pick you up if you ask nicely.

Easter-tivities

The great thing about spending time at Grammy's house is that you sometimes get to do fun stuff twice! Of course we dyed eggs at our house, but the girls got to dye eggs at Grammy's too!

That's Norah doing the glitter step of her tie dye & glitter eggs.
In the background is Penny, "dying" plastic eggs by
dipping them in an empty container.

She didn't know that she and Sister were doing slightly different
versions of egg dying. In fact, she was quite pleased with
her beautiful egg creations.

The Builder

Both girls have inherited a little of their dad's engineering genes. Penny likes to put things in categories, organize, and make sure toys are put in their place. Seriously. She's 15 months old.

Norah? Well, she's my little builder. She found a huge bag of blocks (which I may have strategically put away in an out of the way area). She made it a point to use every single one to build her city.

For the record, her city has a lot of bridges.

"Can you show me your city, Norah?"
"Um, yeah. It's right here. This is a tower in my city."

A blurry photo of the cityscape.

The city from another angle.

"Are you excited about the city you built?"
"YEAH!!"

Penny Talk - Pictures!

Hi all,
It's me, your favorite youngest Jones girl! I thought you all would enjoy some pictures of me. Now that it's warming up, I'm having fun hanging outside.

Little Non-Walker

She has officially been a "not walking baby" (as Norah calls her) for over seven months longer than her big sister was. Norah started walking at 10 months; Penny is now 15.

She definitely can walk. She walks across the living room holding my hand (only one hand) all the time. But let her go completely and she just stands there, crying, abandoned and dejected. She cruises the furniture all day long, but won't take even one step alone. Also, she hates "the dismount". Where most babies will just plop down on their bottoms when they get tired, I've only seen her do it maybe three times ever. Every time she does, no matter how much I cheer and encourage, she cries as if she's failed forever and will never attempt to sit from standing again. The funny thing is, she's never hurt herself walking. She's too careful!

Truth be told, we don't mind. It's nice to have her stay a baby for a little longer instead of careening headlong into Toddler status. Besides, not walking doesn't stop her from getting into some mobile mischief!

Oh hello Mommy, I didn't see you there...

What do you mean, I'm not supposed to climb the stairs?

SHE does it all the time!