Blessed

Tomorrow morning I will wake up and have my cup of coffee.  Somewhere between sips 3 and 4, Punkin’ will wake up and wander out of her room all bleary-eyed.  I’ll say (as I always do) “Good morning Angel!”  and I’ll set her up on the couch: pillow, bear, blanket.  Then I’ll turn on the TV.  Zoe will wander out of our room and join her sister on the couch: pillow, baby, blanket.  They’ll sit and watch TV until they feel that burst of energy that will carry them through the day seemingly without wavering.  I’ll make breakfast while they are both cozy on the couch.  I’ll get a goofy smile on my face as I listen to the sounds of Papa in the shower because it comforts me to hear him in there and I always think that’s silly. 

In short, tomorrow morning will be just like every other morning. 

Almost.

Tomorrow morning is the 5 year anniversary of the day I became a Mama.  Five years ago tomorrow, I heard her cry for the first time.  I smelled her head, I watched Papa cry tears of joy, I saw my own Mother transformed into a Kamma.  Five years ago tomorrow, I fell in love with a beautiful, crazy, bundle of awesome and started on this wild ride. 

Four and a half years ago tomorrow, my sweet bundle of awesome did her twelve millionth totally amazing thing:  she rolled over.  It was truly remarkable:  you should have seen her form!

Four years ago my baby became a toddler.  That moment I had waited for (with bated breath) finally arrived.  She took her first tentative steps and I was floating. on. air.  Three minutes later (I swear!), she was doing laps around the house, and getting in to everything!  Thirty seconds later, the word “No” was cemented in to my daily vocabulary.

Three years ago tomorrow I got to watch her personality blossom.  Her sense of humor, her wonder and excitement, her incredibly loving heart… each amaze me more every day. 

Two years ago tomorrow the horrible I-Kinda-Want-To-Return-You-To-Sender Threes hit us hard.  She did all the things I was sure she wouldn’t do… she tantrumed and refused to listen.  She wrote on the walls with pens, pencils, sharpies and crayons.  She destroyed furniture, carpets, clothes, cabinets, counters, toys, blankets, and my sanity.  She and I walked through the trenches of toddlerhood together and survived.  (Amazingly)  

 

One year ago tomorrow, she became obsessed with Arts and Craps (no that’s not a typo), she potty trained herself and she started becoming this {gulp} KID.  Its cool and scary and wonderful.  Four is a fun age. 

Tomorrow my baby will be FIVE.  Five years old.  Five years old.  (Nope, doesn’t stop looking weird if I type it more)

So, tomorrow morning, after coffee is consumed and girls are settled (pillow, lovey, blanket), I will make my baby {5 years old} a big-girl birthday breakfast (which is apparently dry Cheerios and cheese crackers).   And I will sit at the table and watch her eat it and think to myself  “How on earth have I been so blessed?!”


{My Punkin-Pie Angel Girl was born December 28th, 2005 at 8:01pm.  She weighed 7lbs 6.4oz and was 20 inches long}

A Picnic In Photos

I had big plans for yesterday....  putting these little ones to work picking figs.  But, then Punkin', with a sweet little look on her face, asked "can we have a picnic outside, Mommy?  Pleeeaasee"

Then the Bunny chimed in "Pease, Mommy?  Pease? It will be fun to eat outside!"

And my heart, literally, melted.




So, the figs are still on the tree (or ground), ripe.  Turns out it is fun to eat outside.

Yeah, I'm a sucker... I know.

Our Morning In Photos

Weekend Review In Photos

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

Treats and Goodbyes

Today is the girls' last day at "Ms. Michelle's School".  The girls both really love it there and I have some Mom-Guilt about moving them to the Amazing Campus Program that Just. Won't. Go. Away.   So, to commemorate their last day (and because I recognize fabulous-ness when I see it), we decided to make Tie-dye Cookies!  

Everyone was excited to get started.   

Punkin' looking to start a little mischief

Papa's making a guest appearance

Well I'm not much of a writer but I do like taking pictures and video. So for my first guest post,  I've decided to upload a few videos.

The girls "helping out" in the garden

This video is from the 4th of July. Notice Punkin', in blue, running right up to people to throw her water balloons.  Bunny, in red, is doing the same.  Brave girls!

Ends with a "bang!"... literally

p.s. word of advice to anyone adding video to your blogs: use YouTube and don't just insert video from Blogger, much better quality. You would figure it would be the same considering Google owns both companies but oh well.

If a tree falls in the forest...

I was thinking today...  If you don't post for over a year can you still call yourself a blogger?  Is your dusty old blog still *actually* a blog?  Who am I to keep this blog from fulfilling its purpose?  I mean, all it wants to do is look pretty and have some (hopefully) clever posts on it.  How hard could that be really?

Its not like there were no blog-worthy events over the last year.  There were plenty!

There was the trip to Disneyland...

And now back to our regularly scheduled programing!

***Update:  Alternately titled "The Beginning of My Hiatus"




Whew! I'm finally caught up! Ok, I'll just take one moment to pat myself on the back before I continue...

Tofu and Bubbles

When Papa got home on Wednesday evening, I decided that at least part of the house had to be clean; it just had to! My little tornados are driving me nuts, I can not keep up. So Papa, got the girls their dinner (Tofu and veggies) and then took them outside to play with chalk and bubbles. I did manage to get some work done, which was nice. But the level of cuteness outside was just too much for me to resist, so I took a break to get some shots.

A Visit With The Bunny

Planting the Summer Garden

The Sunday after the Fairytale Town adventure, we decided the summer garden had to go in. So, in the morning (after Papa graciously let me sleep passed 8 am), we headed to the nursery and picked out plants! 

The ones that made the cut:

Tomatoes: Black Zebra, Caspian Pink, Heirloom Pineapple, and a cherry tomato

Walla Walla sweet onions

Serrano peppers

Bell Peppers: Canary Yellow, Blue Jam (purple in color), and Sweet Spanish Red

Zucchini - but only two plants this year because the 6 we planted last year was a bit much!

Zebra eggplant

Lemon Cucumber

Quinalt Strawberries (of Kyla's choosing)

Cilantro, parsley, mint, basil and sage: all to compliment the chives, oregano and rosemary that we already have.

I'm so excited I can taste it! Literally.

Max, chillin'

Fairytale Town

One is Fun and Three is WEE!

Pony Rides and Auntie Cole

Random Acts Of Cuteness

 

The Dough-girls

And now for our feature presentation!

The beans and diapers are both soaking (separately of course), I've climbed down from my soapbox, the bread is baked, and the recipe for dinner acquired.  By some miracle, both of my girls are currently sleeping.  What now? 

 Well, I suppose I could tackle the mountain of dishes, or laundry.  I could vacuum or work on Christmas presents.  Naw,  I got blogging to do!  In fact, I have so much blogging to do I'm going to have to break it up into a two or three day event.  I know, I know, you're all so disappointed.  I know you hate it when I blog and the only reason you lurk around (silently) on my site is so that you can tell me that you read it and then have one or two convincing stories to tell when you see me :).  

So, without further ado...

Fun time with Phoebe

 

Phoebe is Punkin's little friend in the neighborhood. She came by the other evening when we were outside playing. They had a blast together playing in the piles as I was sweeping leaves.

Arts and crafts

Upcoming update

I am currently enjoying our new computer!  Yes, we bought an iMac (thanks G & G).  While, its fast and fun and has no bugs, I am still figuring out how to use it!