Tuesday, December 10, 2013

A new 'do

 Ever since the girls cut their own hair last month, (Did I tell you that one yet? I was emailing when I heard the distinctive dangerous silence that means they are up to something. I thought to myself, I just need to finish this, whatever they are up to, I will just clean it up. Pre-emptively I called out, "What are you girls doing?" Nora answered, "We cutting we hair!" By the time I got there, several beautiful ringlets were on the floor and Nora had bangs. Point, girls. Lesson learned: you can never, ever rest when you have little ones. Ok, it's not that dramatic, but seriously, them alone for a minute and irreparable damage can be done.) Ella has been dying to have a real haircut. I just love her little hair and since we have never yet cut it, I was a little anxious. I even feared that if we cut off those curly ends, they might grow back straight. But it was most of the way down her back and especially after the layers Nora added, it was getting just a touch raggedy at the bottom. It was time.

So, for such a special occasion we hit the special kids' hair salon in town. Ella LOVED it. They have fun car, boat, and airplane chairs, they show you movies while you get your hair cut and they give you lolly pops at the end! What more could you ask for?



Nora got to ride in a chair and watch a movie too!



Choosing their lolly pops


The happy customer!



Though these pictures don't show it, when Ella's hair dried, her curls bounced back even boingier than before! Hurray and thank you God for a sweet answer to my shallow prayer! :  )

Mmmmm . . . God bless Texas.

 We visited Paul's family in Austin for Thanksgiving this year. It is a really pretty place and it was great to spend time with family we don't get to see often. Here are a few snapshots from our trip

There was major excitement in anticipation of the airplane portion of out trip. When we took off, Ella was so delighted! I wish I felt that way on planes. Thankfully their enthusiasm buoyed them for the hour and a half runway sit we had before our second 2.5 hour flight began (that and our newly beloved My Little Ponies!). They were such troopers. Ella's only complaint toward the bitter end was one, "I want to get off this plane!" Nora slept for the last 2 hours including the landing. Bless them.


So, I have gotten worse and worse about photo documentation lately it seems. Unfortunately you will only see one adult (Vov^o) in the following photos. But we were all looking on at the cousins' fun with happiness of our own.



At the Austin Zoo we tried for a grandchildren picture. I didn't get a winning photo, but just for the general amusement of trying to get six kids to smile into direct sunlight at once, here are my tries:






A cute little monkey at the zoo. (See how she's making the monkey's mouth? What a smarty pants.)




In the background of this happy photo, you can sort of see the glass shelves Paul installed for his parents while we were there.


And this photo shows another delightful feature of Paul's parents' new house!



Friday, November 15, 2013

Thursday, November 07, 2013

Pink kitty cat and Purple kitty cat

Every night, we have an ever more complicated routine for getting the little sweeties to sleep. For now, one of the final steps is a request for "Story! Story!" Call me lazy, but rather than argue about, No, no more stories, now it's time to go to sleep, I just tell stories that are shorter than that argument. And they always feature pink and purple kitty cats doing happy and fun things (quickly) then laying down in their kitty cat beds to take their naps. It works. And pink and purple kitty cats have become a well loved part of our family culture. As more evidence that I am lazy (or efficient, extremely efficient : ) ), what did I suggest for the girls halloween costumes? Pink and purple kitty cats!






In the afternoon, we happened to be at the cafe without our costumes, but in need of them. We improvised. I love these looks.



We went to our neighborhood Halloween party in the park and saw friends, hit a pinata, got round 2 of candy before round 3, and had fun. I caught this sweet moment while they were listening to a story together at the party.




Friday, October 18, 2013

Sweet eats

I have a sweet tooth. Thankfully Durham obliges me in this respect with an out of this world donut shop and a crazy good cupcake bar both within walking distance of our house. It's a long walk, but all the better if you are walking for a donut!












Art

 So, we make a lot of art these days. Nora love to make lists. Or wists, rather. Here she is carrying a special wist around town with her one Saturday. Also, Daddy is silly.




Ella's style of expression is a Jackson Pollock-esque layering of marker, crayon, pen, stickers, tape, and more of each again until her papers are completely covered and are twice their original weight. She was a queen this day too of course, but if you look on her desk you'll see some samples or her work. They are really interesting looking


Do these distinct creative preferences reveal one organized person and one freethinker?

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Silly songs with Nora


A queen and her castle


Ella's alter ego is Queen Ellasanyas, or Queen Ella-asanyas, or Ellasantas depending on the mood. She loves to be a queen and dresses up in her royal garb for any activity. This next photo was taken at school. I love it.


We often talk about what a queen would or wouldn't wear (especially for certain activities, i.e., a queen would certainly wear her sneakers instead of her fancy shoes to go on the playground) and what she would or wouldn't do (queens are kind and brave, especially where little sisters are concerned).

One day Ella would love to meet a real queen. She knows they are real, but only live very far away. Maybe next summer when we all go to Cornwall? Can you pull us any strings British citizen family members?

Friday, August 23, 2013

Nora's 2nd birthday!

Our sweet little lady had a birthday last month! Somehow these photos got lost in the shuffle, but better late than never to post all the fun we had!

Whenever she was asked what she wanted for her birthday, again and again Nora replied, "cupcakes and pink flowers." We tried to oblige her small sweet request!






I feel like for Nora and for Ella, the second birthday was so special. They sort of understood that a birthday would be a cool thing going into it, but couldn't remember their first birthdays. When they actually got presents and cupcakes and parties, they were just so delighted with it all. It's like seeing your favorite movie the very first time. You'll love it more and more with each watch (and then maybe not as much after many years have gone by . . . ), but the first time is where you're swept off your feet.







Gramma and Granddaddy were here too which made everything that much more exciting. Here is Graddaddy planting us our beautiful zinnias while his helpers dig in the new sandbox.



In between Nora's party day on a Saturday and the actual big day on Monday, we had a beautiful walk at the gardens, I'll put those photos in too.




Then it was birthday morning!







Happy Birthday darling 2 year old Nora!