Friday, September 19, 2014

Waiting for Susanna

As my pregnancies have come to their ends, each time I reached a point where it felt like life couldn't move forward appreciably until the little one made her appearance. The feeling gives a strange flavor to life--it's exciting and boring at the same time. You wind up slowing down and just hanging out in the day you've got. Also, you monitor and attempt to analyze every.single.physical.sensation to figure out if it might be the start of labor. For a very long time, it's not. Here are some of the things we filled our days with while we were waiting for Susanna . . .

wrestling


spectating


running


making lots and lots of art




splashing




working on projects



working in the garden



hanging out with friends at the museum


eating snacks, and playing with them



taking walks



and then, finally, later the same evening this last photo was taken, she came!!

Thursday, September 18, 2014

4th of July

I kind of love the 4th of July. I feel like since I became in charge of the holidays for my own little family, they have become a little less fun in some ways. I mean they are fun, but the expectations sometimes get in the way of really enjoying the day. Not so on the 4th of July! Who expects anything but fireworks from July 4? And those are pretty easy to achieve. And they are great! All the better if you have a town with a parade . . . and even better if it's a bike parade of kids who get to decorate their own bikes . . . and even better than that if you just happen to bump into lots of the people you always bump into around town that make you love where you live so much!




All that said, (and this didn't hinder the fun as make things funny), there were a few apparent lapses in planning for our dear hometown celebration. First, was the route of the bike parade. Keep in mind, most kids were in the 2-6 age range. The parade set off immediately up a probably 15% grade rocky road, at the top of which was a concrete construction barrier you had to wheel your bike through the grass to get around. So, of course, the parade was more of a push, for parents, of their kids cycles up the hill. The family in front of me had 3 kids, one being pushed on a bike, another holding the hand of a parent pushing the bike, and one being worn in a baby carrier while the other parent pushed the second kids trike. How festive and patriotic! : ) But thankfully the course evened out after that and a good time was had by all.

After the parade, the celebration continued with a fire truck brought by the fire dept which opened up it's hose just a bit to spray out a huge amount of mist for kids to run through. Great plan! But this was definitely a case of ready, fire, aim! At first, the spray was directly at a power line. Thankfully it was a very strong and secure power line. This went on for 2 or 3 minutes before it was redirected to shoot right at a street sign and tree. The street sign did not look so strong and secure, but did survive. Finally they got it right and it was, wait for it,  . . .a blast!!







Monday, September 15, 2014

Lucie's fudge

While Paul was away with his work buddies in Colorado, Gramma came to help me hold down the fort. And to have fun with us! One day, we made fudge with my grandmother's recipe,which is a classic in our Malone family now too. Ella and Nora paid close attention. so let's hope the recipe makes it down to the 4th generation too!
























Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Nora's 3rd birthday!

 Nora is 3 now! We celebrated with a new tricycle and kitty helmet, Ana and Elsa dolls, a beautiful ballerina fairy outfit, a carousel ride (we are still tentative about whether that is fun or not . . . the free balloon at the end-definitely fun!) and a water party in the backyard! Our sweet girl is more feisty and grown up these days, and we can't wait to see what 3-years-old will look like on her as the year progresses.