Wet crayon

Charlotte, of the three girls, is definitely the one who would get a crayon wet and figure out how to make a mess with it.

Baby dolls

After several years of having them, the realistic dolls the girls have still make me double-take.

Art group

When Grace was two, she began meeting friends each week to do a new craft. Since then we've added and lost some participants, but the original group still meets. Siblings have also been doing a craft since they could hold their own paint brush or marker. Each of the 5 year-olds will be attending different Kindergartens next month and three of the Moms are expecting new babies this winter, so we met this week for our final craft.

Day with Gigi

It's been several months since everyone has been healthy enough for a visit, but last week we were finally able to go spend the afternoon with Gigi and Homer.

Splash park

Even if we could stand the the 100+ degree temperatures, the swings and slides at our park are WAY too hot to touch. The splash park by our house has been our alternative.

Sorry

Grace was particularly sassy and difficult to get along with one day this week, and I told her to spend some time in her room alone. I was taking my frustration out on the lunch dishes soon after that, and without a word, Grace walked up behind me and laid this picture of her and I on the counter beside the sink.

Drawings

Grace draws a lot of hearts, rainbows, and flowers right now.
Madeline, who is very excited for Halloween, draws a lot of ghosts.

This is the new baby with a ghost.

Charlotte immediately ran and put her drawing on her wall after she saw her sisters doing the same.

Phone conversation

I don't know who Madeline was talking to or what it was about, since she asked me not to interrupt while she was on the phone, but I could tell it was serious.

Earrings

I've thought since she was young that I would let Grace pierce her ears once she was old enough to understand and really want it. Despite some of her friends having pierced ears, she's been saying she wants to wait until she's older...until this weekend. She suddenly decided she was ready and then could think about nothing else...she even handed me the phone so that I could call and make an appointment. It was then that I realized it was ME who wasn't ready, but we figured that cute little pierced ears were better than the huge plastic clip-ons she would wear every day.

Playing house

Since we've been playing inside so much this summer and Charlotte is suddenly changing from a baby into a little girl, all 3 girls have been playing imaginatively together for the first time. Madeline and Charlotte pretend to be either puppies or kittens off and on throughout the day, but the 3 of them play a lot of "house" now. From what I've overheard, Grace plays "Sam," Madeline plays "Krista," and Charlotte is the baby.

Coconut

Grace has been fighting strep throat and then mono for the past 5 weeks. She's been through weeks of a terrible sore throat, fever, zero appetite, and extreme fatigue. She's lost some weight and is still pale, but she's regaining her appetite and energy. The first time that she felt well enough to go with me to the grocery store, she spotted a coconut and asked to buy it. I'm pretty sure she thought it would taste like the virgin pina coladas Sam makes for her, and so she was very disappointed in it's water and meat. We've given her enough ice cream over the past few weeks to make up for it.

4th of July