Funny faces

Now that I have my new fancy-schmancy camera, I am always taking pictures of the kids. And because I'm always hovering these days, they are starting to make me work for those smiles! The next few pics are what I get these days; intentional goofy faces ;)

When I just had Lauren, I thought taking pictures of her smiling was challenging. And then it became downright difficult trying to photograph both Jake and Lauren at the same time. But all three kids? I'm just thankful when they all look in the same direction :)

Sharing lunch

a bite for me, a bite for you...

More yarn fun

I've mentioned before how much my girl loves to play with yarn and booby-trap the house.

Anyway, she got out her yarn again and made shapes with it this time. I joined her and together we made stick people and balloons. And then when she was thoguh, I tied her up and let her spin herself silly.

I just think it;s funny that we've got a freakin' toy store in our living room, and the girl chooses to play with 'boring' old yarn :)

My girl the teacher...

Lauren is obsessed with "learning" these days. She's not really interested in letters or numbers or anything else "scholarly", but she is constantly asking to be taught how to do 'real life, grown up' stuff.

She asks me to teach her how to cut a banana into slices, how to cook dinners "so when I'm a mommy I can cook for my kids too", and how to change Megan's diaper.

But a couple days ago she wanted to be the teacher in multiple aspects. So she got on the floor, and for literally an hour, she rolled back and forth, encouraging Megan to roll. It was super sweet.

 

This last picture is one of my all time faves; they really do have a special bond :)

And then after dinner and showers, she showed little bro how to make a candy store:

complete with dozens of "chocolate pieces", aka foam blocks:

I love that my once painfully shy little toddler is turning into a wildly imaginative, nurturing preschooler.

Summer Fun; Custards and flowers!

Custards and flowers... how's that for a combo? :)

Really though, we continued our summer fun tonight by enjoying two of the things we wrote on our summer list. First up, we went to Freddies Steakburgers and Custard after dinner for some super yummy custard treats:

Then we came home and went on a family walk/bike ride, where the purpose was to find 10 different kinds of flowers (again, something on our list).

Miss Meg wasn't sure about the whole idea,

until I smooched her until she cheered up:

The plan was to collect 10 different kinds of flowers. Turns out, there was a flaw with this idea. Because we're in the High Desert where NOTHING grows except tumble weeds and cactus, if you want flowers, you actually have to grow them in your yard. So, we modified our plans and instead of picking wild ones (which don't exist), we "eye spied" flowers and took pictures with them.

And then, we came home where I got some snuggle and play time in with my littlest love:

So I hate the summer heat, but boy do I love me some summer activities ;)

Who is this big girl?

Just.adore.her.