the week's headlines

Rain the past couple of days, and a quick and violent hail storm two nights ago, have washed the dust of Summer away. The earth's colors look more vibrant and the sun seems brighter. And the most beautiful part? The skies have cleared and we should have amazing, warm, beautiful weather this weekend.

Leroy has been out to play. He keeps company with a few jillion minnows and one rogue bass that needs to be moved to the lower pond.  His band of goldfish friends are much better at hiding than Leroy, we only glimpse them once in a while.  As for the big orange man himself, I have to say he has quite a personality - relaxed, friendly even. Yes, even our fish has a personality...we don't like boring pets around here.  And I think he needs a koi friend.

Behold, we have windows. A baby step in the right direction...at least we're still moving forward. On deck for this weekend:  wiring...lots of it.

My budding artist...won't stop drawing on the glass, so we compromised with paper taped to the glass door - the perfect easel. Coloring is a favorite activity these days, fun for her, therapeutic for me. This week, she loves pink and works hard at drawing perfect circles.  She'll draw a circle, point at it, and say, "Daddy."  Then another circle is "Mom mom" (me).  Then another circle is "Mia."  And on and on.

I can see her trying to make sense of this crazy world we live in. Everything is now a "mommy," "daddy," or "baby" - animals, people on TV, even her pink crayons. A large pink crayon is the "mama" and the broken little one, a "baby."  That's my girl, wanting to organize everything into neat, little categories.  And, get this, she counted 6-7-8-9 last night. I'm not sure what happened to 1-2-3-4-5, but who cares, she can count 6-7-8-9.

Little Sis digs the swing, which is kind of awesome, because Laci didn't really like it at all.  Helps me a ton when I need to do uber-important things like...I don't know...brush my teeth, or blog, or fold laundry (in no particular order).

I wonder if I'll always call her "Sis."  My mom still calls my younger sister "Sis."  She'll answer the phone and say, "Hi, Sis!" and I instantly know she's talking to Kristina.  She doesn't call Beth (my other younger sister) or me "Sis," even though we are clearly all sisters.  And never mind that my sister is 30, some names just never wear off.

And I'm still self-portraiting...you know...because I was there too.  I'm thinking I need to learn a few airbrushing techniques...and also need to work on some different composition.  But the point is, I'm making an effort, and you know what?  It is really, really hard to get in front of the camera.  I'm thinking I might have to dig out the tripod and play this weekend.

As a side note, check out my super white baby Mia...my beautiful, paste-y girl...with two chins.  Can you believe it?  TWO chins, and fatty wrist bracelets, and a neck roll that you can't see.  She is getting so squishy, and I love her squishiness, and maybe I will call her squishy.

And also, please note that Laci is not wearing her Ariel nightgown.  I have swayed her taste a bit with a new pair of ballerina pajamas...that she wore the entire day...because it was raining and cold outside.  Not that we need an excuse like rainy cold to wear our pajamas for an entire day.

So, that about wraps up our week.  Now, hoping our weekend exceeds all our expectations.