{life with} the Cuties: June 2010

back in Monkeys on the Bed! times, I had a weekly Thankful Thursday post. If I still ran that blog, i'd basically only be able to talk about how THANKFUL we are to God that no one is hurt and our house is not damaged...

so...in case you couldn't tell, a tree fell down in front of our house

a little closer view:

what was once up here:

was now knocking on our door--literally resting against our glass door

Around 11:30 PM on Tuesday, I heard what i thought was Cutie Face falling down the stairs.

Then I saw and heard a loud crackling noise accompanied by lights that resembled fire works.

And then the power died.

No lights anywhere for a two-block radius.

Yup, our tree was busted

The whole neighborhood (okay, just those affected by the power loss) came to see what happened. It was kind of like a party--lots of lights, late at night, and the cops showed up. Cutie Face eventually woke up when the lights of the power company trucks and police cruisers kept flashing through her window. We socialized with the neighbors, bummed an awesome flashlight off one of them, and talked to some nice policemen (one of whom has a daughter that owns the exact same princess P-hamas--fancy that!)

finally, two hours later, Cutie Face and I tumbled into bed

(taken when the lights were still out--the flash was handy!)

By the time Cutie Cakes woke up the next morning

(a bright and chipper 6 AM)

(the cakes kept me company while i took these photos)

...the power had been restored

and the treemen (?) were making mulch out of our tree

i cannot express how pleased (and surprised!) i was by the alacrity of the city

thank you God for placing a hedge of protection around our house

(Job 1:10)

and thank you City of Atlanta for being on the ball!

Psalm 5:11

But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
   let them ever sing for joy.
   Spread your protection over them,
   that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

We hit the ground running when we got home and life has been consumed by catching up with Bible Studies, playgroup friends, unfinished sewing projects, laundry (!), and the like.

Since this blog serves primarily as a place for us to archive our daily memories (and keep family and friends entertained with our daughters' antics), I'm about to bore you with 7 days of catchup. Get excited because here goes!

Monday

We arrived home and were in bed by 2 AM on Monday morning. Poor J had to immediately turn around and leave for a business trip at 7 AM.

Not, however, before he could check out our garden. Upon finding a cucumber, Cutie Face instantly snatched it from him and bit right into it. Oh my. Guess she really is cooler than a cuke!

The Cuties and I immediately realized we'd been hit by an extreme HEAT wave. After enjoying highs in the 70s with ample breeze, the 90s and humidity were a bit stifling. So, of course, we water babes got to work filling up our pool (which, by the way, now looks drastically smaller than the one we bought in Michigan!)

we interrupt this recap for a brief

***PSA from Cutie Face***

Cutie Face would like to remind everyone to wear sunscreen.

Here! Would you like some of mine?

thank you.

Back to regular scheduled programming...

Cutie Face checked on Cutie Cakes' monitor and determined she was up and waiting to go into the pool. I, however, thought it was the perfect time to go grab the new "beep beep" that we were buying from our neighbor...it clearly was a lot of fun:

(bored there, Cutie Face?)

what...you don't drive like this?

Cutie Cakes took a turn at the wheel but played it safe

We rounded out our photos by taking a quick family (of 3) portrait

at least one person was cooperating:

And that, my friends, is where the pictures end for Monday

Tuesday

aka FAILday

Tuesday was another scorcher so we made big plans to run to the Centennial Olympic Park fountains. Failure #1 would be that our jogging stroller was out of commission--all the wheels were flat. Failure #2 would be that, once we finally did reach the fountains, we were saddened to learn that they were under repair. UGH

So, we decided to do something very illegal. Anyone in my family knows that i am a rules-oriented person. I love boundaries, clear choices in black & white (abhor the murk gray middle), and, of course, rules. So you can imagine how desperate I was to fulfill my promise to Cutie Face and cool myself down if I was willing to break the rules.

if you look closely at that sign, it forbids you from wading in the "stone pond" (as Cutie Face came to call it). I chose to ignore that sign and join two other families with kids in a small pool perfect for wading. Once i took the obligatory posed picture (that was failure #3 because it's awful!)

she was THRILLED to go ~~wading~~ err ~~walking~~ err running in the stone pond

Much like the Coca Cola Museum across the street can claim, it was refreshing!

as the rule-follower that I am, i had trouble staying in the illegal pool so off we went to the playground

Cutie Cakes and I hung out with other baby-lugging moms

while Cutie Face explored

finally we headed back.

By the time we arrived home, all was quiet inside the stroller and i wondered...

had they fallen asleep?

lift up the shade cover to see...

two sleeping babes!

Wednesday

I am SO blessed to participate in a summer Bible study with incredible women. We're going through Paul's life (a Beth Moore study) and this week was my first week.

We meet at my friend's house and the kiddos get to play in the playroom while we study the Word. I was a little worried that Cutie Face would throw a fit when i left her (because she seems to have a *slight* separation anxiety). Happily, though, she played with dollies for 1.5 hours and had a great time! YAY!

Since we were halfway to my parent's house we kept driving for a little cousin/Mimi/Poppy/sleepover time.

While we waited for the wee babes to wake up, the twin and I kept the big girls entertained in the backyard with a hose.

finally the babes woke up and we headed to the neighborhood pool

I had the privilege of playing with Lil Miss & Cutie Face in the pool

While the twin watched the bambinos and photo-documented our adventure

we rounded out the day by letting Cutie Cakes practice her walking skills

Thursday

to Cutie Face's delight, we had more pool time at our neighbor's house. What a GORGEOUS pool they have!

While the littles were rocked by Miss Sonni

we played and played in her pool

the girls had so much fun!

Friday

One word: BASEBALL!

While it was Cutie Cakes first time to a ballpark, it seemed like it was Cutie Face's, too. Technically, it was her third but she'd never been so excited to be at a baseball game before!

It could be because she got to eat corn dogs, play with a giveaway bulldog (no relation to the Braves so we're not sure why he was a handout...?), and stay up late...

J tried to get Cutie Cakes to go to sleep in the Phil & Ted's but it didn't really work...she was very curious about all the noise and excitement and kept popping her head up above the stroller's bassinet: