1.11.12

sometimes you forget

to take a picture until it's bath time 

and half the family is naked

hence the fake bikini coverups

classic

The Day Daddy Came Back

…the day daddy came back was a B-U-S-Y one!

We started the day with a super early wake-up time (pre 6 AM? In the summer? Oh yeah, my babes rock that hour).

Since no one wanted to go down for an early nap, away on a looong run (a 10.4 mile jaunt roundtrip)  we went—all the way into town to find a playground. 

Cutie Face met some other cuties who were pros at the BIG slide…and she decided she could do it, too. Once she was up high, though, it took about 15 minutes of convincing to get her to go down that slide…check out the thought process:

uhhh...huh...how did i get to the top of this slide?

yikes..this might be the only way down. uh-oh

ha ha i laugh in the face of danger...or scream...really loudly.

Finally, we were on our way back home (not without two stops to see “neigh neighs” and one stop to meet some chickens, an emu, and a pony).

Remarkably, the bambinas took naps from 2:30 until 5 (oh my!), giving me plenty of time to get ready for our picnic at Baw Beese lake.

the picnic was delightful

until it was interrupted by music...

wats dat noise? The Ice Cream Truck!

since it was: 

• a picnic
• summer
• the end of a long rewarding day

i decided that we could celebrate with Cutie Face's first trip to the Ice Cream Truck.

I desperately wanted to capture the moment she received her "ice cream" (ie orange popsicle) from the ice cream lady but she wussed out on me and started crying. Yeah. That's my girl! 

Instead, I settled for a picture of her holding her precious prize. Then she told me "It's COOOOOLLLLD" (the way she says it is hilarious that i even say "cold" like her now!)

Delicious. Since it was a twin pop, i got one, too! bonus!

Baw Beese Lake has this awesome 1970’s playground that we've always loved. I couldn’t wait to get Cutie Face on the apparti. 

She was, of course, too small for many of the old school playground equipment but we enjoyed the “spinny things”. 

Cutie Cakes had to be represented so I asked Cutie Face to hold her...she was a bit too preoccupied with "the messies"

but finally held her protectively

She is such a little poser!

she is also becoming more daring and trying things on her own. YAY for that. 

Climbing is one of her favorite pastimes and this was a great park to practice!

We finally went home and took baths in the sink

Cutie Face had to take one, too, since she was still sticky from the orange pop!

The girls finally fell asleep around 9:15 (how it got that late i'll never know) just for me to turn around and wake them up--we had a train to catch! J came in on the 11:15 PM train into Jackson so off we went to fetch him. I sooooo wish I had my camera with me then because the train station is a gorgeous relic of the 1800s. Next time, though! For now, I was just happy to get him back home! Phew what a day.

Week in Review! {Jan 25-31}

Monday

Today we checked out the Goose + the playground

after we went swinging, we went on a hunt for the goose
where is she?
as Cutie Face says, "right dere"

oh! i see her!

YAY! the goose!


okay, back to the playground...with a skeptical Cutie Face

hi mom!

Please! help me get down!

BOOM! shortly after we took this picture, Cutie Face made a tragic fall...and you'll see the results of the fall in the rest of the pictures taken this week. Poor kiddo.

Tuesday

Winter Shminter...it was cold* today!
*by cold...i mean cold for Atlanta (low 30s)


The big difference between an Atlantic Winter & a Midwestern Winter
...is the SUN!

Cutie Face very much enjoyed running around outside

and going in and out of the gate...or at least opening and closing it


or even crawling out of the gate:

She's looking for YOU to come visit! So come on down!


Wednesday

After a lazy morning,


spent chilaxing in our chairs,

we decided to head to Target (where else?)
so that we could buy bread for the goose and ducks.

Cutie Face enjoyed feeding them but she enjoyed eating their bread even more

Thankfully, the goose did get some of the bread!


Thursday

Today was my grandpa's birthday. He was a wonderful wonderful incredible man and we miss him. The twin and the cousins created a wonderfully sweet memorial for him today.

One thing about Grandpa was that he thoroughly enjoyed sports. Tonight we took Cutie Face to her first basketball game: Georgia Tech v. Wake Forest.

She was super into the whole opening and found it quite enthralling

Buzz, the GT mascot, led the cheerleaders and players into the stadium


Cutie Face tried to sign "Bug" whenever she saw Buzz
(maybe she thinks Bug and Buzz are the same thing?).

She knows all about Buzz because Poppy wears a Buzz hat all the time.
From afar, she thought he was pretty funny & kept pointing him out to us.

Poppy enjoyed sharing the basketball game with Cutie Face...but when Buzz started coming up the stairs to meet the kiddos, she let out the MOST incredibly loud BLOOD CURDLING scream you've ever heard.

She recovered, though, and went on to watch, safely in the arms of Daddy

Despite their faces, it wasn't a nailbitter--GT won! yay!



Friday

just playing...

buh bye, week, hello weekend!

even Puppy was worn out from our exciting week!


Saturday

Today we spent a LOT of time shopping...
we went to our favorite Dekalb Farmer's Market, filled our cart


ate at their buffet restaurant (delicious!)

and then we went to buy all our food...FAIL! We didn't have a debit card (or enough cash) that was working. BOO. So no food for us that day (except for the buffet which we paid for with cash--phew)

Since our food shopping trip was such a failure, we decided to stop at a local Antique Market called Kudzu (nope--it's not just an invasive plant in Atlanta)

Cutie Face loved playing with the vintage Little People playhouse

and she also enjoyed the overlar
when we came home, Cutie Face asked to sleep in her Big Girl bed...
(seen here through the window in the stairwell)


she took an awesome nap & has been taking all her naps in it ever since!

Since she has pretty sensitive skin, especially in the winter, we have only been giving Cutie Face a bath every three days. The nights we do give her a bath are thrilling to her! ...right...?

Since we didn't get to purchase J's beer at the Farmer's Market, we decided to take a night family trek to our local package store. Cutie Face helped pick out J's beer...right dere... {don't worry, Grandma, we aren't ruining her sweet innocence!}

Sunday

Oh my what a beautiful day! After church and a quick lunch we took a very very loooong family walk. I was secretly hoping it would induce labor.

Sadly, NO, it did not--not even after we made a stop at Whole Foods and I bought (and then proceeded to wolf down) 1.2 lbs of eggplant from their hot bar.

Oh well. At least we had a great walk! We wandered past an interesting sculpture we've seen from the road but have never seen up close and personal...

Then we headed to our former favorite park in our old 'hood

Cutie Face was happy to be back and showed J her fave toy...the firetruck

She also liked sharing the firetruck with another kid...she LOVES kids!

she would have just been thrilled to watch all the kids run around:

J liked having her slide down the slides...


...mainly for the static electricity effect.

Aren't we great parents?

Phew! and with that, i think i'm finally caught up on the last month...of course there are still posts from October that i haven't written yet but that is a completely different story...one day!