Swagger Wagon

is this only funny to me because it's midnight?


  i think it might be legitimately hilarious

Track ★ {star}

After eating half a bag of chocolate chips and crunchy brownie leftovers, i felt like a run was a necessary addition to the day. The more i thought about it, the more i thought, why not actively involve Cutie Face in the run? As in, let her RUN run, too!

The track club that i belong to runs a summer all-comers track meet every Tuesday night. With my women's Bible study every/other Tuesday night, we can obviously only make it those "other" nights. They have tons of events to participate in, even one for Cutie Face--the 50 m dash. 

Since they don't really make track duds for the under-2 crowd, we made a track★ outfit up for her. We went for the all-white clothes + 80's workout sweat headband + pixie pigtails + speedy-mcspeedy-shades look. Whaddaya think?

She was required to sign her own name on the participation form. Those ladies were sticklers (true story. and they got mad that she might steal their pencil. seriously.)

It appears that her new MO is that she needs to warm up to a social setting before she's fully comfortable. But once she's warmed to where we are, she's completely at ease. So, knowing that, we let her just watch the kids running. She really got into cheering them on to the finish:

Once she was ready, man was she ready! 

She instantly met a new friend and they romped in the grass (and even went to the potty together--too cute).

Seriously, they were like instant buds!

So much so that other girls wanted in on the action

Then it got really fun

they were all very intrigued by the sound of the start gun

("what was dat?" "noise?" "i'm afraid of guns."<--good!)

Finally it was time for them to start. Cutie Face was so excited that she false started and ran ahead.

That, unfortunately, was the last time she was really happy tonight. The (very nice) starter, picked her up and carried her back to the starting line. Guess she hadn't warmed up to him quite yet. Which meant she went from shocked to upset to crying very quickly. Poor kid.

I hated that she was traumatized by it because i wanted the track meet to be a positive experience for her. I think everything but the start was, though, so we'll try again in a few weeks...

She did eventually make it to the end of that 50m. 

Next time I'll be at the end waving her security blanket...incentive and comfort at the finish :)

obladi oblada...life goes on

GiGi + Cutie Cakes

GiGi came to visit! YAY! 

GiGi is my paternal grandma an she is the famed knitter of the indispensable wonderful yellow blanket that Cutie Face is always toting around...She made Cutie Cakes a gorgeous black and white blanket, too--TWICE (because, if you recall, we lost the first b&w blanket on a run back in March)

Today was the first day that Cutie Cakes met her GiGi:

i was a little worried since the Cakes had been the CRANKS but Gigi had a way with her and made her quite happy!

Yay for the magic Great-Grandma touch!

The pictures of the 2 great-grands were all pretty much outtakes...but worth posting for the posterity of it.

Cutie Face was a bit shy at first but, with the playful help of Poppy,

she warmed right up to her Gigi

Hey! Who's funny?

well...uhhh

oh, that's right, Cutie Face is funny (much laughter ensues)

Family photo-op. 6 brown eyes + 2 new blue ones

{conversations}

i daily have conversations with Cutie Face. They crack me up and it isn't until i talk with an adult that I realize i'm not conversing with one already! She's so funny and loves repeating and learning new words (today's word of the day: STUPENDOUS).

I think she's pretty stupendous, herself, even all oatmealy & tired

Cutie Cakes really tries to join in the conversation.

ALL. THE. TIME.

it's sweet! we love her.

Often, i'll send Cutie Face to talk to her while i quickly spot clean or do a fast task.

Today, I sent her into the playroom while i cleaned up the oatmeal. This is what i found when i entered. Sadly, the picture is blurry because I was a tad bit concerned someone was going to get hurt (gee, really?) and couldn't concentrate on the composition...the fact that i actually grabbed the camera and snapped this photo is enough to put me on the "bad mommy" list :)

We very often have conversations in the baby jogger while we run. These moments are where we learn nursery rhymes and all about the sounds of the neighborhood--particularly leaf blowers, lawn mowers, and weed wackers (i never would have thought that my almost 2 year old daughter would know those sounds!).

Today, we were talking and then all of a sudden she became very quiet. Cutie Cakes had already fallen asleep by that point so i peeked in to check on Cutie Face:

She'd taken yet another morning nap (she took one yesterday and we skipped church because of it.  yay/boo). Sadly, this is the only nap she took today--45 minutes--Let's just say it was NOT enough to keep her happy for the rest of the day. Oh well.

Cutie Face took a fall on the playground this morning (we stopped mid-run to keep her entertained). Her tear-stained, snotty-faced (from the fall + tears thankfully not from a cold!), fat-lipped, scrapped-chin was too irresistible.

Cutie Cakes woke up shortly after we arrived home from our run so we hung out in the yard, waiting for her sister to wake up from her nap. The Cakes took the opportunity to discuss her life with her octopus (note the sleeping sister in the background):

She really loves this playmat

they share secrets all the time

sometimes she isn't too sure about them

like, really, Octopus?

oh i get it now, too funny!

oh Mom.

Now, just so you know, she doesn't play favorites--

the new toy gets love, too!

Life got really exciting for us when a new playmate dropped by for a quick visit. I discovered that life with three babes is not that hard when all are fed and napped (when 1 or more is hungry/tired/cranky/etc., though, i can't imagine):

eeee! she's just SOOO cute!

(note the Cakes' expression in the background--she wants to know why another baby is getting attention! doesn't Cutie Face take away enough of it already?!)

Speaking of Cutie Face, she kept the wee ones entertained by:

 frolicking in the pool

and telling them stories:

I loved all our little conversations today!

life in manual mode...

pictures, that is! As i mentioned previously, i'm learning to not depend on my camera's built-in functions but rather, become skilled at tweaking the images to look exactly how i'd like them to appear by using Manual Mode. 

I practiced on Friday while we lunched at Ikea and didn't edit them at all, which is very clear once you view them all. One day i'll get around to learning Photoshop, too :):