iphone picture cleanout.... just random goodness!

We swapped kids one night with our friends Nick and Tara,  they took Abigail to buddy up with Caroline and we took Lydia Claire.

 Doritos and jammies,  summer vacation is gooooood!

Time for bed and we can't get these kids out of our bed!   Clearly we look so annoyed at the snuggles.  Summer bedtime is pretty loose, ....as it should be!

 A bday party at our pool,  this is her buddy Shane who she spent a lot of time with this summer.  He was so cute and according to his mother VERY smitten with our Chloe!   Brian was less then thrilled that they played a lot of "kissy tag" around the pavilion.

 Our dear neighbor Ms Leigh Anne got a new puppy Georgie and the girls couldn't be more in love with having this dog to play with all the time

You'd think I'd have enough pictures of them sleeping in that big bed together after a year of it....but NOPE!  It gets me all pha climpt every time I catch them snuggled up!!!

An invite to join Lisa and Jim at the state fair with her friend Emma and she came home a whole new woman,   or cat!

One quick picture to help me remember the sweetest random time alone with Chloe.  Abs was at a bday party I think so I took Chloe to a park so she wouldn't feel left out of the fun.  She surprised me with her maturity as she opened up with so many deep questions about life, heaven, hell and family complications.  It touched my heart to connect with her!!  I think she loved having my undivided attention so she had a lot to cover in her mind.  We stayed in one grassy spot for close to an hour and covered all kinds of life's mysteries.  I cherish this picture and memory!!!!!!

 Chillen before church with Kennedy and Kaleigh watching the musicians practice,  these are some core behind the scenes kids of parents doing the work yo!

 Chloe wanted some time with Grammie so Abigail and I went on a walk to window shop downtown.  We got some tasty treats then took the trolley back to Grammie's office.  It was a random sweet time together with my girl :)

Grammie's annual work zoo party always puts some glitter and paint in their day!

Lots of swim play dates with friends,  this is her dear buddy up the street Courtney

Chloe's first summer camp experience!  Her dance buddy Olivia joined her in the week long day camp for lots of hiking, canoeing and swimming!  She had an awesome exhausting week!

I know this is hard to see but I love this picture.   We stopped for pizza for dinner one night and Brian in his ultimate daddy patience let both girls go in to pick it up.  Then hoisted them both up and onto the counter to watch them finish making our pizza.    I love how much he loves his girls!!!

Yeah!  Cousin Caroline photo op!   It's fun that they look like family here

We wanted a playdate despite some looming skies with Caroline and Lydia, it started to pour and the kids just laughed off the sogginess and had an even better time together!

GO PATRIOTS!!!

Brian and I marked an item off of our bucket list this weekend slipping away to see our first NFL game!  He found a great deal on tickets hours after they announced the game practically in our back yard so he jumped all over the opportunity to support his New England team so close to home.   We haven't done many weekend trips with leaving the girls.  Not that we don't trust leaving them in anyone else's care it's just we really like our children and it's great fun to lug them along on trips.  But this was a needed couples retreat to soak up sporting fun at an event that we knew they'd never appreciate. So we braved it alone leaving them behind and had a wonderful night away in Charlotte.   It was a cooler then an average late summer evening and we got there early enough to take a stroll  to a sports bar for some hard cider and greasy burgers in preparation for the game.   It was such a fun spirit walking through town meeting families as eager as we were for the NFL season to begin.   No one glared at our New England jerseys only poking fun as we all bantered back and forth as to which team was better.    More then once I gave Brian the secret code "triple pat" to his arm to let him know when it was time to walk away,  no agreement could be established with these strangers.  He gets so into it!!   It's one of his more endearing  traits.  :)
  After dinner we killed time sitting on benches and people watching.   One gentleman even took one look at us and expressed how cute and romantic we looked, to which we both responded big toothy grinned thanks.    The game was awesome and our seats couldn't have been better behind the goal post and second row we were practically with the players.    Luckily another group of Patriots fans were seated beside us so we felt the strength in numbers at our section of the Panthers dominated stadium.     We won the game (of course!) and left stuffed and happy in the breezy warm walk back to our hotel.   A random group of musicians played tubas and steel drums as everyone filed out.   It was a fun night for sure and we are officially hooked at the whole NFL experience.  I hope we can do it again soon!!  

Off to school.....BOTH of them!

I was thrilled that by the first day of school the black eye was barely noticeable,  whew!

She insisted on her new wedge heels for the first day,  they honestly didn't fit well at all but it was important to her to feel taller.  I get that :)

this is the part when I lost it,   holding hands and heading into the world with out me!  AGGH!

Well I can't believe it's time already.  I promise it feels like yesterday we were taking a brisk stroll in the early morning hours to put Abigail on the big yellow bus for the first time and now here we are 4 years later putting our baby on the bus....our BABY!   I'm ok.   I'm ok,   that's what I keep telling myself anyway.   Seriously though,  I'm thrilled for our little one to be catching up.    She's wanted for so long to go to school with her sister I'm so excited for her to be off on this new adventure.  It helps so much that they are doing it together.   I don't know what I'll do if they ever start hating each other.   It makes every moment in our life so much sweeter that they adore each other as much as they do.   Abigail is so protective of Chloe and Chloe looks up to her big sister always graciously taking her advice.   I know.  Puberty is coming.   Until then we're gonna soak up the sweetness and enjoy it while it lasts!
   They sat together right in front where all the "good kids sit" according to Abigail.  :)   Experience has taught me nothing and I still stood there on the side of the road crying like a fool as they pulled away waving to Brian and me.   A precious stranger waiting behind the bus slowed to yell out his car window to me as he passed "it's ok mom,  first days are tough!  It get's better!".   What a sweet random encouragement for me as I laughed and nodded embarrassed at my typical tears.   I knew they'd be fine, more then fine,  I knew they'd rock the elementary school day together!  
      I shook off my emotions and walked back inside.  Brian and I looked at each other and smiled,   another mile stone reached.  Here we were alone and their lives are moving on.  It's a good thing, always to reach any life milestone, but it did feel weird.    We had arranged to continue a tradition with some dear friends who shared our kindergarten woes over breakfast to cheer us all up.  We did it after Abigail started school and it worked nicely to help turn a page.  
   The group grew to 4 families this time and it was a blast to have friends with jobs as weird as ours to be even able to meet for a Monday morning breakfast out!     They all looked at us in awe when we walked up  with out a single kid in tote.  We are the first to venture into the coveted life stage of all kids in school equaling legitimate free adult time.   Their faces helped us appreciate, well, it helped me appreciate it was a good place to get to.  Brian was all smiles.  This struggle is a mom thing. Our buddies carried along their preschoolers and we all overtook my favorite local diner style restaurant.  We ate and laughed for long enough to tip the waitress very well before heading out.   It was a great finish to a big morning.   Now to head home to watch the clock.   Bring them back yellow bus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Nothing like a nice shiner to head to kindergarten with!

the morning after

 a week after

You know those times as a mom that your profound words of wisdom come back to bite you in the butt?  Well this was one of those moments.   Chloe is turning 6 this year and where our kids are pretty well behaved and well mannered for the most part, their weakness is their drama and tears for way more then is justified.  Abigail went through it too at age 4 or 5 mostly,  where those tears came so easy when life didn't go her way.   Well Chloe is getting too old for trying to get what she wants with tears, wailing after every boo boo and simple hang nail pain shouldn't make her wail and thrash around in dramatic displays!   So, annoyed and ready for her to mature a little bit I had a good sit down talk with her about big girls not throwing temper tantrums and how she can't wail every time she stubs her toe like it's broken. How are we ever going to know if she's really taken damage to her body if we can't tell severe from mild.  Life is full of boo boos and we simply can't be so dramatic in dealing with expected and NORMAL daily discomforts!   She stated she understood and agreed to work on toughening up a little.
   Well 24 hours after this victorious heart to heart Brian and I heard a thump coming from the girl's room at bedtime.   Sympathetic mother that I am at the end of a long day I rolled my eyes hearing Chloe wail and lovingly asked Brian to "please deal with this one for me,  I'm so over this drama from her".   I knew it wasn't good when he popped his head back in our room to update me that..."Um Hun, you actually may want to check this out".  Crap.    I found her on their bed holding her easter egg of an eyeball as the mommy guilt lovingly unpacked it's heavy bags in my heart.   The poor thing had attempted to protect her  new My Little Pony toy in her arms when she fell off the side of their tall queen sized bed resulting in her sweet baby face meeting the hardwood floors quite literally head on.    She scared us all complaining of nausea and acting very pitiful that night.   Ugg.  Luckily she awoke the next morning feeling ok aside from the Fred Flinstone like growth surrounding her eye.   A call to her doctor assured me it probably was a mild concussion but she'd be fine with rest.   She bounced back like all 5 year olds do and even braved kindergarten orientation meeting all her new friends with eyes that resembled green stage make up on one side.  The kids were warm and welcoming and the experienced teachers who knew our family giggled but I did get a few glares from other parents.  I have never hidden my feelings well and I know I blushed with embarrassment as I tried to explain how it was simply a clumsy fall off her bed.  Oh well,  it's a memory for the books.   Chloe is our mess of a girl.  Love her to pieces!  

A day in the river

          One of my favorite things to do with these girls is to get out of our city rut and let them feel the fresh fun of outdoor carelessness.   We are raising these girls in the city lines for now and even while they spend plenty of time in trees in our back yard getting lots of outdoor playtime in,  my favorite childhood memories were not shopping, movie theaters or dinners at restaurants. We didn't visit children's museums or art museums on spring break or summer vacations.   My parents kept it simple and family fun didn't require any money or tickets to pass away the hours on our days off.   I cherish those times my sisters and I sat playing on our front porch, in our dusty barn or riding off exploring new hillsides on our trail horses.  One of our summer favorites was when we slapped on our nasty "creeking shoes" and headed up stream to see what entertainment the chilling mountain  water could provide.     I know I have a lot pictures of our girls in muddy water but I want them to experience those simple joys I grew up with.   It's important to me they know life doesn't take money to find real joy!  God's amazing creation and time with those we love are more then enough for a good time.
    We have a small park alongside  a creek here that is great for lazy picnics and swimming.   We went today to enjoy the absence of screen time and share some laughs.   It was a great day and beautiful weather to enjoy it in.  There were a few other families who showed up at the end that the kids befriended.  The girls set aside their prissy hesitations and accepted the challenge of catching crawdads in butterfly nets.   A sweetheart of a boy named Michael was there with supplies to share.  He was a expert with a very sweet mom that I hit it off with and got to know sitting there watching in our camping chairs.   I learned he was much older then he looked and was Autistic.   That's why he seemed to have an odd depth of expertise on the little crabs.  The girls loved how eager he was to teach them about the creatures and how to catch them.   They must have caught close to 50 of them by the time we headed out.
   We swam and played for a couple hours before deciding to head home.   As we wrapped up the fun I noticed much to my horror that Chloe had discovered a condom by the river and was filling it up like a water balloon.    My sharp shouts startled her when I screamed to "drop it and walk away!!!".  She barely even had a breath to protest as I would hear no argument at the disgusting new...toy she had found.  EWWW!!    Only Chloe.   Abigail proceeded to pump me all the way home with ....."Mommy what was that pink balloon?  Why was it so bad??".  ...  "I'll tell you when we're alone sweetheart.   That's a big girl question."      Love these two.   Never a dull moment!!