Singin' in the Rain...

There's nothing like a rainy day with two little girls in the house. I'm not sure why I liked this so much, but I did! Mary Claire "helped" to make a rolled Italian flank steak (in this picture she is sneaking some cheese) and the girls threw on the rubber boots for a romp in the puddles. Everyone ended up all wet which made a warm fall dinner taste so good...

My Little Bunnies...

As the girls are getting older, they love to play together and are getting very good at doing so! Our favorite dress up is by far the bunny costume I bought for Mary Claire when she was about 18 months old. She wore it for Halloween when she was 2 years old, and that same year Elle was a parsnip (I wanted a carrot but had no orange fabric on hand. Oh well.) Now the costume is two sizes too small, but Mary Claire does not care! She came bounding down the hall in it to play, and since this summer I found the matching one for Elle at a yard sale, she can match.

This afternoon they laughingly bounced around living room. It was so dear. Both costumes are too small for them and sooooo hot, but they had a ball.

SO...can you tell from the picture our living room is completely empty? The rugs are gone, there's no furniture...does anyone live here? And I am still stuck in my design dilemma, paralyzed by my lack of not knowing what I want. Help!! Or the bella dancerella mat may become permanent...

Cheerleading: not a sport, not a career!

When you ask Mary Claire what she wants to be when she grows up, she says, "A Cheerleader!" What? I have never shown her any cheerleading moves, movies, shows, or anything like that...where does she get that from? And how do she and Elle know instinctively to stomp their feet and clap their hands at the same time, having never been taught to do so? Anyway, AJP will argue the whole "Cheerleading is not a sport" thing, and I can tolerate some of those arguments. But it is not a career! How much can those Redskinettes possibly make anyway?

I took these pictures before preschool on Thursday. My girls are just so cute. And of course, Woofie is cute too (Mary Claire would want to make sure Woofie is included since he is in the picture).

PS--Mary Claire's preschool teacher says she is excellent at cutting with scissors. I was, of course, beaming with pride.

The pool is closing...

This summer the neighborhood pool was literally our second home. The girls LOVED it, and learned so much! At the beginning of the summer, they would not even put their heads in the water...now fearless Elle will jump in anywhere (with or without a life vest) and Mary Claire can dive in and swim half the length of the pool. I am so impressed at how hard they will work at swimming. When we go, they don't really want to play...they want to PRACTICE.

Our favorite activity as a family this summer has been to invite friends to cookout at our pool. For free you can borrow the grills there and barbeque while you swim. It was great! It definitely felt like a resort. Now that the pool is closing, I am going to have to start being a creative mom again...help was fun while it lasted.

Mary Claire is in Preschool!

Last week, Mary Claire started preschool for the first time. This event is very exciting to her as she has been begging me to let her go to school for the last 2 years! When I asked to take her picture before we left she gave me her "I'm so excited" face (pictured!). I also got a picture of Elle's finaly goodbye to Mary Claire which erupted into an unprompted hug believe it or not!

One final fashion note: Mary Claire picked out this dress to wear for the first day of school because it is her "Liesel" dress--she thinks it looks like the dress Leisel wore that was made out of the curtains!

Mary Claire's First Soccer Practice

So, it's official...Mary Claire is now a soccer girl! Last Saturday was her first practice with the "Kickin' for the Cross" soccer league at a nearby church, and she had a great time! She especially enjoyed the drills and drinking from her water bottle, and taking the occasional break while play was in session.