One girl's trash...

Is CLEARLY another girl's treasure. Since Bennett has been traveling so much, I've had the girls all to myself a lot...even sometimes on the weekend. A couple of weekends ago I brought the girls yard saleing with me. When I first told them about their predetermined Saturday morning plans, all I heard was moans and groans. To entice them into being good sports, i.e. bribery, I promised a movie in the car (we only do that on MD trips), pop tarts and spending money. Complaints immediately turned into cheers! The night before, I set out the supplies and filled the girls purses with $5 in quarters. Don't you just love their little bags? My dear friend Kathleen sent these to the girls for their birthdays. I even laid out their clothes the night before (pink and green to match their bags of course!) so that when I woke them up at 5:45am we would be ready to go.



For 5 hours we shopped till we dropped. I actually don't think I have ever stayed out so long--usually I try to make it home for Bennett's classic chocolate chip pancake breakfast. But the girls never once complained, even though they were in the car for 5 hours! And Lady and the Tramp only lasted for 90 minutes of that. I was so impressed with them!

I think they really did have a great time. I get so excited when I go to yard sales, it might have rubbed off. They would get giddy when we would land on a house that clearly had girls. So here is what they bought with their spending money. It was very interesting to see what each picked out.

Ellie's treasures: 2 books, polly pocket airplane, two pet shop animals, a treasure tin, a stuffed dog with a leash. Favorite find for her was definitely the dog leash.




Mary Claire cracked me up. She was really only interested in breakable things she could display on her nightstand. Her loot: one ceramic horse (this has got to be the ugliest thing I have ever seen! They wanted $2! I tried to talk her out of it but MC would not have it. We negotiated the price to $1. They should have paid us to take it!), one precious moments manger scene (it was broken! she HAD to have it!), three littlest pet shop animals, and a rolling backpack (not pictured, she takes it to school). MC only spent $4. She bought all she wanted.




It was a fun morning. Mary Claire says she wants to go every Saturday, but that isn't going to happen. I hope she is not upset in the morning when she wakes up and I am not there!

The Hitchhiker Waxes Philosophic

This weekend, we purchased two "hitchhiker" bikes, little half bikes that attach to our bikes. This has opened up a whole new world for us! The four of us have been exploring ever since...believe it or not, there are parts of our neighborhood we are now seeing for the first time! The girls love it, and are so content and happy on the back, and can choose to pedal and "help out" or sit back and enjoy the ride. There is one drawback, however...I am not such a great biker, or maybe I am just extremely out of shape, but Mary Claire likes to ask deep questions while I attempt to get the both of us up hills. Yesterday, she asked, "Mommy what if one day I am a widow?" (Can you tell we recently watched The Sound of Music?) My response was, pant...pant..."Do we have" pant...pant..."to talk about this NOW?"

All By Herself

Mary Claire for some time now has been asking to make dinner herself, from start to finish WITHOUT my help. The girls always help joyfully with dinner, but for some reason that hasn't been quite enough.

Recently, I allowed Mary Claire to make a chicken dish we enjoy from start to finish. She did the measuring, mixing, coating, oven door opening and closing and everything else the chicken needed. Then she and Ellie set the table, found next year's velvet super fancy Christmas dresses hidden in the back of their closet, got dressed pretty for Daddy, and the three of us waited patiently at the table then surprised him when he got home (we actually do this every night!).

The chicken was excellent, and Mary Claire did a wonderful job. You can see she was very proud of herself.

A Joyful Noise

With a Grandma and two Aunts being piano teachers in the family, finding a piano to have in the house has been a must for us. Recently we found one being given away for free on Craigslist, and we jumped on it. With the help of a friend (thanks KN and KN!) our house has been filled with joyful music ever since it moved in.

Playing the piano has become a daily activity around here. It's cute to see the girls make up their own songs, and funny that they are always hymnal-like. I love it and remember doing the same thing as a little girl.

Mary Claire starts piano lessons in a week. She is looking forward to it!

It's just what they do...

It's fun to have girls, and I must say that Spring is the favorite time of year around here for mine. In our Secret Garden, clover patches abound and after school hours are spent frolicking in these instead of thinking about homework (and yes, there is homework in kindergarten!). I must say, it is nice for mommy...I end up resting and watching from under the shade trees while the girls pick huge bouquets for our table. I guess that's just what little girls do. One day I thought I would grab the camera and document the fun.

I snapped these pictures, but later when I downloaded them I was very dissapointed. I'm convinced after a winter night of leaving the camera in the car in -10 degree temperatures that my camera is vengefully taking poor pictures! Of course it couldn't be operator error!!

I ignored these pictures for two weeks. Until this weekend when LH gave me a photoshop tutorial, and I went to work. Now I steal moments all day long tweaking and playing with my pictures. I sense Bennett from time to time poking his head around the corner checking me out sitting hunched over at the computer, then I hear him snicker as he heads down the stairs.

I'm pretty excited about learning this program...I feel like all my pictures can be made pretty no matter how bad they are. Thanks LH! Though I still need more lessons...still can't quite get layering and need to work on that retro look LH and sister in law Melissa do so well.

But for now I'm happy making my beauties look even more beautiful!

Brrr...the Beach!

We took our family beach trip a little early this year to save a little money. Early April turns out is a very cold time to be at the beach!! Plus a very windy time too. Even though it was chilly, we still had a good time. Sand is sand whether you have to wear a snow hat or not, high winds are great for kite flying, and the hot tub is always open for some fun. It was nice being with my parents, too. Here are some pictures from our trip:



Bennett taught the girls how to play Monopoly. They loved it--it was a highlight of the trip!
Good for math skills too!



We did have a couple of warm days. These were fun.

Ellie has her pirate face on here.

The ferry ride was a favorite for Ellie.

Mary Claire, watching her kite (while feeling a loose tooth!).

Papa is always full of fun.

The bachelor's got nothing on Bennett and his ladies.

Here, fishy fishy!

Growing up I loved to fish. I don't know why, but I did. Wanting to share this love with the girls, I took them to Aunt Vallie and Uncle Jeddie's last week for a little fishing trip. It was so fun!

The night before we left we spent an hour with our Barbie fishing poles learning to cast out in the Secret Garden, and they were GREAT at it. The day of the trip we stopped in Wake Forest to buy worms (after an unsuccessful yard search) to the amusement of several good ol' boys in Keith's Bait and Tackle convenience store.

After a yummy Aunt Vallie meal, we walked with the goats through the pasture to the pond.





We had extra hook baiters on hand, too. Along with my Aunt and Uncle, my cousins Kyle and Jamie showed up to help!




Mary Claire caught her first fish in about 30 seconds. Can you tell how excited she is?

Can I hold it?

Soon after, Elle caught her first fish. She was amused when I asked her if she wanted to hold it.

The girls caught about 25 fish in an hour and a half. As soon as the worm was dropped into the water, the bobber would disappear and the excitement would begin! My uncle's pond is literally FULL of fish who have not seen a free meal in years, and we fooled them all! I don't think they will ever be able to fish anywhere else though--they are super spoiled now. I can't even imagine the frustration I will have to deal with when they don't catch a fish every five minutes!

We can't wait to go back!