Rose at the Public Library

Most of you know that Rose loves to read. She definitely loves to read more than I did at her age. Some days she can sit for an hour and devour a book. Therefore, periodically we go to the library to fill-up on reading materials. Right now her favorite author is Daisy Meadows. I know not a Caldacott award winning author, but her fairy characters have captured sweet Rose's brain.
Upon arriving at the library Rose takes a B-line to the Daisy Meadows' books... the lady has written about 40 books on various fairies, so there is always a book Rose hasn't read. But, on our most recent venture to the library Rose could not find a single book by this author. When she found this out Rose states rather loudly for the Library, "Oh, NO! There are none left? Mommy where did they go? I know this is the spot they should be!" The Librarian who is in earshot comments that quite a few little girls came in that day and had cleared them out. But Rose could check the cart of books needing reshelved for any.
She takes a mad dash over to the cart and finds "The Sunflower Fairy"...and lets me know that she will continue looking while we go over to the picture book area for a while. After spending a few moments with Lily and Evie looking at their books Rose returns. "Mommy, the Librarian said that she could save Daisy Meadows books for me and let us know when someone returns them!"
Now the fun begins. We all go back to the Librarian and she explains the book reservation policy. I agree to let Rose get a few and she excitedly starts jumping up and down.

She then looks very seriously at the Librarian and states, "Can I tell you something?"
"Of course."
"When I read the Daisy Meadows' books it's like I fall into the book and am really there with the characters."
Now the Librarian's eyes get very big and a wide smile crosses her face, "That is WONDERFUL. How many books would you like to reserve?" OK Rose has totally won this lady over and she probably would have let us get all 40. Because for the next ten minutes she carefully helps Rose select the books she hasn't read... reading title after title from the computer's card catalogue. I had to stop the reserving at 4 saying, "We can always come back."

What a fun conversation to watch unfold, and as an X- English teacher my heart was proud.

Tri It!

OK so here are two pictures from the triathlon! Het, Becky, and I did it! What a great experience and something that could be totally addictive. Training for this was hard, but amazing... waking up at 6:40 to run is something that is pretty unheard of for me. And getting to sneak away on Wednesday evenings with Heather to bike, run, or/and swim was really a treat... ya know girl time.

I am so thankful and blessed to have two girlfriends that went along with my crazy idea 6 months ago to do this event. It was a great journey to get myself in shape and to show my girls that working out can be such a rewarding and fun experience.

Now the goal is to get through the holidays and continue staying in shape. Another goal possibly? Het's mentioned a 5k... a 10k??

A conversation with Lily

When Lily is in the car we listen to music. More specifically we listen to the Hannah Montana Movie CD. (The one that I burned over a month ago because I thought it would be fun to listen to something other than Kid Bop 14... which we've listened to for almost a year now) So, on our way to ballet it was just Lily and I in the car and I wanted to use this time for a quality conversation..... Here is a glorious replay.

"Mommy turn on the music."
"Lily, I don't want to listen to Hannah Montana."
"OK, Mommy can I please listen to Hannah Montana."
"It's not the please. I just wanted to talk to you."
"OK Mommy." Insert annoyed 5 year old voice.

....at this point I really didn't have a conversation to start, so I struggle....

"Lily, why do we have trees?" Told you I was struggling.
"So, when it rains we can stand under them so we won't get wet."

Pause for a better question...

"That's a good point. What's your favorite flower?"
"Lily"... ok really struggling at this point. I decide to redirect to something that I know she likes.

"So, what is it about Hannah Montana that you really like?"
"Her songs."
"Okay, but what about her songs do you like?"
"I like that they rock!"
"Yeah, they do rock! But, what about the words do you like?" Total English teacher popping out.
" I don't know. I like how they are fast."
...... long pause........

"Mommy can we listen to Hannah Montana?? Now??"
"Sure."
Insert rad guitar and rocking drum beat........."And it's the best of both worlds."

Baby Jack

Here's Baby Jack! He is such a sweet, beautiful and happy little boy. Born to a phenomenal mother and incredible father. We can't wait to watch you grow and be a part of your life!

Evie's One!

Our beautiful baby is one. I still shake my head in disbelief. What a fast and amazing year we have had with Evie in our lives. So, in honor of our little one I'm going to blog on a bunch of things that we love about Evie...

I love that Evie.....
...."smiles a lot" according to Lily.
... tries to keep up with her older sisters.
... doesn't let her big sisters push her around.
... doesn't want to eat baby food, but table food.
... goes to sleep when you sing, "You are my sunshine".



... is into EVERYTHING! She is so busy.
... loves to snuggle with me in the middle of the night.
... thinks ice cream is divine!
... fed herself applesauce last night with a spoon.
... says, "Up Up Up" with her hands reaching towards me.

... that she crawls up the stairs.

... that Evie has a cheesy smile when she's really happy. (check out the last picture)

... that she is our " Evie Do Do"

So, as you can see we had a great 1st birthday in DC visiting Jack's sister and family. Will have to post pictures of AMA's new baby! The girls enjoyed the beautiful day by playing outside and then going to the park. We had a very nice and small birthday party after a scumptious dinner with AMA, Grammie, Brian, Ryan, Aunt Mary Rose, Rose, Lily, Daddy, and Me! Oh, what fun and joy this year has been. We can't wait to see what else our littlest flower, Camellia gets into.