Navigating the hilly terrain of motherhood
Instead of doing a weekly private lesson, Grace has switched to a weekly semi-private with a friend from school. The girls ride two incredibly sweet Icelandic horses, and they've been practicing doing a row of small "jumps." This is Grace's favorite part of the week, and I must say she's pretty good at it!
Rainy Sunday, footie pajamas, snuggly bunny, books. Life is good.
It rained all weekend, which was good in that it forced us to stay home and have some down time. Tess stayed in her pajamas all weekend, except for a couple of hours on Saturday when we went to a friend's house for dinner (she changed into fleece pants for the occasion). I love quiet weekends, because the girls always come up with creative ways to pass the time. This weekend they dressed up as witches, played a made-up game involving an alligator, made haunted houses out of paper, and had a dance party. My favorite thing, though, were the mailboxes they made for each of us. And every once in a while, we would all get mail. Very sweet mail (Adam's mail box and two pink notes by Tess, blue note by Grace).
Our littlest monkey has mastered the monkey bars! After years of watching her big sister fly across them, this determined little kid spent an afternoon working at it and has the bars all figured out. I love seeing the determination — and joy — on that sweet little face.
After a three-year absence, we finally made it back to the Common Ground Fair this year — it's one of those things that makes us glad to live in Maine. Tess's favorite part was the hay bale jumping. Grace loved the herding dog demo (with sheep, goats and ducks!). Adam liked the fair food (organic smoothies, local all-natural chinese food, and organic ice cream!). And I have to admit that I liked the rabbit barn the best. And yes, I almost — almost — gave in to those pleading eyes when asked if we could take a bunny home (and if we only had a barn for a llama)…
Check back tomorrow for more awesomeness from the Common Ground Fair…
I love seeing how Tess sees herself. Beautiful blue eyes! Big happy smile! Yep, that's exactly right.
On Sunday sweet Grace lost her 9th tooth. It's been quite a while since she lost one, and this was the first time it happened without tears. In fact, she pulled it out herself, kind of by accident, and was so excited! And for the first time, she decided she wanted the tooth fairy to come (previously this idea totally freaked her out). So, she wrote a lovely letter and placed it on her nightstand, along with all 7 of the previously lost teeth in her possession (one was lost outside and never found, and who knows what happened to the other). The very-real tooth fairy made up for lost time by leaving her $10! And she answered the "Are you real?" question by leaving a drawing of herself…
This morning the girls unearthed this lovely rolling crate (which previously held toiletries that are now piled up in the bathroom closet) and decided to place their little critters in it. This was all part of the "hotel" game they were playing, in which they delivered room service meals — along with fuzzy animals to pet. This was quite entertaining for a long period of time, and eventually evolved into a game about owning a critter day care. I find this type of imaginative play quite amazing. And those kids haven't watched a minute of TV — nor have they even asked to do so — in an entire week. Hooray for young imaginations!
Travelingjenny 