Pic of the Day

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Fun in the Fall Sun

The weather has been glorious! Not a cloud and in the high 70s. Perfect Fall for South Texas. Yesterday, Vienne and I played outside while Natalya was at school. V is so into dressing up while Natalya rarely would. Here she is modeling the tutu that her Aunt Linda gave her early in the year. It one of her favorites. Oh, can't forget the Cinderella shoes. It's never the same without Natalya, though. V can't wait until she gets home from school.

Rockey dog getting in on the action. She had already taken her snake in and put it in her bowl. (Click to make them bigger.)

Imagination

They were pretending to be fairies. This is My Best Shot for today. Fly on over to Picture This for more.

Pumpkin Pic of the Day

These Boots Are Made for Playing

Wordless Wednesday

Brrrrr

Now this is what I call Fall weather. This evening it was about 58 degrees and freezing! We loved it. It will warm up a little for tomorrow and will probably be back up to 80 degrees again real soon. We'll take what we can get.

Like Mother Like Daughter

When I was little I was terrified of pulling my teeth out. When one got loose, I would let it hang there until it almost slid right off. My permanent teeth would grow under the loose teeth every time. I get the creeps just thinking about it. I can't blame the girls if they turn out to be the same way. Natalya's top front tooth has been loose for a long time. If she wanted to, she could probably pull it out today. But she won't. We'll see how long it hangs on.

You can see there's a gap there. That's because the tooth is so loose that it is now sitting a little crooked.

This is My Best Shot for today. Ain't she pretty? Tracy has more at Picture This.

And, I finished Halloween costumes today! What a load off. And sewing fur ain't fun. I just need to gather the accessories this week. Here is just a peek at one of them. You don't get to see the whole thing until I get a pic of the girls wearing them. Just think "Groovy Ghouls". And if anyone knows where I can buy striped tights, please let me know. It's too late to order them online.

Go Wildcats!

Our sweet friend Priya celebrated her 6th birthday this weekend with a High School Musical party. Happy Birthday, Priya!

Happy party faces.

Our wild cat.

Tote Bag

Tote bag, my latest project. NOW, I will really work on Halloween costumes 'cause I don't wanna be working on them last minute.

Lucky Me

Yesterday, I got to have lunch with the world famous photographer friend Maile. And I don't think that's an exaggeration. Lunch, a little bit of shopping, and we end up in one of the quirkiest places in all of Boerne. A little place that does mini tattoos and henna. Of course Maile comes armed. Somehow she made me look a few years younger and, well, kinda cute! She is the master. Thanks for a fun lunch, Maile. Hope we can do it again soon. OK, who wants to have lunch with me next week?


Too bad Maile can't boost my ego like this everyday. Few more? Click here.

On a different note... My little V is a character. At pick up from school yesterday, she asked if we could get ice cream. She's never asked before so I said, "Sure. Let's go." Immediately there is an arguement over where to go. Both girls are upset. Finally I say we aren't going because I innitially thought it would be fun but somehow they've turned it into a doctor's appointment. They decide on a place. Happy times are here again. We get home to some more disagreements and V ends up in time out. Later in the evening Vienne comes to me ands says:
"Sorry Momma."
I say, "What are you sorry about?"
She says, "For spilling my juice."
I say, "That's not what I want you to be sorry about. Go think some more."
She leaves and comes back. "I'm sorry for going to my room."
I say, "What? That's not what I want you to be sorry for. Go think some more."
Then Vienne falls to her knees and throws her hands in the air and says, "What am I supposed to be sorry for?!"
Of course, I laugh. I've held the grudge all evening and she's already forgotten.

Living Green

When I was pregnant with Natalya we decided to use cloth diapers. Everyone thought we were nuts. I was always asked, "How hard is it?", "Isn't it a lot of trouble?" "What do you do with the poop?" But did you know that 50 million diapers enter landfills each day and they will stay there for about 500 years? Cloth diapering was the only option for us and turned out to be easy. We did it with both girls.

As a part of Blog Action Day, I am doing my part by letting you know what we do in our family to protect our happy earth. Still today, I am as green as I can possibly be. We are. We, as a family, do our part to protect the environment. It has become a lifestyle. And, again, it's easy. It's the least we can do. And you may think that you and your family can't possibly make a difference but it's you and those millions of others that say they can't make a difference that really could make a difference.

* We recycle!- Our community has a recycling program so we utilize it. Junk mail, plastic, tin goes in the bucket; magazines go to big bins set up at schools for recycling.
* I use canvas shopping bags- I try to never use plastic, and only use paper when my canvas bags have runneth over. Plastic bags go back to our grocery store because they will recycle them. And we try to remember to say, "That's OK, I don't need a bag."
* I try to remember to bring my own cup to Starbucks. They will put my coffee in it so that I don't have to leave with trash.
* We don't run the water unnecessarily.
* We xeriscape. Meaning our landscaping doesn't require much watering.
* I try not to buy water bottles. A tiny percentage of all water bottles are being recycled which means that the majority of them sit in a landfill.
* We use reusable plastic containers for lunches, not baggies.
* We split one napkin in half at dinner. Hopefully we will use only two napkins instead of four.
* We keep our blinds closed during the heat of the day keep our air conditioner from running more than it needs to.
* We donate a lot of stuff. If it's reusable it goes to Good Will instead of the landfill.
* We try to repair things rather than replace things.
* I try to buy bigger rather than many small. It takes less energy to produce one large container of yogurt than it does to produce several smaller containers.
* We turn off the lights when we leave a room.
* We really try hard (really try hard) not to buy those little things that we don't need. This is hard when you have kids. Junk toys and trinkets will ultimately end up in the trash.
* We talk about things that the girls understand and have an interest in. Like endangered animals and protecting the park.
* We pick up trash when we go for a walk.
* We play outside.
* We try to remember to turn off the tv when we're not watching it. We are working really hard on this one.

OK, you get the idea. And even though that list looks pretty long, I know there are still tons we can do. Hopefully the girls are learning as we live and will be able to carry these lessons with them. Because isn't it scary to hear about the demise of the earth? What will you differently today?



And in honor of living green, some pictures of the girls enjoying the great outdoors:


Natalya is really enjoying fishing with Daddy. This is her yesterday with her catch (and release.) She actually caught three!


And amazingly, Vienne's catch. Amazing because Vienne caught one within seconds of the line hitting the water. Perfect for her attenion span.

Rockey and Her Snake

Our dog Rockey is a little looney. Very sweet, but looney. She has a pet snake. It's a toy but we think she thinks it's real. She carries it around the yard, carries it up the slide, brings it in the house and puts it in her food bowl.

This pic is a little blurry because Rockey flinched just as I was approaching her. She thought that I was going to take her snake away.

And this is Rockey just as her snake falls through the crack in the floor of the play set.

And Rockey coming out through her door after leaving her snake inside probably in her food bowl. Looney I tell ya.

This last shot is My Best Shot for today. Check out Picture This for more.

And to see how we are living green check out my post for Blog Action Day.

Fun Run+Fun Fair=Fun Day

Yesterday we went to Natalya's school's first annual Country Fair and Fun Run. The day started off with a 5k run and 1/2 mile run. After we exhausted ourselves we ate too much candy and had some fair fun. The school also held a silent auction. Lots of donated items and class projects had to have brought in soooo much money for the school because we took home a few items after paying a pretty penny. But it was for a great cause.

Getting in race mode.

Aunt Jennifer getting in race mode. This is what she gave me when I said, "Look like a runner." Can you believe she's training for a triathlon? Amazing.

Vienne, HipHub, and Jen set to run the 5k. On your mark...

Natalya and I ran/walked the 1/2 miler. She did so well. This is her saying, "I think my legs are going to fall off."

Colored hair spray. You should have seen the tub later that day.

There seems to be a slight resemblance. Hmmm.

I was so excited to see the sack race because I hadn't seen one in such a long time. This is how the race started...

...And this is how it ended. The bag was ditched and she ran to the finish.

The hat that Daddy came home with proudly won in the silent auction.

Girl's Night Out

I have been waiting so long for this. Last night, we had our first GNO! Six hot mommas met for dinner and drinks. We had so much fun and it was long overdue. I'm already looking forward to next months adventure. Don't let us down, Jen. Once again, I realized how lucky I am to have such great girls friends in my life.

Hot momma Dawn. Doesn't she look so glamorous? Not many pics turned out because it was so dark and orange in the restaurant. And I forgot to change my lens.

This was dessert. It started out as Tres Leches. It didn't last long enough for me to take a picture. Some one last night mentioned making one so here's a recipe. Yum.

Any of you veteran GNOers have great ideas for evenings out, throw 'em at us. We just might consider just about anything.

Run!

I think that it's safe to say that the girls usually run every chance they get. It has to be buillt into the child's brain. Every cell in my body wants to yell, "Walk, please...don't fall!" I think that is built into every mother's brain.

She was running to see her sister. More from the pumpkin patch here. Run over to see more of Thursday's Theme Walk at Picture This.

Sick Day, Schmick Day

She's supposed to be sick so we've been hanging out at home. It's really more so that she doesn't politely share her tonsillitis with her sweet friends at school. But I'm thinking that if she weren't 3 that she might just be faking it. Playing dress up and kitchen and hide and seek for hours can definitely be mind numbing. She's going back to school tomorrow if for only one day this week.

Pic of the Day

(She's tons cuter bigger. Click to enlarge.)

Sick Day

My poor Sweet V has tonsillitis. For some reason it didn't occur to me that this was contagious. So she'll have to stay home from school for a few days to get better. An hour visit to the clinic and ten days of amoxacilin. She'll be totally over the meds routine by day three.

Here's another from our pumpkin patch visit. We took a hay ride through an apple orchard.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we visited the Love Creek Orchards annual pumpkin patch. We've been going there for years. Last year we wore jackets and long sleeves. This year it was a warm 90 degrees. We always have so much fun there and the girls really look forward to it.

Natalya's obsession with horses started before she was two. She's delirious when she gets to ride a horse. Hence, the obligatory pony ride at the patch.

And I guess when Natalya eventually gets a horse Vienne may want one, too.

The girls also got to hold baby chicks...

...eat carmel apples...

...paint pumpkins...

...and get their faces painted.

I will post more from this set through the week because I just took so many. This one is My Best Shot for today. Sure I'll be seeing more pumpkin patch pictures at Tracey's Picture This.

Oh, and I get nothing from this but Photoworks is having a photo contest that could win you a Nikon D40. I don't use Nikon but I'm sure it would be a great camera to win. They have a few categories that you can enter so you might want to check it out. But then again, if you don't enter then it will increase my chances of winning so... hmm... forget I said anything. Where's that delete button...

House Update

We went to the house today and were surprised to see a HUGE mess!

Is the house going up or is it coming down? Check out the floor. It looks like there was a mini explosion in there. At least this is one mess that I don't have to clean up. They've been doing a lot of the stone work. Inside...

...And outside.

And there is a hole in the ground now for the pool. Now is the time to have a pool put in because the season is ending and no one is thinking of swimming. Pools go in fast at this time. Did I just jinx myself?

Pics of the Day

Vienne is doing much better in school. We had a bumpy start but last Monday she just decided that she was going to have fun. She woke up saying, "I'm not going to cry today." Of course I was leary. But drop off was good. Since then it's been great. She is even saying that she wants to go to school. Thank goodness it didn't last as long as I pictured it would.