baby, it's cold outside

it has been freezing here the last few days. cold enough that i'm not even willing to bundle up and go outside. so these pictures are actually from a couple weeks ago, but i forgot to post them. it had snowed about an inch and madeleine was so excited to get out and play in the snow. diane is not as thrilled about the cold and lasted about five minutes.

 

phone photo dump

 some of these pictures are from quite a while ago. i may or may not sync my phone approximately twice a year. 

 just picking out a morning outfit.

testing out "joker," as a halloween costume. we went with candy corn instead. a little more age appropriate. 

my ragamuffin. she has gotten better, but she used to end up with most of her dinner in her hair by the time the meal was over. 

 

along the same vein... can you see that red object in her hair? yes, that is a fruit snack. and yes, we did take her out in public like that. i could explain the circumstances and why it wasn't removed before we went out in public, but the details are more complicated than i care to go into and i don't have to explain myself all of the time on my blog. suffice it to say it wasn't my proudest moment as a mother. 

one of our summer picnics in the park. i love my mountain backdrop.

another picnic day.

 

diane has been transitioning to one nap lately. it doesn't always go so smoothly though. sometimes she falls asleep when i would rather she doesn't.

art mornings in our living room.

the girls helping me smash the leaves down in the dumpster. one of their favorite jobs.

autumn leaves

we have a large tree in our backyard that has been depositing its leaves in our yard for the last month. this leads to lots of raking, which the girls love. madeleine has me make her a "nest," and then she spends the rest of the time trying to convince diane, her "baby bird," to come and join her in the nest. baby bird would rather flit about the yard though, wielding a rake, or seeking our decaying vegetables from our garden that i mostly have torn out but still has some vegetables lying in the ruins.

here are more pictures of my children than most people care to look at:
 

goodbye, dolly

i love musicals. i grew up watching them over and over. memorizing lyrics and singing along. dancing along to the choreography in our family room downstairs as i pretended that i was dorcas from seven brides from seven brothers (she didn't have to dance too much). my siblings and i have some really fond memories surrounding the culture of watching musicals that we grew up in. you can sing the first couple words of a song and we will all join in together and maybe even start dancing for you. we can't help ourselves. kind of like the people in musicals.

i still love musicals, but rarely watch them any more. i don't have a whole lots of spare time and when randy and i do get a moment to settle down and watch something, the sound of music is not on the top of randy's list (but it is on the top of mine!).

i can't remember what triggered it, but for the last couple weeks i've been thinking a lot about musicals and wondering if my girls are ready for/would enjoy some of the musicals that i loved so much as a kid. maybe maria von trapp could somehow kill that inane, constant desire to watch dora that i am constantly trying to stamp out, yet burns brightly in madeleine's bosom.

yesterday, on a rare, quiet sunday afternoon, and with all of this musical nostalgia brewing inside of me, i decided to sit down and watch hello, dolly. definitely one of my favorites. madeleine came out of her nap about fifteen minutes into the movie, so decided to see if she was ready to enjoy a good musical and i let her join me.

no more than ten seconds had passed when she said, "why are they all singing and dancing?" i explained that it was a musical and the actors do that a lot during the movie. it's a fun way to showcase their talents while still progressing the plot (i think that part was over her head). apparently this was not a satisfactory answer because she asked me this question repeatedly throughout the rest of the movie. not just at the beginning of each song, but several times throughout each song. each time i tried a different response, but she was not appeased.

and so, what i thought would be a bonding, enjoyable experience for my daughter and me, turned into a disappointing deconstruction of one of my favorite musicals. it really takes the magic out of the movie when you constantly have to explain dolly levi's motives in a three year old's vernacular. try as i might, she just couldn't understand how the parade was a metaphor for life and its experiences.

maybe i'll have to watch them on my own for a while.  

and let me just say that she has never asked why the little mermaid bursts into song randomly or why she is so infatuated with eric and being a human.

it's a good thing these two are so cute

is it seriously only 7:15 in the morning? it's going to be a long day.

adjusting to the end of daylight savings time is rough.

soaking up the sun

the cold weather looks like it's finally here to stay for the winter, but last thursday was gorgeous and we enjoyed what may be one of our last trips to the park for a long time. lots of pictures of it for the grandmas.

i love this look. i'm pretty sure she wanted me to be pushing the swing instead of taking a picture.

the girls were sporting some pretty sweet static hair at this point.