Art

The kids are really into crafting.
Painting is their weapon of choice.
Anything is free game to paint, and in their mind looks 100 times better once it's been decorated.

They had a lovely time painting themselves {with the help of my mother}.
They're a fairy princess and prince.
Can you tell?

That idea resulted in permanent marker art the next day. 
Super awesome.
And an exploded pen on the wall the next day. 
All the writing utensils are hidden out of site now. 

I finally managed to get them to paint something that wouldn't harm anything.
They weren't totally convinced, but after telling them we could put them in our weed garden area,
they thought it was pretty cool.

They took their art so very seriously.
Look at those pudgy hands working so hard.
They are just so precious!

Ellie has mastered her painting skills a bit more than Tripper and had lots of helpful suggestions.
His answer is always, "Otay, Eya."
They are the sweetest of friends.
I love watching them together.

And that's my kind of art.
No mess, colorful rocks, optional clothing, in the middle of a parking lot.
It doesn't get any better than that!

We've been up to some "real" art around here too.
Slightly more time consuming, but just as colorful as those rocks!
And I think they really like it!

And on a side note...everything I post is coming up DAYS later than when I post it.
It's SO obnoxious, and I'm not awesome enough to know how to fix it.
Poo.
Has that ever happened to you?
I have it on the automatic setting, so it should come up right when I post it, but it's not.
Blah.

Announcing

Our newest addition to the family...

Gotcha didn't I!

 Meet Bella 

And Jacob.

I promise I had nothing to do with the names. 

It's ridiculous and I tried to get Ellie to change her mind, but it didn't work. 

So we might be a tad bit obsessed with Twilight. 

But at least I didn't name my fish after them.

You'll have to talk to Ellie about that. 

She did want me to have twins and name them Bella and Jacob.

 I told her I wouldn't promise her anything, but I'd think about it. 

Hopefully Bella and Jacob the fishies will help that idea go on the back burner.

If there is any possible way to smother a fish, they have found it.  

I have already had to tell them:

Don't touch the fish, Don't spit on the fish,

 Don't eat the fish food, and Don't drink the fish water.

You know, just the normal fishy pet conundrums. 

But I'm sure glad they're excited about their new pets!

Ellie Says and Swings

Ellie fell off her swing for the first time.
It's wasn't at all as traumatic as I thought it would be.
Very grateful for that.
She was leaning to try to grab a leaf off the tree and
WAM! Thud, roll, squish.
Ouch!
Where was I? Right next to her.
Going back and forth swinging her then Tripp.
Things like that happen more quickly than you think.
But she's a trooper.
She cried a little, then got right back on...a different one.
That particular swing obviously doesn't work right.
Tripp didn't even notice anything.
Right out of the womb, Ellie was swinging higher than he's ever dared to swing in two years.

We've finally gotten him to swing more than an inch.
Way to be brave Tripperdoodle.
So thankfully, swinging will still be in our future.

Ellie is a diehard princess fan.
Forever and ever.
We find all the greatest princess movies on netflix, and it is her goal to find the best one ever.
Yesterday, we might have just found it.
What can top and princess in hiding who cares for a horse who becomes her best friend?
Nothing.
After it was over, she ran to me with such an earnest little gleam in her eye and said, 

"I FOUND IT! IT'S THE BEST MOVIE EVER!! 

I JUST FEEL LIKE A REAL PRINCESS. 

AND WATCH ME DANCE. 

THAT'S HOW A REAL PRINCESS DANCES! 

OH MOM! IT'S REALLY TRUE. 

THAT WAS THE MOST AMAZING PRINCESS MOVIE EVER! 

DID YOU KNOW YOU'RE A PRINCESS TOO? WELL, MAYBE A QUEEN. 

WOW! CAN I WATCH IT AGAIN?"

What a silly little girl.
So full of emotion and life!
It makes my heart so happy to see her love life so much.

The Sun

Are these not the most precious pictures ever?
I wish I could take credit for taking them, but I can't.
You can't ask for a better babysitter than one who takes amazingly wonderful pictures of your kiddos while you're gone.
Thanks so much Michele!
She's so creative and I love all the special moments she captured.
Frolicking in the pasture, climbing trees, giggling together...the things you never want to forget. 
They love her to pieces, and I think she's pretty fond of them too.
Sun pictures are some of my favorites.
They look so serene and extra special.
Like they're in slow motion smiling at each other and so happy to be together.
I'm sure there was absolutely no pushing or screaming involved.
Michele took the ones on the fence post too.
I can't take credit for those either.
Or any for the next few posts probably.
But the words are still mine.
That's all.
Hope your day is full of sunshiny moments.
Slow motion frolicking while smiling is optional.

Eya and Tripperton

He calls her Eya.

He yells it.

All the time.

She calls him Tripperton.

She yells it.

All the time. 

They are best of buds. 

Two peas in a pod.

Inseparable. 

And I love it.

wind wind go away...

We are ready and waiting for some not so windy days.
The kind of days where you can make mud pies and color with chalk.
Without everything blowing away from you.
I think we got a little spoiled with all the warm weather fun,
and now all this wind has us blowing away the minute we step outside.
Really...Tripp fell over.

Oh well.
The not so windy days will come again soon.
It's not like it's Kansas or anything.
You never know what you're gonna get.

quiet

It's been quiet around here today.
Yesterday too.
Little Tripper is sick.
And Ellie got to spend the night at Mema and Papa's house.
Tripp has been SO clingy cuddly since he got sick.
I do love it when he cuddles so much though.
I know that won't last forever.
He's one of those kids that you can always tell when they're getting sick.
His eyes just look awful.
So, we've been taking it easy.
We went to the doctor and it's just a nasty cold.
But he did get double ear infections from all the drainage, so I'm glad I went in.

He slept almost the entire day yesterday.
So I got lots of time to do non-kid things.
Like paint a coffee table!
I was so excited!
I had already painted the smaller one, but I still had the big one stashed in the garage for the perfect painting moment.
And it came.
I painted the other one when it was FREEZING outside and it took a week to finish because it took so long to dry.
This time, I finished in a few hours.
Holy Cow!!
My back is all sunburned and I'm really sore from bending over the whole time.
But my living room looks loverly with it's new addition.

And so you're not totally bored with my free time meanderings, this is what we do when the kids are home and not sleeping.

We do kid-friendly things.
Like paint...paper, sidewalks, each other.
Whatever.
We do love our paint.
Tripp has been banned from the small colorful paints.
After he ate them and mixed them all up, I thought it was time to narrow his options.
He now gets his own flower container to eat and mix all by himself.
{don't worry, I really don't let him just sit there and gobble it up. But I do see him sneak a few licks from his paintbrush even though he knows he's not supposed to.}
And now his very creative, slightly OCD sister gets to paint her creations in peace.
With her very neatly, organized sets of colorful paints.

White and Bright!

Holy Moly we have a lot of snow here!
I think we got around 17 inches.
That's a lot.
Everything is so white and bright!
I don't think I could handle tons of snow all the time, but it is fun to get it a few times during the winter.

We are definitely snowed in.
There are drifts everywhere.
I was afraid Tripp might just get lost in one.

He pronounces snow just like "no."
S's aren't really a part of his vocabulary yet.
So you just have to decipher from his tone if he's talking about snow or saying no.
This particular playtime was not on his to-do list.
He kept yelling "NO" and looking at the big drifts.
I was trying to get him to play, but he just stared at it from the garage screaming.
Then he started crying.
We finally realized he wanted his gloves off to touch the "(S)now" but then would yell "NO" because it was so cold.

So he did a lot of this.
Such an angry grumpy Tripp.
He was finally forced to snuggle inside with Momma to settle down.

Ellie on the other hand was like a little fish in water.
Totally loving the big piles and diving head first into the snow.

Matt helped her make pathways through the snow.
She was afraid he might shovel all the snow and there wouldn't be any left for her.
Ha!

Matt is more hands-on in the snow.
I took lovely pictures and then watched from a distance.
But someone did have to take care of the screaming "(S)now"/"NO" child.

The drifts went all the way up to the windows in some places.
Do you see the little red bike?
We forgot to bring it in the night before it snowed.
Oops.

The big tractors are here to clear the school parking lot.
That's a perk to living on school property.
We don't have to shovel our own driveway.
We probably won't be snowed in for too much longer.
But until then, I'll just enjoy some more hot chocolate and reruns of word world and sesame street.