By the time Landon got home from his morning run, I had most of our stuff packed for the beach.
Quinn was packed, too...
Check out this ensemble. Quinn is known in the neighborhood as the bag lady because she often carries all of this stuff with her. Here, an easter basket, a baby, a dog purse, a stroller...
I heard Landon telling someone that she comes by this legitimately because this is how I look every morning when I exit the house - lunch boxes, work bag, nap blankets, breakfast, preferred toys for car, cup of Joe...
Quinn DOES have cute PJs, I promise, but with her wanting-to-dress-myself for bed trend is her and-I'll-choose-my-clothes-trend. We fight the trend in the morning for school; we're not crazy enough to fight the trend for bedtime.
Notice the headband? She's been doing this a lot lately.
April 5, 2014
If you ever need a picture of something that makes me happy, the pic above is it. Or any of the pics below. So happy.
Quinn has been carrying this Target babydoll from 2 years ago everywhere this month. We constantly hear, "My Baby". Just last weekend, we were all in the car after church running some errands. Quinn had been quiet for a really long time - we were even doing a regular subtle glance to see if she was asleep. Out-of-the-blue, unprovoked, we heard a demanding, "No. My baby".
In fact, she says it so much that now when she reaches for something, anything, she also says, "My baby".
I worried the beach would ruin the doll. Landon reminded me that he counted 16 similar babydolls in our house that could be put in this dress and she'd never know the difference. Fact.
The whole time we were at the beach we kept commenting on how easy this beach phase is. Both girls are scared of the waves right now, so they wouldn't even think of running in. The beach is empty this time of year, so they'd have to wander really far for us to lose track of them. Neither needs to constantly potty or have a diaper change. And they basically eat the same foods we eat, so packing for the beach was like packing for us to go in the old pre-kid days, except for the big bag of castle-building equipment we hauled. OF COURSE we're starting all over in August, so another 2 years of sand-eating eye-rubbing puff-packing beach days.
Landon was doing some push-ups; everyone joined in for a push-up session (he'd remind me to tell you he has better form than this - this was completely a break for a push-up lesson).
I love that Quinn decided to lose her arms on this one. Why not?
Ah, poor Quinny. Eat my dust!
Some beach flops.
We were a little surprised - neither of us realized she had gotten so good at this.
Quinn had to give flopping a try to; it usually just involved standing with her hands up in the air and thinking about flopping.
The girls were watching a little girl their age playing alone with her Mommy two blankets over. Cora kept asking that we ask her if she wanted to come play; we insisted that she go ask. She of course enlisted the help of Quinn. The rest of the day consisted of play with Lucy, age 3.
It's the first weekend in April. I promise we sunscreen our children; this particular morning in April, both were wearing SPF 50. Still, they turn golden brown. Our little coppertone babies.
Cora has been practicing the splits. I'm not sure how much longer we're going to be able to hold off on ballet or gymnastics class. She pretends like she's on her way to dance class all of the time... I'd like to wait until Quinn is old enough to enroll with her. We'll see.
We came home. Quinn napped. Cora and I made invites for the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt, then went for a bikeride to distribute the invites. I came back to find Quinn asleep on the driveway like this. She woke, so Daddy brought her out to cuddle in a chair. She got hot and laid herself on this blanket, snoozing for another hour. Our sweet Quinn.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Monday, April 7, 2014
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Cora's favorite perch
Cora has realized that she can escape Quinn by asking to sit on the front-porch swing to do her "work".
We open up the window so we can hear her if she gets off the swing (it squeaks really loud) and let her have a little privacy. She especially loves it with the new swing pad from Mia, even on cold days.
I've always loved a good and comfy porch swing, too.
Tennis star
She's never held a racket but she certainly knows how to dress the part.
Later that night after a trip to the kids museum with the boys down the street (Taylor, Turner, Calvert, Samuel)...
...Cora discovered an old American Girl magazine in our house. "Oh mommy! I love this book!"
I thought I'd thrown them away as they arrive.
She's taken this magazine to bed with her every night since, and falls asleep "picking out which one" she'll get.
We're hoping to wait until 5th birthday - wish us luck!
Remida Day
Each spring, ECDC hosts a family picnic, with crafts focused on recycled products. New family's are invited to attend as their first event, and the Messal family loved it last year. This was Quinn's first event as an official ECDC up-and-coming student.
And no party is complete without the infamous June. The other day I asked Cora if she'd rather play with Eliza or Evan (two other great friends from school, with whom she loves to play) and her quick response was a matter-of-fact June. Otherwise known as June-bug, Junie, or Junie-June.
After a quick dinner, Cora showed Quinn the ropes as they crafted an owl from recycled goods.
Then as she always does at ECDC, Quinn headed straight for the little houses. This look says, "I think I'm going to like it here!"
These girls love the ECDC playground.
I hope Quinn loves ECDC as much as Cora!
Quinn headed home with ALL her babies.
Is that my brother?
This week we all got our first good look at Baby Messal #3. What a looker!
Once again, we didn't "look". We have no clue what we're having, yet again. Cora is convinced it is a boy, Landon was adamant that he doesn't need to know, and I'd be perfectly happy as the mother of three girls. Every time Quinn outgrows an outfit I mourn it just in case... That's something I haven't had to do with Cora for 2 years because all of Cora's clothes have just been sliding to the other side if the closet.
This baby is big, with disproportionately long arms and legs (which isn't a problem). My original due date was Aug 9, but the doctors now agree that Landon and I may have been right about being a bit ahead of schedule. The baby is measuring for something more like a July 31 arrival. She's over 1 lb already.
She was super active during the ultrasound, which was fun. Her long legs were stretched up over her head, and she kept trying to roll over when the tech pushed on my belly.
That night the ultrasound pics were laying on the table. Cora found them before I had a chance to fix the girls hair for the big picture view (their hair is wild in these pics).
"Is this my baby brother?"
"Mommy, is the baby still in your belly? But where are you in this picture?"
"Where are the baby's feet?"
"Can I have these three (pics)?"
She took one of the profile and one good pic of a foot to ECDC to school to show her friends. Her friend Jack is expecting twin brothers around the same time as us, so it will be an exciting fall for the upcoming Sunflower class (and Seashells, too, since Quinn will be there).
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