Swimming

In case I haven't mentioned it, Violet and Stella LOVE swimming lessons. Their teacher is a recreational therapist and has a very unusual and effective way of teaching swimming. In short, she's aMAZing.

It is really hard to take pictures at the pool. Bright sunlight at one end of the pool, dim florescent at the other. This set came out better than my first set though and I actually don't mind the graininess. That last picture is my favorite. The kids were told to pull themselves up the 'mountain' using only their arms. Violet was working *hard* in that picture. After thirty minutes of swim, they both come home exhausted.

A Visitor

Did I promise you pictures of Stella's birthday? Yeah, I'll get right on that. But for now, today we had an unexpected visitor in our living room. Stella said "Look, Mama, it's a butterfly!" and by golly, she was right!

See, I know that is a butterfly because he is resting with his wings up. (Thanks, Jerry Pallotta and your Icky Bug Counting Book that I have read approximately 3,754 times.) I am not so sure, however, that he is not a she. But in either case, it was thrilling to have him visit.

Please don't look at how dirty my window is. A butterfly beating itself to death on the window is not the time to break out the windex. Just snap a picture and help the poor critter. Stella thought he really wanted a snack. We found lettuce and celery leaves in the fridge. Erm, I don't actually know what butterflies eat. For all I know they turn carnivorous after they emerge from their cocoons.

And this little guy didn't want a thing to do with the little snack we prepared. Might have been the stress of the occasion, though. But Stella was dismayed. She probably would have set out some tea in a little silver service if he had wanted it.

Stella then decided he wanted to be outside. I wasn't so sure, seeing as how it was snowing out, but I carefully lifted him up and put him in Stella's hands.

and she brought him outside.

And left his snack on the step for him in case he changed his mind.

She was really sad when he left. We hoped to see him flying around, but he completely disappeared.

It is hard to be three and have to let your pet go free.

But wait!

Maybe he's flying in the backyard!

Oh, my sweet girl. I see a lot of heartbreak in your future. You look just like your Dad, but your heart is as vulnerable as your Mom's.

After she was done looking out the back window Stella told me "Wow, that was a really fun time."  I agree, though I'm not sure she knows that it was more fun to watch her than it was to watch the butterfly.

2:46

Stella was born at 2:46 in the afternoon on January 18th, 2007. I don't know who looks worse in this picture - me or Stella, but really we were both just terrifically happy that the ordeal was over.

Here she is all cleaned up hanging out with Jason. She was about 4 hours old. She was such a sweet, mild baby.

Here she is at 2:46 the next year. We were blowing up balloons for her birthday "party". As you can see, she is already lagging behind in the hair department.

But she was adorable anyway, and I think she already knew it. Yes, even then.

Here she is at 2:46 the year she turned two. You can see her birthday party is in full swing. Grandy and Bubby braved a blizzard to bring helium balloons and eat cake.

This year she tried to hold out until 2:46 without a nap, but crashed just before then. A bath with Violet can use up a lot of energy, you know.

So here she is, three years old. She insisted right up until she woke up this morning that she was only two-and-a-half. I think this picture was taken before 7am. I'm surprised my eyes could focus. But then  - the camera does it for me.

I'll have a lot more pictures for you in the next post. We had a three day birthday seeing as how it was a three day weekend.

Recent activity

Violet's and Stella's Grampy came to visit them last week. Stella had never met him before, and neither Violet nor Stella had met his girlfriend, Bonnie. They got along famously, though.

 

Sadly, these are the only pictures I took while they were here. I didn't even think to get a picture of Violet with them.

In other news, Violet has discovered the internet is not just Nick Jr. She somehow discovered that there are movies of her favorite game on YouTube. She will actually pause the movie to read the story, which leaves a little to be desired.

Here's another thing she figured out. Google.

Do you wonder what she is Googling?

Miss Coates is her kindergarten teacher.  She's not the only victim, though. Violet Googles everything. So much so that I am tempted to take her computer offline. At least until we figure out this 'parental controls' thing. Who knew this would happen so fast? She's barely 6.

We had a talk about the internet the other day. I explained that it was like a big, big mall where there are lots of  stores, and some playgrounds, but there were also things like people's houses, and restaurants and jail and places that it might not be good for her to be. And in this mall, there are all sorts of people. Good people, fun people, but also people who are tricky and people who are mean, and even bad guys. I asked her if I would let her walk around by herself in a mall like that, and with big eyes she said "No Way!". So I told her that for the same reason, she can't wander around the internet by herself. I'm not sure my analogy was clear to her, though. She's pretty concrete.

This morning

Violet is home sick from school and partaking of her favorite activity: making up new levels for the Blupis.

Stella would have been content to lie in the sun and watch Diego all day.

Mean parents that we are, we forced her to go to preschool.

Vacation

Just a mish-mosh of cute pictures from the holidays.

Stella met Santa at Bear Hugs Christmas party. She just stared at him with big eyes and didn't say a word.

 Violet dressed us up. Look hard and you can see we have red noses taped to us. Violet is a sick reindeer with a thermometer in her mouth. I am Santa, and Stella has a little sign taped to her chest that says "Jesus". Maybe we ought explain this Christmas thing a little better.

 Ring pops.

We had a fun but crazy time in Maryland with Karen and Amelia as well as Stacey, my Mom and Julian, Jason's sister Tiffany and her boyfriend John. Did I mention it was crazy?

Knuffle Bunny is our new favorite book.

Will Trixie ever get her bunny back? Horrors.

Amelia and Stella are such good friends. So are Violet and Amelia, but I don't have pictures of them together from this trip.

Violet avoids cooking by spinning in the kitchen.

Stella and Amelia were in charge of meals. Stella is an A-1 barista.

 

Violet is an A-1 princess.

Stella is auditioning to be in a Dr. Seuss book.

After Christmas we mostly just hung out trying to keep the natives under control.

Here's Violet modeling her body sock. It's always fun to take pictures of the shapes she can make.

This toy was Jason's as a kid.

Hard at work with clay. Maybe later we will show you the claymation Blupi movie Violet and Jason made.

We had a big snowstorm, which is almost always good news around here. Stella isn't crazy about being out in the cold, but Violet adores it, and she and Jason found an icy patch and cleared it off to do some skating.