It's been a rough morning

Vivian tried to potty train Puppy this week. He got dirty and gross from that experience and needed to be washed. Unfortunately, Viv ran up just as Mommy was putting him in the washing machine. This didn't go over well at all.

She cried for 20 minutes. Begging us to take him out.

Her agony was unbearable. We tried Bear. No. We tried making it sound like a fun bubble bath. No. Daddy gave hugs and cuddles. No. Even Miriam tried comforting her, "It's alright, Sister." No. We tried reading books next to the washing machine. This was at least mildly distracting.

Don't worry, we did try to make her feel better before taking these pictures. But really, we could resist. She's going to love this story someday.

Now puppy is on the deck drying. She checks on him frequently. They should be reunited before the end of the day.

52 Weeks of Joy: Week 20

The garden is all in!!!! We have fresh produce on the way. It's going to be another fabulous, joyful summer. We'd better start collecting zucchini and eggplant recipes right away.

We're not big on tomatoes, but we put in two cherry tomato plants. Bet we'll be giving some away in August. And there are Brussels sprouts, too. We like them pan fried in olive oil with S&P. Green beans, lots of varieties of peppers, yellow squash...we probably over crowded again this year. Oops.

Grow, grow, grow!!!

52 Weeks of Joy: Week 19

New friends. Brand new friends.

Don't babies make everyone joyful? Here we are on vacation meeting our new friend Avery. She's only two months old and absolutely precious.

More on last week's vacation soon.

Don't you love Miriam's cheesing?

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to our moms and grandmas and great-grandmas. We love you.

And happy Mother's Day to all the moms we know. We love to watch you with your children. We are encouraged by your faithful service to your family. We are in awe of your dedication to what sometimes truly seems to be the most difficult job ever created. We are blessed by your sharing in the joys and sorrows of motherhood.

Sometimes we can't help but wonder how Mary, Jesus' mother, did it. How she bore our Lord and then watched Him die. Luckily, that's a happily ever after kinda story.

Finally, happy Mother's Day to our two little girls who made their mommy a Mommy. You make this a very happy day.

52 Weeks of Joy: Week 18

As of yesterday, Vivian Therese is 18 months old. And the girl is certainly joyful. Bright, talkative, adventurous, ornery, quick, happy...we love her.

Just sharing a few pictures of the Mouse fresh out of a bath.

Zoo

We made our second trip to the zoo since it opened less than two weeks ago. We really enjoy the zoo. And not just because it makes the girls nap well.

Aunt Annette is finally home from Ottawa and Rome for her summer vacation. Aunt Nichole had the day off of school. So we kidnapped them and held them hostage all morning. The rain and storms held off, couldn't have been better.

Let the photo bomb begin. However, it turns out we didn't take any pictures of an animals, you know, the reason we go to the zoo.

As everyone knows, you must paint your toes before visiting the zoo. So we did.

Miriam's freshly painted nails.

Aunt Annette paints Vivian's toes

 After that little detail was taken care of, we packed up our post-zoo picnic and were on our way. As you can see, Aunt Annette and Vivi were so excited when we got there!

An aunt for each little girl

 

Two sisters smile, two sisters talk

 The drums were a hit! The girls could have stayed there pounding away for an hour...

...even these girls had to be pulled away.

Can't wait to go back!! Think we can kidnap the aunts again?

Magic Shakie Shape Bag

Last week was rainy and cold. Makes for antsy afternoons...so we made up a new game! It's basically Shape Bingo. But there's a bonus: the Magic Shakie Shape Bag.

Fancy, huh?

The shapes go in the bag. We used rectangles, triangles, squares, and circles.

Each girl got her own "board".

And let the shaking begin!

 After shaking the bag, we chose a shape.

 Then glued the shape onto our "board". Gluing may have been Miriam's favorite part of the game.

This all got a touch boring for Vivian, so she began peeling the shapes off, rearranging them, eating them...thank goodness Elmer's safe (enough) for ingestion.

Another bonus: the girls discovered that chalk can write on black paper. Extra entertainment!!

It was a hit...and helped Miriam with her shapes! We'll be playing again. Maybe rainy afternoons aren't so horrible.