Silhouette

The silhouette of the little girl on our nightstand is me when I was 8 years old. I had it done at Disneyland and can still remember trying to sit so still for the artist. I was so excited when I found it the other day that I had to put it out. I have plans for this one and also for silhouettes of my 3 girls but until then this little one makes me smile.

Switched

I switched my lamps around last week. And to make it clear I do not have time for trivial things like this. I know this blog is quiet but my life is not. I do not putter around a quiet house with music playing switching things here and there. It's crazy around here all the time. When the idea hit me to move things around Elle and Gwen both had friends over plus we had 3 neighbor kids over, I was holding Lily and starting to make dinner. Did I wait until a more convenient time? Of course not. I had Elle crawl under the table and unplug the lamp, I had Gwen's friend hold the lamp shade and two more kids upstairs doing the same thing. They were all good sports and quickly ran back out on to our trampoline. Elle did tell me she thought it looked really pretty before she ran off. Thank you for humoring me, Elle.

Do you see what it's like living with me? Embarrassing - I just can't help it.

Gwen the Pirate

Gwen was invited to a Pirate Birthday Party last Friday. I remembered 5 minutes before she left that she needed to go in costume. We made it work and she thought she looked like a real pirate which was all that mattered. She was amazed at my skills. The costume in reality was a lame attempt on my part. I'll be sad when my girls start realizing that I'm not really as great as they think I am. I know that day is fast approaching. Until then - I'm soaking it up.

The Climber

This morning as I was rushing to make Elle's school lunch and get breakfast for everyone I saw Lily climbing up on to the kitchen bench. I hurried and told Elle to move the table. This is now what we have to do because Lily is a climber. She can get on to the bench all by herself and then she climbs on to the kitchen table. Then from the kitchen table she gets on to the pass-through wall. She has had 2 black eyes from falling from there. She will cannon-ball on to the sofa on the other side of that wall and sometimes she misses. Not good. I like the first picture. She's so proud of herself and is all smiles for the camera. Then this picture below is when she realized the table was moved. Her plan was foiled!

We're on to you, Lily.

Pretty

At a little antique shop that I like to go to I found these potted succulents. They were in old scraped up pots which I loved. The pots didn't have bases on them and since I knew I was putting them indoors I had to do something. I searched around and found some mis-matched things that I thought would work. When I saw this turquoise one and put it with the largest white pot it was perfect. On the other two pots I went home with I put vintage blue and white china plates ( 2 for $1) under them. Pretty.

Pure Love

I went in to wake Lily from her nap and found her just like this. She had opened the shutters and thrown all of her blankets out of the crib. Adorable. I love her so, so much.

My sweet, sweet Lily. I love being your mom.

Dear Leprechauns...

Here was Elle's attempt this morning before school at what she called "a leprechaun jump kick". She was jumping and trying to click her heels together. Apparently Leprechauns do that. Who knew?

Before bed last night Elle started writing a note that she said she was going to leave for the Leprechauns. She had a lot of unanswered questions. She asked me for an idea of something to ask them and I said to ask them how old they are. She looked at me with a confused look on her face and said, " moommm, everyone knows all leprechauns are the same age and they are all 105." I had no idea! I then offered the idea to ask them if they go on vacations and if so where do they like to go. She again said, " moommm, they stay at their rainbow and St. Patricks day IS THEIR VACATION and the place they go is to all kids houses all over the world." Ok, then. She then sat at the table and carefully thought up her own questions.

This morning, the first place she ran to was her note. And yes, the leprechauns did respond to her....in teeny, tiny writing since leprechauns ARE teeny tiny. Here were her questions and the leprechauns answers. ( I can not even describe the pure joy that came over her when she looked at the paper and saw that the leprechauns had answered all of her questions.)

Are you a boy or a girl? a boy

When do you take a bath? at night before I go to bed

What is your favorite song? It's Not Easy Being Green by Kermit the Frog

Do you know how to swim? no

How many houses do you visit on March 17th? 63,000,000,071 houses in one night. I'm tired

He then wrote to all three girls and told them to have a lucky day, not to forget to wear green to school and signed his name, Leo the Leprechaun.

I love my Ellers. She is the cutest, happiest little 6 year old. So imaginative and wide eyed about life. Did I mention that I really love her? I do. A lot.

Lily Pie: 20 months

She's growing up and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it either. It's fun to see my girls develop and change but at the same time I want to keep them as my babies forever. I love the first photo. That's my view of her all day. Lily - standing at my feet with her arms straight up wanting me to hold her. If she wants something she'll come and poke me with her finger until I follow her to see what she needs help with. If I'm on the computer she comes and puts her head on my lap while she's standing or if I'm doing dishes she'll come over and wrap her hands around my legs and stand on my feet. If I'm sitting on the ground helping one of her sisters she'll squeeze right in and plop right into the middle of my lap. It's cute. These pictures present a very mellow Lily but that is not the case. She is CRAZY BUSY and into EVERYTHING. She only knows one speed and that is - Fast. All of my girls have been 'busy' but I'm going to have to say Lily has set a new standard. She's a climber and I find her on top of our kitchen table frequently. It's scary. The only comment I get when I take her anywhere is, "you've got your hands full." Yes I do. My hands are full, no doubt about that and I'm exhausted by the end of each day but what is there to complain about when what they're full with are chubby cheeks, blue eyes and a bald head. Could be worse and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Family Room

I had to add this picture with my crazy gwenners in it. She was watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua when I was taking pictures...

I always hated our sofa in the family room. The day it arrived, years ago, I hated it. It came the wrong color and and with the cushions sewn in. I tried to return it for weeks but since it was "custom" they said no - they were allowed a 20% dye-lot gradient. It was more like a 100% gradient mix up but the answer was still, No. Nice. It was really ugly. I put up with it for too many years and then I came up with a plan. We didn't "need" a new sofa and so I felt frivolous getting another one. I then proposed to Jon if I sold the one we had and made the rest of the money myself I could then get a new one. One that I REALLY liked. My old sofa sold in one day on Craigslist. The rest of the money I came up with by selling other random things on Craigslist. Jon even threw in a few surfboards he didn't use anymore to add to my "frivolous couch fund". Just before Christmas and timed perfectly with Restoration Hardware's big sale I had enough money to buy my new sofa. To say that I love it would be an understatement. It's slipcovered in linen and slouchy and the depth is unreal. It is everything I wanted.

The room is definitely not finished. The chair on the side is waiting for a linen slipcover. The pictures are still at the height of our old sofa so they are a little high and need to be moved to the left as well. I would like a round table for the chandelier lamp...something more rustic but this table was in our garage from Jon's old office and will fill the void until I can come up with more funds. The lamp I found at a little boutique in Redondo Beach and fell in love. It's super old and I couldn't get it out of my head. A little much? Perhaps - but I love it.

Awesome

This morning I heard "this is awesome!!" coming from the shower. I went in to find Gwen in her swim goggles shampooing her hair. She HATES getting shampoo in her eyes and figured this little trick out on her own. Hilarious. I don't know what was cuter - how she looked or her pure joy and excitement. It made my day.