The Stare

I'd bet a pretty penny that every parent out there will be able to look at this series of pictures and instantly recognize the expression Nadia's exhibiting in them.



The steady gaze...the blank, hypnotized face...yep, we've all seen it!



Television - the best friend and worst enemy of every mother of preschoolers.



Those eyes sure are glued to the tv screen - the connection couldn't be any stronger even if I'd pulled out the Super Glue.



This last photo has no connection whatsoever to the rest of them, other than the fact that it was taken the same day. It just makes me smile to see Nadia and her Uncle D sitting side by side at the computer, snacking on fresh-from-the-garden green beans. That girl loves her some Uncle D (and shhh!, but he loves her back pretty fierce too!).

In the Presense of Royalty...

...it is proper to curtsy.

Nadia will show you how it's done - 3 year old style.

Kitty Love

Dog may be man's best friend....but CATS are this girl's best friends!

Good morning, Sunshine!

Literally moments after waking up.

She certainly greets the day with a smile! Every day is a new adventure.

She even says that sometimes - "what is our adventure today, Mom?"

Goodness, I love that sunshiny girl with her dimpled smile and tousled curls and sleep-crusted eyes!

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray!

Dancing in the Rain

Surprise! Despite recent indications, I haven't fallen off the edge of the world - I really am still here after all.

My apologies for going missing this past week and leaving you all to wonder what's up....

...but I'm still not going to tell you.

There's a lot going on in my personal life - stuff that's overwhelming right now, but I truly believe will be for the best in the long run. Prayers are welcome!

Thanks for the concerned e-mails I've gotten from several of you. That support really does mean a lot to me.

So I'm back again - but posting may be sporadic and heavy on the pictures. I don't have a lot of words to share right now.

Here's your daily dose of eye candy. These pictures are nearly a month old, but thankfully there's no expiration date on cuteness like this.

These pictures actually feel rather appropriate to my life right now - maybe they can inspire me to get out there and dance despite the storms that are raging!

I doubt I'd look as cute with a heart bathing suit and rainbow umbrella, tho. ;o)

(almost) Wordless Wednesday: Here Kitty, Kitty

Lions are so regal...so majestic.

And yet this half-grown cub, lying there cleaning his paws, looks like nothing more than an overgrown house cat lazing in the sun.

Find more Wordless Wednesday HERE and HERE!

Photographer's Child Syndrome

She has not yet noticed the black box staring her down.


Contact has been made.


And get that camera out of my face!!!

A Day at the Zoo

Last week, Nadia and I met up with Jaimee, Caden and Cole at the zoo - a very fitting place for our little wild animals!! ;o)

Despite the fact that every single person in a 50 mile radius had the same idea that day and it was miserably humid, we had a fantastic time. In fact, we enjoyed it so much that we totally lost track of time and were shocked to glance at the clock for the first time and realize that four hours had already passed! Nadia and Caden are similar in many ways, and I think it's a relief for both Jaimee and myself to see other spirited, rambunctious kids - ahhh, it's not just me! The kids really did do quite well, tho.

The penguins were absolutely the highlight of the day. Oh my goodness, Caden was SO excited, and his excitement really got Nadia going too! Seriously cute. Unfortunately, it was so crazy crowded in there I didn't even really attempt to take pictures. Jaimee, did any of the video turn out?

Here are a few pictures of our adventure! please pardon the rather eclectic editing styles. And yes, we really were at the zoo even tho there aren't any animals visible!


Both kids in the frame and looking at the camera - it's a success!




Nadia really has a thing lately for pushing strollers. and grocery carts. and bikes. Yes, we push bikes rather than ride them.







Cole just might be the sweetest baby ever! All you have to do is look at him, and he erupts into huge delighted grins. So precious!











This last collage was our failed attempt to get a group photo before parting ways at the end of the day. Clearly, hot and tired kids do not make for the most cooperative subjects! I find it very amusing, and for that reason I'm naming it my Best Shot for the week!



As we settled into the car, Nadia lamented in the most pitiful voice, "I miss my Caden and Cole now." Jaimee, I guess that just means we'll have to do it again!

Warning to My Future Grandsons

Your mother is one crazy, crazy little lady!

I offer this conversation as evidence:

Nadia (your mother): "I think when I grow up, I will have ten babies."

Christina (your grandmother): "Wow, that's a lot of children. Do you hope they are boys or girls?"

Nadia: "Only girls."

Christina: "What would you do if one is a boy when he's born?"

Nadia: "Oh, that's no problem, I'll just find someone to trade with."

Watch out boys....watch out.

I Scream, You Scream....

we all scream for ICE CREAM!



















Find more Wordless Wednesday HERE and HERE!

All Tuckered Out

The only thing worth stealing is a kiss from a sleeping child. ~Joe Houldsworth



Nadia fell asleep in the car Saturday afternoon on the way back from the mall. I'm usually leery of late naps, but the kid desperately needed sleep so we decided to just let her sleep as long as she wanted. Naps are rare these days, and it's even more rare for her to survive the transfer from the car, so I didn't expected it to last long.



Well, it was about 4:45 as I carried her in and laid her on our bed...and she was still sleeping as hubby and I ate dinner and caught up on a few tv shows (anyone watch the pilot of the new show Royal Pains? I liked it!). Five o'clock...seven o'clock....nine o'clock - was she really going to sleep straight through the night?! I knew I was playing a dangerous game, but I crossed my fingers and hoped. I sorta won the bet - she slept until 4 in the morning. After that...well, my Facebook friends can tell you what happened then. ;o)



I could look at pictures of my sleeping girl all day long and never tire of it - there's nothing sweeter. The opportunities for sleeping pic are less common these days, so I couldn't resist snapping a few shots of her when we turned in for the night. Other than elbows in my face and knees in my stomach, I really do love snuggling up to my girl all night long.



This last image is my choice for Best Shot Monday. I just love the little slice of life it captures. I love seeing her sprawled across our big bed, sleeping next to her Daddy.

**Update**
I thought everyone could see the Facebook link but apparently not, so here's the picture of the aftermath of Hurricane Nadia.


Her room was utterly trashed....but I think it was worth it for the extra sleep?!

The next half hour was spent cleaning it up together. We're really working on Nadia learning to take care of her things so she can get a big girl room for her birthday. Obviously, it's not going so well.....

I wonder....

What was she thinking?



What was she doing?



And why?



Does she herself know?

I was right there beside her, and yet I couldn't answer those questions if my life depended on it.

BUT, she was having fun and being darn cute doing it.

I guess the "whats" and "whys" really don't matter.

Still, I wonder...

My, what shiny teeth you have!

So, yesterday morning found Nadia at her first ever dental appointment.

We're now going to quickly gloss over my sense of guilt that my kid was over 3 1/2 years old before I finally got around to bringing her to the dentist, and instead focus on how well she did.

Cuz folks? She. did. awesome!

We've spent the last couple weeks building up this experience as the adventure of the century. Yay dentist! Won't it be so exciting to be just like the Bernstein Bears, and Little Critter, and all the other characters in the hefty stack of dentist books borrowed from the library? Yay dentist!

Apparently all my mock enthusiasm did the trick, since she's woken up every day this week asking if it can please be dentist day.

Still, I halfway expected her to change her tune once actually there - especially when we arrived and realized that Mrs. Dentist had been replaced with Mr. Dentist a week earlier. Uh-oh. All along the way, Nadia's one and only request...make that, demand...was that she be seen by a lady dentist. Yes, my child is a bit of a sexist. And now my careful selection of this dental office and its female dentist had blown up in my face.

I braced for the meltdown that never came.

Actually, she kinda did too well. She got to go back with the dentist solo since she's a big three year old, with the promise that they'd come get me if there were any problems. So I sat out in the waiting room crossing my fingers that she'd do well, and also crossing my fingers that she'd freak out just enough for me to come back and experience this milestone with her (and capture it all on-camera, of course).

Well, there were no problems. Not a one. Yay Nadia!

There are also no pictures. Not a one. Boo Mommy!

The dental hygienist, dentist and receptionist all gushed about how great she did. Apparently they've never before had a kid this eager to be strapped into the spaceship chair, have her teeth tickled, spit in the sink, and take special teeth pictures.

Makes me wonder why I even bothered to worry about this first dentist trip.

The best part is that her teeth got two thumbs up as well - no sign (yet) of Daddy's soft, cavity-prone teeth or Mommy's lots-of-orthodontic-work-needed teeth. Just two straight rows of pretty pearly whites.

I'm hoping that doesn't change, since I've recently been noticing glimpses of my childhood underbite in her.



On the way home, I asked which would be more fun - going to the park or going to the dentist??

Wanna guess which one she picked?

Yep, the dentist.

I have a very strange, dentist-loving child.

Wordless Wednesday: Bubble Girl

Find more Wordless Wednesday HERE and HERE!

Crafty Tuesday

Well, I tried.

I had the best of intentions, and I even sorta-kinda followed through on them.

And yet, here I am once again on a Tuesday without much Craftiness to share...

But for once, it's only the showing that's lacking and not the doing! I did get crafty this past week, but I forgot to take pictures. Doh. I just can't seem to get it all together these days!

Anyway, for at least a couple months now I've been entertaining plans of getting all creative and delivering a grand, handmade gift for my nieces' birthday. But then time just kept slipping on by in that unrelenting way it has, and before I knew it we were days away from the big event and I didn't have anything planned, much less done. So, we ended up going semi-homemade.

Thanks to my handy-dandy Michael's discount, I brought home a wooden dollhouse kit. I must admit I was glad to have an excuse to buy one of these kits, as I've been eyeing them for a while - they just seemed so gosh darn cute! And they really are cute.

But, they're also a bit of a pain in the neck. I spent Memorial Day morning punching out and piecing together a veritable puzzle of tiny wooden shapes. The directions that come with the kit, well, they're meager at best. Actually, I'm not even sure if they can be called "directions." It's more like "okay, these are the pieces you should have, now good luck figuring out on your own how they all fit together."

And then there's some maniacal laughter. Hahaha.

Oh, and also? I learned the hard way that building a dollhouse is something better done without the "help" of a three year old. Just in case you were wondering.

Thankfully, despite all that, I did manage to construct a house-shaped object out of them. It's even relatively sturdy, more so than I'd expected. And it's CUTE!

Here's the one and only photo I snapped of the construction-phase of the house.



We included some paints for the twins to decorate the house themselves, as well as a little family of yarn dolls. I'd thought Nadia would like making the dolls, but not so much. She was too busy selecting some of her own toys and books to give to her cousins. That was one heavy gift bag! And yet - as should have been expected - the lollipops ended up being the hit of the day.

Despite the frustration I expressed above, I really did have fun putting the dollhouse together. And, Nadia totally loved it and played with it all week until it was time to pass it along. So I think I'm going to pick up another dollhouse kit for us to do, and maybe one of the dollhouse furniture kits, too. Maybe I'll remember to photograph the process next time??

Now I have to brag a bit on my sister and her incredible crafty goodness. As my Dad said, we should call her Martha Stewart-Without-the-Jail-Time. She made birthday crowns, a birthday bunting banner, birthday tablecloth, and birthday goody bags. Among other things. While parenting four little girls. She's amazing.

You could see the crowns a little bit in yesterday's post, but here's a better picture of them. Aren't they totally adorable?!?!? The little one had one for her birthday back in March, too. And, shhhh!, but she's going to make one for Nadia, too!!



She also made some very clever felt dolls for the girls, with clothes that can be fastened on and off with buttons. She should open and Etsy shop, shouldn't she?



The twins each got their own birthday cake.



Here's a few more photos from the party, just because I think my niece is cute. And golly is she a poser! Unlike my girl, those girls love the camera.





Sweet little girl hugs. Everyone together now - awwww!



Okay, time to move along and start my day! Happy Tuesday everyone!