A few random bits

We have just been trucking along. Hard to believe that March is almost over. I know I sound ridiculous, but seriously, "Where does the time go?"
Scout acting goofy. Really, nothing unusual about that.
Ruby, hanging in the chair. So, I have to point out that the sippy cups that they're holding were actually bound for Goodwill. They'd been sitting in a box of donations in the dining room for a while, and lo and behold one of them discovered the cups. Suddenly, they're Scout's favorite sippy cups or something. I will try to smuggle them back into the box, then promptly hide the box in the trunk of the car. Wish me luck!
Then there is the naked escapee. I have a much cuter shot of her coming down the stairs, but I decided that it might not be appropriate for the blog. We'll have to save that one for her wedding slide show. But, seriously, how cute is a baby after bathtime?
Ruby was having fun with her sister's sunglasses.
And here's the baby blanket that I recently sewed. I've made 3 baby blankets so far, and I have to say, I think I'm getting worse, not better, at making them.
And here is Ruby showing off her downward dog. Lacey, who has been taking some yoga teacher training, occasionally comes over to teach Cory and me some yoga. Ruby appears to be a natural.


So, before Cory realized that he was taking a video, here's a shot of Lacey and Ruby doing some poses in the kitchen.


And another video. So, Ruby has started doing this really funny thing where she'll pinch her nose when we say that something is stinky. In this video, I was trying to prompt the "stinky pinch", but the little girl was too into the glasses... as you can see.

Karen is 60!

So thoughtful of my girls, Ruby even wishes Grandma in her sleep and Scout is realllly trying so hard for a camera smile. Love you, Mom!

More March

The week of March 14th we had "Spring Break" around here. Spring Break is kind of a strange thing when you only go to school twice a week. I had the feeling that it would be like any other week, but how wrong I was. Actually, from my perspective, it changed the whole dynamic of the week. We were free! No obligations, no appointments, no school, no dance class. It was great!
We started the week by baking some chocolate chip cookies--Here's Scout, still nibbling.
And here's Ruby, after shoving in what remained of her cookie.
And here's both of them. Scout is scooting away from Ruby because Ruby is trying to steal her cookie.

We also took some time to go to the zoo with friends!
Here's Scout with her friend Mira as they rode in the backseat. We all rode together, since Mira's mom drove us down to Denver.
Here's Ruby and me out side the carousel.
Here we all are riding on the peacock on the carousel.
Here are Scout and Mira checking out the polar bears.

Then we had a surprise visit from our Denver playdate friends Hilary, Hayden and Lachlan (no photos). So nice to see old friends. Then Lexie came with Ella and Addy last Thursday (again, no photos). And best of all, we got a phone call last Friday that Grandma Margie was going to make an impromptu trip our way.
Here's Scout and Grandma at the park. We had great weather while Grandma was in town.
Ruby can do some slides by herself now. Whoa, big stuff.
There are two random statues of painted turtles by the reservoir. Here's Ruby on one.
Scout on the other.
Everybody doing some swinging.

March continues to be a fantastic month... I keep waiting for the snowstorms. As everyone tells you when you move to Colorado, "March is the snowiest month." Hmm.

Some recital photos and a few others

On March 8, 2011, a star was born. Or something like that.
Actually, Scout had a "mini-recital" for the dance class that she has been taking through the Harmony School, a local pre-school that also offers some different classes to the public.

Ms. April and the kids, a bit out-of-focus. But there really is a story to tell about all of this, so why don't I start at the beginning...
Here, pictured before the recital begins. On the left, a little girl named Gigi, in the middle is a little girl who I will call "Pink Dot" (more to come on that), and then on the right is our beautiful Scout.
All the children and the parents are crammed into this teeny tiny music room, and when we arrived (about 5 minutes before the recital was set to begin) there was barely a chair left and everyone else appeared to have multiple digital cameras and camcorders. Clearly, we are not only disorganized but also bad parents... we don't even own a camcorder. On this very small stage, there are about 8 circles that are placed across the stage on the floor. Every child is assigned a dot to stand on and it is from this specific spot that they will do their arabesques or whatever.
CUT TO STAGE RIGHT: When there is a commotion over a spot on the floor... "Wait," Ms. April thinks, "Why are there two girls on the same pink dot?"
"Oh," Ms. April says to herself, "why don't I reassign Scout the purple dot since this other girl Pink Dot was already standing on the pink dot." And, by the way, Pink Dot is crying because Scout was standing on her pink dot. Scout is now supposed to stand on the purple dot.
Um, looks like Scout doesn't want to stand on the purple dot. Ms. April gets down to eye level. They converse.
All right, time to start the show. Ms. April gives cues to all the girls.
Okay, arms out! Not so much.
Or maybe arms at the front, hold them out. Nope.
Looks like little Pink Dot is having a decent time. Scout is still pretty upset about the purple dot/pink dot situation.
And, finally, the last shot before the camera battery died.
So, all in all, a very mini mini-recital. And the girls really did do well. I wish we could have seen Scout do any of the dancing that the teacher had taught them, but she was well into her own choreography surrounding the loss of the pink dot. An innovative dance, for sure.

And there are a few other things going on...
Like, we've been toting around tote bags.
I made a variety of tote bags for Ella's birthday party (hopefully we'll have some photos of the party to post soon, too). Here is the "e" bag that went to Ella's cousin Elizabeth. Scout was so kind to do some modeling for me.
Then, of course, we've been doing some playing in the basement. Man, the whole basement thing rocks. I don't know what I did last winter with two kids and no basement. Umm, maybe watched way too much TV?
We also play a lot of dress up... betcha can't guess who this is!
Ha!
And, when not playing dress up, we are really playing "dress down." It's fair to say that at any point during the day, Scout's moods will shift and she will go from playing dress up to something else. That means she will almost always be down to her skivvies when playing just about anything else. Here, she's playing with her princesses and some ribbon.
And this is what a hard working, underwear-wearing girl looks like.