What's new?

I still really, really want to write about our trip to Florida - because it was just so awesome - a trip AWAY! Something new! But I'll have to steal away some serious time some Sunday afternoon perhaps or late, late one evening to get to that. And I have much to catch up on anyways... regular stuff, moving stuff, funny things Madeleine says, updates on Sophie... we are truly so much fun but recording life is getting away from me. I miss it. I miss journaling and writing all my detailed thoughts and memories. I know I love re-reading everything I write. My children will love it too someday, right? Well... photos. At least I take a lot of photos. I don't share a lot of photos, but I have them. Posterity will be proud. And I, of course, can spend an hour at a time just gazing at the pics of my family and thinking: I LOVE THEM! Yes, they drive me crazy and we are not perfect and I get grumpy with them all the time. But oh, how I love them.

This big girl got a new bike (thank you Gong Gong and Paw Paw!) for her birthday. She now has a helmet and rides... sometimes willingly, sometimes unwillingly, around our circle. She oscillates between brave and a total disaster of tears. But now that Daddy bikes to work, she's been more excited than not to be on wheels of her own!

Sophie is our water dog. She. Is. In. Love. Swimming - with a life jacket, usually - is her thing. She just loves to be little miss independent and do her doggie paddle all around the pool. She doesn't like it when I hold her in the pool and she's been known to jump off the edge of the pool with glee. That cheesy grin says it all!

Yup. We have a house now, with a yard. Which means we wash our own car. Or, we have the girls do it. Child labor! But I'm thinking they have PLENTY of fun doing it. If you could only see their faces...

Oy ya ya. We have a pet. A bunny. A huge bunny! I couldn't resist because she was free and came with all the gear. Sometimes I have mini-heart attacks about it and I detest the clean-up of the cage, but... so far, 2 weeks, and I'm surviving. The girls just giggle with glee over her. They are pretty rough with her and she's pretty tolerant of them. Madeleine REALLY loves her. Sophie sometimes ignores her, sometimes gets so excited about her that she tries to eat her. Madeleine has had about 4 names for her so far and I'm afraid bunny is going to have an identity crisis: cinnabun (my favorite), girl harold, elda, and most recently, liz.

We have family in town! Grandma is here for a month and we celebrated the 4th of July at an awesome, free concert at the National Cathedral with her. What a fun outing with truly wonderful music! We've been wearing her out and are so grateful she's here! More pics of her time here later.

That's a brief, random update. Enjoy!