Sisters

The weather has changed, and we are in one of the two best months Louisiana has to offer (the other being April), so we are trying to make the most of it with lots of time outside. Yesterday, after picking the girls up from school, I threw the French doors to our backyard wide open, served snacks on the patio and enjoyed one of those afternoons I hope I'll remeber for a very long time watching the girls play together. Of course, being super silly is the name of the game these days, so one of the preferred activities was running through the grass, falling down, and then shouting "oh man!". Whichever girl was not busy falling was busy laughing! They took turns playing this game until they had found just about every corner of the yard to fall on and then moved on to other games, always together and always making me think how lucky they are to have one another. At one point they ran towards each other, almost knocking each other over when they hugged and kissed. Emma said, "Mommy, my sister is very, very nice," and I couldn't help but agree :-) Just like I hope I never forget such heart-warming memories, I hope my girlies never forget how much they love and care for each other!

I didn't take any pictures yesterday, but I just love this picture of the girls. It was taken by my brother (who could start his own photography business!) in June.

Fourth of July

Tomorrow is officially the first day of Fall, so it's the perfect time to finally post about... the Fourth of July... If you have not figured out by now, one of my mottos is clearly "better late than never" and that certainly applies to this blog!
 First however, one reader's note: I realized that when reading this, there is no way of distinguishing between the girls' father, whom they call Papa- pronounced the Italian way- and their grandfather, whom they call Papa- pronounced like Papa Smurf... So although, he is never actually referred to as Papa Bill, when I talk about him, I'll refer to my dad as Papa Bill...

It has become a tradition in recent years to spend the Fourth of July in Dallas with my sister and her family, and this year was no exception. Dallas may have been in a record heat wave, but leave it to Papa Bill to ensure that we could enjoy the outdoors by installing a misting system across the patio. Of course, the margaritas we all enjoyed also did their part to keep us cool! The girls, however, preferred to beat the heat in the pool, showing off their newly-acquired swimming skills and splashing around with cousins Liam, Barrett, William and Jonathan. We didn't make it to see the fireworks this year, but we certainly celebrated in style!

Emma, Caroline and Liam enjoy popsicles at the edge of the pool

Splashy Smiles!

The pool's shallow "tanning deck" was the girls' favorite hangout



Papa encourages an apprehensive Emma to swim into deeper waters



Liam, Barrett, Emma and Caroline enjoy No David with Nanny Nonnie



"The Triplets" take a bath



Emma shows off her Fourth of July apparel with Papa Bill

Bathtime Fun

The girls always seem to have a great time in the bathtub and have  been known to request a bath or two even when one is not required. Santa brought them letters and numbers for the bath last Christmas, and this has become a favorite toy. Bubble bath is a close second. Emma and Caroline always request "hats" when Lucas gives them a bubble bath, which basically means that Lucas puts bubbles on top of their heads and tries to make them stand straight up! Of course, as with everything, bathtime is an opportunity for the girls to show some independence, so we've had lots of "I wash my body myself" and "I can do it" hair shampooings lately. As these pictures show, there is almost never anything mundane about this evening ritual.



Think there's enough stuff in there??



Emma loves "floating" in her bath

Caroline and Emma use "stracini" to get clean

When the bath is over, the girls ask to be swaddled in their towels and look at the "baby" in the mirror



Let's not forget to brush our teeth!



The Things We Do

 Things are very busy in the life of a 2 1/2 year old, and when your best friend lives right at home with you, the party never stops! The following pictures show a few of the things that occupy our time these days as we seek to satisfy our curiosity, entertain (and be entertained), learn, and, hopefully, tire ourselves out by 8:00.

We ride our tricycles, even in dresses- because that's what Southern girls do!

We make a bed out of the (non-working) fireplace

We dance and play giro tondo

We dress up like gangsta rappers

We're so cute as gangsta rappers it's worth two pics!

We play with puzzles and other fun toys

And even when we say we're going to help mama fold the laundry, sometimes, we just need a rest!

Movin' On Up

As of the second week of June, the girls transitioned into a new class at their preschool. They said goodbye to Ms. Geneva and are now in Ms. Michelle's class. While we will miss Ms. Geneva terribly, we are happy to be back in the same room as Oliver (Emma's little man) and Caleb (to whom Caroline blows kisses) and to be in a room where there is more focus on potty training. The transition seemed to be fairly easy on the girls, although they will still tell you that Ms. Geneva is their teacher. I guess if that's the worst of their confusion, we're doing alright!

Ms. Michelle

Swimming Lessons

Caroline turning and reaching for the wall

 The girls took two weeks of swimming lessons in mid-June, and although they are not ready to join the Olympic team, we are very pleased with the progress they made in such a short time. They now know how to put their heads under, kick, turn and swim for the wall, and even jump off the diving board. Their teacher, "Miss" Blake always had positive things to say about their attitude and cooperativeness. We would expect nothing less!

Emma emerging from a swim

Caroline swimming across the width of the pool

Caroline jumping off the diving board

Waiting to jump off the diving board

CDS Art Show

Each year the girls' school hosts an "art show" to exhibit the wonderful talent of their students. Along with displaying their best works of art, the school hosts activities for the kids like balloon art, face painting, games, and dancing on the playground. I was at a weekend retreat for the art show, so I was very glad that the girls' creations were being sent home- although I never expected the displays to be six-foot "lollipops"! Even so, they are now proudly on display in our computer room. So art critics, enjoy these pictures of the work of my mini Michelangelos. As with all they do, we are very proud :-)



Caroline's "lollipop" of art. Notice the picture and bio of the artist in the middle.



Emma's "lollipop"



Caroline's bio

Emma's bio



The girls with their teacher, Geneva Banks.



Emma having her face painted.



Christmas in May

The girls and I arrived home recently to find a very large box on the front steps, and for once I had no idea what the package might be. I say "for once" because I have developed a rather "healthy" online shopping habit lately, seeking out bargains on clothes for the girls. On this occasion, however, I was certain I wasn't expecting any purchases- and certainly none that would require such a large box. After hauling it inside amidst lots of excitement, the girls and I opened it to find no less than a Christmas' worth of toys sent to us from Lucas' cousin who works in the toy industry. I had completely forgotten that he had asked for our address a few weeks before!  There were Barbies and My Little Ponies, bubble makers, a singing Little Mermaid, walkie-talkies, the latest Crayola color wonder tablet (complete with sounds!) and several other toys that sent my girls into the toy equivalent of a sugar high. We did our best to space the opening of the toys over the next several days and had lots of fun doing so. I'm not sure what made Cousin Jim think of us at that particular time or think of us at all, but we are very happy he did!

Emma's first Barbie!

Papa happened to stop by soon after the box arrived and was able to help me open some of the toys.

Two very happy girls :-)

Hugs

Hot off the press! Lucas took this picture just this morning. It is notable not only because it is incredibly cute but also because 1) the girls are not trying to pick a fight with one another (part of testing their limits these days) and 2) because they were dressed with time to spare for a quick photo op! You may also notice that they are not quite identically dressed. That's all part of the growing up my girlies are doing these days (officially 2 1/2 this past Monday). While they've told us for a long time now what TV show they want to watch (even though we always insist that Barney has gone to bed) and the food they want to eat, they now show preferences for the clothes they wear and the hairstyles they sport each day. Yeah... we're so not ready for this!!!

Easter

Easter was in Lafayette this year, which meant lots of cousins, new Easter dresses made by Ma Mere, and a warm sunny day to enjoy food and family. Uncle Jamie made use of his fancy camera to capture these shots of the girls with mom and dad and a few cousins thrown in the mix. They were taken right after mass and before the girls had time to realize that what they really wanted was to change into their bathing suits and head for the pool!

There's no one like Papa.

Well, but Thomas is pretty cool, too :-)

The smocking and handwork on these dresses is best seen in this picture, as are my Sweet Caroline's rosy cheeks :-)

What I love about this picture is that you can see how hard it was to get the kids to pose together. We have many, many pictures like this, but this one has such great expressions!

 In Louisiana, a late Easter means it's warm enough to go swimming (and when Easter is earlier, plenty have been known to dive in anyway...) so in the afternoon, most of the crowd did exactly that. Zio Lucas was one of the few adults who braved the waters so he was a popular attraction, all the more so for his willingness to throw his nephews high into the air for lots of splashy fun!

The girls really enjoy the water and will start swimming lessons in mid-June.

Emma's wind-blown "beach Look".

Thanks, Easter Bunny!

Yes, I know this post proves how long it often takes me to get things onto the blog these days, but I'll hide behind the old adage, "better late than never". These pictures are certainly not prize-winning snapshots of our Easter morning, but they do show some essentials, like the baskets all done up in bows and cellophane, the girls' excitement over CANDY, and the fact that they shared the event with their Dallas cousins Liam and Barrett. Pictures from the rest of the day are sure to come- hopefully without so long a wait!

A "before" shot of the baskets and toys. Emma's PINK pajamas are now her favorites.

Emma and Barrett get a first glimpse at their baskets.

CANDY!!!!!

Caroline finding the sidewalk chalk.

Caroline surveying the loot.

All Dolled Up on a Pretty Spring Day

These pictures were taken outside church two weeks ago when I figured out that these dresses, given to the girls by cousins Amy and Caitlin at their baptism, finally fit! Amy and Caitlin wore the same dresses to the baptism, and if Amy and Caitlin did not grow like weeds, they might, perhaps, still fit into them (which would make for quite a cute picture). However, I have it on good authority that said cousins are bigger than ever these days :-) Nonetheless, I hope they enjoy seeing Emma and Caroline in their dresses and remember the fun time they had in Louisiana!

Emma wasn't so keen on having Caroline give her a hug.



My brown-eyed girl and her Morson family half-smile :-)