Latest and Greatest

Marea-I never did that before. Meaning, I haven't done that in a long time. I love it when she says that.

Marea is so super duper excited to start her dance class. I took her to the dancewear store and got completely sucked in, even after I promised myself I wouldn't. But the look in her eyes was magical, as she spotted the lavender leotards with tutus. And the tap and ballet shoes are pretty exciting, too. And of course we had to get a hair clip to hold her bun-a 'cheater' bun. Lord knows i'll need that. Hopefully her and Madison will be able to participate in the class, and won't get too excited to be with each other instead!

I had the best time walking at the beach with her the other day. She asked me to help her find seashells, so we strolled down the beach, slowly, and searched. She diligently picked up each and every shell piece, whole or not, declaring it beautiful. And into the bucket it went. Another one of those moments I want to capture in time. I stopped for a second, looked at her (in the most adorable pig tails I had made), enjoyed it fully, and burned it into my memory. It's only March, so i'll have plenty of days to live it over again, this summer!

Evie knows all the princesses. Much to my dismay. Bink-ba-bell, no-white, and sa-rella. But she also knows some other cool words...like, bain-bow, way-wa (sara), mee-maw, and ga-paw. And her german word is 'ketta' (necklace). And everyone loves to ask her where the poo-poo goes...'on potty!'. Now if we could just get it there!

Mommy's Vacation

We were supposed to go to Utah, but it didn't happen. Busy-ness got the best of us and we decided it would really turn everything upside-down to pack, drive, get organized in Utah, etc., and I wasn't up for it. So I decided to take a vacation from our reality (the best that I could) and go on vacation, at home, with my girls. It was exactly what I needed. So, I kept Marea out of school, stopped all social activities, and spent some much deserved time just hanging out with the girls. We didn't do much. We went on lots of walks in the neighborhood and played in the yard a lot. Marea loves to collect sticks, but mostly find roly-poly's and talk to them. It seems like she always has one in her hands, until she finds the next one. Evie talks up a storm about all the things she sees outside. 'gugs', 'wrocks', 'tees' (trees), 'sicks' (sticks), and if there is water, she'll do her best to touch it in some way, with hands or feet. We went to the beach one day when it was sunny out. Evie is still the biggest sand-witch ever. She is instantly covered in sand from head to toe, kicks sand in all the snacks, and runs for the water with absolutely no fear. Her favorite thing to do is chase the birds, and I fully support that because it keeps her busy! Marea is always busy with her sand toys, either baking something or collecting shells. I'm looking forward to some summer beach trips. And that big summer vacation. I can see now how the school schedule can really put a damper on all that time I want to spend with my girls, and throws us into a more scheduled life that can make stopping to smell the flowers just a little bit more difficult. So for now, we'll miss school whenever we want, and have some fun.