Science Class

The girls came over to see what remains of our Giant Swallowtail Caterpillar colony - three were around last night and this morning Becca could only find one. Two hours after the TriPrices swirled out of here, there were no signs of the last one even. It was precious - the girls asked about chrysalis stage and guessed where the missing caterpillars had gone... then jumped up and down with excitement until we went outside to find them.

Even Madeleine who came over late last week, asked to return on Saturday morning to see Aunt Memmily's caterpillars... and remembered exactly where they were in the backyard!

Oh, the excitement!

We have found one chrysalis but that's it. Hopefully they are just heading off to form their cocoons and not getting picked off by neighborhood owls. Looking forward to butterfly watching...

Happy Maddi-ween

the little munchkin was a baker this year. much more "grown up" than last year's whoopee cushion but playing the part just as well! she loves that hat.



oh, and those are mushrooms she is 'slicing' with her spoon.

Animal Noises & Party Tricks

So I've been meaning to post something about this for over a month now, and I'm finally catching up. My brother documented some of Poopsie's party tricks and uploaded them - so now I can see them whenever I get the hankerin' to.

Enjoy:

'No' How

Last weekend I was delighted to have a precious old friend in town! And by 'old' I mean that we've been friends since age 8; this is not am admission of being old. Anyhow- Gilbert stayed with me and we had a fantastic time.

Since sister Sarah now lives in Oman, it isn't easy for her to swing by and say hello. As such, she hadn't had the chance to meet mademoiselle Madeleine so we proMptly fixed that.

While we were visiting the little curly haired monster, she of course looked up and asked me for "oh oh oh" (yes, I still shamelessly dole out beyonce songs and other iPhone entertainment on demand) so I regaled little miss with her favorite song and she effortlessly completed her repetoire of related tricks. Once interest was waining, I hit pause and got the predicted "uh-oh!!". But didn't restart it.

You see, it's about 50/50 that she'll insist it turn back on vs losing interest all together. Oh, she wanted to still hear it alright and I was bombarded with the sweet question: "oh oh oh". And again with expressive eyebrows and a little sadder: "oh oh oh..."?

So I say to Sarah, "i mean, really? How can I say no to that?". Thankfully, Madeleine quickly let me know by responding "oh oh oh, no-no. oh oh oh, no-no." and repeating it a dozen more times, waving her finger before laying her head down and giving up.

So apparently THAT is how you tell a 20-month old "no"

Sent from my iPhone

Memorial Weekend Mishaps to Happiness

So I'm a few weeks behind on this... but I finally downloaded pictures from my camera (along with some precious shots of the Herd Twins!) and have story-in-pictures to share. Meghan - there will be more house updates on the way, as promised.

So for now:

The pool, post paris (lovely, no? welcome home! you now have a pond) see, i told you it was bad...

and subsequent draining. It was shiney and blue by the next evening. dirty rat-b@astard pool. arggh

this is a sneaky picture from the dining room. so... we were having a couple boards replaced on our porch and - much to my delight (oh, wait...) the whole damn thing needed replacing. nice... so this is the workers finishing up the new floor joists.

and now, something pretty from the backyard to counteract the other backyard blunders:

and while lightening the mood here... this was fantastic. dinner with the Shanleys and for a bit of comic relief - look through the window over Erin's sholder. Um, that'd be Jim & Joe under the roof of the casita because it started raining while they were grilling. tee hee...

and as the grande finale on this crescendo.... pardon my elephant neck but, seriously - can a face express pure joy any better than little bit's here?? we weren't even spinning yet, it was just the countdown ...

More, Pieeesssse

Mimi just sent over these fine pics of Maddie and I spinning last Sunday. She asks for "More" at the second I start to slow down from the spin and happily follows it up with pieeesssse ('please')

"morh"

And tickle jail...

'tis a shame she isn't a happier baby.
oh, wait...

Sweet Recognition

we had family dinner last night at our place and I realized that forgot to mention this tidbit.

Upon returning from Asia and not seeing poopsie for over a month (she was in Jackson Hole the week before I left):

A month is a long time when you're a mere 16 months old; but sure enough, that little baby remembered me!!

I walked in the door at my parents and Kim looked over at Madeleine and said "who's that!?!" she looked up, smiled and yelled, "Oh, oh, oh!" before flapping her hands at me.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS........

Little Treasures

One of the things I was most excited about coming home... was to see the girls and give them their sussies. I was spoiled with too much jewelry as a little girl and it only seems fit to continue the tradition. So, I bought each of my darling nieces a pearl necklace, long enough to later be made into a double strand bracelet. But for now, they look stunning.

Even at 1 1/2 and 4 years old, these little dolls were thrilled about their pretty little things.

Madeleine laughed and smiled and tugged on her necklace as we looked in the mirror. she had tried to pull it on over her head and then patiently waited with her arms sticking straight out to the sides as if to balance herself as I put it on her. In appreciation she gave Aunt Emmie a kiss. (melt)

We joined the TriPrices at Westwood for an Easter afternoon swim, which was lovely. Faith, while wet and curled up in my lap, asked me why I had a necklace (the girls often ask about my necklace or play with it). After a series of very funny "whys" she concluded that I must have gotten the necklace for my birthday and she didn't get a necklace for her bday.

I later used the 'ol "Girls... I have a surprise for you..." trick to distract Ava & Faith from hopping back in the pool (which at this point was quite cold). It worked! =)

So it was about time to leave and we started all walking out together when Ava said "but what about our surprise?" Ah, yes... I assure you I hadn't forgotten. Good to know they were eager.

Claire had wandered off so Faith and Ava got theirs first and were so thrilled - Ava immediately requested Uncle Joe take her picture. Faith because very content and pensive... resting her hand and thumb on her chest, over her new pearls, for the rest of the day. Funny how that reaction is so natural for a girl. Claire on the other hand, was having a rough time with leaving the pool, who was going to be the 'leader' and otherwise. She wanted her necklace on but then promptly wanted it back off so she could see it.

As we said our final goodbyes, I was tackled by A&F with a sweet, digging in kind of hug - complete with their wet little swimsuits and all.

Totally made my day.

New word

It is with great pride that I report the continuing additions to Madeleine's growth and development... I taught her the word 'cupcake.' (sounds like cup-kuh)

my heart swells.

Little Single Lady

If we've chatted recently, I've likely retold my most recent favorite hobby to you...which is: Singing Beyonce songs with Madeleine. It is endlessly entertaininig to me- which works out well, since it seems to be quite entertaining to her, too.

I finally (well, kinda) figured out how to video it... but did a miserable job capturing the moment. I kept messing up when I would stop/start the recording...

Please enjoy the fruits of my labor, anyway.

Upon hearing her favorite singer's name:

Can't seem to sit still:

<<12>>

Dancing some more (note the fancy foot work at the end, around 20):

Maybe next time I'll be crafty enough to actually record the hand movements.

Back by popular demand...

pictures of poopsie!

these are a week old - it just takes me that long to process pics lately - which actually is pretty quick: I just had a few pictures from sunday dinner and the downloading, editing was moved along due to an event I photographed on thursday night and i had to get those pictures to the client asap.

damn, she's cute.

'tis a shame she isn't more expressive...

(this emotion lasted approximately 4 seconds)

I spent most of the day saturday with the triplets (after photographing a 2-year-old's bday party) and it might have been the best stress relief I could have possibly found.

Honestly, I didn't think about the sky-is-falling nonsense of work. Even Sunday as i prepared for the start of the work week (and my blood pressure and anger started shooting up again), I would just think of little Faith curling up in my lap, or Claire wanting to swing with me or Ava asking when she could get a necklace like mine... and it all just faded away.

Unfortunately, I was too enamored with their sweet nature and hilarious antics to bust out the camera for some snaps of the little firecrackers.

So enjoy the pics of Madeleine and I'm going to try to focus on happier times =)

in the meantime, happy monday.

Time Machine

Is it possible to start a week actually *further* behind than you were the week before? (I have learned that the answer is yes) Because if I had a time machine, and could go back to last week, I would be ahead of where I am right now... however: IF I had a time machine, there is not a snow ball's chance [in hell] that I would do it. Why?

Last week:

• Dear Mr. Price got what must have been the most vicious case of food poisoning I've ever heard of... let alone witness. Wow. I will spare you the details. Bless his heart. (My mom had it too... I actually had a weather forecast from my Dad of symptoms-- real time.)
  
• After pulling an all-nighter (haven't done that in awhile), I worked from home to take care of the aforementioned - and between conference calls and frantic emails, I made trips to the pharmacy, grocery store, doctors office, back to the grocery store, etc


• Drove to Dallas for a meeting with a partner/client = 7+ hours in the car for a 40 minute meeting, rushed lunch at Mi Cocina (now THAT I'd repeat), all with a co-worker I barely know.


• A few hours before leaving... I learn that my dad, sister, sister-in-law and niece all got sick, too. Hmmm... whhhhoooooo'sss in for a road trip with a stranger and a possible 6 hours of vomiting?? OOhh!! Oohhh!! Me! Me! Please, sign me up! (It turned out just fine)


• Worked past 8pm each night last week, worked on Saturday... then again on Sunday. Booooooo.


• Wrote the check for our property taxes and for our new roof while paying bills - now THAT was fun.
  

Um, so those were the major highlights.

However... there is a silver lining. (**Note: There is ALWAYS a silver lining)

1. Last week is over.
2. I somehow never got sick. My brother ended up getting sick while in Cabo last weekend (that's not the silver lining part, just sayin' I'm glad it wasn't me). That means that the whole fam somehow got this awful bug and I, some how, was spared.


3. At family dinner this week, we learned that Madeleine will spring into action by singing or playing Beyonce songs -- even if she's cranky and about to fall to sleep. This brings a whole new value to my iToy: You Tube videos


4. Thanks to item #2, I learned about the current phenomenon of people dancing to the "Single Ladies/Put a Ring on It" video, taping themselves and uploading it to YouTube. **More on this later!**


5. To help celebrate that it is a new week and that last week is o-v-e-r-- we made ice cream sundaes. WITH Magic Shell!! (iToy pics will have to suffice)

So happy new week! I think my mantra (at least for the next few days) will be: "It could be worse... on top of this, I could have just puked for 6 hours straight..." =)

Blog Backlog

Dear Blog Readers,

I am remiss, my sincere apologies. Here it is, the begining of the year and nothing to read online during your downtime ...and I am not helping.

You see, dear reader, I have a backlog of blog posts that I have not yet posted because I have not yet uploaded the pictures to the posts. I've not yet included the pictures because I hadn't downloaded the pictures from my camera. Seems that it took me so long to do that, there was a backlog of pictures to organize and back-up. Turns out, once I realized that task was a bit more overwhelming that I'd realized (that of sorting), I just kind of ignored it - went along my merry holiday way... celebrating too much, sleeping in too much, watching movies and teaching my nieces to say my name (successfully, I might add!! more on that later). As you may know, I did start editing down pictures from the beginning of the year which leaves -who knows how long- until I get to the end of the year and to the task at hand.

This is no excuse, dear reader. I have heeded your call for reading material and I pledge to do better-- to catch up on my blogging backlog! NOTE: this is NOT a new years resolution, as I haven't and clearly shouldn't. My goal is to upload the pics tonight to the blog backlog and post those puppies! (wish me luck)

Best,
me

P.S. Madeleine can now say "Aahh Meh-Muh" for of Aunt Emmie (she can't say her 'E's just yet) and she's quite proud when she says it, too. Meanwhile, we had a delightful Christmas Day with the TriPrices - who refer to me as Aunt Em-lee and freely pull me from room to room for various adventures. My heart swells with pride. =)

Christmas Cards from Aunt Emmie

I've been taking some pics for (other people's) Christmas cards lately and took three of my absolute *favorites* yesterday, so I thought I'd share some Christmas spirit.

And let me just say this: people who think there is 'economies of scale' in having multiples-- are mistaken.

That and: damn they're cute:







Faith (whispers) "I'm ready for my picture... cheese."


Ava hollas "I'm part of a group? I'm Part of a GROUP!"


Claire asks wide-eyed "Aunt Em-lee, can I have candy now?"


Little Madeleine-lou-who from Whoville:

Halloween Stinker

For her second Halloween, Madeleine was a Woopie Cushion. It was awesome. Clearly it was just as funny to her as it was to us:

What else do 13-month-old Woopie Cushions do? They're not just all laughs! Oh, no. Turns out they spread all kinds of happiness....

They hug their cousins, (she *may* have been trying her newest wrestling move here)

they feed their sandwiches to hungry (and friendly) puppies:

they make new friends with monkeys they encounter...

They also give speeches about very important things in foreign languages (details of aforementioned speech pending...)

This little toot isn't talking just yet, but her animal sounds are brilliant. She can do impressive impersonations of a monkey, lion and horse. She also knows the difference between her aunt and uncle's noses and can find her belly button in a flash.

Oh, the fun you can have with a one year old.

Footnote: I'm going with the spelling of "Woopie" that matches Maddie's costume.

More Cake? (link fixed)

Additional Selection of Maddie Bday pics here.

1 Year & 1 Day of Madeleine Mae

Sunday, September 21, 2008: Poopsie's first birthday party.

She LOVED her party and clearly knew it was all about her.

It was fantastic.

cake work by Aunt Emmie (on the white & pink one)

(it says "One year and one day of Madeleine Mae")

Dive on in, sweet cakes...

Straight to the tub!

....contemplating cake.

Yep, still having fun.

Getting dressed for round 2 and seeing herself on her first-year-of-life-slideshow (from Aunt Emmie, of course, with love)

4 Generations:

Yay for the toys that make noise!

hahahahahaha - easy for me to say

...the tutu was pretty fun, too...

...And a sweet hug from cousin lucian

Damn she's cute.