Mia & June Top 10

1

This activity provides hours of entertainment for these girls.  June is mostly the guinea pig for Mia's experiments; she gets to brave steep hills and fancy trampoline routines in this wagon.

2

It's a happy moment when the paper towels and toilet paper runs out simultaneously.

The girls call the empty rolls, "doot-doot-doos," because of the trumpet sound they seem to evoke.

3

4

Since Mom spends most of her day in front of the sink (we don't have a dishwasher), the girls, therefore, think it must be an incredibly interesting task because they always want to participate!

                                           

5

Working hard with Dad:

                      

 6

Dress up:

7

8

Our favorite destination:

9

Sundays:

10

Mia isn't the only diva in our backseat!

Pascal Week, 2013

Remember Easter?  It happened nearly two months ago, but I am going to document it anyway.

Easter egg dyeing with our first attempt at using natural dyes.  It was a mess, and our counter is indefinitely stained with turmeric-yellow...

...but the colors were gorgeous.  It was gratifying to feed my family the eggs during the subsequent week without  Red #40 staining my hands and causing carcinogen-releasing nightmares 

#deathbyeggdye (this is my first attempt at a hash tag).

Springtime bounty:

I will take this moment to reveal a most un-motherly quirkiness I have.

I am really uncomfortable talking about the Easter Bunny, Toothfairy, and even Santa Claus with my kids as anything more than "the legend of _____" or "some people think it's fun to pretend that..."

Most people think I am a giant party pooper, but when I discovered that Santa was not a reality at the tender age of five, it broke my heart...not because the magic of Christmas was affected, but because my mom had gone to such extents to fabricate the story for my sake.  I felt foolish.

I don't want to give my girls reason to question the validity of what I teach them.

But, I promise they are not deprived of the exciting traditions or imagination.  

I just don't exhaust a lot of effort convincing them that a giant bunny hid their treats around the yard, and try to focus instead on why we hide plastic eggs with candy...why did the tradition begin and 

what does it symbolize?  

I'm sure they feel enlightened.

Chilly hunt at Gma R's:

Chilly hunt at Gma K's (Mia's hair was transitioning from pouf to braids that weeknd, so we hid it):

M Day

Today I am celebrating the love, sacrifice, and influence of these women on my behalf 

(and on behalf of my husband and children).  

                                        

And, of course, Mothers' Day is particularly tender because of these two miracles.  Along with the the depth of gratitude I feel for the privilege of being their mother comes the eternal appreciation I have for their beloved birth-mothers, Asia & Su, who granted it to me.