Weeeeeeeee!

Phoebe has discovered the little slide.

And she's a determined little thing.

She's singing "weeeeeee" to herself here.

Giggle giggle, check for an audience.

Wooooo.... weeeeeee......

.

Yeah!

Proud babe. Smitten Mama.

Sun

It's been time to come clean - this winter has been awful. The weather has been downright foul, soggy, dark, gloomy and cold. And the wind has been ridiculously fierce this March. So we're all feeling a bit caged and antsy. So this shot of Stella sums it up - Sun, Glorious Sun!!! (She is literally shouting, "I love the sun! It's so sunny! Hooray for sun!" No joke.)

Dirt

Since the time change, we've been enjoying longer and not-so-soggy days. The light has been beautiful, and the girls are thoroughly enjoying getting outside more and more. The yard is once more their favorite spot, and Phoebe is really learning how to dig into the mess like a pro. While some parents may roll their eyes at the mess, I love it. I really, really do. Seeing my kids in the muck actually makes me really happy; I feel like I'm doing something right.

And please take note of Stella's latest fashion phase. As she tells everyone, "I'm warm blooded." So it's a real struggle to keep clothes on her inside and outside of the house. So don't be alarmed if you see a spry little squirrel rolling in the neighborhood in just tights and an undershirt - her uniform of choice right now. (It's a total miracle that she's wearing a sweater in these photos!) We're still snuggled in our fleece and hats, but Stella is making me wonder if we're related to this dude. Hmmm.

Faces

Sad face.

Worried face.

Confused face.

Excited face.

Yawing face. (Or About to Sneeze face.)

Crazy Eyebrow face.

(These were all her ideas and her titles.)

Blocks

We've spent many rainy nights after dinner building elaborate worlds with blocks. Both girls often need a little nudge from Mama or Papa to get started, but once they dive in they run with it. While Phoebe is just starting to stack a block or two (rather than serve as a very efficient and enthusiastic one woman demolition crew), she's enthralled with emptying and filling baskets and boxes. Just feet away, Stella works on building a magic forest full of trees, bridges (for the hikers of course) and caves for the animals. And I must admit that I get just as into this kind of play, finding myself totally focused and engaged alongside two crazy creative girls.

Ooh, Crayons

Phoebe has discovered crayons. After about a week of her trying to tell a tired and foggy Mama that she really is capable of using the crayons for coloring rather than consuming, Stell and I dove into the crayon tin with Phoebe. Phoebe oohed and aahed with such sweet reverence, carefully choosing each color and watching her big sister for support. And then she went for it. Funnily enough, her drawings are different than Stella's first attempts. She's a broad scribbler, large arcs and earthy colors. (I'm actually being really serious. Stella has always reached for blue while Phoebe is showing a real affinity for browns and blacks with an occasional orange thrown in for pop. I love it.)

And since Phoebe got to try out Stella's booster seat, Stella got to use the oh-so-coveted (???) high chair as her drawing board. They were at it for about an hour, grooving to music and chatting quietly. I see many afternoons ahead of us spent in this ordinary yet fabulous way.

Big hand, little hand.

(I actually went to sleep that night with this image in my head. Be still my heart.)

Casual Diner

She's a chill babe, this one.

Sister Cousins

While Brian was in Mississippi last week for work, Stella, Phoebe and I enjoyed a lovely and relaxing visit from Auntie Lisa, Olivia and Eva Maria. Stella is so smitten by her big kid cousins, affectionately referring to them as "my sister cousins." And both Olivia and Eva Maria were wonderfully patient and engaging with Stella and Phoebe. Thank you, Burnko Girls, for such a great couple of days. We love you and can't wait for our next visit!

Her Idea

No princess costumes for this girl.

Got to Find Out What Kind of Trees These Are. They're Really Something.

Those of you familiar with our house know we've enjoyed the presence of a majestic fir tree in our front yard, home to an entire ecosystem of birds, raccoons, squirrels, bugs, hawks and goodness knows what else. And we've loved that tree. Sure, we lose sleep every year when the wicked winds hit around November. But we've had it checked periodically by the pros who have always reassured us that the tree is safe and has many years left.

Well, as of yesterday, our gorgeous seventy year old, one hundred and five foot fir came down. What an event. People came crawling out of their houses in awe. And appreciation. For, as it turns out, this massive tree was ready to come down on her own, and we, well, we helped make that happen without any damage or injuries.

When we had our unexpected and fierce wind storm a few days ago, I looked out our front window to check on our tree. And much to my nauseating surprise, the tree was swaying from its very base - not good - and the ground was literally undulating directly below it - so not good.

So in three short hours, a tree that took seventy or so years to grow came down. And while we're actually pretty sad about it in this house, we're also really grateful that nothing tragic happened and, most importantly in a house that contains a very thoughtful and Mama Earth-centric three year old, we're really happy that all the critters that nested in our tree have plenty of time to rebuild their homes before they have their babies this Spring. And Stella is already helping us research what kind of tree(s) we will plant in our "new" front yard. It looks like apples are on our horizon...

(Anyone who guesses where this post's title comes from earns my highest respect.)