Silliness

Silly Anna:

This is how silly Josie and silly Ruthie slept last night:

Josie fell off the bottom bunk onto Ruthie's bed and Ruthie fell off her trundle bed half onto the floor. Does that look comfortable to you? I had been thinking lately that maybe Josie and Anna could trade bunks and Josie could be on the top, but after seeing this I'm not so sure:)

And a not so silly but very beautiful picture of my Josie girl, who keeps wanting me to take a portrait picture of her lately:

A Full Halloween

A photo gallery of our action packed, fun filled day.

Anna's Kindergarten class went to Munson Farm Pumpkin Patch today and Josie, Ruthie and I got to tag along.

Stairstep sisters standing in the circle:

Two sisters, fast friends, running free:
Ruthie in the corn patch (she didn't like it much, she got lost in there for a bit when she couldn't see me, poor girl. Easy for the adults to see over the short stalks, but not a two year old):

Anna and Josie in the corn patch, mud about 2 inches thick on their shoes:

Ruthie found some corn!

"We have worms on our corn, Mrs. Kiley! Isn't that so cool! Mine has three worms!"

Class picture + Josie and a beautiful view of the mountains in the background. Can you beat the scenery around here? It doesn't get any better than a crisp Fall day (yes, it is Fall around here again), all the orange colors in the foreground, and the snow covered mountains rising up so close. Anna and Josie are in the middle row on the left, both in purple:

"I want this one, Mom!"

"That one's a little heavy for you, Ruthie, let me carry it"

Carving the pumpkin, cleaning out the goop inside:

Josie wanted to save and roast all the seeds for eating (anyone have a good recipe?):

The finished product, casting a ghoulish glow over our steps tonight:

Leaf pile fun this afternoon, Josie jumping in:

Anna's turn!

Bury me!

Where's Ruthie?

Anna, in her 'Nature Detective' costume complete with hiking stick, sun hat, good hiking clothes and shoes, magnifying glass, bag for treasures, creature identification booklet, bandanna turned cape that is covered in animal footprints for identification. (This Summer and Fall the girls have been earning their nature detective certificates by completing different activities at some of the Boulder Parks and Open Space areas around here. Their prizes arrived today in the mail, along with their certificate of completion saying they are officially Nature Detectives. Thus the Halloween costume featuring all the new prizes.)

Ruthie said she was a butterfly. Can you see the wings? What butterfly doesn't need a pink leotard and fuzzy purple hat?

Trick-or-treating around the courtyard! Josie was a ballerina (that was about her 5th costume of the day. The others were a Nature Detective, princess, pumpkin, and butterfly. Oh the fun of dressing up!)

Anna and Ruthie playing piano with our little friend Violet, aka Tigger the Tiger, who came over to play for a bit while the rest of her family went through a haunted house:

Stickers! What better place to put them than all over Daddy's face!

Lotsa love all around at the end of a full day.

I hope yours was packed with as much fun and lots of hugs as well!

Halloween

This year we actually let the girls dress up for Halloween, went to a party at a friend's house and went trick-or-treating! I know, I know, that sounds funny, we let the girls dress up. When do we not let the girls dress up? They dress up everyday, a couple of different times! But we're not so into Halloween. We've always avoided it. But this year the girls had been asked at least once a day by everybody they know for probably the last 3 months what they were going to be for Halloween, so they came up with an answer. Mitch and I are not so into the true meaning of Halloween, nor are we into the girls consuming unlimited amounts of candy, so we've always just tried to make it a special day in other ways and had fun connecting as a family. But this year we did it all! We had a fun time.

Ruthie was the cutest giraffe I have ever seen (stated by a totally unprejudiced mama).

Then we had a Sugar Plum Fairy (who had wings on some of the time), and Snow White.

Here they are watching a dry ice bubble form. Pretty fascinating. Drop some dry ice in a bucket of water, get a wet, long strip of rag really soapy, run it around the edge of the bucket and then, holding it stretched out tight in your hands, run it over the top of the bucket from from one end across to the other, leaving a soap sheet behind covering the opening. Then watch! The active dry ice in the bucket releases air bubbles that push up your soap bubble and a huge soap bubble is formed! Watch closely because pretty soon (especially if you're watching so closely you're breathing on it)...
POP!

Even though Anna was expecting it, she jumped every time:)

5 Year Old Birthday Princess

Half a decade old, my little Anna girl, so grown up, so confident and kind- two characteristics that can be hard to find in the same person. She knows her mind. I wasn't kidding when I told you this little girl loves to be fancy! She wanted me to put her hair in rag curlers the night before her party.
I love watching her walk when she feels beautiful. So poised and graceful (for a five year old), she holds her head high with a sparkle in her eye.
She and her daddy went on a date in the morning and returned with donuts for all of us for breakfast.

She loves her new roller skates! I love that her fancy dress doesn't ever stop her from being completely herself and doing crazy Anna things, like roller skating or climbing trees or playing in the mud.

For her birthday this year Anna wanted to invite two special friends, Nam and Sophie June, to a swim party at the rec center, and then home for games, dinner, and birthday cupcakes. A perfect choice. Our rec center has a zero entry pool where the girls can touch everywhere complete with a small and large slide and other water fountain like amenities. One of Anna's favorite places to go and safe enough for Mitch and I to watch 5 crazy girls. They had a ball. Sorry, I didn't take the camera with me. At a pool I definitely need to focus on watching the girls and making sure they are safe:)

When we got home they all dressed up like princesses and played a rousing game of hide-and-seek while Daddy fixed dinner.

Oh where, oh where has that Anna girl gone?

There she is!

The three princesses, with crowns, high-heeled shoes, fancy dresses, and bouquets of flowers.

Anna's dinner request was pesto pasta, oven fried chicken and salad. Yummy choice, Anna!

Zucchini chocolate chip chocolate cupcakes with coconut cream cheese frosting. Where does a five year old come up with a combination like that? But the birthday girl gets to choose, and I must say they turned out pretty darn tasty.

My spunky, feisty, social little Anna girl, growing up so fast.

Happy Birthday, Anna. We love you.

And one last picture, just for good measure, of Miss Josie Joy trying out the roller skates in her pajamas.

Repurposing

So many definitions of that word float around our society today.

But let me tell you, these creative little girls are unconsciously masters of it. Childhood. The freedom, unconstrained by what is proper and right, to use whatever items you want to create your own little imaginative world, mimicking the world around you.

Cloth napkins and bandannas become beds for dolls.

So proud of what they have made.

Purely for your viewing pleasure, this picture is of Ruthie walking around in Anna's boots, carrying her backpack with her own creative flare and telling me over and over "I'm Grandma Jo! Lookit me! I'm Grandma Jo!" and laughing with delight at her own silliness.

Fancy Girls

Boy howdy, do I have some fancy girls! There is nothing they love more than being fancy, however that is defined in the moment in their minds. Inspired by their fancy painted nails and all the flowers they saw, they decided to put on their fancy dresses and hold bouquets of flowers 'like in a wedding', as Anna said.

Painted toenails.

Beautiful smiles!


Our friend and neighbor and constant companion of the girls. They all love playing with Nam!

Josie had her white dress on because white is a fancy color.

Ruthie won't be left out of the fun.

Ruthie, you little charmer. You bring a smile to everyone's face.

They wanted me to make sure and tell you that Nam's dress is pink, even though it looks white in these pictures.

Relaxing on the grass.

They even put flowers in Mama's hair! Aren't I cute and fancy?! Josie took my picture.

Fancy does not mean refined or sophisticated.
Even fancy girls are full of spunk and silliness!