Call Day #118, 8/19/12

Eleanor was looking through the Ikea catalog this morning.  When she saw all the products numbered (to correspond to their descriptions below), she thought it was a connect-the-dots picture.  She was disappointed it didn't result in a nice picture when she did, in fact, connect the dots.

Eleanor started a list of baby names.  They are all girl names.  Tell you anything about her preference?  In case you're trying to read it the list reads: Mia, Rose, Olivia, and Hannah.  Lily got added after the picture was taken.  These came from a story book that included lots of names.  A few names that didn't make the cut:  Iona and Matilda.

 After church and naptime, we went to a place owned and cared for by the state horticultural society.  Claire points to her favorite flower, a multicolor variety.

 Eleanor chooses her favorite.  Not a minute later, while grabbing a big blossom, she got her first bee sting.

Of course, a few minutes later she was running around and doing just fine.

Running through the rows of plantings.

 While Claire talks to Daddy on the phone, Eleanor climbs a tree.

 Profile, taken while on the phone with Daddy.

Big sand area in the Children's Garden!

Digging and filling a bucket.

Eleanor in the tower in the Children's Garden.

 Claire climbs up too.

Posing on the big chair.

Checking out fish in the pond.

 Baby bird Claire in one of the birds' nests.

 Eleanor "sitting on the eggs" in her nest.

Running to another part of the gardens.

 Down a pretty path.  Have to go find the pottys, you know.

Time for a picnic dinner.

 Eleanor was excited to "dribble the soccer ball" after kicking it around with Daddy recently.

Happy just to run around in a big field.

Claire is excited about the special dessert that accompanied our picnic.

 More fun kicking.

Claire even got in on it.

Tired girl, fell asleep on the way home.

Call Day #117, 8/16/12

When Eleanor and Claire seem unable to play together well, we've started having "Alone Time."  They get to play, just not together, and usually go to their respective rooms.  Today, Eleanor asked to play in the playroom and built this.  She knew we were getting ready to go to visit some friends who live in a high rise downtown so she built this model of their place.

Meanwhile, in her room Claire wrote "C's" on a chalkboard.  This is the letter she knows best since it is "my letter."

We rode the train to our friends' place and Eleanor kept track of how many stops we had traveled, knowing we had to go to the 11th stop.  Here she is at stop 8--she kept her fingers up the whole ride there so she wouldn't lose count.

Don't you usually walk around your downtown with a dress and a floatie?

The main attraction at Peter's house was the pool!  This one was super shallow and perfect for the kids to wade and jump in (floatie not really needed).

Claire borrowed Peter's floating device (not sure what it's really called).  She was excited to try it out and jumping up and down.

She felt comfortable enough in it to very quickly try to float on her back.

Just a few seconds to show Claire's new-found comfort in the pool with this thing!

We later moved to the full-size pool and everyone was happy in the pool for a really long time!

Eleanor and Peter eating lunch afterwards.

After a very late rest time, we had an early dinner and watched one of the (MANY!) new movies from Aunt Linda.

Call Day #116, 8/12/12

Morning cuddles with Daddy.

Goodbye hug.

The girls found some of the capsules that dissolve in water to give little animals.  Watching them to see what will grow.

After church, we watched the Dominican parade.  It's an annual event that makes it hard to drive home from due to street closures and I learned last year to embrace it rather than fight it.  So, we parked the car a few blocks from home, grabbed a lunch to take with us, and settled in to watch.

In time to see the fire truck at the start.

Not sure what look this is...

Eleanor watching the baton twirling.

Someone was giving out beads.  Eleanor and Claire both ended up with a few.

There were some ladies with pageant sashes.  I asked Eleanor what she thought of their shoes and she said she would like some like that!

Friends from down the street joined us and took this picture.

And this one of a smiley (and eating?) Eleanor.

We had dinner in the living room while watching some gymnastics on the computer.  They hadn't seen any of those events yet and I thought they might enjoy it.

When Claire got tired of it, she started trying on shoes I brought down from the attic to see what fit.

Call Day #115, 8/8/12

First thing Eleanor wanted when she got up this morning was to look at pictures.  She loves looking at all of our pictures stored on the computer.

As soon as Claire was up, she wanted to watch too.

Eleanor remembered to give Claire a hug from Daddy (since Eleanor got to see him before he left for work but Claire didn't).

We went to the Nature Center this morning to meet up with some friends.  We stayed for a while after they left and the girls played together in the sand.  Claire came up with this game, "Where is my hand?"

Eleanor fetching water from a nearby creek.

Wet sand makes better "castles" and "cakes."

After nap, we headed to a nearby park, Eleanor leading the way on her balance bike.  She's getting much better.

The ice cream truck showed up.  What a treat!

I don't think Claire had ever had anything from an ice cream truck before.

 Someone else was pretty happy about it too!

Popsicles melt fast and little girls just can't keep up.

What a face!

Trying to wash off in the sprinklers.  It wouldn't come off!

Colorful tongue.

Eleanor enjoyed the sprinklers.

And climbing.

Claire wasn't into playing at the park today so we played with the camera instead.

Then we had dinner with Daddy. We're taking advantage of a lighter rotation while we can!  (Oh, and Claire liked the ice cream vending machine so they posed in front of it.)