Fruit and Sweet pea... Sunday?

Ok, so I'm going to shoot for next Friday getting back on schedule here with our fruit and flower Friday. I'm thinking with us starting pre-school this week, everything else will get back into a routine too. Ha, I might laugh at that statement in a month. Worth a shot though!

Yesterday I had our day all planned out. Bud was working on building the cow shed out at Mattaw while I stayed home in the morning to let the kids do stuff around the house and get their naps in so we could join their dad for lunch at Mattaw. Saturday lunches are the best out there. I miss our Mattaw kids and was ready for a day with them to do nothing but play and laugh. Didn't quite happen. Elisha desperately needed a haircut. I mean, look at his ear bangs...

Need I say more? So I was on a mission. I got out a new movie, gave him a treat and busted out the comb, scissors and clippers. Ugh, it was one loooong hour and a half. Lets just say it involved screaming, tears, and hair everywhere. (mostly me being the one crying and pulling MY hair out, ha) But we got 'er done and does he ever look like a sweet little preschooler now. Unfortunately I did not get an after shot because I was scrubbing the hair out of the carpet so long after that he fell asleep.

So by that time I knew we were staying home the rest of the day. Ok, next on the list, I have grandparents of my kids hungry for new photos! Claire woke up in good spirits, lets go play and take the camera along.

First, time to update on our sweet pea.

Claire is now an 1 and a 1/2 year old as of August 25th! Oh that is just nuts. She is such a joy to have in our life. Her personality keeps us laughing daily. She is such a girly girl one minute and then the next she is rough and tough, rolling in the dirt and catching "doo doo's" (the word for bug in Swahili). In the mornings when we get her out of bed she always wants to grab a baby, find a blanket to wrap her in, and snuggle. She loves to read books and will sit in my lap way longer than Elisha did at this age. She is quite the talker, her favorite word being babies. She'll babble a bunch of words we don't know and then blurt out loud "BABIES!". We have no clue what she is talking about but apparently a story about babies. She is on a great schedule. We put her in bed around 7:30pm and leave the room and she goes to sleep on her own. Another opposite from Elisha, thankfully! On the flip side, it's hard to get her to sleep when we travel because she likes her own room and space to fall asleep in and Elisha will fall asleep quick with us in the room. She loves her beauty rest and usually doesn't get up until around 9am. Then she'll play and get into EVERYthing and crash for a nap somewhere between 11-1. She can be quite a picky eater in a weird way. One of her favorites is still avocado with garlic salt. She's not a fan of sandwiches but loves loves spaghetti or any pasta. She likes yogurt and granola a lot. And boiled eggs are always a guarantee. Last night she ate asparagus for the first time and liked it for the most part. (found asparagus at this awesome stop from Nairobi to here, called Delamere farm) She loves to swing and walk around the yard looking at flowers and picking them. She also has learned how to keep up with Elisha and wrestle with him. They fight over toys quite often, one of those things where they don't want the toy until the other has it. But they are learning more and more how to play together. She has mastered running now. A few weeks ago she still had a leg drag when running and would mostly hop/run/walk but now she's full speed, running to everything. Her hair is growing so much which I enjoy. She on the other hand pulls out her rubber bands and bows and likes the mullet look she has going on right now. But she loves to put on shoes and change them a million times throughout the day. She also likes to take all hers and Elisha's clothes out and try them all on. She can be very independent but then at times acts like her legs are broken and must be carried and snuggled. My baby girl is very full of life and I'm soaking in this stage she is in as much as I can because (from experience) I know it won't last long!

And now for our photo shoot. It was a lovely day. Good lighting for some great photos. I could only find one bow but we're not going for perfection here. I had her "all dolled up" as my mom would say.

She played in the dirt. No big deal, just a little dirt.

We ran.

She is one determined little girl.

She practiced her princess wave.

She talked about how how she really wanted her Nene and Grandma to come visit and was reaching out for them. (pulling on heart strings?)

She didn't take it well when I told her we still had another year till we'd see them. (or was that me?)

She loved on her puppies. Another word she loves to say.

We played kitchen. She made me tea and pie.

But drank all my tea.

I read her a book, then she insisted on reading it to me. It was pretty cute!

And it was a great time of taking photos. And I just thought we were done.

Then I remembered I needed to take a picture of a fruit and Elisha was awake. We got these AMAZING strawberries at Delamere farm. Almost as big as ones in Texas. So sweet and delicious. The kids love them too.

(take note of new haircut, just don't look too close. he was in the zone of just waking up and watching t.v.)

I sliced these babies up and made an angel food cake to go with for dessert last night. And the heavens opened up and angels sang.

I did mention she always takes her hairbands and bows out? Rockin the mullet.

And then it happened. Our sweet little photo shoot continued on, but not quite as sweet anymore. I walked out to find this ragdoll.

She was confused why I was startled. But of course not enough to go throw her in the tub immediately. We must get in one more photo shoot.

And don't worry Claire, your paybacks will come when you bring home your first boy for us to meet....
She really has no problem getting down in the mud. I mean really....

"How do you like me now mom? I'll give you glamour."

Great side profile with those pretty blue eyes. Minus the mud and stringy hair.

She jumped in it.

Wiped her eyes with it.
And LICKED it! Ok, now we're getting in the tub. Photo shoot complete.

Keepin' it real. Over and out.

(and p.s... i've taken down the basketball fundraiser over there to the right since we've had a few youth groups commit to raising the funds! thank y'all! can't wait to go lace up my andone's)