More random and precious moments

 Wackadoodle Josy

 Favorite pjs

 Sam took these photos by himself!

 Baby Emma came to visit!

Josephine reading to Sam one morning, while I was getting ready.

Ok, I have some kid quotes!
Sam, as we were pondering the thorns on our flowering quince: "Those are flower bones!"
Also, one of his recent soliloquies: "I have an office, for reals. I have 100 girls in my office. They all have white hair and they are taller than me and they dance all the time. And I'm going to marry them, each of them, all of them. One at a time."

Josephine whispered to me the other day: "Do you know what I believe? That fairies come from flowers. And they're the same color as the flowers they come from. And that's where they live."

She is currently very into bubblegum, Littlest Pet Shop bobbleheads, and reading everything. And planning sleepovers with her friends without, of course, actually talking to any grownups about the plans. She also is doing accents and can roll her Rs and yes, she is quite the actress. And still hard to pull away from a mirror, where she often whispers to herself and poses instead of getting dressed for school.

Sam has latched onto his Bunny "Bun-Bun," and more recently has two stuffed birds, "Birdy" and "Pretty" with whom he nests at night, as well as his pretty princess doll. And he likes his fast cars, the names of which I should remember.

The other afternoon Sam was angry about something and went outside, stood on a deck chair (don't worry, a sturdy one) and just screamed into the air with rage. He felt better afterward. He spied a robin coming toward him and came inside to tell me about the "chick" in the yard that was coming to be his friend, but then it flew away and he burst into tears and told me he wanted a pet bird.

Yesterday morning I went to take him to breakfast. From his bed he scowled and said, "I'm not coming to breakfast, I'm still making up a story in my head!" Later he was still working on it, and still later that day when I asked him to tell it to me, he said, "I don't want to. It's got guns and swords in it, for fighting bad guys, and a prince and princess." (He knows I don't like guns.)

Explorers & Superheros

 A. and Sam discovered this odd roll of material somewhere, and began working on how to unroll it, and use it for something.

 Meanwhile, Josy works on leaf and flower soup.

 This is back in Feb when her bruise was still pretty fierce. I only show this so she'll have a record of it - and because she's all better now.

 How often do you walk out your front door in the morning to THIS convention?

Pictures from a winter-spring Sunday

We always go to  my office to check out the exhibits. Josephine and I had a good five minute discussion of photography. What makes a good photograph? Why did these photographers take pictures of street signs? 

This past Sunday was a beautiful day and we roamed up and down the mall exploring. Jo, of course, kept reading her book. 

Before downtown, Sam and I played with his cars. He wanted them all lined up, so we went to the track. 

But first, we had to carry them there. 

My little guitar is temporarily missing, so we improvised on this new electric guitar. 

When the cars got a bit boring, we went for a kick-about. 

It's been a while since we've watched the hockey. 

"This is a race car. It's the XT-3!"

We took a quick ride on the trolley. Do you think Sam liked it? 

I think this beaming face gives that answer!

Betsy, Tacy, and Josephine

At Christmas, Josephine was given a copy of the Betsy-Tacy treasury by her Aunt Sandra. On one day in March 2012, it became one of her favorite books. 

For almost an entire Sunday, she was captivated by the book. I read her and Sam about 80 pages out-loud over the course of the day. When I wasn't reading it, she was looking at it. 

When Sam was on the merry-go-round, Josephine sought out a quiet space to read in the sun. 

No matter where we were, she was reading the book. 

Watching my daughter become a reader makes me happy. I am hopeful, so hopeful, that she loves books and doesn't grow up entirely reading screens. Thank you, Auntie Sandra! r

First weekend in March

The very last of Sam's birthday cake as he contemplates being 4 for a full month. 

We used to go to Azalea Park all the time, but this was our first return as a family in a very long time. 

I like taking Sam and Josephine to construction projects. They seem to like it. We are at the Jefferson Park Avenue bridge replacement. Josy wanted to know why the road was closed so we went up to investigate. I showed them the massive concrete embankments they're building. They really enjoyed it and wanted to keep looking around, but it suddenly started to get cold. 

Somewhere I know there's a picture of her as a younger girl in this same spot. I'm amazed at how big she is getting. 

I've been cleaning out the games cupboard. That gave Josy the opportunity to be a kitty-cat. Sam's in the background crawling to the potty. 

"She's got the whole world, in her hands!" 

"She's got the whole world, on her head!" - seriously - the kids love making planets out of Play-Doh, and then little moons to go around them. 

We talked for a few minutes about pipes. Are these being put in the ground, or are they the ones that were removed? We didn't know, but I like watching her try to figure out the answer. 

This is to document Josephine eating. She had three helpings of mac-and-cheese at lunch. She's growing so fast and needs her fuel. 

There is no question this child is mine. And that she is the grand-daughter of my mother and father. 

After the JPA trip, we came home with so many rocks. And, Josy decided they needed to be painted. And they were! 

Every weekend now we have a Play-Doh factory set up in my house. 

Can you see the little boy in this picture? 

We took Billy with us to the park, and Sam wanted us to know there was another dog in the park. 

This is likely going to be one of my favorite pictures of all time. Sam wanted to wait for Thomas to come. I'm going to have this blown up into a bigger picture, I think. Josephine was asking if the bridge was old, because it was rusted. Apparently, though, that's what VDOT does now.  I tried to explain to the kids, but I did show them the sign that said the bridge was manufactured in April 2011. 

Dogs dig holes. Little boys like to stand in them. He was overjoyed to be here. There were 10 dogs in the park today, and Sam and Josy were enthralled to be there. They spent so much time there when they were little. 

Belated birthday at Grandma and Granddad's house!

It's President's Day, which means a couple of nights in Lynchburg with Grandma and Granddad! It was also a chance for them to celebrate Sam's fourth birthday. Here are some pictures completely not in order. 

Josephine loves Charlie, my parents' dog. She follows him around and requested to cuddle with him for a while. He obliged. 

Josephine got a cool toy that let her use fabrics to decorate animals. 

It snowed, so Josy and I had the chance to go outside.

Here's Josy receiving the gift used above!

Sam got a pirate costume from Grandma and Granddad. He wore it the rest of the day. 

Outside, Josy and I got to make a snowgirl. 

Sam and Granddad play with the new pirate ship! 

Sam was not feeling well so he couldn't play in the snow. 

The pirate ship sets sail! 

This is already a request for Halloween 2012!