Bits and Pieces

Phone Call: "Mrs. Pittard? This is "Matilda" from the eye doctor's office. Joseph is due for his yearly exam, and I was calling to see when you'd like to come in."

Me: "How about this afternoon at 1?"

"Matilda": "Give me just a moment to see if the doctor is free at that time ... Um, it seems he ... Oh, Joseph is already scheduled!"

Me, laughing: "I know - I made his appointment two days ago."

We both laughed and I apologized for not telling her right away, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up!


Here's one for the "Gonna-Have-To-Watch-This-One" file:

While at the eye doctor's office, Selah touched something she shouldn't. I admonished her not to touch and watched as she reached for it again. I popped her hand and firmly told her 'no'. She cradled her poor little hand gingerly, then turned to her big sister. "Kaity, I see your hand!" Selah grabbed it and before Kaity realized what was happening, Selah had used her sister's hand to touch the forbidden thing!


I'll leave y'all with a sneak peek at the family portraits we had done this summer. One of our college people, Tara, is a photographer, and she did a great job! Her business is called Breath of Light Imagery. I'll post more later!

Why So Serious?

Is it just me, or are girls wearing make-up too young these days?

*sigh* That was a brand new tube of mascara, too. She painted her face, arms, and the mirror, too. It was magical.

Move Over, Mozart

Our Kaity has begun piano lessons! She's already a prodigy.

Not to brag, but she's already mastered "Merrily We Roll Along" AND "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas".

Next up, Moonlight Sonata. Look out, world!

Those Pittard Kids

Selah has been so sweet this morning! The big kids were up early, before her, which is really unusual! They asked if they could play on the computer and on the Wii, and I gave my permission. Selah was still snoozing away in MY bed. The kids had been up playing quietly for several minutes when Selah sat up and cried, "Joe!"

Later, she started tugging at each one of them in their electronic stupor.

"Joe, I want you PAY wif me!"

"Kaity! Kaity, I want you PAY wif ... ME!"

How could they resist? 

I took this picture last week - Joe's eating an apple and watching Kaity play.

But as we all know, toddlers reserve the right to inexplicably change their minds without regard to anyone or anything else. When Kaity picked Selah up to go play upstairs, that tiny girl screamed like a banshee!

"NONONO! NO, Kaity! I want to watch!"

*sigh*

So now we're watching Robin Hood.

This one was taken a few weeks ago. I LOVE seeing them snuggle!

Happy Birthday to Jeff and Joe!

For his birthday this year, Jeff requested my Summer Cake. I thought it would be fun to make it into cupcakes and to do chocolate toppers in different shapes. The cake itself is orange-y, and the frosting is Cool Whip. I made those for our Sunday night crowd.

Letters, Avengers, the Triforce, treble clefs, hearts, Pac-Man, Volkswagen ...

On Joe's actual birthday, we had Hot Fudge Cake and vanilla ice cream.

Kaity made the latch hook rug Joe is leaning on. It's a soccer ball, if you can't tell. ;)

Our 8 year old little boy!

Our Prodigy

A regular Picasso ...

... and by that, I mean it's hard to interpret what the artist intended to actually draw!

"Look, Mommy! It's a doggie! I draw a doggie!"

"Uh, sure, honey. That's ... something all right!"

Please note that she is wearing a single purple sock along with her sandals. She did that All By Herself.

Today while Selah was upstairs in preparation for her nap, I heard her talking. She was saying something, chattering, and then settled into a rhythmic pattern of babble and the word "down". It wasn't until she said, "Kaity, look - my guitar!" that I realized the "down-down-down" part was her interpretation of an electric guitar sound! Oh, and the other day I was listening to the radio when a guy started playing acoustic guitar. Selah immediately recognized it and said, "Guitar!" She also recognizes Daddy's tenor sax - we were waiting in the sanctuary one day for band practice to start, and Jeff began playing. Selah immediately turned around to the stage and said, "Daddy!"

Imagination

Our kiddos have really vivid imaginations! Here they are pretending to be adventurers in a strange land, following a treasure map. Kaity has a British accent. She owns a tavern (?!).

At the base of the Mountain of Stairopia.

The map.

Here they are crossing the Swaptsky Swamp on their way to Icenea.

The next day they were pretending to be Dickens-era orphans, one of their favorite games. They spend their time foraging for food, dressed in blankets and random clothes, looking pitiful. They bring the food back to the imaginary younger children at the orphanage. Kaity has an elaborate system in place in which the older kids are paired up with younger ones to make sure everyone is cared for.

Long Live Summer!

Yesterday, the kids decided it was the perfect day to play outside with the hose. They were right! They came in to eat lunch and took an afternoon break, but they were back out there until dinnertime!

I was trying to be sneaky and to take pictures before they noticed I was there, but Selah spotted me.

"Mommy!" 

Fighting over the hose.

Victory!

Revenge!

And because it's so classically summer, I had to take the second picture over to PicMonkey just to try out some different options.

Joe looks so mischievous! As always.

I love Kaity's expression!

In the spirit of these fun summer days, Shutterfly is running a contest! For the Long Live Summer photo contest, just submit your favorite pics through their Facebook page. There are instant prizes, weekly prizes, and a grand prize trip to The Bahamas! Let me know if you enter - I'd love to see your favorite summer pictures!

Black and White Photos

Two text messages I love to get from my friend Kim are - "Are you home?" because it means I'm about to get company, and "What size is Selah?" because it means I'm about to get some cute clothes! Kim is a savvy shopper and works in retail so she gets discounts, even on clearance stuff. Every once in a while she can't resist getting a cute outfit for Selah. Our latest gift is a black and white polka dot dress, complete with matching headband!

"I am SO adorable!"

And speaking of "adorable", when I told Selah she was adorable the other day, she sat up, looked around and said, "Dora? Where's Dora?"

Here are a couple of different takes on the last picture.

Raising a Reader

There comes a time in every nerd's life when you fear your children will not like books. I have to say, I was only worried for a short time with our Joe. That time is over. Last week, Jeff took the kids to the library and Kaity checked out "Wonderstruck" by Brian Selznick. When she finished reading it, Joe picked it up and couldn't put it back down! I loved the thoughts and feelings he expressed after finishing it.

"I wish Rose's story had been in words, too, so there would be more to read."

"I hate it when books end and there isn't another one because you still have more questions!"

"It wasn't long enough." Yeah, it's only 600 + pages.

Oh, the joy and angst of reading!