Quick Pics

I've just returned from a mother/daughter swim party tonight. What I really want is a break from all their craziness, but instead I'm powering through and trying to have fun activities before I have this baby and become nothing more than a human dairy.

So here are a few pictures from our lives lately. I did some arrangements for a wedding reception. I do enjoy doing flowers. Hopefully I'll get my flower blog updated shortly with the rest of the pics.

My garden is growing like mad. I thought I was keeping up on the zucchini, but I was wrong. I know I should have included a small child for perspective or something, but the top one is about 15 inches long. I made 12 mini loaves of zucchini bread and a batch of zucchini cookies, which my children would not eat, with it.
I'm so fortunate to have my very own personal stylist with tons of accessories at hand. And usually underfoot. All over my house.
Friday, my friend Ashley and I spent the day torturinng ourselves. A train promoting the upcoming Disney version of A Christmas Carol came to town and we decided to take our kids to go see it. We waited in the the hot sun for over 2 1/2 hours, watching people pass out and vomit, having the kids disregard the manmade "snow" as "just bubbles," to spend 15 minutes tops on a train full of displays the kids weren't the least bit interested in. Actually, Ashley spent less time than that since as soon as we got to the head of the line, Josh had to go to the bathroom. But here's Addie in front of a mirrored display.
Here's the kids before Ashley had to force her way off the train and make for the portapotties.
And here's Chloe in front of the final display, sort of. Apparently, our camera is dying and is too weak to keep its lens open.
After the train, I took Chloe to the portapotty where she immediately started hugging the pole to the urinal, and questioning all the bodily deposits she could see in the potty. There really are no words. We then went into an inflatable theatre and watched a 3-D preview of the movie. It's motion capture, like The Polar Express, and to be honest, I still find the technology incredibly creepy. We started this little adventure thinking it would be fun to take the kids to the movie in November, but Chloe was pretty freaked out by the preview, and I'm still haunted by the creepy animation, so I just don't think it's going to put us in the right holiday spirit.

On the way home, the little kids fell asleep and we promised the bigger kids ice cream cones. We stopped at McD's for the icecream, and ordered 2 cones. As soon as I pulled up to the second window, and they handed me my order, Addie woke up and said, pitifully, "Too, too?" So the kind employee let me order another cone with only a small eye roll. Addie only dropped it twice on the 5 minute drive home. Perhaps if she had been willing to hold it with her whole hand instead of just her fingertips we would have been more successful.

Today Chloe woke up begging for oatmeal cookies. I told her we didn't have any. She asked again later, and I gave the same reply. This afternoon, I told her we were going to make oatmeal cookies, expecting a joyous, grateful response. Instead I got, "I don't want to make oatmeal cookies. I don't like oatmeal cookies. Let's make chocolate chip cookies instead." Fine. She actually drove her point home by accidently selecting an oatmeal cookie at the pool party this evening, taking a bite, and then disgustedly placing the cookie back on the serving tray.

But here's Addie, thoroughly enjoying her beater. Hopefully your screen is bright enough to make out just how much batter there is all over her face.