Pictures from the week

The other day, Chloe was helping me clean the bathroom. She was cleaning the cannister full of cotton products, and when she found the cotton balls, she excitedly exclaimed, "Snow!" Then she found the cotton squares, which she knew were blankets, which was a relief, because she told me the snow was cold. I looked over to watch her carefully placing each "snowball" on it's own blanket.

Every Saturday before Father's Day, Bracken's mom's family gather at Rancho Seco for a picnic and boating. We were disappointed to miss it last year because we were moving into our house, but we had a lot of fun this year. Chloe got to go out in the boats for the first time with me.

Bracken, tired from working hard all week, and taking the hardest continuing education class for his license (which we just found out he passed. Great job, honey!), opted to take a nap with Addie. Addie, tired from cutting her top right tooth and scooting all week, actually took a nap on the ground with him.
Refreshed from the nap, Bracken and Chloe played a rousing game of Swing Ball, which all the kids in my family will recognize as a reinvented version of Zim Zam. I'd gotten it for Bracken for Father's Day, and Chloe only wanted to play with her dad.

Janeth, Jack and Eden supervised.The next day for Father's Day, I made Bracken his favorite dinner, tacos, and took lots of pictures of the girls.

This is staged, but she sure does work it with the hint of a tear in her eye. My little drama queen. I can't believe she's going to be 3 next week.

And check out these pearly whites. Bracken and I went to the dentist the next day, and took the girls with us. They had time to squeeze Chloe in for a surprise first visit, and she did so well! They turned on a cartoon, and I think they could have pulled every tooth from her mouth without her noticing. Everything looked good, which surprised and relieved me. She hates to have us brush her teeth, usually does a pretty poor job herself, and I've been worried that maybe something was wrong and that's why she didn't want anything in there. Fortunately, she has good teeth to compensate for her opposition to home dental care.

And here's my Addelicious. She has been such a busy girl this last week. She cut the other top tooth, learned how to crawl for real, pull up, and clap. She has also been adventurous enough to step from the ottoman to the couch while holding on. I know that doesn't sound very impressive, but for someone who has only just figured out basic forward motion, I think it's pretty bold.


I loved these shots of Bracken reading with the girls. He is such a good daddy, and I am so grateful for all the love and support he gives me. I got sick coming into the weekend, and he just took everything over without a word of complaint. Then he got sick, and I don't think I took nearly as good care of him as he did of me. Mainly because I ditched him for the day to go try out for Who Wants to be a Millionaire? They were auditioning locally for both the regular show and for movie week. I debated for a week or so whether I wanted to go. On one hand, I thought it was a silly thing to want to do, but on the other, I knew I would kick myself if I didn't at least try. Well, I went, on an hour sleep, and managed to pass both tests! I did well in the interview portion also, I think, because I got to do a screen test. I'll know in about 3 weeks if I made it into the contestant pool, so stay posted. Even if they don't choose me, I feel really good about the fact that I still have at least part of a brain somewhere. Seriously, though, I was telling Bracken last night, it just felt good to get a little recognition for doing something well. There are so many days as a mom where I just don't get to feel like I'm doing anything right, and I won't see the results of most of my labors for many years to come. It's nice to feel good about me for a little while.


Look at these cute girls. Oh, I just love them.

Here's Daddy and his girls on Father's Day.

And more of some goofy Addie grins. Could her hair be more orange? I laughed as I took these pictures because her eyebrows are usually pretty transparent, but as soon as you hit them with the flash, they glow orange.