Picking Blackberries in Lexington, Texas

This was great fun. Safa was VERY in to it...By the time we'd finished she was so covered in blackberrry juice she looked like she'd been in some sort of gang fight.

The San Antonio Zoo

It was exhausting, hot, and loads of fun...

The Komodo dragon was a hit because it looks like a dinosaur don'tcha know.

This is what Ava looked
like when we finally stopped to eat lunch. Sad, but hilarious...

JUST DON'T TELL ERIK'S MOM

It was only for about 6 feet and they LOVED it. Safa remained stationary lest you feel the need to question our judgement. (Although I suppose you might be doing that anyway)

Every once in awhile, when I'm feeling particularly generous and ready to handle cranky children in the afternoon, I let Eden skip her nap and have rest time with Ava. Yesterday after I got them, Ava told me that they got tired during rest time and so she turned off the light and they got into her bed together to try to sleep. Then she said, "But we couldn't go to sleep, I think, because we loved each other so much." My knees buckled at the sweetness. Of course an hour later there was a dispute over a few inches of space on the couch and who claimed said inches first, who touched who first and who used a ruder voice while doing the touching...

I HAVE NO IDEA

Yesterday as I was cleaning up from dinner I heard a cry that I knew came from pain but I couldn't tell who it was coming from. (They are all starting to sound the same). So I walked into the living room to see Ava wrapped in a blanket crying. Hard. I asked her what happened but she was crying too hard for me to understand. I asked her to tell me again and I figured out that she hit her nose on the doorknob. Yes, that was my first thought as well. So I said, " What happened????" And now as you read her response to me I want you to hear it in a loud, drama-filled crying voice, "I was walking with my eyes closed because I was pretending to be an England gnome and I bumped into it!!" So I pulled her close so she wouldn't see me laugh.

GAG ME WITH A TOILET-WATER KETCHUP PACKET

Being a parent is sometimes gross. All parents, anyone who takes care of children for that matter, knows this. Poop and vomit stories abound. I won't bore you with those. In the past month the following things have happened:

I discovered a jet black long-dead banana behind the cannon. It was bleeding some sort of nasty banana-funk ooze.

I had to fish a ketchup packet out of the toilet that Safa managed to shove between my legs while I was peeing.

I discovered Ava's lunch box in the car after about a week and a half. Her uneaten sandwich--I kid you not--had turned into toxic soup. I swear I can still smell it.

I saw Safa feed Miles from her fork, then put in back into her mouth.