Audrey is 16 months old!

Dear Pickle, today you are 16 months old!  This has been a big month for you.

Here you are, having dumped all the froot loops on the floor for a snack for you and Daisy to share.  You are not clothed because after the pool, I didn't have the will to fight with you to put them on.  I got the diaper on, and I decided that it was enough.  You are quite a fighter, little one.

You are walking!  Really walking, as in standing up on your own in the middle of the floor, just because you actually desire to travel on your own little stubby feet.  That's new today.  We are thrilled, and it's so good to see you so proud of yourself!  Your previous favorite method of mobility was walking on your knees, and we've never seen another kid do that so extensively for so long.  We feared you would walk into kindergarten on your knees.

You've added some words.  I think you are up to 10 now.  Your favorites are ball and dog.  We hear them a lot.  I think you would talk more if your sister would speak less, breathe more or eat more.  Sorry about that.

You started school, which is a big step.  We are proud of you!  You are so big!

I love that you are starting to draw pictures with sister and play babies too.  It makes me so happy to see you have interests that are starting to form!

You can still throw one hell of a shrieking, screaming fit.  Perhaps one day you'll stop this.  Or maybe it will serve you well in life.  I think it's quite shocking to people since you are still such a tiny thing.  And beautiful!  So it's surprising when you scream like a rabid weasel at virtually no provocation.  Oh well.

We love you, Audrey Kate!

Plum picking goes eventful....

Today we are purchasing this:

because during our family reunion at the ranch we went out to do this:

and while we were picking wild plums, some of us found something slithery up here:

that required one or more of us to discharge a firearm repeatedly

Ending like this.  

57 1/2 inches long.  

No bites, but now I think we need a snakebite kit.

And so just for comparison...

After posting the others, I was just thinking to myself that I have a picture of Genny in the same swimsuit.

Here's Audrey... nearly 16 months old.

And here's little Genny. At.... 9 months old!

Already a bathing beauty!

Pool time!

It was such a beautiful day today, and so we went to the pool!

Here's the girls.

Audrey prefers her pool to either be 1 1/2 inches deep, or for someone to carry her around.

Gen was posing for this one. The girl has style.

Audrey thinks the waterfalls are hilarious. But prefers that they not touch her, of course.

I'm quickly becoming the crazy vacuum lady...

Sorry.... I'm very quickly becoming the crazy lady who posts pictures of her kids doing something mundane over and over and over.... I'll try to stop, I promise. After this one.

Anyway, here's video of Audrey and her new best friend, Roomba. She adores Roomba. She loves to chase it around. It cracks us up.

And again, I must point out.... she did not get her love of vacuums from me.

And still with the odd knee-walking. She can walk, she just chooses not to. Still.

I think she knows it bugs me.

And on an only partially related note, if you are considering getting a roomba, do it. They are really awesome. And yes, they work. Well, let me qualify that. If you are a person who uses a real vacuum to actually vacuum every day, then you probably won't be thrilled. But if you are like me and simply notice and lament the layer of funk on the floor daily but have no intention of doing anything about it anytime soon, you will be overjoyed to have the funk leave with no more work than pushing a button. Plus, the entertainment value of watching your children and pets chase roomba around is worth something, right?

peanut butter jelly time

PEANUT, 

PEANUT BUTTER.

JELLY!

Little girls vs. Ducks

This morning the girls got up extra early, so we took an early morning trip to Medi Park to feed the ducks breakfast. It was a beautiful morning!

We saw some baby ducks and a heron catching and eating a fish!
Audrey thought the ducks were awesome. Don't worry, the brake is on the stroller and I'm holding onto it.....

We determined that the ducks preferred Stale Bagel to Corn Tortillas. Apparently they don't have an appreciation of a little Tex-Mex flair....
These ducks were sitting next to the sidewalk, minding their own business when Genny decided to force-feed them some lovely breakfast. I've always though the medi-park ducks were rather agressive, but it appears they have found their kryptonite -- 3-year-old-LittleGirl!