The Long and Winding Post....

I haven't been downloading too many photos because we are still waiting to see if we can recover files from our computer. This morning I decided that there were just too many events to catch-up on and I was going to take the risk and download pics. Here are some random events from the past few weeks.

Early morning jam session. They like to go in this room and shut the door behind themselves. When I opened the door to check on them Violet said, "We are fine Mama" and shut the door on me. (See Dad, they really do use the keyboard)

One more round of "Down by the Station"

Last refrain, "Cough-it cough-it chuget chuget it off we go"
The actual words, "puff, puff, toot, toot off we go"

Silly Faces

A few weeks ago we sent the girls to G-ma's for the weekend (1st time for Anara). Nate and I undertook a slightly overwhelming, home-improvement project. We have a little moisture problem in our basement. It is pretty normal for old houses and so far we have treated it by constantly running a dehumidifier. Vi has asthma and neither of us like the idea of mold, so we thought a little masonry paint to block the moisture might be a good idea. We didn't anticipate how deceptively difficult the job would be. How hard could it be to powerwash a few walls and sloppily slap a couple coats of paint up? PAINFULLY difficult. Friday I started purging the basement of things we don't use or need. Saturday we rearranged the basement to keep the majority of our belongings dry and out of the way and then powerwashed the walls. Sunday we started painting and didn't finish until Monday evening. The painting can best be described as trying to brush sour cream on large slabs of coral reef. The waterproofing paint was so thick that rolling was not an option and brushing was nearly impossible. Our cement walls are pretty holey and lumpy so we were constantly stuffing our brush into the little holes. The basement does look brighter and cleaner, but the disappointing part is that the paint is starting to yellow and chip away from the walls that stay the most damp.

The slow-to-dry cement block walls

Nate getting started

We originally bought 2 cans - we used 10

A couple weekends ago we took a family trip to the zoo. Violet is loving her stuffed Teletubbies right now and really wanted to take Po. She said it was Po's 1st time to go to the zoo and told the other Tubbies that they could go next time. Here is some documentation of Po's 1st zoo experience.

Anara, Daddy, Violet and Po getting a better look at the giraffes

Anara going up the slide

Violet and Po rocking on the playground

Just when you thought it was safe to put the summer clothes away, the 10-day forecast says 78. I was all set to take shorts and sandals upstairs when I decided to check the weather forecast. There are at least 3 days in the upper 70's - when will Fall decide to stay? We did take advantage of the upper 50's yesterday and put on some warm clothes. Here are a couple pictures of Violet enjoying the cool weather.

Only 1 lonely leaf so far

"Mama, fall down here and look at the clouds"

Every once in a while (more frequently as of late) we have a night with very little sleep. Last night Violet woke up several times and Anara at least once. Even when the house was quiet Nate and I were not able to sleep - one of those nights when you can't wait for morning. Needless to say, things started out a little slow today. Nate and I tried to lay in bed until the last possible minute and even right now the three of us girls are still in pajamas (yes at 10:30am).

This morning we made a fort

Anara isn't crazy about staying in the fort

And lastly, the collection is finally complete......

Earlier this summer the owner of our local antique/junk dealer gave Vi 3 of the 4 Tubbies for free. We were missing Dipsy so like any good mom, I ebayed a used Dipsy. She was perfect and Violet was thrilled. Dipsy is her "Fwavowit".