The weeks in between

Fear not; I blog still, but goodness gracious, there's been so little to write about, it's taken me weeks to make a long enough list!

Of course, of course, Natalie and I have been working on more hairstyles. We've been doing a sock bun for months, but usually it's more of a top-of-the-head-in-the-style-of-a-ballerina kinda bun. We were heading out of the house one of the mornings Natalie requested a bun, and I decided we needed to tone it down a notch. Literally. I moved it to the nape of her neck, and was incredibleified at the classy and elegant baby sitting in front of me. It's been a new favorite ever since; dressed up a touch with a headband loosely tied around the base of the bun for added panache.



Natalie has also become a toenail painting mogul. During one of our more recent Dickinson girls painting sessions, Natalie insisted on doing hers on her own. You can imagine my initial wariness. Armed with a thick paper towel situated under her toes and the perfect paint color, she did a fantastic job. I doubt she'll let me do her nails for her again. The thought makes me sad...



Not to be outdone, Heather has been doing her own growing up since my last post. Upon returning to North Dakota from Illinois, I made sure to bring along our trusty potty for Heather's looming potty training days. And they have indeed arrived! The potty sits in the living area of the apartment, waiting always for that cute little tush to make an appearance.

Most days, I give Heather a number of hours to run around the place sans clothing and diaper.

Every time I do the above, she sits happily upon her potty, usually with her potty training book on her lap.

She has yet to get anything into the potty, but it's the thought that counts. And as long as I am willing to clean up the mess in other, quite random places, she remains naked and cute. Which I do not mind at all ;)

Oh, but Natalie couldn't be finished up with yet! Why, she's a four year old! She's continually getting into tight situations of one sort or another. In the time between this post and the last, she gave herself and myself quite a memorable scare. It included rough play with her little sister, who thankfully was not to blame and not involved in the proceeding catastrophe. I heard lots of laughter and lot of banging from the living area one day... then whimpering. Natalie called for me, saying she was hurt. Well, what does a mom who deals with mini hurts all day do when yet another one is brought to her attention? She says it'll be OK; doesn't necessarily look up from cleaning the kitchen. Until her child appears before her, blood flowing freely down the front of her face.

Blood and gore abounded. The picture above is post-blood-stoppage.

Natalie had flipped at some point during rough play and smacked her head into the corner of a dresser. She still has a nice large "V" shaped scar right above her hairline to prove it. No emergency room visits for us though! I sewed 'er up just fine myself! Or, more truthfully, was able to stop the bleeding long enough to deduce the expense of an ER visit was not necessary to Natalie's livelihood.

So what exactly have we done as a family during the past weeks?

Well, we've built block, book, and Lego towers to the ceiling,



have taken special drives into the country just to see the sunflower fields (a novelty for us),

we graffiti'd our garden-level apartment side-entry with chalk,

pretended we were cowboys and sheriffs (Okay, only Larry dis that, and did it well. *cue some Conway Twitty music in the back round),



attended the grand opening day of the first horse races in Fargo for the past three years,

(No picture for this event, I was very unhappy with myself for forgetting my camera.)

and rescued a salamander from Main street.



I had a little fun last week heading (without kids, mind you) to the local shop Hodenattes on Main for a cup of wine and old-stuff rummage sale with a friend... before we even got inside the sale, we found some free stuff cast to the side, including two beaten down chairs! We lugged them back to the van and I took them to the apartment to simmer until I am once again in my own place, ready to turn them into the jewels I know they are.

Until the next post, I will leave you with a picture of my beauties, and will you sweet thoughts :)