Ridin' With The Top Down

My girls and I have been enjoying our free time so much lately . I am so ready for them to go back to school, but at the same time, dreading them being gone all day.

We've been so lazy. Wonderfully so. Not in the let 's not move and eat all day kind of lazy, but the we don't have any obligations today, so let's just do whatever today kind of lazy. It's a welcome kind of lazy. Plus the weather has been so cool and we just open up the windows and cool the house. It's so refreshing.

School shopping puts a buzz in the air and we run to the stores to stock up on all the outfits we can and find the best deals we can.

Friends call and we hang out as much as time allows because we know that once homework starts all bets are off on when we can hang out again.

Even though southern Cali doesn't technically get seasons, you can feel that slight change in the air. It feels so good. It's the refreshing coolness from the scorching heat of summer. Okay, okay, we don't have scorching heat where we live, but it is really warm. Sometimes.

Just another sign of things changing is a baby who just months ago couldn't keep her head still, now can't stand to be still. Play, play, play, hold, hold, hold. It's all we can do to oblige. And she pays us richly with her sweet smiles and coos.

Big sisters are a wonderful form of entertainment for a certain little blond. All they have to do is make a certain noise or move a certain way and the sweetest giggle I've ever heard travels through the house. It's beautiful.

Park time is equally fun. The soft grass and so many people to watch. We stay for so long, yet is seems like only minutes have passed by. Giggles and squeals erupt from their bellies.

And again, smiles are payment enough! When they're happy, it makes me feel happy.

We fulfilled our promise to Mallorie. Remember the one where if she could quit sucking her thumb on her own we would reward her with a hundred bucks. We didn't think she would quit so quickly. She did. That very day. That was almost a year ago and she was reminding us weekly that she needed her money.

This weekend we payed up. She was on cloud nine! Picking things up and asking me to calculate how much she had left. Deciding what was worth what and how much she really wanted certain toys. She stretched that $100 as thin as she could. I was impressed. I would have found the most expensive thing I could and bought it. Not her. At first, she wanted a new bike, then an Ipod. When she found out that it would cost her almost the entire hundred, she quickly changed her mind.

We ended up with the new Hannah Montana movie, a Barbie Horse with a shower, Bridal Barbie and last but not least, a monkey from Build a Bear she named Brownie Brown and dressed in a wedding gown.

This little girl has decided quite recently that she enjoys talking. Loud and proud. She also can't stand to be alone. So if I'm in the kitchen, she is too. No matter where I am, she'll be by my side. I don't mind it so much. She is pretty precious.

Today I cut up banana very small because she was screaming at the top of her lungs in her highchair. I just couldn't make her happy. She wanted me to hold her, but I was chopping onions and jalapenos for supper and it didn't seem like the best plan to hold her while doing it. So I gave her chopped banana. It took her a good 15 minutes of trying to pick up those slimy little devils before she gave up and starting fussing in frustration. Hannah came to the rescue and smashed them a little and fed them to her. After that, she got frozen fruit in her little teething mesh bag and loved it. She would fuss for more after she finished each one. Then we tried a little bit of the chicken and veggies baby food. She LOVED it! Woohoo!! So far, she only hates spinach and potatoes. Can you blame her? Sounds horrible. I just thought I'd try it for the iron.

Mally has been asking Rusty if he could bring home one of those cars where there is no top. Where you can put your hands in the air and see everything around you.

Turns out, he could. Strangely enough, he was next in rotation for this beautiful sporty convertible. When Mallorie saw it, she screamed so loud our neighbor came outside to see what was going on.

I think someone was very excited. They were only going down the street to return a movie, but it didn't matter. She was so happy to be in one of those cars without a top.

This one. My right hand man. The one who swears she loves her Daddy more than me, yet totally likes hanging out with me and wearing my high heals and fancy jewelry, so I know she loves me just as much. Well, she finally got that haircut she's been begging for. It took me so long because our beauty shop closed and you can't just trust anyone with this girl's hair cut. But today I did. I just walked in to a Super Cuts and told the lady what I wanted and she got pretty close to what I said. Close enough so that Hannah won't try cutting her own hair again for a while. And close enough so that she's been staring in the mirror all evening primping and trying out new ways to style her "do". Oh my, please, somebody save me from what is heading my way. Tween-land....ahhhhh