Summer Fun

The girls enjoy time with Grandma, who was quite a sport and later ran through the sprinkler with her clothes on. The girls were cooling off their feet in a bowl of water. (Yes we do have a larger inflatable pool)


Alette performs a drum solo.


Abria cools herself off by pouring water onto her tummy. Alette started pouring water over her head, which Abria of course copied. She looked completely shocked each time the water ran over her face. Unfortunately I didn't get any shots as my camera was inside.



The classic pose.

I'm not sure if summer is here or not-we've had hot, hot, hot days, followed by very cool and rainy weather. However, unless it is pouring, we are outside. Today it was a very cool and breezy 65 degrees but we still stuck our feet into the fountain at the park. Okay, what really happened is that I stuck my toes in, Alette stomped and splashed like a crazy kid, and Abria watched and shrieked in delight. She insisted on taking off her shoes but could not be convinced to get her feet wet (smart kid).
The sprinkler has been put to good use by Alette. There is very little chance of our yard drying out this year. It's been so much easier to be outside compared to last summer. Abria isn't just stuck plopped on a blanket on the grass (which she always tried to eat last year). Although she loves to copy Alette, she is not willing to follow her through the sprinkler. Maybe when it gets really hot and humid she'll discover it is worth the effort.

Our Budding Divas

I'm at a complete loss of words to explain this performance. It was so hard not to bust out laughing while I was taping.

I'm not sure how well the audio will work but the girls are dancing to some of Alette's favorite princess music. The sirens make it sound like the dance studio is in Camden, but in truth, I didn't realize that Abria had brought in her toy police car.

Gardening

Abria carefully waters the grass.


My life outside is so much easier now that Alette can turn the hose on and off to fill her own bucket. I was waiting for her to turn the hose on her sister...luckily she stayed occupied in watering the plants.



This is my favorite time of the year-sunny, warm, no humidity, no mosquitos-perfect for being outside with the girls.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

For better and for worse, Abria loves to copy her sister.

They just look like ordinary shoes but....

clearly they are more valuable than gold itself. Abria is fast approaching the 'terrible twos' (not that Alette was terrible during her twos) but she is becoming more and more stubborn and more and more aware of what she wants and does not want. What she wants is to wear her shoes-all day everywhere. In the tub? Not a good idea but after a couple of minutes, all she does is cry 'shoes, shoes', followed by 'out, out'. In bed? Again, not a good idea but do you really want to hear 'shoes, shoes, shoes, shoes' while she should be napping? So, I'm a softie and let her wear them during naptime. Her shoe selection is very particular: she loves this pair of crocs and her pink sandals...and anything belonging to Alette. On Sunday morning I tried to make her wear a different pair of sandals(they were oh so cute with her dress) but after 20minutes of crying I finally caved and let her wear her crocs. Even her other pair of crocs do not make the grade...I'll try and slip them on, only to be shrieked at with a 'no,no,no,no....'.
This wouldn't be so bad, except Alette is steadfast about EVERYONE following the rules about no shoes in the house. Considering she is relatively shy, she is surprisingly forward about telling guests to take off their shoes. So far Alette has been gracious towards her sister and given her a bit of leeway.

True Love

The other night, Alette's prayers went something like this: "Thank you God for Java because after 4 years I finally have my own cat". I'm not sure that Auntie Laura will agree that Java is now Alette's, but it is hard to argue with the bond between them.