Summer by Smart Phone

It's true. Most of my photos now wind up on my iPhone and not my Canon. Which means less of them end up here. Which stinks. Which is why I feel compelled to do this post, which provides a flurry of photos from the Summer of 2012. (Because I gave myself the month of September to get caught up on the summer.)  Enjoy!

Beba and her "bubbas"

You need to know two things about Beatrice in relation to this post:

1. Ever since Cousin Jack was here for a week this July and called her "Baby Beba," the "Beba" part really stuck and that's now how she refers to herself. This is the most recent development in a long line of nicknames for our dear Beatrice Starling.

2. Beba is obsessed with bubbles--so much in fact that "bubbas" was one of her first words. She could spent all day every day splashing around in sinks filled with soapy water. And, now that she can carry the stool to the sink, turn around the water, pump the soap and do it herself--well--there's a whole lot of moments that look a bit like this throughout the course of day.

 

She's also decided to potty train herself. So there's also a fair amount of this:

And because she is just the cutest, sweetest most adorable little bubba-loving Beba on the planet, there's also quite a bit of of this:

Go ahead, smooch that sweet little cheek, 

right there on your computer screen. 

No one will judge you.

This happened...

...and I realized that my girls have sisters and that I'm the luckiest person on the planet.

Spontaneous Sunday

Today we had a lot of "accidental awesomeness." File this under "reasons not to over schedule your weekends." I will be the first to admit that I don't always do spontaneous very well. I'm a planner, a compulsive list-maker and that's not always a good thing. We are still coming down off the insanity of The Move, so we needed this.

Undoubtedly, I'd say that the best fruit of our "go with it" labor this weekend was our impromptu family mural. It started with a conversation this morning where Josie asked to paint (we had an Art Room at the old house, but all the artsy stuff was still in a pile of boxes until this morning). She wanted to "just splash paint everywhere and see if it makes anything." (Love this girl's mind.) I was super grateful, because I figured it would keep them busy so I could finally tackle unpacking & organizing my office. So, Lou got everything out and we set them up in the driveway where the mess could be hosed down. And then it happened.

Before we even realized it, all four of us were painting together. Planning what could go where. Giving Bea tasks she could handle. Mixing paints on old birthday paper plates to make a rainbow of new colors. Deciding we needed glitter, glitter, and more glitter. Adding a squirrel. And more hearts. And a fall tree. And more glitter.

It was nearly two full hours of the four of us in the driveway making our masterpiece. Somewhere in the messy fun, we decided it was just awesome enough that it deserved a home as a part of the Schneider Permanent Collection and started talking through places to hang it. We transformed that giant roll of Amazon packing paper into a thing of beauty. Behold. Then "unplan" your next Sunday and see what happens.