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.

Zoo morning

65 degrees, sunshine, peace & quiet of early morning, random bump into someone I've been meaning to bump into, a certain 18 month old who suddenly "gets" the zoo...well, that's how I started my day.

(The scratchy face, poor thing, is from a big step down a small stair. The photo of Bea reaching up high is her trying to hug the red panda in the tree.)

For your viewing pleasure

Need a little shot of happiness? Here you go.

The first smile comes to you courtesy of our sweet Beatrice who has a real fascination with recording herself on the phone.  Here she is kissing herself (and ending with a big lick of my screen).



And here is Josie, super exuberant after her first big coaster at Coney.



And just in case that wasn't enough to make you smile, here's the video of Josie and Bea getting their new swingset. Maybe you saw this already on Facebook, but that big squeal that comes out of Josie when she rounds the corner and sees it just might be worth another view. Enjoy!

I blinked...

...and suddenly she was 18 months old.

Some random sweetness

Now that I figured out how to blog from my iPhone, I had to share a little collection of some of the sweet little moments from the past few weeks.

Free-wheelin

Here's a quick pic of the girls riding their wheels up and down our new (long) driveway. They were sending me off as I left for a parent meeting at Josie's school. Bea suddenly adores her helmet (saying "hat, hat, hat" and patting her head) and Josie is nearing successful achievement of a land-speed record on her scooter. Just one of the many many things about our new house that makes us all smile!

Testing 1,2,3

If this works, and the iPhone blogger app fulfills my wish, I'll be back in blogging business like the good ole days.

Here are some Labor Day snaps from my phone. Holla!