She loves pencils, pens, crayons, markers...

Ready to join the circus

We took the girls to the circus a about a month ago.  They were thrilled, but Joel and I were a little disappointed to realize that Medford only gets a small, barely-one-ring-with-no-animals circus.  The performances were almost entirely acrobats and trapeze artists.  They were all very good, but we thought the artistry was probably lost on Elsa and Nora.  Elsa appreciated it more than we thought, however, and has been practicing her dramatic "acrobatics" at the playground and on our hammock ever since:

  

Nora, of course, does her best to copy her sister:

   

Totoros for a two-year-old

Nora's favorite character right now is Totoro, and, thankfully, a round, blue forest creature is relatively easy to make out of a cupcake for a last minute early birthday party for a nearly two-year-old.

We had an early party (about a month early, but she doesn't know any better!) so we could celebrate while my mother and grandparents were visiting.  We invited her favorite two-year-old friend over to play and eat little "Tote-ros" as she calls them. 

Big sisters are very good at helping little sisters unwrap and investigate their presents.  And I should know because I'm a big sister too.  

First babies

Elsa and Barnaby have become buddies.  We got Barnaby six years ago soon after we moved to Medford.  For a long time he was very leery of the children and easily pestered by them, but now that Elsa is older he's warmed up to her.

I think Barnaby has finally resigned himself to the fact that the children are here to stay so he'd better get used to them.  He now follows Elsa to her bed at naptime and bedtime and often curls up right next to her.  What a sweet kitty.



Snitching again

We have to watch this kid when it comes to food.  Remember when she got into the granola?

We realized that she had gotten unusually quiet after finishing her lunch,

and then realized we had left the tempting flat of berries just a bit to close.



Even fairies have to go to market

Sunning

This lovely silhouette caught my eye one morning.  From the kitchen sink all I could see was the shadow,

 but from the vantage of the dining area window I could see Ms. Tabitha Twitchit enjoying her morning sun.

She is an absolutely charming feline.  She chaperones the children as they play in the yard (and lets them hug and love on her), and is the most effective rat-catcher we've hired.  And so far she has been quite content being compensated for her services in food and daily scratching under her chin.