Sidewalk Chalk and Sunflowers

Spring weekends, sidewalk chalk and sunflowers... ummm, except it was dandelions (but that didn't sound as nice!)

I love lazy afternoons relaxing and living in the moment(or for an hour between packing boxes!). I want to freeze moments like this forever, really relish them, because they are all too fleeting. We enjoyed some time in the front yard with sidewalk chalk and dandelions. I loved seeing the joy in her face when handed a brand new pack of fat, dusty sidewalk chalk.

She unwrapped the plastic carefully and chose the colors she wanted.

She tells me pink, yellow and blue are her favorite colors right now though you wouldn't know it. She will wear any color of clothing or hair accessory and she'll color with any colored crayons around. She grabbed a peach colored piece and began to draw squiggles on the pavement as I soaked up the morning sun.

She was happy with her creations but she had just as much fun (or more) getting layers of chalk dust all over her fingers.



After drawing with chalk it was time to do one of her other favorite activities: searching for dandelions.

Fortunately (for her) they are plentiful.

We had lots of fun hanging out together. I am so looking forward to doing more of this when my time is freed up next year. She's only going to be little for a short while longer, she is growing up sooo fast! I can't wait to do more art projects and take hikes and explore our new country and cook and read and do puzzles together and go to the beach and learn new things together. I want to learn how to photograph my daughter so her inner beauty shines through. I want to have the time to plan big celebrations on the day of her birth and to make all holidays full of crafts and special foods. I want to make many, many days of great memories!! But this day was fun, too, and even if it's something as simple as drawing pictures on the sidewalk I will now remember it because it is recorded here. Each day of life should be special in some small way.

Happy Memorial Day everyone. However you celebrate it, I hope it's happy.

Happy Blogiversary

Happy Blogiversary, Journey to Motherhood! My blog is four years old today! I never could have imagined that blogging would bring me so much joy and support. I have learned so much from the blogosphere and have become friends with people I never would have otherwise. Thanks for reading along with us! L&N

Fun Sunday

Even though it was raining horribly yesterday and was the perfect movie day, Almi was at her teacher's house (yay!) so the movie had to wait til today. Today was sunny and beautiful, though quite windy and a tad chilly but as I was driving over there I justified going to a movie on a glorious sunny day by thinking that if she acted up at least the theater was sure to be empty.

We found parking in the lot and I hustled her down the street to the theater for an 11:35 am showing of Hop. There was only one person in front of us in line and only one behind us which was good when I had to run after her remind her that if she couldn't behave we wouldn't stay. I have to say I was pretty impressed with how well behaved she was.

I bought my ticket (she was free but mine was $9.00--seriously?! for a matinee?!) and we hopped on the escalator for the long ascent to the theater. She though this was pretty exciting. Then I stopped at the concession stand for some popcorn and a lemonade. I balanced the snacks and encouraged her to follow me by enticing her with as much popcorn as she could eat once we sat down. I opted against butter, as much as I wanted it, as I thought it could get very messy. Good call. I snapped this quick photo of her in the lobby before we entered the theater.
When we got to the theater there were only two people inside, which was great since the previews had already started and it was dark. Darn previews added an additional 15 minutes to our movie stay and they were so loud! I hope I didn't damage her hearing in there. Dang. We settled into our seats and I poured some popcorn into the tray for her to eat. She munched happily while paying some attention to what was on the screen. I had to prop my leg up on her seat though because she isn't heavy enough to keep it propped open fully and I was worried she might get shut up inside it!

We ate popcorn and I have to say she was quiet and attentive. She only spoke few times and only got up twice. I ordered a small lemonade for us to share but that darn thing was still huge! What is with the drink sizes in movie theaters?! She kept asking for more and after she took a walk down the row of seats and almost disappeared down the steps I had to snatch her back to sit down for more time. Offering her more to drink was the easiest way. Not surprisingly, she had to go "peepee" so I used that as my ticket to leave the theater quietly and without incident, even though we had only watched about one half of the film. I was fine with that though. I'm not the biggest fan of children's movies.

Here we are on the escalator ride back down.
(why don't Blackberry's take better pictures?!)
It was fun, but I think she needs to be a bit older for us to actually enjoy an entire show so afterwards we did a nice age-appropriate activity and went to the park. She had a ball there!

We both did.
Almi took my phone and snapped this funny picture of me.
Then we went home for lunch and nap but not before she enjoyed one of her other favorite past times: searching for dandelions ("My flowers!!!!!") and then grabbing them and blowing their seeds all over my lawn (it's hopeless) and of course tasting them. lol
all I could do was laugh... Hope you had a great Sunday!

Cracking Up

We know how to make each other laugh!

Just the Two of Us

A few shots from summer and fall.

Just the Two of Us

Thanks for taking such great photos, Dawn!

Dining Al Fresco

We dined al fresco tonight! I love my new deck. Now all I need is some nice furniture and an umbrella. And a beautifully landscaped yard. Maybe next summer!




All done!

After dinner we went down to my embarrassingly dry and neglected yard. I haven't watered it once this year and it has been extremely hot. Not that there is much grass there anyways, mostly weeds, but even the weeds are dry and stiff and dead. Naomi doesn't have sensory issues, but she walked in the 'grass' and said "Owie!" LOL



We played in the weeds and then we had Popsicles.