our journeys: Oh, Those Girls

Now that Mallorie is crawling at lightening speed, walking along the furniture and holding hands, the only quiet moments I have with her are first thing in the morning and last thing at night while she's drinking her bottle of milk. (Someone graduated from formula to whole milk, and is going through over a gallon a week by herself!) Several weeks ago, she was feeling sleepy after her diaper change and bottle so I gathered her into my arms and got a good snuggle. The little dear fell asleep! Such a sweet moment that happens too infrequently these days.

Our youngest daughter is also obsessed with the yellow bus. We bought it for Morgan's first Christmas to ride around the house - it sings short, obnoxious songs by Abby and Elmo from Sesame Street and talks about the letters "A" and "E." Mallorie has stolen rights over this toy and loves to push it around the house, walker style, running over anything in her path. Her favorite game? Chase the dog. Poor Darwin spends most of Mallorie's waking hours on my heels or avoiding being enthusiastically run over. After a bath one night, I let her loose on the house to find Chadwick eating dinner, still in her birthday suit. She found the bus and was walking around the living room...I was laughing so hard at the sight of her cute naked bottom and legs speeding around that I couldn't hold the camera still well enough to get a good shot. Here's the gist, and I'm giggling right now at the memory!

And Cleo is still....Cleo. Sleeping on the only four pieces of paper on the whole queen size bed, staying out all night, is at her friendliest twice a day at mealtimes....and aloof. I love this cat!

Morgan loves all things girly, enjoys dressing up as a princess, though she's also been a frog, baby dinosaur, and dog these last few weeks. Sometimes she won't answer to "Morgan," so I have to stay on my toes to figure out who, or what, I am dealing with. My favorite story? A mock conversation we had in the car. M: "Hi, Mom. I need someone to watch my childs tomorrow." Me: "Sure! I can do that! What time?" She replies somewhere around 10:30. "What are you doing tomorrow?" I ask. "Oh, just a blood draw," was her answer. When asked how many draws, I was told five. Since the "childs" were going to be with me for several hours, I asked if it would be ok to feed them lunch. Affirmative. What can they have? "Oh, some mac and cheese, applesauce, and yogurt will be fine," she says. And we say our goodbyes. Hysterical! And scary because these types of conversations are what she overhears as she is playing....they are always listening. =) I've heard her play out several of these conversations. Dad goes to work, Mom does blood draws. (Our blood bank is doing well, just for those who are curious.)

Goofing off with my phone camera

Poor quality pic, but here is my sweet girl to the T.

Sickness hit our house last week, and I caught Morgan passed out during a rare naptime.

Fun at the Western Idaho Fair with our neighbors. Shown here with Max and Deagan, eagerly waiting for their turn at the car ride. They had a ball! Rides, a monkey show, petting zoo, and funnel cakes. Even better, the weather was perfect!