Yesterday

The girls have had a lot of free reign during these first few weeks of summer. I keep finding small creations scattered around the house. This was yesterday's find. Ada's sculpture of a "bear sleeping in a cave". Those are genuine fruit snack wrappers - repurposed as boulders and cave components and secured with plenty of scotch tape. 

We also received this beautiful cabbage from a neighbor yesterday. We love our next door neighbors - on all sides. A few days ago our Vietnamese neighbors brought us 3 huge containers of the best homemade egg rolls you have ever tasted. One of their 4 sons brought this gift to the front door and they were so fresh the steam was wafting out of the Styrofoam containers they were packed into. This cabbage was a gift from a newish acquaintance that Stephen saw talking to another older neighbor while they were peeking at our nextdoor neighbors backyard - trying to see what sort of construction has been going on back there. Nothing gets past these ladies. Not even my cute husband. 

Easter

M, F, and A on Easter Sunday this year. 

Easter Sunday was extra special this year. Margot was baptized on Easter Sunday this year. 

A few weeks earlier, Margot was talking to me about something having to do with the Bible and she just blurted out "I'm not afraid to get baptized anymore!". 

Our church holds baptisms occasionally on Sunday mornings. The girls have been watching these take place with more interest recently. The people who have made this decision in their lives are baptized in a large pool thing in the center of the room surrounded by those present, singing worship songs and pausing to hear the name and story of the person being baptized. It can be intimidating for an adult and, I imagine, scary for a child. The girls have maintained that they are "too shy" to get baptized. Of course we haven't pushed the issue because we want it to be their choice. When Margot made that statement to me, I wasn't sure how to take it. It's not like her to even bring something like this up. Most "God questions" normally come from Ada. When I asked her why she wanted to get baptized I fully expected her to say it was because she wanted to get in the water. After all, that's why I wanted to get baptized at her age. Instead I got an answer with a maturity I wasn't expecting: "People get baptized because they believe in Jesus and I believe in Jesus so I want to get baptized. It's like when we take communion because we believe He died for our sins and He told us to do that to remember He died for our sins and getting baptized is something you do to remember too." 

Over the next few weeks Stephen and I both asked her multiple times about why she wanted to get baptized, expecting her answer to vary. It didn't. She was steadfast and excited about the prospect of making her faith "official". She started telling everyone at school that she was going to get baptized on Easter. She told her teacher, her principal,  and anyone else who would listen. The day before Easter, her precious teacher came by the house to bring her a special present - a cross necklace - to celebrate her baptism. She wore it the next day, trembling with excitement during the service, asking every 5 minutes if it was time to get baptized yet. Then it was time. My parents came to watch and David and Grace were there with Ada and Frankie while Stephen climbed into the baptismal with Margot and one of our pastors. I was honestly shocked by how much emotion overtook me, watching our daughter get baptized. She was beaming with peaceful excitement. I was remembering her life until this moment. We believe that baptism is a symbol, it's not a magic moment that makes a person holy. Still the recognition that my five year old was ready to make this choice, to make this symbolic gesture so that others would know she was a follower of Christ - was overwhelming. We are just so humbled by this kid. 

Their's and Our's

This is officially our second summer in our home and though little has changed in our house since these "after" pictures where taken about a month after we unpacked, I thought it would be fun to see the Before and After set side by side.  It's more like Their's and Our's because their house had a definite theme and ours has one of it's own. 

If we are BFFs on FB then you have already seen the after shots but this time you get to see more of the actual transformation that took place, lo those many months ago. I snagged these before shots off the real estate listing for this place and we were too frazzled and crazed during the two week renovation to take any pictures of what it looked like empty. 

 Their Kitchen

Our Kitchen. Still my favorite room in the house... when it's clean. I firmly believe that the two nerve centers in a home are the kitchen and the master bedroom. When the kitchen is clean and tidy our life seems to be more organized and we get places on time. When our bedroom is clean and organized we rest well and I feel ready to take on whatever life has on offer that day. Isn't it amazing what a coat of paint, new countertops, and a couple of new track lights can do? 

Their Living Room

Our Living Room. Those shelves took up so much space and they were not even attached to the wall! So down they came. The light, my heavens, the light! The girls play on that rug for hours at a time. 

Their Entryway 

Our Entryway. One of top priorities on our house wish list are new front doors. Those are right next to painting the exterior of the house whose avocado green color theme has not been updated since it's inception in '65. One tiny, itty bitty step at a time. 

Their Master Bedroom

Our Master Bedroom

Their Girls Room

Our Girls Room. This room is deceptively neat in this photo. It is an old picture for one, and the girls had not yet been through Kindergarten. Kindergarten with all it's treasures, projects, and treasure box items that find their way home. I feel I am fighting a constant battle of clutter in this room but as it is actually THEIR battle to fight and not mine I try to limit my re-organization of their lives to once or twice a month - tops. We are talking about having the girls swap rooms in a year or two. Frankie's room has more wall space and a larger closet so I feel like it would be a better situation for our growing twin ladies who may not want to be in bunk beds for life. 

Their Guest Room (?)

Our Frankie's Room

Their Hall

Our Hall

Their Basement Room

Our Late Night Hideaway with Wood Burning Fireplace, Record Player and other Toys

This is the room that sold the house. Not their version, but our vision of what it could become. Our version. This room took the longest to complete because we didn't have enough time to get the painting done during that two week frenzy before we moved in. It also needed quite a bit of work. We got rid of the fireplace insert and discovered that the fire brick were all cracked and patched. So Dad did the demo work himself and then called in his fantastic mason and we had the entire firebox rebuilt. Then that had to cure for awhile before we could try it out. Then we did try it out.. and it smoked. Badly. So my Dad and I became experts on all the issues in a house that can cause a chimney to smoke. My dad was such an encouragement during this. He said every chimney is a little different and you just have to figure out how yours works. So as it turned out even though the flu to firebox opening ratio was mathematically correct, the opening was still slightly large. So after experimenting a bit we found a size that worked and Dad bought and installed a hood that lowered the height about an inch. This caused the chimney to draw better and eliminated the smoke issue altogether. 

The folks who lived here before us had never used the fireplace once in the eight years they lived here. That thought makes me sad sometimes when we are curled up next to a roaring fire. I wonder who else in the history of this house didn't get to enjoy this room. This room is where we come after the kids go to bed. Stephen has his drawing table down here and it is cozy and quiet. The girls love to have movie night down here, and it's our guest room when we have overnight visitors. The vintage couch is a sleeper sofa and there is a full bathroom down here. It's a great room. 

There is one more room in this house that really sold us and that is the "Black and White" room. It's kind of a utility room in the lower level/basement with a big farm sink, black and white linoleum flooring, and lots of room to make a mess. I will have to take a picture of that one soon and post it - it's the last place in the house that has been organized and it's taken me over a year to get there... still in process. 

Many of the changes we made were so minor. Taking down curtain rods, changing out closet and drawer pulls and changing out light fixtures to name a few. Their pulls were dark and we traded those for crystal in the girls rooms and turquoise in our room and the bathrooms. We took down some of their light fixtures and replaced them with the original ones we found in one of the closets. So thankful they had saved these instead of tossing them! We still have lots to do to make this house into the home I see in my mind's eye. But that's the fun part, right? 

Spring Walk with Daddy

Awash

Every time I start to gather the laundry she comes running. "I help you Mommy?!?! I help YOU?!?!" She collects her step stool and scolds me if she doesn't have enough items of clothing to add to the load herself. I can't stand for her to touch the underwear with her indiscriminate grasp so I set the shirts and nightgowns and socks in a little pile. Letting her help with the soap is my challenge because she drops it sometimes, or spills it on her hands. Why is laundry detergent so difficult to wash off skin? Why is it such a fight for me to let go of my control over this tiny part of our day? I love every moment of her help. She is consistently surprised by the water in the machine and how it splashes up onto her nose sometimes. It always makes her giggle and look up at me with bright eyes. I know these days are severely limited. Still the delight my heart feels in this routine and the memory it will become, is mingled with the constant training down of my need to control every moment. I box up my sharp precision in a sound proof room and will myself to ignore the jiggling door knob. I guess I will always be one of those people for whom it takes much practice to allow others to participate in my life, particularly those who are small. Whatever the deeper issues of these moments in my own mind, Frankie standing on a stool watching the washer fill with water is my girlish dream of motherhood personified. 

Two Lumps

Tonight when I went to put Frankie down to bed, I asked the girls to stay in their room and read to each other quietly. Margot crawled under her covers and Ada laid down next to her on the unicorn Pillow Pet, declaring she would tell Margot a "Cheep Cheep" story. Cheep Cheep is a mischievous squirrel that Stephen has been relaying stories about for several years. He usually lays on the floor with his head on the purple unicorn and recounts whatever the little rascal has been up to. Ada was playing daddy tonight as daddy wasn't here for bedtime. 

When I returned from tucking Frankie in this is what I found. Twin lumps under Margot's comforter. This is not the first time this has happened, but it's the first time I am recording it here. No matter how many times it happens in the future, it will always make me pause for a moment and drink it in. 

Snow

It snowed a few weeks ago. It was one of those nights where where the snow starts drifting down just before you close your eyes and in the morning, everything is blanketed in white. The snow gear that still had tags on from two years ago came out and the girls couldn't wait to get suited up. 

For some reason the sight of a 2 year old in snow bibs made me giddy. I am pretty sure I took at least 23 pictures of her itty bitty self. 

When we first looked at this house, I actually said to Stephen , "This would be the perfect little sledding hill in the winter." True story. 

We played outside until we were wet and numb from the cold. Then trooped indoors for popcorn and hot chocolate, dozed by the fire while mittens and socks tumbled in the dryer. Then gear was wriggled back into and out we went again. Five times out in all. 

Our last trip out was after dinner. We took the girls night sledding at the elementary school down the block. The hill we had sledded during the day had melted at the bottom, making for a rough landing on the paved parking lot. We located a steeper hill nearby and gathered enough snow to create a soft landing once a sledding crossed the curb. We sledded for over an hour in the municipal light of the street lamps. Frankie was fearless, repeatedly riding down solo on her green saucer. Ada had her own style in the blue. Margot preferred riding with Mommy or Daddy in the big pink sled. Several days after the snow melted, driving past the parking lot on the way to school, I noticed our little ramp was the only evidence left. Slow to melt in the shade. 

On Wednesday of this week we were again hit with another blast of snow and ice. This time the girls only ventured out once. It was icy and sleeting. I have had the flu and could not join the troop. The next day it was already melting. Wet and dripping long before the rain showed up. We all stayed indoors and worked on Valentines and homework for school. And played, there is always loads of play in this house. I doubt we will get any more snow this year. Either way we have plenty of memories stored away. 

Christmas Concert

Tonight was the Christmas Concert at school! We braved the mall on Saturday to get new dresses for A and M. This is probably as close to a Christmas Card as we are going to come this year!

Gold tights and everything. Frankie was so excited to be a part of the hustle and bustle of getting ready I am pretty sure she thought she was going to be performing as well. 

"One just for us, Mom." (melt) 

Some excited girls and their friends.

For those who don't already know, Stephens brother, David, and his lovely wife Grace moved from Denver to Raleigh this summer. It has been such a treat to have them nearby and be such a constant part of the girls daily lives. They get to do last minute things like come to a concert on a Monday night since they live about 8 minutes from our house. Frankie is mildly obsessed with her Uncle "Davee". 

Mom moment. They were singing a song about snowflakes and about how each one is special and unique and then they all dipped down and came back up holding their own snowflake pictures that they had made over their heads. I know its incredibly cheesy but seeing all those little people with their individual selves and their little snowflakes made me get all teary. Bravo Mr. Mann. Bravo. 

Ada was asked to be an angel precisely 15 minutes before school let out today. I was able to get a paparazzi shot as she marched by. 

See our little plaid angel in the front row?

Here is Margot with her precious teachers. 

Ada with her precious teacher. We are so incredibly blessed by these women and the way they pour their heart and soul into our girls. They are so diligent in their care for them and the work they do with them. It's very humbling to be partnered with such incredible people in the education of your children. 

I will leave you with this. Margot and her best friend. Trouble ya'll. Trouble.