Double Happiness

Reflections

One of the really fun things about participating in a photo contest is that you start to see the world around you in slightly more detail.  For example, this week's theme is "Reflections" and I've known about it for a while I so I catch myself noticing every time my kids stand anywhere near a reflective surface:  My sunglasses, a mirror, or slide, a playground "bubble", a tea kettle.  Sometimes, I even arrange it so it's no coincidence that we decided to make hot chocolate with our shiny teapot yesterday and I had the camera handy.

We love chocolate in almost any form around here and I make hot chocolate extra special (and creamy!) by using half boiling water and half warm milk.  Gwenny was mixing the warm milk with the Swiss Miss powder while we waited for the pot to boil.  Maddy's not so keen on hot chocolate but she loves marshmallows and will snack on them straight out of the bag (that's my girl!). 

I had so much fun on this week's theme and I'm sorry I'm only allowed to post one photo here.  I picked the one I liked the best but there were so many others that I'd love to share so go take a look at our "Reflections" flickr photo album and tell me if you think I picked the best one.

Note:  I've added photos to that album since this post originally was published.

Watermelon shirt (dress)

Gwenny never shows much interest in her wardrobe so when she asked if she could wear her watermelon shirt, I said "sure" even though I didn't think she actually owned a watermelon shirt. 

Then she showed up a few minutes later wearing this getup and a Great Big Smile.  I had to laugh (and grab the camera) because that "shirt" was actually a dress that she wore nearly four years ago when we were in China adopting her!  I have no idea why she thought it should be part of her cowgirl costume -- or why this costume also included teeny tiny green and white striped pj shorts!  Oh well, I s'pose it doesn't really matter when you're this cute!  (click on any of the photos below for a larger view)

Yee Haw, Cowgirl!!

  

 

She was hopping around in the grass saying "ribbit" when I took this pic (below)

I thought this one was incredibly pretty.  Gwen has such a beautiful soul and you can see straight into it when you look in her eyes.   She was laying in the grass and looking right at the camera and I love the serene expression on her face.  I wish I knew what was going on in that pretty little head of hers.

   

Here she is wearing this same dress in China (9/11/2005 - Guangzhou).  This picture was taken on my birthday and Gwendolyn Claire was, by far, the most amazing give I've ever been given (and she still is!).  More photos of the Watermelon Dress in our flickr set: <here>

 

Isn't she lovely?  It's strange to look back at these photos after so many years and realize that I didn't know this little girl at all back then.  Now I recognize all of her smiles because I've seen them so many times.  I know that the smile in the photo above is her Sincere smile.  It's the one she can't help but produce when she genuinely finds something funny.  The smile in the photo below is her Amused smile.  We see this one very often because she's such a happy little girl and almost everything amuses her.   

 

Salsa Mom (M3) is doing her Fashion Friday post this week and we're in!   

Progress report on our little pool

Today is the 36th business day of our eagerly anticipated and long awaited home improvement project.  I blogged about it early last month and several people have emailed me to ask if we're finished yet and ready to whip up some margaritas and celebrate.    Oh how I wish that was so!  But we are making great progress.  Here's the latest picture:

 

Most of the delay was due to the coping (which can take a month to produce!) but we finally have it and it's now installed on our little pool (as the girls call it) and Daddy's bench and the slightly raised patio at the back of the photo. 

Today they installed some of the slate around the perimeter of the spa and readied the bench for slate tomorrow.  Next week, we'll get plaster inside the spa (and on those cool man-made rocks) then we'll be almost finished and just about ready to add water!  It's been in the 90's for the last three days so we're more than ready for that!

By the way, even though this is a hot tub/spa, we're not planning to heat it like a jacuzzi.  It'll be more like a little pool and only heated enough to be comfortable but not hot.   

Now where's my blender.... 

Roller Skates

The girls are getting really good at skating but even better at posing for adorable photos...

 

 





Gwen with Grandad and Nana

Favorite Easter Pics (and fasion challenge)

We took about 400 photos but few made the cut.  Here are a couple of my favorite.  I love this one the best, I think.

 

Most of the photos on this post were taken with my Father-in-Law's Nikon D40.  Our Canon 5D just didn't give us many photos that we liked.    Maybe it was the hard light (high noon on a sunny day) but most of our pictures were too dark.   The Nikon handled this better, I think.

 

I took this one with our Canon 5D in the auto mode with flash.  I think it came out pretty good.  Gwen is wearing a serious expression accessorized by my sunglasses and a bit of lipgloss.

 

Here's cute Maddy with Thumper.  She has such a beautiful smile!

 

While we were making Easter dinner, Maddy sneaked into her room and changed her clothes.   We cracked up when we saw what she was wearing (that's a Christmas dress).   And what's the rule about wearing white shoes after Labor Day?  Anyway, when I saw her in this outfit, I knew I had this week's Fashion Challenge picture. 

Check out M3's blog for more funky and fun pics of our kids dressing themselves.