{pretty, happy, funny, real}

{pretty}

My pretty baby girl in a pretty purple dress.  And yes, I was the one who pulled those socks up as high as they would go, and yes, she did yank them right off within five minutes of this picture being taken.

{happy}

Side-by-side artistry at the arts and crafts desk.  I think we'll need two stools pretty soon.

Thick as thieves, those two.

{funny}

M's and my race shirts for our Thanksgiving Day road race came in the mail today.  After trying them on and running around the house "racing", the girls then decided to wear them off the shoulder and started calling each other "Queen Sarah".

Not sure if I'll be getting my shirt back before race day.

{real}

L has been very TWO this week.  It seems like every other word out of my mouth is "No," or "Don't touch that" or "Don't climb on that".

This has been exacerbated by the fact that I haven't caught up on rest after a longer day of teaching on Tuesday, and I seem to be drowning in housework and can't put my finger on where all my time is going.  You know the times when you feel like you're swimming uphill, running around frantically with every spare minute, cleaning there and tidying here, and at the end of the day everything is still a mess?  Yeah, that's been this week.  So my patience is at a bit of a low.

But today, when L approached me holding a rubbermaid full of arts and crafts supplies, and said, "Would you please open this for me Mama?" I didn't say "No, that will make a big mess." I said yes.  I willed myself to forget that we were almost on our way out the door for a trip to the library I had planned.  And I shut off the voice in my head reminding me of the dishes in the sink and the laundry gathering wrinkles in the dryer.

And I just let her do what she wanted to do, which was to make "Big Bird's Nest" on our couch.

She decorated it so lovingly and carefully, I just had to sit there and watch her (and grab the camera and take pictures, of course).

It was a wonderful moment, stopping to notice the beauty of that girl, admiring her focus and thought, marveling at the unhindered creativity of TWO.  One of those heart-swelling times.  I'm so glad it happened.

And now I'm off to clean up the mess, while that sweet little girl sleeps (still clad in race t-shirt, dreaming of queenly things).

Linking up at Like Mother, Like Daughter this week!