An Expressive Face...or Twenty

Violet is the most facially expressive kid I've ever birthed. Or known. I thought I'd follow her around for an hour and try to document her expressions.

 

Here's 26 minutes' worth before the sun came out one morning:

 

Not impressed? How about the next 18 minutes post-sunrise:

 

 

This girl is a handful. She is exhausting. She is curious and destructive and creative and stubborn. She is sweet and funny and busy and attached. And, honestly, none of us could imagine a day without her. Love this chickadee.

Addie Anne

Addie is killing me lately. In a good way. I've made a concerted effort to spend quality time with her every morning while the older kids are at school and while Violet's asleep, which is so super fun. There are also times, however, when I can't be playing with her (e.g., doing dishes, laundry, random tasks of motherhood, etc.), and she finds ways to entertain herself.

Like this morning, she brought an enormous stack of books downstairs, had me "tuck her in" to the couch with her blankie, and she spent a good portion of time reading to herself and laughing at the funny parts. I'd glance over at her occasionally, and she had her ankles crossed in front of her, hair falling in her eyes, and total concentration.

And like yesterday, after I played chess with her (don't worry...apparently, House Rules are that her guys can move anywhere on the board AND jump my guy in the same move. Even the pawns. She won in about 12 moves.), she kept them out and played against herself, while making the pieces have meaningful conversations amongst themselves. They talked about going dancing after the game... my money's on the knight's horse having 3 left feet. 

Plus she oooohs and aaaahs over my simple dinners like pasta and veggies. And whenever she falls or trips, she'll get up and brush herself off and assure me, "I'm otay, mom. I'm otay." And she tells me that, since Violet's the baby, she herself doesn't need naps anymore... and then she'll curl up with me with her blanket and fall asleep. And she rubs my back and "does" my hair sometimes. And she coos adorably at Violet and plays so cute (usually) with her older brother and sister.

Paul and I tell her that she can't get older. She's practically perfect as she is.

a little of this and that

It's that time of year again at our elementary school...the time where we get to choose whether or not to order school photos. Hmmm... Pose A or Pose B? Both tempting options.

In unrelated news, my parents drove down from Washington and spent the majority of this past week with us. (And my mother-in-law spent several days last week.) I honestly don't know if I could've survived without their help.

Joyce played with the older kids, brought us food deliciousness, took me to/from instacare (and loaned me her iPad to play mindless games on while I waited), and was a constant support for several days during a fresh-home-from-the-hospital rough patch. I love you Joyce!

My parents played with and showered the older kids with much-needed attention and saw to details both major (e.g., breakfast, getting kids to/from school, homework, etc.) and minor (e.g., letting me nap, vacuuming, doing dishes, stocking the freezer with edibles, etc.). I love you Dad & Mom!

My dad spent the good part of one morning singing to Violet and Addie. His voice is awesome and soothing; I loved it as a kid, and I love that my daughters can hear it as well. This is the stuff of life, people. 

Mom was always ready and eager to hold or rock Violet when she needed attention but craziness was happening elsewhere. (And, let's be honest, any other time too.)

The kids all love reading to Violet. This was a hilariously academic setup I stumbled upon in the midst of one morning's rush of activity:

And, apparently, there was going to be a test on the subject matter, because Violet did some studying of her own a little later:

We can't get enough of this bald girl's face. Its expressions change constantly, much to our delight and entertainment (which, really, isn't that what it's all about? my own entertainment? I thought so):

But one expression made me a wee bit wary of what's cooking under that sweet facade:

I'm extremely humbled by how good life can be.

in neutral

Sometimes I sit and do nothing. I want (and need) to do lots of different things, but for this reason or that reason, I can't settle on actually accomplishing one thing. My house desperately needs cleaning (shouldn't "nesting" be kicking in about now? I ask you), I have creative projects in mind that I'd love to do, a baby will be arriving and I should definitely prep for that (i.e., getting diapers to have on-hand would be a start...), and other stuff.

I'm usually a go-getter. But sometimes, like lately, I do nothing. And then I start to wallow.

I hate wallowing. It's not pretty.

And so I'm off to play legos. Which, really, does nothing toward accomplishing any of the aforementioned To Do tasks, but it makes my kids happy and feel important. And, frankly, that supersedes.