Holding our breath ~ Best Shot Monday

Last Friday was a pivotal moment in our house. Addie took her maiden voyage across a pool, by herself.

She can swim. And we are all so proud of her – including her biggest cheerleader, Em.

At the beginning of the week, when she started lessons, it looked a little grim. Her instructor said, “Wow, she is really stubborn, isn’t she?” as she handed me back a writhing, screaming, temper-tantrum throwing mess, that sort of resembled my daughter.

But the difference between Tuesday and Friday is simply astounding! This weekend we had use of our neighbor’s pool and she practiced and perfected her little seal-like underwater sprint. And mugged for Daddy and his underwater camera…

Smile - You're underwater!

Why didn’t someone tell me that this swimming thing is just so easy!

It's just so easy!

bsm

We’re back…

…at least in theory. Re-entry to the real world is always so hard. We took the red-eye on Thursday night/Friday morning, then J. and I flew to SF for a friend’s wedding early Saturday morning, got back Sunday afternoon and then headed to the Hollywood Bowl for the Deathcab for Cutie concert (very awesome) last night. But all of that just means my sleep surplus – from my 8+ hour a night sleeps in Hawaii – is seriously depleted.

I just grabbed this pic today (I have over a 1000 more to look through and deal with still) for my Best Shot Monday, to remind me to relax as we rush into our real summer vacation today.

Just a swingin'

bsm

Inspired.

My new space is amazing. I am not sure why I didn’t claim the little nook in the extra room for my office/craft area when we first moved in, but it was so worth the work required to get it moved around last week. I love hanging out in there. It is cozy and organized and it just makes me  feel inspired – even if it is just to go in and pay bills.

Plus I have windows now – and these pretty flowers to look at right outside of them.

DSC_0013.jpg

I think I am even inspired to tackle the new week. Well, almost.

bsm

A little Q & A ~ Best Shot Monday

Q: How did I spend my Mother’s Day afternoon?
A: Lying beneath our avocado tree in the hammock watching the girls entertain themselves.

DSC_0077.jpg

Q: And what exactly were they looking for?
A: Roly Polys (Pill bugs) – naturally.

DSC_0080.jpg

Q: Did they pick the bugs up?
A: You betcha!

DSC_0040.jpg

Q: How many did they find?
A: I think there were more than 12 at one point all hanging out in Em’s hat!

DSC_0060.jpg

Q: What is one of the funniest things to watch?
A: Your very girly-girls all decked out in their very girly outfits, playing with bugs in the dirt, of course!

DSC_0070.jpg

Q: Which shot to choose for my BSM?
A: This one. I love her intense concentration, curiosity and wonder. My little bug girl.

DSC_0044.jpg

Stay tuned for more bug adventures around Chaos. The butterflies are about to hatch and we have almost grown ladybugs, too! In the meantime hop over to Tracy’s for some more adventures.

bsm

A little sharing between sisters ~ Best Shot Monday

There are many, many reasons I love having two girls. Of course, some days I might need to be reminded of those reasons when Emma is trying to strong arm Addie into doing something, or Addie is tattling on Emma. But then there are moments like this, when my heart just swells with love to watch them…

Sharing a smoothie

Some things are just a bit sweeter when shared with your sister.

bsm

All Girls, All Weekend ~ Best Shot Monday

Props to Daddy this weekend. He endured a LOT of girly-ness and a lot of girl-centered activities. Yes, he was trying to make up for forcing football on all of us for the past two years, but at any rate, he pulled through on some pretty great activities this weekend. And I’m pretty certain is anxious to get back to work this morning where the estrogen level is surely at a more acceptable level.

First up, he got us tickets to the World Figure Skating Championships on Friday night at the Staples Center. Not just any tickets, but tickets in one of the luxury suiteswhich was, well…pretty sweet.  The tickets were for the Free Dance session, which is always a fun one to watch, although it started at 6:30pm. Which means we saw the “B team.” The “A team” skates later in the evening. The girls made it until about 9pm, and then we beat a hasty retreat before full meltdown mode could ensue.

We had an extra ticket so Emma brought her friend Avery and then the girls had their first official, non-visiting friend sleepover. Since it was so late when we got home I thought surely they would sleep until at least until 8:30am, maybe 9? Right?

Right. Not exactly. All three of the girls were back up and at ‘em by 7am.

So Saturday started early. Very early. In the afternoon we took the girls to see Monsters vs. Aliens. They had been counting down the days til it opened, and I knew we would probably take them, but since it also coincided with the report cards going home on Friday, (and Emma’s was outstanding, again!) we told Em we’d take her because of her good report. It is a cute movie. AND has a girl superhero, which I can really get behind. Emma has been spouting off lines from the movie all weekend. She really is her Daddy’s daughter!

And then Sunday, Daddy scored more tickets. This time to the inaugural game for the Women’s Professional Soccer league. We cheered our LA Sol team onto a 2-0 victory. It was the first real soccer match I had ever been to, and I think it renewed Em’s desire to play soccer again. So it was a successful game on many levels.

I did tote my camera around a little more this weekend than I have the past few weeks, and I’ll get some photos edited and up soon. But this one is my favorite from the weekend, and my BSM for today.

First of all, we have a much larger tub in our room, and why we didn’t use that one – I’m not sure. But I just love the bedheads on all three of them, as they cram into the tub, shoulder to shoulder, and try to wake up from their little sleep-deprived fog on Saturday morning.

Bedheads

Constant Coaxing ~ Best Shot Monday

Trying to get food into a headstrong little girl…

DSC_0057.jpg

I know many parents have similar eating…oh, lets call them…”challenges,” shall we?

DSC_0035.jpg

But ours seems to have reached epic proportions, here.

DSC_0022.jpg

We had breakfast for dinner last night…pancakes, served IHOP-style with whipped cream and chocolate chips, even. What kind of kid can’t choke that down for dinner?

DSC_0021.jpg

We’ve tried no snacks between meals, no snacks after meals, going to bed hungry, sitting at the table until something has been consumed…it is incredibly frustrating.

DSC_0055.jpg

It is a good thing that she is so darn cute!

DSC_0026_2.jpg

Visit Tracey’s for some other joys and challenges today.

Cutest Fan Club ~ Best Shot Monday

Look at me – in a photo – two weeks in a row!

So obviously this was not my best shot for today, but a photo that J. took just before my triathlon this weekend.

I definitely had the cutest fan club at the race!

My fan club

As far as the actual race – I had a very good race, for as little as I had trained.  Last year, since it was my first tri ever, I trained so hard because I was really worried about actually finishing. This year and my training? Well, let’s just say it was usually the very last bullet point on my ever-growing to do list.

So I finished the race in 1:21, a few minutes over last year’s time. I was kind of bummed when I saw the time. Well, I was relieved that it was over, since it seemed so much harder than last year, but I had kind of hoped to get a new personal best record, and beat my time.

But, hey! I did come in 17th place (out of 45)  in my age group. And when I started thinking about how little I have worked out in the past few months – I mean I just dusted off my bike last week, for the first time since before Christmas. And, I am usually lucky to get in three runs and one spin class a week. Plus, I haven’t done a brick workout since before my last tri…last summer. (A brick workout is when you stack two workouts together, like swim/run or bike/run, etc.) So considering all of this…I think I am just happy to have finished with the time I did manage.

And, it also provided a little bit of inspiration – now I am looking for another race that I can really train for.