Lemonade Baths and Paint

     Have any of you figured out what is in this photograph?  Well, it's a washing machine full of stuffed dogs.  This was the only way I could really capture today's quiet time events.  Audrey actually naps about once a month now.  It's okay, though, because we still have a lengthy quiet time.  Claire naps.  Audrey is allowed to rest on her bed, read books, or play quietly in her room.  It's great down time for her.  It's great down time for me.  Sometimes, though, her imagination gets a little wild.  Today, for example, she decided that each of her doggies needed a bath.  She set up a bathing station and cleaned them with lemonade and water.  Lemonade?!  Yup.  This is my fault, really.  She brought home a glass of lemonade from lunch the other day, and the cup ended up in her room.  I didn't see the cup until AFTER it was used to bath the doggies (empty cup now).  So, Audrey bathed her dogs, and they were all wet.  I'm sure they loved their lemonade baths, but Mommy made them take a second bath in her washing machine.  

      "No, mommy, we're just playing."  Sure, sure.  And both dogs are trailing after my girls.  And all of Claire's Cheerios are gone.  Hmmm...

     Audrey asks for lots of barrettes.  It's only because I put a tiny, bitty bow in Claire's hair and Audrey wanted her hair to be fixed, too.  After I put the barrettes in Audrey's hair, she says, "Now I have prettier hair than Claire."  Uh, oh.  SO, I had to explain that we are not competing over who has the prettiest hair (or prettiest anything else).  God looks at our hearts and beauty is on the inside.  I'm sure I have many more of these conversations in my future...

      Claire in the cutest little REI vest that Audrey wore once upon a time... Before the itty bitty bow.

     You can barely see Claire's bow here.  I was trying to take a picture of the bow.  Instead, I caught a moment of "sisterly love," as Claire tries to rip the bag of chalk out of Audrey's hand.  Both of my girls are strong willed.  You can see the angst and determination on their faces.  Both lose.  Mommy takes the chalk and sets it upon a high shelf.  We'll try to share it again tomorrow.

     And this is our first dual craft moment.  Audrey loves crafts.  She'd do them all day every day, I think.  I haven't had the energy to try double craft time until today.  Claire has practiced drawing with chalk, and she's scribbled on her own, but today, I sat them both at the table.  Audrey painted while Claire used crayons to draw on the butcher paper.  Both girls were happy!