April 29

The girls get geared up for the festivities.






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Thumb Wars

We are really trying to get Ella to stop sucking her thumb. She and I have probably three or four conversations about it daily. She has a thumbguard that's supposed to prevent unconscious nighttime sucking, but most nights, it gets removed. I asked her the other day why she kept taking it off and putting it under her pillow every night and she answered me straight:
"I keep hoping that the ThumbGuard Fairy will come and take it away and leave me a toy." Maybe I should start leaving stuff under my pillow at night...

Finally

I think this is the fooseball table I had in the pre-existence.




So sad to think that a paltry $24,999.99 is standing between me and my dreams!


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Christmas ruined

I'm pretty sure my brother-in-law, Doug, doesn't read my hysterical blog. Probably because he is unaware of its existence. So I feel safe posting this clip of Ella modeling the Troy Landry hunting shirt I got him for Christmas this year. He introduced me to Swamp People-- for which I will ever be thankful. I will show this appreciation by buying him the best gift ever. Maybe I'll let Ella use it for her Halloween costume first...

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What $15 can get you at Century 21

By the time I saw this, I already had enough vacation presents for the girls, but how could I resist for $15? Hard to explain the compulsion to match, but it runs deep on the xx chromosomes.


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Swamp people pitch

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5th percentile

These cousins are only three months apart. This was one of the dew harmonious moments between them. Claire was amazed at Ava's iPhone skills.


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Crazy Aunt

Every family has one...

Ella loved Mare's April 1 getup.


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Baby Troy Landry

I'm not sure if anyone who reads this blog also watches "Swamp People" on the History Channel, but if they do, I hope they appreciate Ella's Cajun accent.

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Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Ella is really worried that one day the grass in our backyard will actually get mowed and all the white flowers will be gone. Today this fear (ungrounded though it may be) pushed her out of the house to go and pick as many flowers as she and Claire could get their tiny fists on.

Claire mostly harvested rocks.

I tried to harvest the smiles.

Young Beckam

Ella and I had this conversation in the car today on the way to her first soccer practice.

Ella: Mom, can you record me when I'm on TV?
Mom: You're going to be on TV?
Ella: I'm going to play soccer. When you play sports, you're on tv. And you always record basketball games when dad asks you to. I want to watch me playing soccer on tv.

It was a long conversation from there. Gotta love this kid's confidence.


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Shoes

Even Claire can appreciate how cute the shoes are at the Roger house.








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Oh what do you do in the summertime

Traveling from Portland to Houston in March is like skipping forward in time to the summer. Ella and Claire have been enjoying the dry outdoors.

Ella loves riding her bike around the neighborhood lake and feeding the ducks and turtles and Claires.


She helps J with the gardening.


Refines her Cirque de Soleil act.


And pushes Miss Claire on the swings.


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Sense and Senility

The Ella Dalton saga continues. Yesterday we were all sitting in the hammock with Claire and Ella said "Dalton, guess who I decided to marry?". Then she pointed at him. Dalton said, "I want to pick my own person to marry". Then he looked from side to side and said, "I pick Cwaire". Then he said, "wait, when a girl and boy get married, do they live at the girl's house or the boy's house?". I told him when people get married they decide together where to live. He looked relieved and said, "good. I'll marry Claire and we'll live at my house with my mom."

It's starting to feel like a Regency era novel here with two plucky sisters battling for the affections of a tall, handsome man who happens to be their cousin.
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