I love mornings.

I love the way my big girl wakes up with a crusty face and a head of crazed spun sugar.

I like the way it is quiet, and there is no need for toys or t.v. because waking up is a process, and my girls like to work their way into it.

I like the magic of the eastern sun that seeps its way into my girls’ room and the way they casually soak up its warmth on the bed.

I like to hear the hum of the coffee pot, the way it gurgles and coughs as the rich black drink trickles into the heavy pot. I like the sound of its stream as the pot fills up my cup and the way the cream swirls its way through it until my coffee is golden and churned.

I like the way the morning sun melts Nella into an easy calm. My warm little kitten.

Mornings are somber and slow. We putter and pause and pass the time slowly, drinking it up, sip by sip.

And every night, I look forward to going to bed because it will soon be followed by another joyous morning.

And, behold…the return of the pouty lip.

We look forward to weekends like everyone else, making plans all week, dropping ideas of all the adventurous things we might do. Like we might go to Clam Pass Beach. And we might take Lainey to see a movie. And we might drive to Captiva for the day.

But when Saturday arrives and we might get out of bed, the thought occurs that it might be kinda nice to just chill. And our big plans get moved to later in the afternoon…until 2:00 arrives and we’re making grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup and suiting up for a family swim. And so the plans get bumped to Sunday…until we wake up and it’s raining and we decide we’d rather mull indoors with coffee watching the Backyardigans and building forts out of couch cushions and piles of folded laundry that never made it to drawers.

I’ve always been a let’s-get-goin’ girl. A do-it-and-see-it kind of person. But, the older I get, the more I realize just how very much I love the pleasures of home. Having a place that is peaceful and safe. And, although our house might not be the most organized and laundry might not always make it to the drawers, it’s homey. With its flashcard piles and dumped-out doctor kits, sprawls of dollhouse furniture-turned-bath-toys that litter the bathroom rug, the empty paper towel roll that hasn’t been changed in three days. However, there’s always freshly-ground coffee, cold beer in the fridge and big pillows on the couch that have been broken in just so.

This weekend brought sunny blue skies that were interrupted in the afternoon by cozy gray clouds and torrential downpours which timed nicely for the girls’ naps. They both slept in our bed together this afternoon curled up next to each other and lullabyed to sleep by deep thunder and this massive choir of bullfrogs and crickets that sang from the woods. When the skies finally cleared again, we tromped out to the edge of the woods to see our dry path turned into a refective lake and frog friends emerging from pine needle blankets to explore the marsh. Needless to say, no picnic today.

We did, however, indulge in one of my favorite summer delicacies. Fresh ripe peaches soaked in cream, sprinkled in sugar and kissed with a dollop of whipped cream.

Nella practiced sitting up some more…

(propped up by an airplane neck pillow stacked on top of a Boppy…works great for her!)

…and Lainey and I met the post-storm sunshine with a basket of water balloons which were tossed and burst with a welcoming splash.

I love how her little face winced up, anticipating that water gush…

And though our only outing this weekend may have just been a family grocery trip…

…it was hardly a wash.

Sometimes, there really is…no place like home.

And some Sunday dessert…I couldn’t decide which ones to post because she has just way too many expressions, so here they all are–from her explorative gasps to this deep soulful stare that just drinks us in and makes me weak in the knees…she has so many looks.

My favorite:

And when she gets all worked up and happy, she gets her flirty eyes going and musters all her strength to make an excited little “Bbbbuhh” noise that’s always accompanied by this little bundle of bubbles and spit because she gets that excited to get it out. And we all–even Lainey–“whoa!” and “whoo-hoo” after she does it, and she looks so proud.

And, after all that work, she drops her head, rolls to the side, and rests with a gentle smile.

Yeah, Baby. It’s like that.

When all else fails for dinner plans ’round here, we purge the fridge and lay it all out for a giant smorgasbord of randomness. Like half a hockey-puck hamburger patty with a scoop of enchiladas, a withered bratwurst, a dallop or so of apple salad and some random garnishings of olives. chips. cookies. stale pop tarts. You get it.

And, in blog world, I’m cleanin’ out the fridge tonight. Laying out a nice smorgasbord of stuff that’s been hangin’ round my folders for awhile. A few scrapbook pages, some video clips and a nice little ditty I threw together on our blessed little Tuesday afternoon today. Where Daddy randomly cocks his head to the side mid-afternoon and says, “Hey, wanna go to Chuckee Cheese?” And my head spun. Because that might be the most random thing he’s ever suggested. I didn’t even know he knew what Chuckee Cheese was and I certainly hadn’t been to one since I was like…five. So we went. Just spontaneously threw some diapers in a bag, buckled the girls in seats and drove 35 minutes to the closest Chuckee Cheese. And it was awesome. Just pure awesome spending a Tuesday afternoon pulling tickets out of the ski-ball machine and watching Lainey shy smile for two hours straight. And can I just say I still got it? I still got an arm that can chuck a ski-ball so hard into that little bulls-eye hole, I had a crowd of impressed kids eyeing the tickets that were spitting out of the reward slot.

So yes, totally awesome Tuesday.

Insert random scrapbook pages:

(the beginning of Lainey’s FOUR year book!)

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…and some from Nella’s First Year…can’t post them all…there’s so many so far!

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A side helping of my favorite videos lately.

Lainey pullin’ out this adorable baby talk to her sister:And Nella’s totally-in-love smiles she gives Brett every morning:And finally…dessert. Way better than stale pop tarts.

A little Chuckee Cheese synopsis. Bon Appetit.