as of late...

Not a lot TON to write about other than the daily norm, it seems. I keep feeling guilty every time I update this blog, because I keep remembering back to June/July/August/September and see all the posts that have yet to come and it makes me overwhelmed.

So I say, "never mind" and go surfing instead (the internet kind, not the ocean kind. obviously.).

Right this minute I have the motivation.
(insert "WHOOP! there it is!" here)
With that, we begin.

It's easy to talk about my kids, because let's face it, they are MUCH more interesting than I am.

After a little persuasion from my mom and my friend, Ashley, we decided to participate in a little weekly playgroup for Matilda. It's kind of like "joy school" where the moms trade off teaching each week, but we're not so fancy. They are, like, 2 years old. So, we're not making it super structured. Basically it's once a week and they play with the other three girls for 3 hours. We drop them off. They play. Socialize. Learn how to have fun with other little human-beings-besides-their-mother. It's good. I was afraid of the commitment (I'm a home body and don't like HAVING to go places... I know, I need to get over that, b/c apparently as soon as children turn 5, I hear moms end up living in their cars carting their kids around. So, sue me that I want to bask in the non-committal mode for as long as I can.).

Anyway, it's worked out to be great. She loves it and is feeling really comfortable with the other little girls. In fact, this past week, she jumped out of the car, ran inside the house and didn't look back. Wow. Way to adjust, Tillie! She's happy. Aaron's happy. I'm happy. This growing up thing is kind of exciting.

Here she is on her first day.
She loves her little backpack. I love that the straps are so long she can trip on them (NOT!). I should do something about that. ASAP.

I love that she still has her "i just woke up-sleepy eyes" and the far off stare in this one.
Still happy though.

And, Calvin was just really happy to have his parents all to himself.
(just kidding, he didn't REALLY tell us that)

On another note, Tillie is smart. She proved her brain skills yet again, a few weeks ago. Aaron's sister, Stephanie, gave Tillie a bunch of felt shapes for her to use at church. Apparently they "stick" (for lack of a better term) to the carpeted pews? Anyway, we've had them in the plastic ziplock for a while, thinking she was too little to catch the drift. Well, she found the bag and started playing with them. Aaron or I never instructed her on "how" play with them. So, we were pretty surprised when we saw this (p.s. this was a re-enactment. no way can she put the scarf so delicately on the snow man. Or the beak on the bird, for that matter).

Yes, that is the air intake area. She gets so frustrated when the AC isn't running, b/c they don't "stick" like they are supposed to. hA! Pretty clever. When I showed my dad the amazing feat she'd performed, he was worried that little felt pieces would get sucked through the grate and bust our AC. But, I remembered that we have a filter right on the inside of the grate, so hopefully it would catch any stray "eyes" or "buttons"---right? Hmm. I'd hate to go without AC in south Texas. Wouldn't you?! We'll research this and get back to you.

Anyway, because she loves playing this new game so much, we decided to make a few more felt pieces---including a chubby ballerina (the best kind, naturally), weird stop sign, snow man, etc.

I love her crazy lips in this one. She MUST be concentrating.

Oh, and on another note, I've been liking any excuse to make cupcakes lately. Why? I don't know. But here are one of the latest rounds. And, for some reason, I don't really feel like eating them. Weird and very unlike me. I know.

Anyway, I think the colored sprinkles make them MUCH more fun. And, of course, I had to pull out my polka dotted mini cake stand. Because I love it. Even though it is TOTALLY not practical. Whatever. It made me happy when I bought it and STILL makes me happy when I pull it out of the depths of my cupboard. Hmmm... maybe I should have saved that for my new "series"? oh well.

It's the little things, people.

the end.