Clothes

These girls won't go naked (although they'd love to!). Thank you, grammas for the fun clothes!

Molly calls the heart shirt her "special shirt" - I think that's because she was trying it on at the same time that Clara was trying on the dress and I made a comment about it being a special dress that we don't wear all the time (like, for the pasta with red sauce dinner we were about to have).

In the first photo, Clara is showing off the "undies" that go with the dress (Molly realllly wanted those undies, even though I tried to convince her they aren't really underwears, but rather diaper covers). And in that last photo of Clara, she's posing for the picture, that's why she's got a funny look on her face.

Also, note the frog... it is a member of the garden animals collection that is slowly moving from Takoma Park to Berkeley. This one has taken up (temporary) residence in our living room. For now.

Sister Bed

This week we started an experiment: the Sister Bed. Clara had been wanting to sleep in Molly's bed. Molly wanted to get in the crib with Clara. Clara was gearing up to climb out of the crib anyway. So, we put a mattress on the floor and declared it the Sister Bed!

Sister Bed Rules (posted on the wall above their bed)
1. No pillows on faces.
2. If your sister cries: Talk or sing softly to her. No Yelling.
3. If you're scared: go quietly to mama & daddy's room. Or poke your head out the door. No Yelling.

So far it hasn't been any worse than the previous setup. And it's incredibly sweet to listen to Molly talk to Clara, and see them sleep together.

This morning Clara ventured out of their room on her own for the first time, and tonight she tested that boundary again. But Zach's got a real good handle on them. (me, they pull all my heart strings and I end up spending an hour coaxing them to bed).

Pictures: sisters trying on the dresses Nona sent; Sisters ready for school and daycare in the morning.

Birthday Zach

Belated Birthday Zach pictures...

Family Hike

Two weeks ago after swim class we decided to take a short hike. Molly wanted to keep going. Clara wanted to check the map.

Salt Point State Park

It was cold. It was hot. We liked it a lot.

We had a lovely weekend at Salt Point State Park (on again off again on the park closure lists... somehow folks think "closing" parks like this will fix our state budget issues...). Nana and Pa took "Nick" and "Nora" their truck & trailer combo. Molly slept over in the trailer with them. Clara was upset about this inequity, but got over it, mostly.

One of the nice things that we've discovered recently is that Molly loves hiking! Just one year ago it was like pulling teeth to get this girl down the trail to a waterfall. This year is another story (so far, at least... knock on wood!). She even has asked for more (as in, can we keep going? I'm not done yet.).

In other news, I'm a little surprised that I was able to take so many pictures: all three cameras that came on the trip warned of imminent battery failure on the first morning. I was able to coax two of them through the weekend (maybe it was the fog that helped?).

As usual, click on the image below to start the slide show. Click again to go to the pictures folder where you can view them larger (especially the poppy + ladybug picture: that one's great full screen!).

Swim Class

The girls have been taking swim classes up at Robert's Pool these past weekends. Interestingly, Molly is more excited about it than Clara. Perhaps it's because Clara's the only kid in her Parent-Tot class? Molly, on the other hand, clearly relishes having her teacher's attention (almost) all to herself: the only other kid in the class mostly refuses to get in the pool.

Garden Bounty

With only minimal attention, we've been enjoying a nice little harvest from the backyard. The peas were fun, the beets were yummy, the artichoke was delicious (although that plant makes a big show for a few bites), and soon we'll be enjoying some tomatoes.

The most impressive, though, are the plants that came in almost by accident. I noticed some weeds by the coop that looked like squash leaves, so gave them a chance. They took a mile. From what I can tell we have at least 3 squash plants and 2 tomato plants. The most prolific squash seems to be a crookneck squash that we just can't keep up with. We cook flowers and squash into everything, but it keeps going. I'm excited to see what the other squashes end up being.

(the orange flower is a sticky monkey flower that is looking amazing this summer)