Wise Words from Steve Martin

I know the grandparents and the aunts and uncles, etc. like checking out the pictures on NFN, but the truth is I love writing the stories that go along with the pictures.  I've wanted to work on a blog since 2004 when I heard about them at the Faith and Writing Festival.  The problem was, I wasn't sure what to write about that would be "blog worthy."  I've always liked to record the events of my days, in the hopes of finding some kind of meaning from my analysis.  Here are a few of my journals to prove it:

These are just the ones from the last several years.  The others are in a bin in a storage unit and date back to first grade.

 Those are for me, not really for an audience.  But I like writing for an audience and that's why I wanted to start a blog.  Except that Steven Martin's voice from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles rang in my ears as a warning.  He tells John Candy in a moment of fury: "When you tell a story, have a point.  It makes it so much more interesting for the listener!" 

So I waited.  And then in 2006 and 2008 I found my points: Hadley and Harper.  They could be my "excuse" for starting a blog and telling stories.  Hooray!

Although, the next problem I have run into is that I wait to write some posts that have "themes."  Killing Caterpillars?  Check.  Trips to the zoo?  We got it. Going to Calvin's graduation and soon after a wedding?  Coming soon.  Sometimes, I want to write a post about the day, but I don't know what the theme (or point) is.

So today I decided to take the camera with us with the idea of recording what we do and that will be my story (uh...point).  Here goes:

It's just not a good day if Harper doesn't get a chance to stand on this stool.  Harper looooooves to stand on this stool.  I can honestly walk away and come back after 5 minutes and she will still be standing there talking to the chick in the mirror.

We went to the park this morning, but I didn't take pictures because it's difficult to do that and make sure everyone still has their limbs.  But afterwords we went to Whole Foods to get some stuff for our trip and we had a snack.

Hadley is in the middle of telling me she is only going to eat the blueberries in that container of fruit on the table. So I ate the rest of it (Harper had a banana....we all had our "good for you stuff" with our treats).  There were raspberries in the mix and I told Hadley that I used to have a raspberry bush in the backyard when I was a little girl.  I told her how much I loved eating raspberries, in the hope she'd try one. 

Hadley said, "Where was I?" 

I told her that she wasn't around yet.  I said, "You weren't born."

Hadley thought about this for awhile and then said, "I think I was with my other grandparents."

I told her she was probably right.

And here's what happened when I.....well, I guess I don't know what I was doing.  I supposed I zoned out for a second, and the girls did this:

Hadley made a "straw train" against the side of the wall.

And Harper dumped out her juice box and started playing and splashing in it. 

Rock on.

When we got back home, and changed Harper's sticky, apple juiced clothes, the girls colored for a bit.

Are you looking at this picture and wondering why I bothered to get Harper's haircut?  Because I am. Or is that you think her skirt is too short?

Hadley's working on a picture of the park we were at earlier today.  The thing on the left is a slide.  She also drew a swing set.  I thought it was pretty impressive.  Sorry I didn't take a picture of it.  I'm also sorry I didn't take a picture of the entire alphabet that she wrote out for the first time last night.  That was also impressive.  But what was most impressive is that Hadley said the alphabet backwards from the letter J.  Neither one of us could believe it.  We were driving home from dinner and Jesse almost swerved off the road.  I mean, is that normal?  I realize I'm in awe of my child and run the risk of being one of those parents that tries to prove her child in really, really smart, but I am right now trying to think of what comes before J, and I can't do it.  She went from J to A in about 3 seconds.  It was unbelievable.

Harper likes to read books in the rocker in the girls' bedroom.

After their naps the girls thought it would be fun to play on my workout stuff. 

 I like Harper's little hip bop she's got going on.

Later, we went to Target so I could put together these bags for our roadtrip:

It's a bag filled with their favorites.  Each child has a pair of sunglasses, a hand puppet, a mini etch-a-sketch, books, and 615 Dora the Explorer stickers with paper that lets them "restick" the sticker.  Jesse thinks this will keep them busy for at least an hour.  An hour?!?!?!  I was going for like half the trip. (And what would a blog post be without a picture of my Starbucks coffee?)

The girls also rode around on their different modes of transportation inside the condo (the people downstairs adore us).

This apparently tired them out, so they climbed into our bed and got under the covers.

 

The End.  I'm not sure if there was a point to this post, but I'm glad to have been able to record it.