a.rose

I am pretty sure that camping is one of the best things families can do.  As a side note, little girls in little sunglasses is one of my favorite things, in the world.  Action shot of Hallie.  And then Heather kept trying to eat the flashlight, so I guess it was dinner time. The girls were convinced this tree was going to fall into the lake.  As in, while we were standing there.  Devin wanted to take a picture of them pretending to push it, and they were all excited until it was time to get next to the tree and then they were really squealing, "But it's going to fall over into the lake!" It did not fall into the lake, of course.  Not yet, anyway. Also, I was on this camping trip, pinky swear, taking all the pictures.

Let's turn the spotlight on Heather, with pictures taken by Hallie.   And with that, I hope you have a really nice day.

At first I thought I would start this blog post by writing something like, "Perhaps you've noticed that I haven't posted in a long time."  and then I thought, "Well, isn't that vain, to think that people sit around wondering why you aren't writing in your blog?"  and then I thought, "Well, I'll start it that way anyway, because that is what I want to talk about - the reason I haven't posted in a while." And here we are.  And if you are thinking it is going to be that kind of announcement, it isn't.  So, deep breath everybody. When I was young I wanted to be a lot of things when I grew up, I had big dreams and plans and ideas.  One of which was that I would be a famous writer.  I was always writing stories, my favorite style was the "Choose Your Own Ending," and let me tell you, those are more complicated than they look when you are nine and trying to write one on your own.  I also loved to write poetry.  I had no...

I've never swooned before, I don't think.  I've watched plenty of chick flicks and they have made me laugh and cry and clap and dance and squeal.  But they never reached the gut of my heart, you know the place I mean?  Most of the romantic gestures I've experienced in real life resulted in my punching the guy right in the stomach.  That all changed when Tony said to Ziva, just before she left for Israel to bury her father, "At lo levad*" to which she replies, "I know." Now, I don't know for sure that I swooned, but I sort of gagged on emotion.  I mean, it was just pouring off of him. You can see it in his eyes, he's screaming and pleading and whispering and beckoning. Ziva. Ziva. Ziva. You can practically hear Adele singing in the background "You'll never know, if you never try. So forget your past and simply be mine."  His eyes say, "I dare you to let me be your one and only.  I promise, I'm worth it." I ...

I can hear my girls over the monitor talking to each other and laughing as they fall asleep.  If I close my eyes, it could be me in the dark with my sister, wrapped up in my sheets because I've always been weird about being completely covered - I had some idea that demons couldn't get me if I had blankets up to my chin, and my mouth closed.  I used to think he could read my secrets on my teeth.  I try to remember things like that when they cry at night.  It might not make sense to me at all, but it is real to them. I try to remember that this is their childhood.  The things we do each day, the lunches I make, the activities I say "yes" to and the ones I say "no" to, the tone of voice I use when they make messes and don't clean it up, and the voice I use when they do clean it up... these are the building blocks of their childhood.  When they are grown and people ask them what it was like, they will think back on these days, and the cumulative, collecti...

Today I feel like celebrating Hanna.  She's three, and she's funny, and she's absolutely Hanna. Most of these pictures were taken by Hallie.

Dear Mimi- I would have just sent you all of this in an email, but then I thought I would put it in a blog post because sometimes when I stop posting as often as I usually do sometimes people wonder if maybe I am pregnant, and I was feeling kind of sassy today.  See, with this post about nothing important to anyone but you, they will see that I have posted and think, "oh, ok. I guess she isn't pregnant." But then they will see that this post is about nothing important, and they will think, "or maybe she is pregnant and that's why all she can write are these lame posts that mean nothing to anyone but her sister." Which really isn't very nice to do to people, but as I said, I'm feeling kind of sassy this morning.  Also, if you really do wonder if I am pregnant and this isn't all just a joke, I won't be offended if you ask. I think you left a pair of Daniel's pants here, his little khaki ones. So you probably need those, right? For Lau...