Our Littlest Reader

Charlotte had no interest in books for the first 12 months of her life. Any time we tried to read to her, she would squirm out of our laps. She could have cared less about the bright colors of the pages or the rhyming words. There were much more interesting things to explore. Around the time she turned one all of this changed. Our little girl seemed to become a bookworm overnight. She loves to read. She likes looking at the pictures and turning the pages by herself just as much as she enjoys being read to. One of her favorites for the last month or so is a Happy Birthday book. She usually grabs it off her shelves and if she can't find it she says, "happy, happy, happy" over and over again until we find it. At the end of the book we always sing Happy Birthday and she moves her little body from side to side, loving every minute. Our littlest reader has finally arrived.

Fridays

Work has been crazy lately. I have been super busy and feel like I am never going to catch up. I have been working at night and on the weekends and have been wondering whether I would be better off just working on Fridays again. But then Friday comes and I realize just how important having a day with the girls is to me...especially at the ages they are at. We went to the Children's Museum on Friday morning and they had such a great time. They love getting out of the house and going places and it is so much fun experiencing everything with them. So for now, I'm going to do everything I can to keep my Fridays.

Snow Fort

Art built the girls a little snow fort in the backyard this weekend. Claire was super excited about it. She has loved playing in the snow this winter...I think she is finally big enough where she doesn't feel like she is going to fall over in all her gear! Charlotte was amused for a few minutes, but was then ready to head inside. I'm guessing Claire will be spending a lot more time in the fort the rest of the winter.

Picture Day

I have been terrible at taking pictures lately. I'm not sure why. Maybe its the fact that it is the middle of winter, everyone is pasty white and the lighting is terrible...or maybe its because this is the response I usually get from Claire when I break out the camera.

Such a grump. Usually I would just give up and put the camera away, but this morning I was determined. Claire has to make homemade Valentines for preschool and I have grand plans of pasting a mini photo of her on each one (along with several other crafty ideas that I'm sure will fail miserably...more on that in upcoming weeks). Anyway, she eventually came around and we got a couple of decent shots.

Of course I had to take a few shots of Charlotte as well. These days she is more than happy to partake in my mini photo shoots. She would have looked at the camera and said "cheese" all day long if I wanted her to. I guess I'll enjoy it while it lasts. I'm sure the exaggerated fake smile will make an appearance at some point.