Talia & Teagan

Just ducky

2011-10-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

Yay! A new camera! So I could take this really cute picture of Talia holding her baby sister.

She likes to help push the carriage in the morning when I drop her off at school. That is, when Teagan isn't screaming and I can actually put her in the carriage.

"Watchoo lookin' at?" says Teagan.

I realize this video is not exciting. Except... that... she's SLEEPING! Never mind that it only lasted about 10 minutes. That's more time than I need to pee and get myself a cup of coffee, and I'll take what I can get.

I love a happy baby :)

Chillin' in her bubble bath...

How could she not be happy?

Ikea trip

2011-09-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

Oh my, I guess I finally killed the camera. I might have had it in my pocket, sitting in a chair in the backyard, and it might have fallen out onto the ground, and I might not have noticed. And then came a torrential downpour. Poor camera... I thought the pictures had started looking a bit dark. The flash has developed a bizarre delay, so it goes off after taking the picture.

But I digress....

We went to Ikea to get toy boxes for Talia's playroom. Pink, of course. She is definitely not my child :).

She had a good time pretending to take a nap in the kid's bedroom section.

The lights were fun to turn off and on.

"Get me out of here!"

Sorry, honey, we need to get through the check-out without having to chase you down. Ha ha--it looks like she's in jail with those lines in the picture.

Lifesaver

2011-09-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness for the pack, or we'd never get this kid to sleep! Unless she falls asleep eating, this is the only thing that gets her to close her eyes.

Shady shopkeeper

2011-09-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

Talia may have been a shady shopkeeper in a past life. She just can't seem keep her fingers off the scale. She's so exhausted, she can barely sit up. Oh, how I miss her afternoon nap.

Chillin' at the crib

2011-09-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

Here are Talia and Teagan relaxing together. A quiet moment. How nice :)

The newest babies visit Grandma and Pop-pop

2011-09-03T22:57:00.000-07:00

Today, the newest of our bunch visited Grandma and Pop-pop.

Aww...

... cute babies!

Pardon the bad lighting on these pictures. I may have left the camera in the backyard during a rainstorm, so it's not feeling well these days. At least it still takes pictures. For now, anyway.

War paint

2011-09-02T22:46:00.000-07:00

I hadn't planned on giving Talia a bath today, but...

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hurrincane Irene was not kind to us--we lost power and our basement was filling up quickly with water. Hooray for the Littleton Fire Department, who came and pumped it out. I guess maybe we need some sort of back-up power for the sump pumps!

Don't spill the beans-I mean seeds

2011-08-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

Today, we hung out on the driveway and Talia filled our two birdfeeders with birdseed. By herself. In her underwear.

The squirrels were very happy to find a giant pile of spilled birdseed on the driveway. It kept them from dive-bombing the bird feeders. For a couple of hours, at least.

Breakfast bear

2011-08-21T22:13:00.000-07:00

Not to be daunted by yesterday's double meltdown at the festival, we were optimistic this morning about leaving the house with the girls. So, we went to breakfast at Nancy's Airfield Café in Stow, MA. Talia got a breakfast bear, which was a pancake with chocolate chip eyes and a sausage patty mouth. Luckily for me, Talia thought the sausage was too spicy, so I got to eat it. It was delicious.

Today's venture from home was much more enjoyable.

After the festival

2011-08-20T23:04:00.000-07:00

Home was a much better place to be with two cranky children. Teagan needed some sleep.

Talia just needed to be home, I think. Or eat, maybe. She vetoed all the food at the festival, except some corn chips and a few tomato slices. We tried feeding her dinner once we got home, but she had a difficult time sitting still. This is the best picture I could get of her, so I took a video :)

Corn and tomatoes-not a big hit

2011-08-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

Talia's expression in this picture pretty much sums up how she felt about the Corn and Tomato Festival at Verrill Farm in Concord, MA.

Teagan was in agreement with her big sister.

Luckily, in her world, popsicles make everything all better.

Even Teagan cheered up, finally.

Sleep smiling

2011-08-17T22:45:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this really counts, but look! Teagan's smiling! In her sleep, but still.

Story time with Daddy.

I've got the blues

2011-08-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

Today we went blueberry picking with the Lucases at Tougas Farm in Northboro, MA. We had originally gone there to pick peaches, but they were all picked out for the day by the time we got there.

Talia didn't mind--the blueberries were delicious. Especially right off the bush.

Amy passed out snacks to Audrey and Talia. Blueberry-picking really makes you work up an appetite! Even if you are shoveling in berries as fast as possible. Talia had her own bucket, but I think only two or three berries actually made it in there (they probably got knocked off the bush mistakenly). And then she promptly ate them.

Teagan slept through most of the picking.

After we finished, and had lunch, Talia checked out their super fun playground.

Here are Talia and Brian in action.

"I'm warning you, I'm going to be really upset in about 2.2 seconds!"

Which came first--the cup or the cone?

Although Talia had wanted cotton candy ice cream, she settled for mint chocolate chip (they were all out). She decided it was a pretty good flavor, despite her disappointment.

And then lapsed into a moment of contemplative silence. Ha ha! Talia? Silent? This picture must have been taken in between words.

Gnocchi

2011-07-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Melany's house for a gnocchi-making party.

Talia had fun squishing the dough around with Melany's neighbor, Lily.

Instruction time. Pay attention, kids. Luckily, Melany used to teach preschool.

Talia wanted to show off her floury hand.

Squishy-squashy dough feels great!

"Hmm," says Talia, "how do I get all this sticky stuff off my hands?"

By licking them, of course!

Here is everyone in action. It's a mini-video (Brian meant to take a picture, but the camera was set to "movie.")

After all that messy fun, Bill (Melany's dad) helped Talia wash up.

Here are the girls looking for fish in the backyard pond.

Melany got to hold Teagan while she was asleep so I could eat dessert without leaning over a baby. Thank you!

Rolling around on the floor when it's time to go home, instead of putting on shoes, means we stayed too late and Talia has turned into a pumpkin.

Lowell Folk Fest... sort of...

2011-07-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

We attempted to go to the Lowell Folk Festival today. Talia, however, was not in the mood. The music was too loud, she whined--I mean--said.

So, we went to the train playground, and she perked right up.

The Revolving Museum had an amazing(ly loud) interactive percussion exhibit that was also fun.

Talia spent a while making a lot of noise!

Then, it was time for a dip in the fountain. Why not--all the other kids were doing it!

It was a little cold.

But, too much fun to get out. I actually had to pretty much scoop her out as she splashed by me.

Here she is in action.

Wet clothes are not comfortable. Fortunately, Brian had grabbed an extra set of clothing for her.

Unfortunately, the extra clothes consisted on underwear and a tank top. Luckily, Talia didn't mind a bit. She's not really a big believer in wearing pants, anyway. And we didn't have to try and convince her to put on pants before walking outside. It was pretty much win-win.

A day at the Acton Discovery Museum

2011-07-28T22:25:00.000-07:00

While Debbie was in the hospital, Maxine stayed with Grandma and Pop-pop. Talia, Teagan, and I spent the day with Maxine and Grandma at the Acton Discovery Museum. Or, as Talia likes to call it, "the Discovery Mu-zam." I'm not sure what kind of accent that's supposed to be (British? Southern?), but it's pretty darn cute.

Tree-climbing was a bit hit.

As was the train, of course. Talia announced to every kid that came on board that she was in charge of the signals. Just so they weren't confused.

Giant bubbles!

And a giant baby.

"I will eat you!" says Teagan.

Meeting Camille

2011-07-27T22:54:00.000-07:00

Teagan and Camille met each other for the first time, today. I have to admit, they kind of look alike.

Teagan was more interested in looking for a snack then she was in getting her picture taken.

Being the newer of the two, Camille was the champion sleeper today.

Aww....

You can see how much the previous two weeks have taken a toll on Talia. She looks a bit unkempt. Or maybe that's more of a reflection on Brian and me and our adjustment to an additional kid. I guess we should brush Talia's hair and give her a bath. She does have clean underwear on, though.

So, today, Talia finally decided that Uncle Nate is ok. He helped her draw a map to what she thought was the amazing water fountain they have in entrance to the hospital. Talia was disappointed that he was drawing a map to the water drinking fountain down the hall, instead.

It was ok, though--we got to visit it again on the way out. It was a giant granite fountain in the shape of the state of New Hampshire.Which happens to be the Granite State. Coincidence? I think not.

Meeting more relatives

2011-07-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

Stephen and Mindy were in town for the day, so we all got together at Umma and Papou's house. Mindy got to hold Teagan for a little while.

The big kids all ate lunch together.

Cherry tomatoes

2011-07-21T22:36:00.000-07:00

Talia enjoyed the first ripe cherry tomatoes from the garden this year. In her underwear.

I will hold her very carefully

2011-07-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

Talia was THRILLED to hold Teagan very carefully on the couch.All by herself!

Later, we went to Umma and Papou's house to visit with Yaya. Audrey was so cute, gently patting Teagan on the head.

Goop

2011-07-19T22:29:00.000-07:00

At the Cognex Family Outing, Talia made a cup of goop with Jeanine. I'm not sure exactly what this stuff is, but it was very, very messy. So, of course, Talia had a blast playing with it.

Here is Teagan, wrapped up like a giant burrito.

And, she sleeps...

All the way from North Carolina

2011-07-17T22:22:00.000-07:00

Melanie, Robert, and Andrianna were sort of nearby, and made the trek out to visit us and meet Teagan.

Andrianna didn't want to pass her along, but finally conceded.

Melanie and Talia bonded over lunch..

The last Cognex Summer Picnic

2011-07-16T22:36:00.000-07:00

Here's Teagan, sleeping her way through all the fun like a champ.

Talia was a huge fan of the snowcones. How could she not have been--they are purple.

Keaten agreed--yum!

Here's the one split second today when Talia was eating something that sort of qualified as real food. If you count hot dogs as food, that is.

And they had cupcakes. Keaten was a frosting model.

Teagan slept and Sullivan spent a lot of time doing upside-down gymnastics. Moments after this picture was taken, Jeanine asked Jayne if she wanted to hold Teagan. She must have felt something brewing because Teagan had the most rocket-y of rocket pants--and leaked out on Jayne (sorry!) and Teagan got handed off to me. Of course, Brian was all the way on the other side of the field with the diaper bag, so I had to stand there with her suspended in the air until he came back. Good times.

Luckily, Sully escaped in time! Here he is, right side up, the handsome little devil :)

Ooooh, cupcakes and popcorn and jelly beans, oh my!

She wears it well.

Visitors

2011-07-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

Chris and Nilou came from NYC to visit. Talia wasn't quite sure about them at first, but, they did bring presents. Plus, Nilou spent a long time mixing Play-Doh together to make different colors, so she was won over in the end.

Rollarcoaster!

2011-07-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe it's just her car seat, but it looks almost as fun!

Kid concert

2011-07-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

We went to the Lowell Summer Music Series for kids today. One of our favorite kid bands, Ben Rudnick and Friends, was playing. Teagan mostly slept in her car seat. This is so nice while it lasts!

Talia got the best donut ever from Dunkin' Donuts-pink frosted with rainbow sprinkles. You have to say the "rainbow sprinkles" part in a whisper, since it is so fantastic.

Aunt Amy and Audrey met us at the show. Talia loved hanging out in the wagon.

What a beautiful little girl!

After the show, they had free trolley rides for everyone. Talia loved it!

Nice selfie, Brian!

Big sister Talia

2011-07-12T22:39:00.000-07:00

Yeah, ok, fine, take ANOTHER picture.

We went down to the beach together. Talia didn't want to forget all the things she learned during swim lessons. Brian and Talia played in the water and Teagan just sort of ate, whined, and slept. Ah, the joys of a newborn!

Meeting the family

2011-07-11T22:38:00.000-07:00

Yaya and Aunt Jessica take turns holding a sleepy Teagan. I hope she stays like that for a long, long time.

Dylan had a good time eating Talia's train set.

Chase and Talia kept themselves busy cutting paper for a pirate mask.

First walk in a double stroller

2011-07-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

Here's Brian buckling everyone in to go for a walk "in the carriage that can fit two kids," as Talia calls it.

Talia is blinking in this one, but this is one one where you can actually (just barely) see Teagan's face. The poor second child...

Cheeseburger!!

Going home

2011-07-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

Here's Teagan's mugshot, before we headed home today.

Thankfully, she stayed asleep when we packed her into her car seat to leave.

She is a beast! Ok, maybe not... Compared to Talia, she really is huge, though.

Pop-pop came over to meet her once we got home.

And so did Aunt Amy and Audrey. A busy day for Teagan, although she slept through most of it (yay!)

Did she miss us?

2011-07-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

Talia was too busy eating ice cream to miss us while we were at the hospital.

Teagan rested up--she had a busy night being born!

First meeting

2011-07-07T22:27:00.000-07:00

Talia and Teagan meet for the first time! I'm not sure Talia knows exactly what to make of her new sister, but at least she's not trying to bury her under a pile of pots and pans.Or maybe that's because they don't have them readily accessible at the hospital.

Seriously, it was very cute and she is really excited about this new small creature we'll be bringing home in a few days.

Happy 0th birthday, Teagan Magnolia!

2011-07-07T15:38:00.000-07:00

Teagan Magnolia Francis was born (finally!!!) this morning at 3:38 AM. She weighed a whopping 9lbs and 2 oz, and was 19 inches long. I was kind of worried since the doctors kept telling me how big she was going to be, and warning me about all the complications that could arise because of her size. But, I pushed for exactly ten minutes and she popped right out!

Our new bundle of joy :).

For the extended version (nothing graphic, don't worry), you can look here.

Lazy 4th of July

2011-07-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

Today we made pink lemonade snow cones. Talia thought they were pretty good. Especially the fun spoon/straw you get to eat them with. You can kind of see Talia eating her snow cone, in the shadow of my giant baby belly.

Here's Talia, giving her sister a hug and encouraging her to "come on out!" so we can meet her.

Brian spent some time pushing her up the driveway (that tricycle is heavy!) so she could coast back down (her new favorite activity). She's getting pretty good at steering.

Then, Talia and I spent some time fishing in the kiddie pool...

... and relaxing in the hammock.

Worms

2011-07-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

After dinner, Brian found a bunch of worms in the dirt next to the driveway. At first, Talia wanted nothing to do with them.

Once we convinced her they were safe to hold, she had a great time transporting them, one by one, to the vegetable garden in the back yard.

Driveway picnic

2011-07-02T22:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a picnic dinner in the driveway--grilled sausages, sweet potatoes, and Swiss chard (from the garden).

The highlight of dinner, however, was the peanut butter M&M cookie afterwards, of course.

It was a good motivator to eat the healthy stuff first, at least.

Surfboard

2011-07-01T22:51:00.000-07:00

And here she is--riding happily on the surfboard, waving to me on the beach.

Learning to swim

2011-06-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

Talia's been having a great time at her swimming lessons. And, luckily for me, she's becoming more confident and needing me in the water less each day.

She does tend to float off, on occasion....

But can usually be coaxed back to her class. One of her favorite parts of class is the end, where they get a ride on a surfboard.

Today, however, we had to run quickly to the bathroom (hooray for potty training!) and by the time we got back, we missed it. She was heartbroken, but I was able to convince her that she'd get to ride on it another day,

First day of swimming lessons

2011-06-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

Today was Talia's first swimming lesson. She was fantastic, although there was a lot of, "Mommy, can you help me, please?" The class was for two- and three-year-olds, so she wasn't the only one. She has two weeks of lessons, so hopefully, she'll be a little more sure of herself by the end.

Either way, doesn't she look cute in her new bathing suit from Aunt Karen? A woman on the beach commented on it to me after class, "I love her suit--does it come in my size?"

For some reason, that photo looks fake, although I'm not quite sure why. It's real. She's on a beach, not in a studio with a fake background. If it were fake, she wouldn't be standing on a tie-dyed tapestry from Brian's college dorm room.

After swimming, we discovered a handful of ripe sugar snap peas in Talia's garden (in amongst the weeds). This year, she is eating the peas AND the pod. Last year, I had to take out the peas for her to eat, and eat the pod myself. That sort of defeated the point.

Double birthday party for Talia and Sullivan

2011-06-25T22:22:00.000-07:00

Early in the day, Keaten and Talia got to be in charge of decorating Talia's cake. First, of course, they needed to sample the frosting. I originally had all these grand plans for a fancy cake. When the morning of the party came, however, I announced that I was going to frost the cake and Keaten and Talia could go to town on it with all the sprinkles they could sprinkle. They did a fantastic job!

Present time was exciting for Talia, although she couldn't understand why she couldn't play with each one before opening the next one (she is definitely related to Pop-pop).

Here is the cake after she blew out the candles. She had wanted a Rosie (the train) cake, and I put an actual Rosie on top. She kept saying, "Why are you putting a train on top? Toys don't go on cakes." She's right, but birthday cakes are an exception. Especially if you are a lazy cake decorator.

Keaten was a fan of Kari's purple cupcakes.

Those all the pictures I have-I was too busy to take many, as you can see. If anyone has more --especially pictures of Sullivan, since it was his party, too, could you please send them to me?

Strawberry picking

2011-06-25T22:18:00.000-07:00

The morning of the birthday party, we went to a strawberry festival at Verrill Farm. One of our favorite kids' bands, Ben Rudnick and Friends, was playing. During their break, Talia said to Ben, "Excuse me, I like your singing." He told her she was hired as his publicist. It was very cute.

After music and lunch, we walked across the street to do a little strawberry picking at Talia's insistence.

Delicious!

I thought I was good at these

2011-06-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

So, I really thought I was getting good at taking selfies, but as you can see, I'm not.

Talia looks cute in this one, but you can only see half my face.

And, in this one you can see me, but Talia is looking off into space, somewhere. I took about 20 pictures, and those were the best two. Guess I need to keep practicing.

Quiet beach

2011-06-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

We spent one of the last quiet days at the beach this summer--before school gets out and it's packed every day.

We were the only ones there, so Talia got to chase tadpoles up and down the edge of the water...

...and try out the life guard chair.

Swimming, swimming, in a swimming pool

2011-06-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

Today was a perfect day for a dip in the pool.

Apparently, Talia thought it was taking too long to fill up.

Look, Mommy, it's a sprinkler!

Splashing is awesome!

Then, it was bubble-blowing time.

I love the sound-effects.

Singing in the rain

2011-06-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

Today it was sprinkling out, so Talia decided to try out her new Hello Kitty umbrella. She is sporting a vintage 70s Raggedy Ann and Andy dress that used to be mine. I love it!

Left-over cake

2011-06-16T22:35:00.000-07:00

Oh, yeah!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Talia!

2011-06-15T19:05:00.003-07:00

Today Talia turned three and was VERY excited about it. We've been talking about it a lot, so hopefully it lived up to the hype :). Yesterday morning, when I told her, "Tomorrow is your birthday," she said, "No, Mommy, my Daddy said that the day AFTER tomorrow is my birthday." Which, of course, he had said the night before. I guess she doesn't quite get the concept of time...

Her day started out with some extreme finger painting, which involved four entire containers of finger paint, a bowl of water, and two small pieces of paper. And then a giant towel, and a lot of soap and water. I guess maybe I should have given her modeling clay instead, since that's pretty much what she was trying to do with the paint!

See how much fun she had?

Nini came over to wish her a happy birthday and to give her a "fancy party dress" for her birthday present. Of course, Talia immediately put it on. Super cute! This is not the best picture, but Talia was being very wiggly (no surprise), and this is the best I could get.

Brian came home from work and it was finally time to open presents! You can't tell, but Talia spent a little while "ordering" her presents. By ordering, she put them in a long row all the way across the kitchen. She got a bunch of books, which I wrapped individually, since it's more fun that way. Except for the last couple--enough wrapping, already :)

A book! Yay! We--I mean she--needed a little more variety at story time.

She looks like she had been celebrating her birthday with cocktails in this one, ha ha. My friend Melany got her a pink Harrods bag with little drawings of cakes all over it. Talia is all about carrying things around in bags, so she was very excited about it. Plus--it's pink!

A little crooked, but you can kind of see the line of presents.

After presents we went out for pizza "at a pizzeria," as Talia likes to say.

Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand (Talia's newest trains) from Aunt Carolyn came with us.

After pizza, Talia and I finished decorating her cake. (You didn't expect me to actually have it ready on time, did you?) She did an excellent job sticking the ladybugs around the sides, dumping pink sprinkles all over the top, and forcefully sticking on the ladybug spots on top.

Patiently waiting for ice cream to be scooped and put next to her cake...

... and then it was time to dig in!

All in all, a good birthday for Talia :)

Blue speckled eggs are local eggs...

2011-06-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

.. and local eggs are fresh!

Today, for breakfast, Talia had her egg from Chestnut Farm. Lately, when baking together, she's been asking me to break the eggs. I guess she got tired of having to pick eggshells out of the bowl every time. Today, however, she wanted to do it herself. And, she did a perfect job! No eggshells in the bowl and a non-broken yolk.

Meet Your Meat

2011-06-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the semi-annual Open Barn at Chestnut Farm in Hardwick, MA (for the meat CSA we belong to). We stopped at a bakery/cafe on the way for lunch. Talia was doing her best to be patient until the food came.

Baby pigs! They were very cute. And so were the baby chicks. Last year, Talia wanted to spend the whole time picking up the baby chicks. This year, she wanted me to hold them while she gently patted them on the back. Then, she wanted to see "where the eggs are" so Brian took her up to the fields where the egg-layers live--in school buses, which I think is great.

While they were up there, one of the people running the open barn gave Talia her very own egg. Brian and I were a little nervous that she would drop or smash it, but she did a great job carrying it all over the place very carefully. We kept asking if she wanted one of us to hold it for her, so when I asked her to hold it up so I could take a picture, you can see that she is eying me very suspiciously.

I like chocolate

2011-06-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

This morning, Talia announced that it was a good day for making cupcakes. Much to her delight, I agreed. So, we made practice cupcakes for her birthday (to which Brian gave a big thumbs-up). I had to keep finding things for her to do to distract her from eating all the sprinkles. She was very good at putting cupcake papers in the pans. They were kind of hard to get apart, so it took a while, thankfully.

After some thorough sampling, she decided that we had done a good job making the batter.

Afterward, she had fun playing in the sink for a while. I was exhausted (and had to clean the bathroom anyway), so I let her go to town. She did manage to get her hands clean, but the rest of her needed a little assistance.

Planting flower seeds

2011-06-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

Talia helped me plant flower seeds and label the pots.

She even "wrote" her own labels for some of them. Hopefully, I'll be able to tell which they are by how the seedlings look.

She was very helpful, although I think the pots are going to be a bit crowded. She was very enthusiastic about dumping--I mean, sprinkling--the seeds in.

We watered the newly-planted seeds. Then, Talia decided that the chair was thirsty.

The hammock looked thirsty, too.

"Can I water it, Mommy?" Um... no. I'm sitting in this one :)

Please try your Nice Chinese Food With Chopsticks...

2011-06-07T22:02:00.000-07:00

... the traditional and typical of Chinese glorious history. and culture

Verbatim (including the bizarre punctuation) from my favorite take-out chopstick wrapper.

Pancakes are best eaten with chopsticks.

Kimballs!

2011-06-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

Tali was very disappointed that they didn't have cotton candy ice cream at Kimballs today. Until I pointed out that they did have strawberry chocolate chip ice cream. Yum!

"How am I going to eat this whole thing?"

I offered to help. You know, to sacrifice myself. I am eating for two, after all :)

Garden helper

2011-06-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

Time to water the peas. And tomatoes, and beans, and strawberry plants! Talia's little garden is growing quite nicely. Plus, she's a pro at watering it.

Sunny summer day

2011-05-31T22:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's technically still spring, but today was filled with summer activities.

First, we made grape juice popcicles with some ice pop molds Talia got from Tessa's birthday party.

Then we went outside and squirted the hose around the yard for a while.

And last, but not least (after stripping off her wet clothes), we picked radishes from our garden. Year three (or is it four?) is turning out to be the best one, yet. Just ignore all the weeds. It's hard to weed when bending over gives you serious heartburn. I love that I have a convenient excuse for laziness.

Talia! Talia!

2011-05-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

We went over to Umma and Papou's today. Audrey was so cute--she kept picking up Talia's flip-flops and chasing Talia around, yelling, "Talia! Talia!" and trying to get Talia to put them on.

Birthday cake is delicious

2011-05-29T22:57:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our neighbor, Tessa's, first birthday today.

Talia loved the ice cream cake!

Make a wish

2011-05-27T22:07:00.000-07:00

Dandelion seeds are the best. Talia was investigating one very closely before blowing them all off the stem.

Back at the beach

2011-05-27T22:04:00.000-07:00

Lucky for her, it's within walking distance of our house. We walked down there today. After lunch, but before washing her face, apparently. If you ignore her goatee, this is a really cute picture.

Talia's favorite place

2011-05-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

The beach.

She's been practicing her sandcastle-making skills lately. Although she knows wet sand sticks together, she insists on using a lot of dry sand, too, to see what happens. "Let's see," she says. It never sticks together well. Someday, she'll get it.

Here we are on our way home. Baby B came with us today. And now they both need a bath.

Lunching

2011-05-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

Today, we went to Verrill Farm to pick up the tomato and pepper seedlings I ordered for our garden. We decided to eat lunch there so we could hang out for a while, and it was lunchtime. Talia doesn't usually bite into sandwiches, but she went to town on this one.

Nini also came over later. Here is Talia looking very serious in the car.

Field trip to the Children's Discovery Museum

2011-05-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

We had our weekly get-together (NOT "playdate") with our neighbors. And went on a field trip to the Discovery Museums. It's been raining a lot, and we all needed to get out of the house. Usually, Talia only makes it to the ball room and the water room. Today, however, we made it all the way upstairs. Here are Talia and Lily taking it easy in the boat room. They are in a bunk on the boat. Can you tell they've been running around all morning?

Brownies and butterflies

2011-05-18T22:17:00.000-07:00

Talia made me birthday brownies this morning. Of course, she ate more than her fair share of batter during the process. I think she was trying to cover it up, though, since some of the noodles you can see on the counter made their way into the brownies before baking. Kind of like refilling bottles of booze with water--why not bulk up the batter with noodles if you eat to much of it? Luckily, they were plain noodles--no sauce.

Then, it was off to the Butterfly Place.When we first got there, there was a pretty large school group running around, and it was kind of crazy. Talia was a bit overwhelmed. So, we looked around the gift shop for a little while until it cleared out.While we were there, Talia had to use the bathroom (she is sort of starting to potty train herself--peeing needs some work, but no more poopy diapers!!!). We went out to the long line of middle school students to wait. All of a sudden, a VERY nice employee came up to us and offered Talia use of the employee bathroom. She must have kids.

Once the place cleared out, she was into wandering around and exploring the greenhouse.

Up close and personal with the butterflies. I haven't been here for 20 years, maybe? That makes me sound old...

Pretty butterfly :)

Is that English?

2011-05-17T22:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not exactly sure what's going on here. She was eating left-over strawberry ice cream from Erikson's and it must have gone to her head. In the video below, I misunderstood her correcting me that the noodle she was about to pour ice cream on was mine, and not hers. What I thought she said, and this is her new thing, is, "I can't listen to you." If I tell her something she doesn't want to hear, this has been her response, lately. I love that she says she can't as opposed to not wanting to. If she can't listen to me, how could she possibly comply with my request? Advanced logic for a two-year-old. I'm in trouble in about eleven years.

Grocery shopping with Daddy

2010-10-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

This is probably one the the cutest videos of Talia. Hands down :) She and Brian were playing "grocery shopping." She's really into it.

Last day of August

2010-08-31T22:14:00.000-07:00

We spent this morning at the beach, since tomorrow is September and summer is almost over. Plus, it was a beautiful day.

Talia had a great time running around and even made a couple of friends (you can see them in the background of the video). There were two little boys digging a big hole in the sand and she announced to me that she wanted to help. I told her to go and ask the boys, which she did. They were happy to let her dig with them, and they all had fun flinging sand all over the place.

Here is Talia running around in the sand. We pretty much had the beach all to ourselves today, since most people were busy getting their kids ready for school.

DWI

2010-08-27T22:05:00.000-07:00

No, officer, I haven't been drinking.

Cookie dough protection

2010-08-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

Talia and I put the aprons Grandma made to good use today, and kept the cookie dough (mostly) off of our clothes.

Healthy meal--oh, wait...

2010-08-24T22:56:00.000-07:00

Look at Talia eating almonds and chick peas! I was commenting to Jeanine, as I took this picture, that I was getting photographic evidence of Talia eating healthy food. She quickly reminded me that we were in the middle of making Nutella ice cream.

Talia liked it.

Where is the teeny tiny baby?

2010-08-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

Tonight we went to Steph and Joe's house for dinner with them and Amy and John. Stephanie rustled up some random things for Talia to play with. She started out driving Buddha and Ganesh around the living room in a VW Beetle, which was great. Then, Steph busted out a set of Russian nesting dolls which kept her (and Amy!) entertained for the rest of the night. She kept asking, "Where is the teeny tiny baby?" and getting super excited every time she found it hiding in the middle.

As usual, Talia is sitting like a proper lady ;).

No more M&M ice cream!

2010-08-20T23:00:00.000-07:00

Talia finally got over her M&M ice cream phase. We usually share a cone when we go out for ice cream, and I just eat whatever she doesn't finish. Chocolate is her new favorite; not mine, really, but at least it's different. This time Brian got to share her chocolate ice cream, but she decided she liked my gingerbread ice cream better. I'm going to try and get her hooked on coffee ice cream next summer, heh heh }:>

Phone call

2010-08-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a cute video of Talia calling Uncle Doug and Aunt Jayne :).

At the beginning of the video, I'm trying to get her to say "just the right amountain," but I didn't succeed. She likes to randomly tell me that one squirt is "just the right amountain" of vitamins and fluoride drops for her to have. I tell her that one squirt is just the right amount to keep her healthy whenever she asks for more, which she obviously can't have.

She says most things really well, but for some reason, she has trouble with that (and "baboon" for balloon). I do repeat them back to her correctly, but I secretly hope she doesn't quite get them right for a while :)

Running errands

2010-08-20T22:48:00.000-07:00

Talia did a little shopping with a Cabbage Patch Kid today. She was able to keep her spending in check--all she bought was a stuffed black bear and a few wooden blocks.

A style of her own

2010-08-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

Today, Talia insisted I put eight barrettes in her hair. She wanted more, but I convinced her that she had run out of room on her head. She did coordinate the colors very well with her outfit, I have to say.

And, she is wearing shorts--a rare thing these days. She's been pretty much on strike against anything on her bottom (other than a diaper, thankfully) all summer.

M&M cookie

2010-08-15T22:45:00.000-07:00

Talia wasn't quite sure what to make of this cookie, but she did dive right in. She just kept nibbling around the outside while turning it around and around and around. In complete silence. These things take concentration, you know.

Here is a short but sweet video of her cookie-eating technique.

Bubbles: not just for blowing anymore

2010-08-11T22:39:00.000-07:00

Apparently, they are also for eating. Just ask Keaten. Here she is, doing a pretty good job blowing bubbles in between taste-testing them.

Here's a (kind of blurry but cute) picture of Talia giving Keaten a kiss.

Family reunion 2010 - Asheville, NC

2010-08-08T22:53:00.000-07:00

A lollypop is a wonderful thing. Thankfully, I remembered that Umma had given me a lollypop for Talia, which kept her happy and preoccupied for a while. If only I had remembered I had it before dragging Talia through Security at Logan Airport while she screamed, "I want my Mommy!" at the top of her lungs. Did I imagine that weird look from the guy checking tickets? The last thing I wanted was to get pulled aside as a kidnapper. They probably figured no one who wasn't supposed to have her would risk such a scene!

Oh, what magic a lollypop can do. We bought an entire bag for the ride home!

Here's Talia with Yaya and Nikos. Apparently, Talia found the whole thing beneath her, as she ignored everyone to examine her fingernails.

Here's a classic Talia expression--she's been doing this one since birth.

Awww, cute... two cousins :)

Talia spent most of her free time in the hotel pool.

She also spent a lot of time eating. Here's a breakfast cinnamon roll. Mmm... sticky bun...

Sticky enough to land her in the bathtub.

The giant soaking tub was a big hit...

...as was the shower.

We went to a beautifully renovated British double-decker bus/coffee shop (suggested in Andriana's guide to Asheville).

Daddies make the best faces.

They had an outside courtyard with fountains that were perfect for splashing in.

Here's Talia waiting for our pizza at the Asheville Brewing Company (also suggested in Andriana's guide to Asheville). Delicious beers and delicious pizza--a winning combination.

This city seemed full of delicious breakfast cafes that served up a cornucopia of food grown locally. On this particular morning, I opened a pat of butter and put it on Talia's pancake. Before I had time to reach for my butter knife to spread it, she managed to shove the entire pat of butter in her mouth. Kind of gross, but she was very proud of herself! You've got to give it to her for being so fast.

If you look closely, you can see the butter smeared all over her face in this video.

Besides butter, there was delicious locally-made jam to shove in her mouth. I can't say as I blame her about the jam.

Since Asheville is right by Skyline Drive (I think it actually runs right through Asheville), we decided to check it out. We stopped along the way and went on a short hike to Skinny Dip Falls.

We managed to keep our clothes on, but Talia wanted to strip down to her diaper.

The water was FREEZING, though, so we just stuck our feet in.

She looks like Gretel, wandering in the woods and dropping breadcrumbs behind her.

And... back to more eating. Talia ate the frosting off a chocolate cupcake while I looked at postcards.

I think it might be bath time again.

And, of course, there was the family dinner. Here we are waiting outside for other people to show up.

No visit anywhere is BBQ country could be complete without BBQ! We went to 12 bones smokehouse and it was freaking delicious. Talia wasn't so interested in the food, but had a great time rolling around and playing in the gravel under the outside picnic table. She ended up turning completely gray by the time we were done eating. I guess that's why they make kids washable.

What was that thump?

2010-07-31T22:18:00.000-07:00

This is Talia sleeping tonight. I guess she decided that she'd start out on the floor; then she wouldn't wake herself up in the middle of the night when she fell out of her big girl cot.

Brian and I have to take responsibility for that. The first night she first slept in it, it never occurred to us that she'd fall out, since it's so close to the floor.

Then we heard a thump.

Oops. I guess we should have paid more attention in Parenting 101. Now she has pillows all around the cot, but it looks like she's not taking any chances.

Happy Birthday, Nini

2010-07-28T22:59:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Coldstone Creamery so Jeanine could cash in her free birthday ice cream coupon. Talia liked everything about it, except for the fact that the blenders were too loud. No frappe for you, kiddo.
Strawberry ice cream (or, "pink ice cream," as she kept calling it) with M&Ms was the flavor of the day for Talia.

Jeanine took this not-so-in-focus video of Talia prancing around without pants (she's been anti-pants all summer) and her hands over her ears. I guess the zoom function on my camera doesn't work so well for video.

Here's a shorter video that Jeanine manged to get in focus.

More blackberry picking

2010-07-27T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today was another good day for blackberry picking. Pop-pop helped Talia pick blackberries around the edges while Jeanine and I forged through the brambles (ouch!)

Jeanine spotted this dragonfly keeping an eye on us.

Nini do that

2010-07-27T22:04:00.000-07:00

Jeanine loves when Talia sniffs out of her nose. So much that she does it to her in the hopes that Talia will do it herself. Sometimes it works; sometimes not. But, now Talia will randomly sniff and then smile and say, "Nini do that." Jeanine was very excited to take this picture.

Here's the video version :)

I yuv you, Baby B

2010-07-25T22:53:00.000-07:00

No caption needed (except, this one, telling you that no caption is needed).

Cognex Family Outing

2010-07-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

Talia had a great time at the Cognex Picnic. She was the only member of the Princess Club in attendance this year. Her entire face thoroughly enjoyed lunch.

She tried her hand at hula hoops--they had a couple small ones for the little kids.

She tried, but needs a little more hip movement to make it work.

By the time I took this video, she had pretty much given up.

Grandma and Talia filled up a plastic dolphin with all different colored sands. It's really heavy if you drop it on your bare foot, in case you were wondering. Both Talia and I found that out the hard way.

We went swimming, which was one of the highlights of Talia's day. While in the pool, she decided her bathing suit top needed to come off. It also needed to be floating IN the pool at all times. We kept trying to sneak it out, but she caught us every time. She must have managed to toss it back in at the last second, since someone came up to us later with her top. Here she is spilling bubble stuff all over the ground. At least she won't get her bathing suit top all soapy.

They had a great play structure here. Talia and Brian went down the tunnel slide together.

There were lots and lots of fun stairs to climb. Until it started raining. Luckily, we were on our way out, anyway.

When we got back to Grandma and Pop-pop's house, Talia managed to wrangle herself not one, but two popsicles. After her busy day, she was pretty tired. Just in case you couldn't tell by this picture.

No, Mommy, it's a people house

2010-07-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

When I mentioned something to Talia about her new doll house, she told me, "No Mommy, it's not a doll house--it's a people house." Thinking about that, I realized that we never use the word "doll." The two dolls she has are her "babies."

Anyway, she LOVES her people house (thanks, Nancy Jean). The beds and the changing table are her favorite pieces. And the babies, of course. There are about 4 of them I think.

She likes to play with all the people, but doesn't quite get the fact that they, along with the furniture, belong in the house.

The broom needed a taste test. Mmmm, plastic.

Here's the people house in action. Notice how the furniture is being played with on the floor, in the air, pretty much anywhere but IN the house.

Licking tomatoes

2010-07-21T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today we spent a lot of time running through the sprinkler.

And discovering things in the garden. Talia spent a lot of time licking cherry tomatoes.

Blackberry smile

2010-07-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

Today was full of wild blackberry picking in our secret blackberry patch.

Talia had the purple teeth to prove it. They're difficult to see, but trust me they were VERY purple!

Got milk-with a straw?

2010-07-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

If you didn't get enough of Talia making a mess with her food, here she is again. This time, she has a cup of milk with a straw. It's amazing how much fun she can have spilling and dripping food all over the place!

Fudg-cicle not fudg-icle

2010-07-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

Just a pet peeve.

What ever you call them, Talia is a big fan.

Here is a video of Talia thoroughly enjoying her fudgcicle.

If that wasn't enough, here is more choctastic Talia.

Super bun

2010-07-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

Super bun bun, super bun bun!

Talia will have to grow her hair out a little longer to catch up with MY super bun, but she's off to a good start :).

Breakfasting cousins

2010-07-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

What's that? We're going out to breakfast? Is is an e-VIL breakfast?

Talia got to hang out with Audrey for a little quality cousin time today. It's hard to get two little kids to sit still for long, so this is the best shot I could get.

Aww...

Balloon soup

2010-07-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

Talia made lunch for me today. She cooked up a big pot of balloon soup and was very proud of herself.

Sprinkler time

2010-07-07T22:48:00.000-07:00

I'm ready for my close-up!

Today was a perfect day to run through the sprinkler. Talia almost didn't understand that she had to run through the sprinkler first before she could watch herself do it on the camera. Kids these days.

Then we went upstairs in the air conditioning for stories...

... and snacks!

To Grandmother's house we go

2010-07-06T22:38:00.000-07:00

Grandma pulled out a vintage potty for Talia to use. She was more interested in the tray that moved up and down than she was in actually using it, but she did manage to go a little. Potty training, here we come!

Then Grandma read stories, one of Talia's favorite things to do.

And, since it was hot out, she decided to wear the wool pig hat I knit for her. Doesn't it look cute?! Hopefully, she'll still like it when fall rolls around and she actually needs it.

Backyard painting and chocolate milkshakes

2010-07-05T22:19:00.000-07:00

Talia spent some time painting in the backyard today. She managed to get less paint on herself than last time, but it was still a messy enterprise.

If it wasn't messy, it wouldn't have been as much fun.

I'm not sure what this face was for, but it cracks me up.

Gotta stretch out your painting muscle once in a while...

After painting, Brian made us all chocolate milkshakes. After milkshakes, Talia went directly into the tub!

Fun on the 4th

2010-07-04T22:17:00.000-07:00

We spent the 4th of July at the Crandall's this year.

Talia and Keaten were very happy to see each other.

Awww...

They were having some technical difficulties figuring out how to get inside, but Keaten finally managed to convince Grandma to let them in.

Talia discovered, much to her surprise, that she LOVES sprinklers!!!

Apparently, the leak in the hose was more fun than the actual sprinkler, but at least she got over her fear of them.

Grandma got to hold a sleeping Sullivan.

And Talia also got over her dislike of pools. It must be something in the air.

Aunt Barbara, you are a miracle worker!

Keats helped from the sideline.

After dinner, we all went for a walk to the farm down the street. The llamas were really cute.

Talia made sure that Keaten was securely buckled in.

The chocolate cupcakes were a big hit.

Delicious!

Talia was all about the frosting.

The girls treated us to some musical entertainment.

No, no, no--come in on the second stanza...

Melissa even got a hug when we left--which is a big deal from Talia. She's pretty selective with her hugs and kisses.

Abbreviated walk

2010-07-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

Today we went for a walk on some conservation land in Westford. It was a beautiful day, but Talia was having none of it. We tried to get her to go swimming in a pond along the way, but that was also unsuccessful.

So, Talia and I ended up hanging out on a cul-de-sac (the trail crosses a residential street at one point), eating Pirate Booty, while Brian went to get the car.

Talia was a big fan of the picture-taking process and kept saying, "Another one?!" and posing for the camera.

Posing for the camera entailed throwing her head back, for some reason.

What a little starlet!

Here she is, looking demure.

Here is the best of about ten selfies I took of the two of us. This one came out pretty good, but it looks like I need practice.

Wool hats and ice cream cones

2010-06-30T22:50:00.000-07:00

Despite the warm weather, Talia started the day wearing a wool hat.

It didn't last too long, luckily. We made a quick stop at Chip-In Farm in Bedford, to feed the animals and ride the tractors.

First we fed the goats...

... then we fed the bunnies...

... and then we went to Great Brook Farm in Carlisle to check out their ice cream stand. Not the best I've ever had, but it's a really nice park, so it was worth the trip.

Talia loved the ice cream. I had to work hard at keeping it from dripping everywhere.

Mmmm... ice cream...

I really don't know how it managed to stay on the cone.

Talia had her eye on the water bottle for a while, so I let her have a sip.

Everything went well at first, but later on she ended up dumping half of it on her shirt. That's why I always carry extra clothes for her. Of course, I could just not let her do things that could end up a potential wardrobe disaster, but what fun is that?

Here she spills a little on the table and is very concerned about wiping it up. Later, it goes down her shirt, but we were walking around in a field so it wasn't really that much of a mess.

Row, row, row your... pickles?

2010-06-29T22:41:00.000-07:00

I think Talia looks a lot like Maxine in this picture. It must be the smile. And maybe the pony tails.

Talia came up with these alternate lyrics to "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" all by herself. Who says she's too serious?!

A cupcake and a picnic

2010-06-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

What better way to spend a day than eating cupcakes (Talia ate only the frosting off her mini cupcake) and just being outside. We went to Concord Teacakes for iced coffee and a treat.

Here's a moment of serious contemplation. Or maybe it was just the frosting kicking in...

And... there she goes being silly again...

It's important to lick the frosting off of every part of your body it may have touched. This is precious stuff we're talking about.

Here is a sideways picture of Talia looking down at the fish in Nashoba Brook.

And here she is not looking quite so crooked. Last time we came she was very excited about running back and forth across the bridge. Not so much today, though.

We hung out at one of the picnic tables for a while--only having to move once when someone turned on the sprinkler without first looking out the window. Oops! It was ok, though. We didn't mind; it was nice and warm out.