Chicken. Head. Cut. Off

What is it about this time of year that makes everyone a little crazy.  I have a soon to be three year old, heading back to preschool, and I feel the stress of BACK TO SCHOOL (BTS)!!!  On one hand, I am so excited that she will soon be spending 3 glorious hours under the care of someone else 3 days a week!  On the other hand, I feel the need to cram all kinds of fun into the last few weeks of summer.  It is crazy I know.  It's not like she is in real school and I will get arrested for being truant if I decide to take a 2 week road trip. But, just the same I feel like we are saying good bye to a fantastic summer.  


On a good note, BTS means getting back on a routine and schedule.  I am proud to say, I have walked the dogs every day this week (I do realize it is only Tuesday, but still), had an early morning run one day, finished Catching Fire, started Mockingjay AND gone to bed at a decent time 2 nights in a row.  All of these things are big accomplishments of late!  Catching up on my 365 project has also been on my mind.  I hate to clump a bunch of pictures together, but I am going to do it anyway!  Like I said, I have crammed lots of fun into the last few weeks, which has left little time for blogging:)  So here is a catch up/run down of what we have been up to the last weekish!  


I am skipping my picture for August 19 (29/365) because it contains top secret information regarding Doodle's birthday party.  It will be released at a later date!

August 20 (30/365)
I like to call this one "Death of the Little Friends".  This is Doodle's new obsession.  They are called Squinkies.  They make me crazy!  She loves them.  They are everywhere!

August 21 (31/365)
Crazy Swan hanging out on a pipe at Gypsy Hill Park

August 22 (32/365)
Giant spider web found in my side yard.  Looked so beautiful in the morning sun!

August 23 (33/365)
My little Doodle testing out the sand.  It was a hard sell, but she finally tolerated the sand! As for me, I am just grateful I got to spend time at the beach!

August 24 (34/365)
Silly Boy!  Doodle and her bestie Japurb at the beach!  They are lucky kids to have one another!

So, that gets me almost caught up.  More to come later, after I reattach my head!

Who I Am!

I am Rosemary's granddaughter
The spitting image of my father
And when the day is done
My momma's still my biggest fan
Sometimes I'm clueless and I'm clumsy
But I've got friends who love me
And they know just where I stand
It's all a part of me
And that's who I am

I'm a saint and I'm a sinner
I'm a loser, I'm a winner
I'm am steady and unstable
I am young but I'm able


These are lyrics from the song Who I Am by Jessica Andrews. When I took these pictures, I definitely thought of that song. What describes you as a person?  When I think of Doodle, I definitely think of the words "peanut", "little bit", "petit".  I snapped this picture of my little peanut after a lot of jumping.  The shorts are 18 months.  She will be 3 in October.  She has worn them for 2 summers.  They are falling off her! It really does help our clothing budget! I hope that she will find the positive spin on being a tiny little imp!  

August 17 (27/365)

  If you asked me to describe myself, I will tell you I am short and have curly hair.  Those have been the two things that have defined my physical identity my entire life.  I can't say I have always loved either of them.  I straightened my hair for years.  And I still imagine how much simpler life would be if I were just 3 inches taller.  In fact, it is this thought that prompted me to take this picture.  I was cooking and due to my lack of height, found myself standing on a stool to stir a large pot of chicken spaghetti!  I looked down and thought how funny I must look. 

August 18 (28/365)

 That same day, as I was driving to deliver the spaghetti to a friend, I noticed the gigantic perfect curl right in the middle of my head.  Which of course made me think of the nursery rhyme: "there once was a girl with a curl, right in the middle of her head.  When she was good, she was very very good.  And when she was bad, she was horrid".  If you know me, that pretty much sums me up!

Ooops!

So obviously, I am a little behind on my photo postings.  I have no good excuse, other than Life.  And if that is my excuse, I can't really complain, because Life is good around here!  So while I am more than a week behind posting pictures, I have plenty to share.   I am going to try and group them together so I can get a little caught up.  The problem is, many of them  have story to share, or a deep thought to ponder.  So, I may have several posts in a day if I have the time to write.  Hope y'all don't get too bored.  


As this personal photo challenge has progressed, I have managed to take pictures each day.  For the most part they have been a natural picture of what we have been up to at the time.  Only once or twice have I had to think of something to photograph.  And so far, I have not missed one day.  I almost ruined my perfection.  About 2 weeks ago, I went up to bed, got in my jammies, and had a moment of peace before realizing I hadn't taken a single picture.  I stumbled downstairs and grabbed the camera.  Prepared to take a sleepy shot of anything, check the square for the day and go to bed.  It was then that I remembered I forgot to charge the battery.  It was dead.  Not wanting to be a failure 26 days into my challenge, I substituted my phone to take a picture of my poor camera and its dead battery!

August 16 (26/365)

As disappointing as that photo is, at least I got something to show for the day.  I don't even remember what was going on that day, which must be why I have nothing better to show for it.  I made up for it as the week went on!  I promise!

Thanks Little Gym!

A couple of days ago I posted some pictures of Doodle jumping at The Little Gym.  She has also mastered the art of the Donkey Kick/Monkey jump while at the little gym.  Just to give you an idea, a Donkey Kick is the beginning of a hand stand and Monkey Jump is the beginning of a cart wheel.  Of late, Doodle has taken to doing both as a means of transportation.  I snapped some pictures of her mid jump/spin.

August 15 (25/365)

In our house when we witness Doodle doing something like this, My Favoritest and I often say "thank you Little Gym" out loud.  We have a lot of those moments in our lives.

Swinging at a park in Charleston last fall

Standing on a ball in our living room.

Climbing up a climbing wall at a playground in Central Park.

climbing on her laundry hamper

The pictures also got me thinking about the other things that Doodle has gained from her time at the gym.  Doodle and I have gone to a parent/child class since we moved to VA.  She has ebbed and flowed in her love of the gym.  We have gone through times she loved it, and times she hates it.  Overall, it has been one of the best activities I have done with her.  For 45 minutes every week, I have nothing other than Doodle to focus on.  She has gained a ton of physical skills, but more importantly, she has gained character.  She has learned to get back up and try again when she falls.  She has been encouraged to step out of her comfort zone and try new skills and activities.  She has learned to share, take turns, follow directions.  She has learned how to be part of a group, and how to follow her own lead.  So while we often catch our breath as Doodle demonstrates her newly perfected skills, I am so grateful for the chance to share each accomplishment with her!

Black Out!

The Curly gang enjoyed a restful weekend spent together.  Sunday evening, a storm passed through and we lost power.  We have lived in our house for 2 years and have never lost power for more than a few minutes.  So after about 30 minutes, Doodle's bed time was approaching and I decided we better get serious about finding matches and flashlights.  Of couse, I couldn't find any matches.  After digging through my neighboring SisterWife's kitchen (she is out of town) I was still without matches, but did happen to find our lost house key and batteries!  My other neighbor finally pulled through and had some matches.  I came home and lit all the candles I could find.  I live with 2 dogs and a toddler.  My candles had a lot of dust on them!  They are all also scented, so after about 30 mintues, my house smelled like a cross between Bath and Body Works and Yankee Candle!  Anyway, it was a good thing I found matches and batteries because we didn't get our power back until 11:00 the next morning.  It was a dark evening at our house.  And I have a confession to make.... I am terrified of the dark.  I know, I need to grow up, but I have read one too many scary books and watched one too many Criminal Minds to get over my fear.  So although I am terrified, I have to say I enjoyed our evening off the grid on the edge of the grid (I did have my Iphone).  The weather cooled down, so our windows were open, the house was cool, and I sat in silence reading with a book light.  I didn't have a book on my Kindle so I had to go old school and actually read a book!  It was a peaceful evening.  I was captivated by the shadows from all the candle light.  And since there wasn't much else to do, I got the camera out.  Here is what I got.  I played with the "night vision" mode on the camera.  Kind of cool!

August 14 (24/365)

It was much more beautiful in color, but it was too dark for the camera to get anything and it was too dark for me to find my manual and figure out what I needed to do to fix the problem.  Anyway, I think it looks a little like a city skyline.  The tall skinny one is a drinking glass.  The turrets are our salt and pepper shakers.

This Is How We Do It!

Doodle has started to try and "teach" how to do things.  Mostly she teaches herself.  Sometimes she teaches Ming-Ming and Tuck. Usually she tells me "do not to watch me", and "do not talk about..." whatever she is doing.  (Don't worry, we are working on understanding that is rude).  Anyway, lately one of her favorite things to teach us how to do is jump.  It took Doodle a long time to figure out how to jump, and she really only mastered the skill in the last 3 or 4 months.  Now she jumps all the time.  She jumps into the pool.  She jumps to get places.  She jumps from her stool the the ground.  She JUMPS!  This weekend, My Favoritest and I took Doodle to the Little Gym. Since I wasn't flying solo, I decided to bring the camera.  Lucky for me, there was lots of jumping!

"How to Jump According to Doodle"

First, you put your feet together and you squat down.

Then, you just jump with BOTH your feet

And then you just land on both feet.

And run run run so you can JUMP again!
August 13 (23/365)

Hidden Treasures

When I did my 30 day photo challenge, one of our assignments was to take a picture of the clouds.  I mentioned how much I love looking at the clouds and trying to find familiar shapes among their billowy puffs.  Thursday, I took the camera out for a few minutes to take some sunburst pictures.  While I was outside, I snapped a couple of pictures of the clouds.  When I looked at the pictures, the sunburst wasn't as pretty as I wanted it to be.  But as I looked at the pictures of the clouds I found two really neat images.

August 11 (21/365)
If you look closely you can see an angry face/mask in between the two trees

And just opposite that angry face in the sky, was this perfect heart!

As you can see from the sky, the weather here has been fantastic!  The end of the week it was only in the mid 80's.  Doodle and I spent lots of time outside because of the beautiful weather.  It has been so hot out, that we haven't "played" outside in a couple of months.  Doodle has begged to play on her "new toy" (that she got 3 months ago) almost daily.  Finally, the weather cooperated and I remembered to wipe the slides down.  As soon as we got outside, she whined to come inside.  The blue slide was too hot to use and I guess that ruined her plan.  I tried to encourage her to play with Ming-Ming, Tuck, Ming-Ming Duckling (stuffed Ming-Ming), and Abby Cadabby.  I sent them all down the slide hoping she would take over.  I was wrong.

Friends.... maybe?

I wasn't taking her inside, so I  brought out bubbles.  That entertained her for a few minutes.  Then I got out water and paint brushes so she could paint the sidewalk.  Between the new toy, the bubbles, and the paint brushes, she managed to entertain herself for a good 45 minutes.  And I managed to get some pictures.  Poor kid, is tired of me having my camera around all the time, but I am determined to succeed at taking a picture a day for 365 days.  Since getting my new camera, I have really stopped using the lcd display while shooting.  I love that I can check the image if I want to, but also love the surprise of seeing what turns up on the computer.  When I uploaded the pictures from our outdoor party for two, I found this

August 12 (22/365)

At first glance, it is just a picture of Doodle and some bubbles.  The interesting part is the bubble over her face.  If you look at it closely you can see the reflection of our back porch in the bubble.  I love when I find little treats like that!  In my dreams this weather will last forever, but I know it wont.  Our neighbor had the nerve to remind me that the cooler weather only meant that Fall was on the way (yippee), which means that Winter isn't far behind (booo!).  Oh well, I guess we will make the most of what we have right now!