Boring Stuff

We went to the Dallas Arboretum with friends the other day, and took quite a few pictures, many of which, over all, were better than this one.  But I just can't get over Charlotte's expression in this photo.  She is really a hoot.  With more personality than is really practical in that little body of hers.

We have always known that Ella was an easier child.  She is laid back and nearly always obedient.  But we didn't quite know how easy we had it until the last few months.  There have been multiple times when Paul and I have looked at each other in response to Charlotte and honestly not known what to do.  She is so young to be so very willful.  She outright refuses to eat unless it is on her terms.  (Whatever those terms are in the moment, this afternoon 'her terms' consisted of eating nuts right out of the bag, which there was no way I was going to let her do, and so she stayed hungry, I guess.  This morning 'her terms' consisted of massive amounts of sour cream on her eggs (breakfast burritoes).  We wouldn't comply with this request either, so eggs went uneaten, and she stayed hungry.  But twenty months is awfully young to have to stay hungry....)  I could go on.  But I won't.  Because she really is, by and large, a delightful child, and we have so much fun, SO much fun with her.  I imagine it is the two sides of the same coin. 

Ella and Charlotte adore one another, notwithstanding normal childhood spats, and play together beautifully.  We're so blessed to have both of them.  But they sure are different.  :)

Our Fall has been surprisingly busy.  It's hard to quite put my finger on one thing that is making it so, but really, it is just a combination of factors.  But it's been several weeks since we haven't had something scheduled on any given day.  On every given day, actually.  I am hoping the next few weeks will slow down and we will be able to spend more time reading and playing together.  I just love my girls.

We bought a new car (a minivan) and the old Mazda is still going, sort of.  But it is in desperate need of new tires and so forth, so we're going to retire it until February, when we get transferred.  We were using both for a while because Paul has been working these crazy hours.  But we've just decided that we will begin trading off and utilizing the train again.  In any case, it will be nice to have a good excuse to stay home on the days Paul has the car.  The weather is still good and I have everything I need in walking distance.  (The library, the grocery store, and friends.)

Happy Thankgiving Weekend.  I hope none of you got pepper sprayed :)

Remember when I used to be better at blogging?

I do.

But at least I have a three year old who LOVES to take pictures, so when I consult my archive of photos I have hundreds (literally) to choose from.  Just from last week.

I would say that a solid twenty percent of the pictures that Ella takes are self-portraits.  Another twenty percent are of strangers and/or random cars.  Another ten percent are too blurry to identify.  Forty-nine percent of Ella's pictures consist in what I like to call "still-lifes".  You know, the carpet, houseplants, door handles; and often when she finds a shot she really loves, there will be five or seven in a row.  Hence the reason I have a total of eight photos of an orange reusable shopping bag.  The remaining one percent are actually kind of good.

And so photo credit for the above photo goes to Ella. There were also some lovely shots of my legs, but I opted not to use those.  Maybe next time.