A Good Life . . .

A Good Reminder

Today was a good reminder that it doesn't take much more than the hose, a bucket, and maybe even a little dirt to provide an afternoon of entertainment. 

Meet, my worker bee . . . and the girl who said "thank you, Mommy" at least two dozen times today.  Was it me?  Was it something we ate last night (yes, yes, I do think it could have been Jeni's ice cream)?  I don't know what the magic combination was, but after a few weeks of feeling like we were frequently butting heads, she was a doll today and I couldn't get enough of her!

Meet my "I'm up for anything" girl!  Honestly, everything I did today was more fun with Amelia.  She's just one happy kid that embraces life with a shimmy of the hips.

They both enjoyed planting our garden, including a sunflower plant and pumpkin plant that they started from seed.  

And while I think Audrey would be up for watering the plants this way for months to come, I look forward to extending our watering system to the garden.  

Thank you for a wonderful Sunday, sweet family!

"Daddy gives me money, right?"

Audrey was particularly chatty the other night while I was putting her to bed . . .

Audrey: "Mommy, I want to be a rock star and that costs a lot of money.  Daddy gives me money, right?"

Me: "Um, sure."

Audrey: "Good, 'cause I want to be a rock star and a mommy. Lauren said I could be both. That's my choice."

A few minutes later Audrey and I were talking about money and I told her that she could do things to earn money, like clean her desk, help me clean the house, etc.  Her reply . .

"No, I just want you and Daddy to give me money."

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At the dinner table this week . . .

Audrey: "This is how a song goes that I keep in my heart to share with the whole world."

She then proceeded to serenade us for several minutes . . . why I didn't grab the video recorder is beyond me.

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And last but not least, I LOVE that she calls Silly Putty, "Silly Buddy." 

Amelia and Grandma Fran

Most of my posts on this blog are a means to capture a fraction of the joy and wonder of watching my girls grow up.  This one is a bit different.  It's more about healing, reminding the girls that we are all sad at times and fearful of what the future may bring, and about how I struggled with losing my mom.  

I was looking for a picture of me and Mom to put on facebook, and I came across these pictures of her and Amelia from the holidays.  I love how their expressions sort of track each others'.   

Mom had surgery on her broken ankle on Monday and seeing her so confused when out of her regular environment was painful.  I knew the past holidays were likely the last she would spend at my house.  And while I understood it intellectually, I longed to have here her for the girls' birthdays and was thinking that maybe, just maybe, she'd have a few good months and be able to come over next Thanksgiving and Christmas.  But seeing her completely confused while at the hospital quickly made my selfish wishes vanish.  I still want her here, but I hated seeing her so lost.  There is no denying it, I have to make it a point to see her in her environment . . . and now, while she still knows who I am.  

Then she had to go and say "make sure they remember me," after talking to the girls tonight.  Sigh . . . I'll make sure they remember you, Mom . . . may Alzheimer's just give you a few more years to remember us.

Squishy Circuits with Play-doh . . . who knew?

Thanks to this TED video and David's trip today to Radio Shack, we had a little hands-on science experiment in the Hudson household tonight.  

It was a success on many levels . . . new uses for play-doh, first family venture into the world of electrical engineering, and even new uses for plyers.

If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck . . .

I don't know how we got so lucky, but we amazingly got a reprieve from the rain on Duckling Day.   Equipped with rain boots, we were able to hunt for Easter eggs . . .

and discover that there was CANDY in the eggs!

On a bit of a sugar high, we joined our friends in quacking and waddling . . .

and visited with the Easter Bunny.

I don't quite know what it is, but Duckling Day is magical for me.  It may be the combination of Spring, children celebrating Easter and a favorite book (Make Way for Ducklings) . . . or it may be that none of these fun festivities occur at my house and all I have to do is make a duckling outfit (or two) and then head to our local park and library.  It helps that Mom and Ken always have a brunch following Duckling Day which includes homemade beingets and we all know fried dough makes everything better.  By the way, credit for the beautiful tutus goes to Mom (Cath)!  Regardless of the recipe for this magical event, we have once again added to my repository of joyful Duckling Day memories.