September 13

Today was our second Classical Conversations day, and it went great. I am really optimistic that this co-op will be just the thing we need to give a rhythm and body to our homeschool year. The hard part is that CC, Caleb's speech therapy, and Special Time with Grandmother all fall on the same day. I actually kind of like it that way; it's kind of a given for me that no formal home schooling will happen on Tuesdays. It's just stressful making the transition from CC to speech. I'm sure we'll figure it out, though!

Eli woke up from his nap as angry as can be. I'm not sure what his issue was, but he needed his mommy. Luckily, a friend is letting me borrow *another* gorgeous wrap (am I lucky, or what?), so I wrapped Eli up in it.

The wrap only briefly pacified him, and I still didn't get to make dinner, but whatever. At least I got to play with a pretty and snuggle my boy.

After dinner, I finally got the chance to act on an idea that has been germinating in my mind for a while. A few weeks ago, I noticed that among my kids' dress-up clothes were some little white cotton slips that my sisters and I wore 30-some years ago. They were the sweetest little dresses, and I immediately had a vision of my girls in those dresses at sunset, in a field of yellow flowers or with golden sunlight filtering through the trees.

Of course, I barely can get my act together most days, so we all know the field of flowers wasn't going to happen. But I managed the sunlight and the dresses, in our front yard. Surprisingly, the girls were actually eager to participate in my impromptu photo shoot, and I think the images - while not perfect, by any means - are pretty sweet.

(Her dress was a little bit short, a little bit loose, and a lot wrinkly. She doesn't mind, though.) 

I mean, really. Barefoot Lily on a bench? Don't you just want to scoop her up?

Eli crashed our photo shoot. He was really excited that I had moved the bench off of our front porch, so he had to be a part of the action. The picture above is when I asked him to give Lily a hug. He leaned in and rested his forehead on her arm. Sweet boy!

I'm not sure what they were laughing about, but it must have been hilarious.

Lily twirled and showed me her "ballet", which is a recently acquired "skill".

And then the girls decided to hold hands and dance. I love the way Lily is looking up adoringly at her big sister. Most days, Daisy seems pretty uninterested in Lily. Today, Lily was soaking up her big sister's attention.

These girls are so pleased with themselves!

Right? Are you dying yet? No? How about this one?

Right?

I'm dead now.

The cuteness is too much to bear.

Then I got a crazy idea and ran to the back yard and ripped a few tendrils of a blooming vine off of my deck. Instant flower crowns! 

The crowns are a little weird, but the girls were delighted!

Right? 

So sweet.

Daisy was stoked about her crown.

See?

Also, Lily's "truly happy" face happens to look a little bit crazed. She was wild-eyed with delight.

And then we were done, but Lily didn't want to walk back to the house because there are prickly gumballs all over the yard. Daisy handled things by picking her up and carrying her to the sidewalk. What a good big sister!

Then I realized that I might not get to the pictures for a few days, but I needed immediate photographic proof that the event occurred. I grabbed my phone and snapped this:

This is probably my favorite image of the evening, as far as composition and cooperation of the subjects goes. But I only got it on my phone, and not my camera. Bummer.

And then I emerged from my photographic reverie and saw this:

Yep. That is my 7-year-old, sweaty and clad in cleats after soccer practice, climbing a ladder.Chris was trying to extract a dead limb from the tree, and decided Caleb could help. (Please disregard how awful our front yard is; our budget requires that we prioritize our home improvements, and the front yard is pretty low on the list.