July thus far- in pictures and captions

"Lila, have you been eating toothpaste?" "Uh-huh". Well thank you for leaving your hair bow in.

Well, at least Anabelle isn't going to drown

She stands at the back door and knocks, screams, cries, bangs....she will do what she has to do to get out that door and into that pool.

"Mom, can we please stay out here forever?" Why yes, you can and thank you for remembering to say please.

working on what I hate to admit is probably their 10th mallow while they wait for another neighbor to walk by with a dog. People are going to stop walking by our house each night because the girls prey on those whose mothers are not as mean as I and allow them to have a dog. They wait in the garage and then pounce on the chance to get licked clean by some fur ball. And Lila cries a pitiful cry each time they walk away.

I pity the fool who dares take on Lila in a round of "chubby bunny"

A garage weiny cookout. Abelle enjoys a dog while Dad fetches her a beverage.

Anabelle got her first "awesome prize" after she filled in her first row of squares on an awesome chart we have for her great behavior. We're trying an alternative to "do what I want you to do or I'll beat you" parenting. It's more expensive than hitting children, but look at her excited little face.

Who doesn't love to eat biscuit dough in the buff? I swear I dress her every day. several times a day if you want to know the truth. She has undressed herself in public twice in the last week. And I thought it was annoying to try to keep up with her bows and shoes in a store, now I'm supposed to be on the lookout for shorts too?

I asked Anabelle to go upstairs and get dressed. She went the extra mile. She did her hair too. Grand, let's go to the store.

This morning Braden and I are upstairs having a financial meeting and I realized after a while that it was very quiet all through the house. And that it had been quite a while since I had heard any noise at all. I walked down stairs. Back door is open. Girls are in the pool. Failed to remove clothing. Mangaged to grab a box of cereal on their way out and finish it up in the pool. And these are their faces of sorrow and remorse. Anabelle says to me, "We thought this would be fun. And you know what? We were right! Hey we're out of cereal. Can you get us some Honey Bunches of Oats?"