Meet Jessie...

This year's costume. Mom, saved you the work in crafting this...Lucy insisted on the Walmart version :)

Apples of my eye

{apple picking = mommy in LBD. why not?}

We went apple picking on Saturday...early in the season for it, but the apples are out early this year because it was such a hot summer. I posted these photos on Facebook and people said things like, "wow, looks like a great time!" etc. I wouldn't say it was a bad time, but I should note that apple picking is not my most favoritest activity ever. I went once, back in my early 20s, at a small orchard in New Hampshire. It was a crisp, lovely fall day and I was without small kids running around complaining that they are hot and itchy and grabbing wormy apples off the ground. The past few times I have gone, however, have involved small kids running around complaining that they are hot and itchy and grabbing wormy apples off the ground.

You get the point.

But they had fun (despite the hot, and the itch), which is the most important thing. Their fun equals our fun or, at least, equals our satisfaction in a day well done in the parenting department. How do you like them apples?

Ballerina girl

Lucy had her first "real" ballet class yesterday (i.e., not at the rec center). She was SO excited about it and set out her little outfit on her bed as soon as she woke up in the morning:

Her ballet school requires that the girls in each level wear a very specific outfit. Her level wears this pink skirted outfit. I am not usually a conformist, but when it comes to ballet I love the fact that they all dress the same. I really believe in ballet because I think it gives girls grace and poise with a healthy dose of self-discipline. Oh and the pretty music and French phrases are also nice :)

Here is our little ballerina all dressed and ready to go:

{my pretty baby}

{LOVE the knobby knees}

{i insisted on the bun even though it is not technically required}

Phoebe and I had a great time in the waiting room while Lucy was in class. I had anticipated leaving Lucy at class but once we got there it was such a nice environment to wait so we stayed. There were plenty of books and toys for Phoebe and also a closed circuit tv to watch the class. I pointed out Lucy on the screen to Phoebe but she told me, "I want to see the WEAL (real) Lucy!" So cute the way she is growing very attached to her sister.

At one point in class, the children were sitting in a circle and one by one each girl would get up and run/dance around the outside of the circle before returning to her spot. Well, every girl before Lucy just kind of lumbered around the circle and sat...but not my Lu. No, when it was her turn she got up and pirouetted her way around the entire circle! It was so cute and I was so proud of my graceful and ambitious little dancer!

1970-something?

My friend Lara posted a photo of her gorgeous daughter Maggie on Facebook the other day -- she took it with her iphone with an app called hipstamatic. It gives a photo the look of an old Polaroid and it really, really looks like something taken in the 70s or 80s. It made me remember how much I have been wanting to re-create the look of an old photo using my image editing software (I would love to study the history of photography and the ways that photographs have changed over time, but that is another story...).

So when Lucy was running around the backyard yesterday in an old dress of mine that she now uses for dress-up, with her hair in a loose ponytail, I seized the opportunity to snap this photo. I then edited it to look as vintage 70s as possible, complete with grain and fading. Like you just popped the photo out of an old frame that was sitting near a window for the past 30+ years.

The best part? Well, often when I look at an old photo of a child I will think gee, that child must now be 30+, 40+, 100+ or maybe even 110+ by now! But my Lucy, well, she is still only 4+ and that is just the way we like her around here.