My Babies!

I just wanted to share a few pics from today. It was a pretty typical day, aside from being Gus' birthday. :) The kids and I cleaned the house, went grocery shopping, made a chocolate cream pie for Daddy (his request), played outside a lot, and did an art project. Oh, and had movie night, which has become our fun Friday night ritual (this week's feature: "Gnomeo & Juliet," which I think is so darn cute!).

Anyhow... I brought my big camera outside at one point, thinking I would get some pics of Maya in the new outfit she was wearing, which was beyond cute! But Maya just kept wanting to snuggle up next to me on my shoulder, as she often does, and I thought I'd try to get a picture of it. And, I did! Sure, I chopped the top of my head off... But I challenge anyone to do better while holding and attempting to fire a several-pound combo of camera and lens at arm's length. I think it turned out really well! And, this is one of my favorite things that she does, so I'm happy to have a picture of me and my little snugglebug!

Then I tried to convince Nikos to take a picture with me. He ran over, smooched me on the cheek, leaned his head against me for .2 seconds, and this is the picture I got. Total Nikos! Crazy kid!

While we were outside, we started talking to Bonnie (our daycare lady/neighbor) over the fence, as we often do. She asked me if I wanted some art projects to do with the kids, and of course I said yes! She had prepped for several different 4th of July-themed projects, and had extras. Today, we did one of the projects. I think they turned out pretty cute! Maya's is on the left, and Nikos' is on the right. Both of them were big fans of the "jumpy legs," as Maya called them.

Finally, one pic from yesterday, just because I love it. The unofficial theme of the day yesterday was "pretend play." From the moment they got up, they were firefighters, doctors, chefs, rock stars, racecar drivers, trash collectors, ballerinas-- you name a profession, and they probably pretended to be it at some point. It was like I wasn't even there, which was nice-- the two of them were both fully absorbed in their little world, let by Nikos. And this picture was when they were pretending to sleep in Nikos' bed. They'd say "Bed time, goodnight!" and lie down for a few seconds. Then they'd say, "Ooh, it's morning, time to get up!" and proceed to jump on the bed for a few minutes. I mostly just love Maya's face, with her silly grin. They were hilarious to watch!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GUS! :)