Well, hello.

The neighbor from half a mile down the road pulled into the driveway as we were outside this afternoon to introduce himself and welcome us to the neighborhood.

We bought the place and moved in just shy of two years ago.

Friendly place.

In all fairness, we’ve certainly not experienced any unfriendliness. People just leave people alone, I’m thinking. Or at least, that’s what I’m calling it.

How rude.

Charlotte’s a little mimic. Her new word? “Rude.” It’ll break any tense moment when I’m scolding someone for being rude when her little one and a half year old voice pipes in and says “Rude!”.

Guess what we’ve been talking a lot about lately?

Paper Underwear?

We were given a set of encyclopedias on Sunday. The girls are in love with all the knowledge at their fingertips.

Today, Liberty was telling me of people who wear paper underwear held up with rubber bands to be modest.

She can’t remember what entry she was reading.

Charlotte got tipped over in the shopping cart on Saturday. Talk about a heart stopping moment. Charlotte was in the cart, Ruby stepped on the side, and over they went. I watched from the other side, diving for a falling cart that I couldn’t catch.

You’ll never guess what they landed in.

Lawn mower blades. A dozen or more lawn mower blades crashed to the concrete store floor all around poor Charlotte. Store employees came out of the woodwork at the sound of metal and concrete colliding – and my baby girl’s head. She escaped mostly unhurt except for a cut behind her ear that’s healing well already.

Ruby jumped out of the way. She learned firsthand why we tell her not to climb onto the side of the cart.

No one told us we had well behaved children in that store.

The case of the runaway eyebrow curler.

I was doing my makeup when Sterling asked if he could use my eyebrow curler. I handed it to him, explaining the difference between eyelashes and eyebrows. He nodded, smiled, and went on to attempt to curl his eyelashes.

Next thing I know, he had the curler, handle side down, opening and closing it and saying it was a thief “running as fast as it could away from the imaginary cops.”

That, my friends, perfectly encapsulates the difference between a boy and a girl. It’s the case of the runaway eyebrow curler.

Sounds from the kitchen.

Sterling is saying “Hi Poopy Alexandra” over and over again to Ruby.

I have to say, when we named Ruby I’d feared the rhyming nicknames, but that’s not the name I was fearing.

Oh dear.

Happy Half Birthday to you...

Happy half birthday, Charlie girl. Your siblings are thrilled that you are one and a half now.

You're walking and running and jumping and talking in two and three word phrases these days. You wore your hair in a tiny braid for the first time yesterday, but you still prefer it down. You inhale bananas and down coconut milk like there's no tomorrow, but you'll eat most anything else I give you too. Your shudder at pickles cracks everyone up, but you love them.

You have 12 teeth and those eye teeth don't seem to be in any hurry to complete your smile. I'm sure the toothpaste you insist on eating keeps them oh so clean though. You make funny faces and are the clown of the family - you love to make us laugh. You frown at strangers and refuse to talk or smile if they aren't part of our family.

You use sign language, talking all the while. I think you do it just to be sure we understand. No means yes and no in your world. It's up to us to decide which you mean.

You're quite the love. Your kisses and hugs are the best.

I love you.

Love,
Momma