Crazy Love Gamble-Style

These pictures are from last week but I don't want to forget to put them up.  Norah LOVES to paint.  Painting with friends?  Even better.  I give her a brush because that makes it less messy, RIGHT?? Yes, she is painting her hand.  Um, now what happened?  She looks equally perplexed.  But still happy.  She just remembered that making a mess is her favorite thing to do.  Now she is clapping paint covered hands together and laughing in a glee-like state where paint is flying EVERYWHERE.  Hopefully Audrey isn't taking notes.  And just in case she wasn't dirty enough...  Now I take off her shirt?  That's just smart parenting right there.  This is Norah's new robot, she loves it! Fighting over mommy Lauren, Norie adores her, we all do. Hey Jessica, do you now see why I was afraid of non-washable paint??   : )

  These super messy photos were taken a few days ago, before Ava settled in for her turn  at being the sick one.  Now she's just been resting on the couch, sporting 103 degree temp and watching  all the TV her heart desires.   She's so much easier then Norah sick.   I have welcomed back my naughty little Norie,  who is back to her super funny, cute, cute ways. But now it's Ava's turn to get better, we've got things to do, food to cook and fun to be had! Get better my sweet baby!  Please!!

We wait until Norah is sleeping   for the real fun to start.  Poor Norah.

 So since practice makes perfect, Norah is  still "practicing" the art of feeding herself.  She did a little better this time, her hair went relatively unscathed. Once I got her all cleaned up I was proud to see not one drop on her outfit, she usually has super  messy skills that defy all bibs... 'The whole "eat your own yogurt" thing started because Norah now goes to the  silverware drawer, opens it and says "SPOON!!" over and over until you give her a spoon. Today she climbed out the cat door into the  garage and found an old container of orange  baby food, presumably sweet potatoes & turkey, then went to get her spoon.   There was no way in hell I was going to let her feed herself orange baby food, especially 2  seconds after I just cleaned her head to toe. So I handed her a spoon and then fed her bites  with a secondary spoon which *sort of* appeased her in the...

It's all the rage.  I'm not sure why Ava isn't into it.  She doesn't need any help.  She's got this.

Sweet Little Ava, she looks innocent enough right? One day I thought, maybe I should let her play  with my makeup?  Why not?  It's sort of like an art project that she can totally direct herself. Needless to say she was thrilled at the prospect. I thought she did fairly well at her first attempt: Several weeks later she saw my makeup sitting on the  counter and asked "Mom can I??  Please??"   I agreed, and off she went, happy as a clam.   Somehow I totally underestimated what *might* happen. How bad could it be?? Um, WOW.  Even when she smiles nice... She looks totally insane & yet so very proud of herself. That definitely wasn't how I saw that going. Kids sure do know how to keep things interesting! Just imagine how long it took to get OFF her face... : )

I used to be accused of not letting Ava do anything that was messy. I still sort of struggle with that but... I think I may be getting slightly more relaxed about it.