SUMMER IS ENDING...

Being that it is the end of August, I am anxious over the coming colder weather. It seemed like the summer wasn't all that long this year. We NEVER made it to the beach (except one cold day in late spring I went with girlfriends). When I say colder weather, i'm not talking freezing rains or bundling up in scarves and mittens. But it IS seeming like time to pack away the shorts and tank tops. It's time to start wearing socks around the house and short sleeves are replacing the tank tops. No more tanning (or sunburns). I love the seasons here in New England but at the end of each one, I start to get sentimental and wish it would last and last. (except for winter....winter is so long that I am thoroughly ready for it to be over when the time comes!) The golden rod that is growing everywhere on our property is making Richie sneeze his head off.

The garden is really starting to produce now. We ate some the GIANT greenbeans last night for dinner. Bella is holding up one of the smaller ones. I swear some of them were like a foot and a half long!

Yesterday afternoon was beautiful and all four of us went outside to play for awhile. I decided to take some mailbox pictures across the street from our house and Mia decided to follow me. She is such a little TINY person with her wild crown of curls.

Here are my two little ones in matching sundresses. I dressed them in these dresses on the last warm day forecasted. It was a now or never deal.... Bella still loves to wear clothes matching either me or her sister. I think it makes her feel sort of safe, like she belongs. It seems to be an ongoing theme with her these days.

Now is this MY daughter or what?

She was soooo excited at the bakery counter, pointing and jabbering on excitedly over all the "cookies".




Here are the girls yesterday afternoon on the slide. If you look really closely, Bella has her "kitty" (she is a girl kitty but has no name at this point) with her on the slide.

She goes nowhere without her kitty lately.

It sleeps with her. She puts it down for naps when "it is tired" and wraps it in blankets when "it is cold". And it is a major catastrophe when kitty goes missing. She was missing once for like most of the day once and it was a very emotional time for her. As it turned out, Kitty was 'hiding' in the living room under an opened book. Bella likes to make kitty hide but tends to forget where she is hiding. Yeeeshh.....

What's really funny though (to my twisted sense of humor anyway) is Mia's complete disdain for kitty. She likes to take the kitty away from Bella and throw it as far as she can. Sometimes Bella will set the kitty down while she plays and as soon as Mia spots it unprotected, she runs and grabs it to stash it or toss it off somewhere. Yesterday, Bella left it in the tricycle basket on the porch for safe keeping. Mia of course grabs it out and pitches it out and over the porch railing as far as her chubby little arms can throw.....

Poor kitty....