Sidewalk Art and Memories

This is the face of badness right here.  If you look up rotten in the dictionary, this is the picture you'll see.  Boy howdy is this one tough little Bean.  

But, drat it all, she's so stinkin' cute I can hardly stand it.  :oP

(No, I have NO idea what that is on her nose.)

Of course, since she's mine, I'm supposed to think she's utterly adorable.  I even think she's sort of cute and charming when she gets me up at 5 in the morning.   ;o)

Since it's now getting dark at *gulp* 5:00, I kicked Lil out of the house the minute she came through the door.  Forget the snack.  Forget the homework.  Just get out there and enjoy the those few last precious moments of daylight.

Obviously, where Bad's sister went, she had to follow.

Lily wanted to get out the sidewalk chalk?  Beanie had to help.  Any picture Lily drew, Ellie had to "improve" (which is really rather subjective since Bean's idea of "improving" often is Bitty's idea of "destroying").

In typical Ellie Bean fashion, she had to taste the chalk.  Of course she did.

Some parents flip out when their kids put anything in their mouth.  I've given up.  :shrug:  Okay, not completely true, I do keep her from putting hazardous things in her mouth, nor will I let her put things that have fallen on restaurant or store floors in her gob. But otherwise, I've had to throw in the towel.  She's just so persistent.

She obviously decided the chalk didn't taste so great.:oP

Still thinking about it.  Honestly, I think Lil would much rather El eat the chalk than add on to her pictures.

(I included this one just because I could.)

The artist in action.  I love that my girls all love to draw and create.  Lil's becoming quite the artist.  I asked her to draw a giraffe and she didn't even hesitate, she just knocked it right out.

And, then, she just took off.  Here's a bear.

It's really rather cute, no?

And, my other sweet girl.  

She's pretty stinkin' cute too.  Actually, she's pretty stinkin' pretty.  She's turning into such a kid.  She's leaving little kidhood behind and is growing so big.  I love it and am delighted by it, and yet, I'm wistful.  Hannah pops into my head often in these moments, with me just wondering how she would look.

As I was typing this just now, Ellie came over and declared, "NA-NUH!" meaning "Hannah".  She knows her big sister and loves to look at photos of her.  So, I took a peek into the 2006 archives.  There was my girl at Christmas with her little sister.  It's funny, I know my girls all look like siblings, and that they look like each other, but I didn't see how much Lil looks like Han until looking at those photos.  They have the same mannerisms and facial expressions.  I just didn't see it.  

At any rate, she, like her sister, likes to draw and illustrate and color and paint.  Here we have a tiger and a butterfly.

And, the giraffe. :o)  I'm not sure what part is my favorite, but I'm leaning towards the tail. ;o)

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Today's Sparklies:

1. Y'all, if you have little girls and you need stuffing stockers, er, sorry, stocking stuffers, hit up ye olde One Spot at the 'Jay.  I think I got both girls' stockings set up for under $20.  There were fun pens and pop pencils and giant pencils and cutesy Japanese-style erasers and note pads and sticky pads and socks and and and...yeah, it was GOOD!
2.  Ellie and I also scored a number of items for Lil today--birthday and Christmas.  Excellent!
3.  School Crossing--it's the local parent/teacher store.  It's delightful and I could spend hours in there, I really could.  I discovered a fun new game in there today (made by the same people who brought us Spot It which you should really check out if you haven't) and it was all I could do not to bring it home with me.  It's LOADED with story starters.  SO fun!
4.  French toast and bacon for dinner.  It was a hit with everyone. :o)
5.  A beautiful afternoon spent outside with the girls.
6.  Visiting with Alex--the neighboring babysitter.  She's such a nifty girl and I really enjoy sitting and chatting with her.  And, I lined up babysitting for Saturday night.  Sweet! :o)
7.  I got part of Nana's birthday present today.  Woo hoo!  We'll get the rest tomorrow.  :o)

No milestones.