What's Your Angle?

This week at I Heart Faces they are asking for angles.  You can see so many different takes on this theme here.  I personally think it's fun to get direction like this...give me a way to go and I'll head down the path.  I subjected Michaela and Eliana to a little photo shoot this afternoon since they were home and I took a couple of pictures that were meh.  I tried hard to get something great of their eyes but I didn't go outside, so of course the light wasn't quite right.  Then I tried the angle from above.

I don't really know what makes a good picture.  I thought this was interesting.  It certainly shows off her beautiful dark eyelashes.  Her eyebrows are just like her dad's, as well as her Grandma Diana, and in this photo the line of her brow is quite noticeable; it comes up to a point rather than curves around like an arc.  You can see the scar on her nose, just a little, from an accident she had when she was almost 11 months old.  I don't really have a word for her mouth...I'll just say it's lovely.  This picture takes me to Wonderland. 

She is a sweet girl.  And a willing photograpy experimentee.  And she's much less wiggly than her younger sister.  I love her. 

(Not that I don't love wiggly little girls just as much.)

They Teach Me a Thing or Two

As I was getting Eliana ready for bed tonight I heard a great commotion upstairs; there was banging, and slamming, and scooting.  I was a little nervous about all that noise.  What could it mean, other than the contents of all of the bins of toys and paraphernalia were being emptied out onto the floor into a huge pile in order to rid me of my sanity problem once and for all.  

Oh, wait.  I am actually without any trace of sanity, so that couldn't be it. 

Maybe they were going to jump in it, like a leaf pile.  Or maybe they were going to try to catch it on fire by rubbing two Lincoln Logs together.  Or make a maze out of it.  I tried to quell my fears as I waited for Eliana to be sound asleep.

They finally came downstairs, calling for me softly.  Eliana was out so I walked into the hallway and prepared myself for this adventure.  (Read:  I quickly grabbed the camera.)

When we got to the top of the stairs Michaela opened her bedroom door and I saw...

the floor! 

It had been a while.

I was very proud that they had been up there cleaning, sweeping, and putting things away rather than emptying, spreading, and messing.  She even made her bed.  Sort of.  It's very hard to make; I am not quite sure what to do about it, actually.  That's another post, I suppose - Bedmaking 101.

Her room is a work-in-progress.  And it's been in progress for almost a year now.  When I think that we have lived in this house for a year (in about a month) it boggles my mind.  (Say that word over and over, and it no longer sounds like a word...boggle, boggle, boggle.)  All that is still left to do.  Again, another post for another time.  Or not.  You don't really want to know.

Back to Michaela's room...there are quite a few things left to do in there.  We have a fun print to hang on one of the walls (once we decide where all the furniture will end up).  Her desk needs to go back in there (it was relocated for the Valentine's Day surprise) and we need a chair for it (the desk) (it is very hard to find a reasonably priced desk chair for a kid).  There are also a few things that need to be weeded out just because she has gotten big for them (like the doll furniture, which will eventually end up in Eliana's room.  Which is a storage area right now.  Help!).  (Do the parentheses bother you?  I'm sorry.  I interrupt myself a lot.)

She was very excited about her clean room tonight.  She kept saying how much fun it was, and how she would help me clean the rest of the house now that she knew how much fun it was to clean. 

I'd better get started on my list for her!  It's going to be a long one.

The Girls

We were able to thieve acquire some lovely flowers from the church last week, which thrilled Michaela to no end.  She loves all things beautiful.  Her appreciation for that which is aesthetically pleasing far surpasses mine...she loves house decor, sunsets, pretty birds.  She notices everything, details that my eyes skip over because they are always in a hurry.  Or more likely, looking down to make sure I don't step in anything gross.

When we got home with our flowers, she immediately found vases for them.  She had a bunch, and Eliana was clinging to the single gerbera daisy that had been given to her.  Michaela then directed me to take many pictures so that I could put them on the blog. 

All right, Boss!

Here is a fun fact.  The dress Michaela is wearing was mine.  I wore it in my cousin's wedding when I was eleven years old.  My mom, after storing it all these many years, gave it to me recently, and Michaela took it right away.  Now, for a picture which involved such lovely flowers, a lovely dress such as this one was required.  She also donned her new necklace that was a Christmas gift. 

She tried very hard to get Eliana to cooperate and pose for a "sisters" picture...but Eliana was busy being two.  When you are busy being two, there is little time for stopping to listen to instruction, sitting pretty for the camera, and holding your flower just so.  I like the picture anyway. 

Mike saw these pictures, especially the ones of Michaela, and his heart melted.  Right into a puddle on the floor.  While it was very sweet to see him turn to mush looking at pictures of his firstborn, I don't know if I appreciate the extra mess to clean up.  On second thought, what's one more mess?   

Speaking of mess...

Don't think it's all flowers and dresses around here for her.  She has plenty of fun making mud soup and chasing earthworms.  Which is fine, just as long as it stays outside.  Mostly.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Michaela is a pretty cheerful girl.  She wakes up fairly early, and with a smile on her face.  But on the day of her special birthday get-together with two friends...

She was beyond cheerful.  She was exuberant!  And the smile on her face that day?  It was priceless to me.

I don't know if I would call this priceless, but it would be hard to put a price tag on, as well...

These are two of her friends from church and soccer.  And all she wanted to do for her birthday, when asked about a party, was go ice-skating with these girls and then get ice cream.  I was surprised because she's never really had a birthday party, other than the family thing we do especially when we are in Florida; she and Mike's mom share a birthday.  Isn't that fun?

But as far as getting friends together, we've never done that.  But, this is what she wanted, so it's what she got!

We had to wait until after the New Year's weekend, but we figured out a time later in the week and then headed to the Galleria ice skating rink after school.

Of course, once we got there, they put their skates on, and started towards the rink, the ice skating lady in charge sent everyone off of the ice so that they could smooth it out!  The girls were so patient; they even said,"At least we hadn't just gotten on the ice!"

Finally they were able to get out there...

And Michaela immediately left her friends behind.  Oh, dear.

I think she realized soon after that that they were not right there with her, and then they all made an effort to stick together for most of the rest of the time. 

They had so much fun!

Sweet friends holding hands.  I just love moments like that.

Our next stop was Baskin-Robbins.  Do you know that they all had lemon ice cream?  But no one was sour...

Only sweet and happy!

A little sidenote-when we arrived at the rink the song Dancing Queen was playing.  And I just had to dance.  Could there be a more fun song?   (I feel like Chandler-from Friends-when I say things like that) (From Friends!  Is there another Chandler?!)

Her Way Today

Michaela got to plan the day today...

After a trip to the grocery store with Grandma and Grandpa to get what we needed for dinner, the girls headed to the American Girl store to have lunch.  That is exactly what you need to do if you ever want to spend four hours on a very expensive (but according to my mom, delicious) lunch.  The wait was very long!  But we browsed the store, and my mom enjoyed seeing it all; she had never been to an American Girl store before.  It is quite an experience. 

Of course, my camera battery died shortly after we sat down to eat, and the pictures I got at the table were not so great, so...moving on.

The afternoon was spent resting together.  Eliana had fallen asleep on the way home, and slept for an hour in her bed, which gave me a chance to make Michaela's birthday cakes.   (Cakes?!  You'll see.)  My mom had started beef stroganoff in the crock-pot before we left for lunch, so we had just a little dinner prep left.

Michaela's meal of choice:  beef stroganoff with sauteed spinach.

For her birthday cake, she wanted mini-Bundt cakes-vanilla with chocolate icing.

And here is an example of what a stellar mom I am.  The candles we have?  Blue.  The number of candles we have?  Eight.  She is nine today.  Her response?  "I had one candle in the American Girl store!"  I guess that equals nine, so we're good.

"Happy Birthday to mee-eeee!"

Everyone enjoyed the cake.

There was a lot of giggling.

And of course, presents.

We gave her a digital camera...she immediately opened the box, and after her dad put the batteries in, she was taking pictures.

She received some new clothes and the stable set for Felicity's horses...

She unwrapped a Candy Factory (well, that's just what we need around here!), a new jewelry box, and a necklace.

There is never a shortage of help whenever there are presents to unwrap.  Or "fresents", as Eliana says.

Grandma and Grandpa got her the boxed set of the Madeleine L'Engle A Wrinkle in Time series...

And it was a fun day.