...Go!

Monday (Aug 1st) was the day. The day it all started at our house. The making of beauty.

While Joe demolished the basement bathroom, Miles starting taking apart the sidewalks in the front yard, and the girls and I tried to just stay out of the way and stay happy. We were in need of bread, so Hope and I took care of that little detail.
... and this was Joy's contribution to the effort.... it's called "Chubby baby eats and eats while dough overgrows the bowl." It all turned out in the end.
Josh givin' Joe a hand taking the old bathroom cabinets out.
Hope was either saying "Joy" or "Shoe" or "Shhh."
Morning time. I think Joy was more than ready to get out of her jammies.... note the arm pulled partway out of its sleeve. :o)
One of the more major parts of the bathroom reno was the jack-hammering of the floor so as to move the shower drain.
Hope and I took cookies around to the guys on Tuesday morning, and she of course wanted one too.
The basement floor was the only thing being jack-hammered that morning. The girls and I didn't do so good with all that noise, so as soon as Joy had her favourite mid-morning nursing we headed out for quieter places.
Such as.... the playground. :o) Joy slept. Hope and I played. A good deal.
Paving stones pulled up, front step gone...
...and drywall getting gone. :o) Gotta love Joe.
Water trails? Ant trails? Both? Looked cool anyway.
After supper time with Uncle Joe.
Happy to have the book box while Hopey listens to the story.
Little miss bonk. Poor kid took a jump out of her chair that noontime, resulting in the lovely oval bruise on her forehead and the redness on her nose.
Thought it was funny how they're both in the same formation, just heading opposite directions.
Pile on Uncle Joe!!!
They were supposed to both look at me and smile...
The first garden peas of the year.
"Hopey share wiff you?"
Look out world. Gotta love those thick thighs in those plaid pants.
The pants got muddy and the shirt got soaked so here she is in outfit #2 for the day. (a fairly common occurrence for her.)
Again... trying to get another "together" picture.
We finally got a hot day here, so I was getting them in their swimsuits for some time in the water.
Now there's a real smile.
Joy... preparing to eat the diaper or something.
Since I had just taken the big yellow pool down and cleaned it out, the baby bathtub worked for a little pool that day.




They had fun, and so did I. I blew some bubbles for them and did a little bit of yard work too.
After a full day, little Joy fell asleep in her Uncle's arms after supper. So sweet.

Here's a little video of Joy getting around. :o)

A John Deer Day

Some of you may have already heard that my amazing sister Chloe sewed some adorable John Deere tractor dresses for Hope and Joy. They wore them for the first time this Sunday, and boy, were they ever popular! Hope thought Joy should sit in the Bumbo.
Joy spotted something she wanted under the end table, so she went in after it. :o)
But then...
...Hopey pulled it out for her so Joy had to turn around and backtrack.
Hope got Joy playing with it and went off for something else to play with.
So, guess what Joy did - followed Hope ...
...you get the idea - they like to be together!
Little Miss mobile. Thankfully, she is learning to respect the word "no." :o)
"A-B-C-D-E-F-G..."
"Mommy need to take your picture?!"
Happy to have her Uncle Joe here for a couple weeks.
Daddy and the active one. :o)
While sitting on Daddy's lap and playing a game later Sunday afternoon, let's just say Hope all of a sudden did something that necessitated a change of clothes, both for her and her Daddy!. Then she decided to play with her dolls. Here she was reading them the "This Little Piggy" rhyme.
And, of course, Joy had to have a doll too!

Ready, get set...

Last week was busy. Josh worked late a couple nights, I took a class at church a couple nights (leaving both the girls with their amazing Daddy, by the way) and we were getting ready for Joe to come and redo our bathroom as well as getting ready for new sidewalks to be poured in the front yard. I found myself telling myself that I needed to stop and take pictures of the girls... :o)My big girl still takes a good nap everyday. She's getting so tall (relatively speaking, of course... this coming from her 5 ft 2 1/2 mother!)
Hope loves to help Joy. And Joy seems to like being served, though she is proving she's quite capable of getting what she wants for herself as long as she can reach it.
"Come on Joy, let's crawl." That's what she was saying... really!
{Sigh} "Okay, Hope - HERE I COME!"
"Oh - I need a hat on!!!" She was right. She did. :o)
"And Joy too," as Hope would say. She's into the "and Mommy, and Daddy, and Joy and Hopey" thing these days. " :o)
A random shot - but he was being so sweet to hold Joy who was up late that night... and he did it while brushing his teeth, and I didn't find any toothpaste on her. :o)
Mommy's big helper.
Joy took a morning nap one day last week, so Hope and I took the chance to get outside together.
She really wanted to help me "work" and was thrilled to be allowed into the dirt and mud in her mud boots. :o) She did actually stop talking long enough to actually scoop some rocks up and out of the bed with me. :o)
Morning treat from my hubby.
Making a card for a neighbour.
Same day, different shirt cause the other one got chocolate on it.
Hope is pretty much entertained and thrilled just by holding the sidewalk chalk and talking about drawing... she actually draws very little. :o) She loves to talk. Such a girl!
Mommy's creative helper. She loves to run the lettuce spinner for me. I guess this was her way of containing it's vibrations after she got it whirling!
We were cleaning mint for the dehydrator.
She had a bit of a hard time separating the wet leaves, but she had the right idea.
"Look - a shiny silver knob... wonder what happens if I grab it."
"Uhh, pretty pinwheel, why do you drop so easily? I like you so much...."
Being Daddy's big helper this time. This was Friday night, and I had the red rocks from the front bed sitting in diaper boxes on the lawn until Josh could move them for me. We borrowed a friends wheelbarrow and off Josh went with the rocks...
With Hopey following his every move.
Down the bumpy sidewalk...
...up the ramp...
...down the ramp...
...across the lawn...
...and - DUMP! Don't worry... the pile is just there temporarily. :o)
My man digging out the old logs around the front bed. He soon was seen with the Raid can and ant poison, as we discovered a multitude of the little creatures had been living in that log.

I put Joy at the piano so I could sweep the floor the other night, and I was really enjoying hearing her sing and play at the same time while I hurriedly worked to rid the floor of its crumb cover before she started crying. (it was past bedtime again...)