Have I mentioned that Mary really likes books? She does. She can actually be distracted from throwing a fit by sitting down to read a book. While she will spend a lot of time sitting in her chair reading, she also really enjoys "interactive" reading.
She believes you really have to get into the book.
That's the only way to experience it fully.
This is her animal book, which is a fun read for all because she's starting to make animal noises. Well, really only one animal noise: the roar. It can apply to so many different animals! Bears, lions, ducks, pigs, spiders, birds. You name it, Mary can roar like it.
Mary might have learned her love of reading from Catherine, still a very serious reader.
Although she does show Mary how reading can be fun too.
Next she's going to show Mary how to build things, in secret. After Catherine got her tool belt all ready, she told me, "No think about what I'm building."
Catherine is also teaching Mary all her photography skills. For example, Catherine took this beautiful picture of Mary:
We were down at Sandwich church today, which means we skipped 7:30am Church at the Beach in Brewster, which means Catherine was a teensy bit upset when we pulled into church and it wasn't the beach. Luckily for her, there is a beach at this church (a lake beach, not an ocean beach, but still very nice) and since there is no children's church during the summer we often spend service time there.
We accomplished a lot in a very short time at the lake beach.
Catherine ran.
She looked for stuff in the water.
She ran some more.
She took a rest.
Sang a song.
Got a couple handfuls of sand.
Threw handfuls of sand into the water.
Looked for some big rocks.
Threw big rocks into the water.
Meanwhile Mary was pouting because I wouldn't let her run on the floating bridges.
Eventually she started playing in the sand.
And perked up a little bit.
And Catherine got her involved in smoothing out the sand for dancing.
Mary got a little sidetracked by the sand in her toes.
But when I asked Catherine to demonstrate her Delicious Dance, she obliged, albeit briefly.
There was also an extended period where both girls were chasing an unsuspecting pair of ducks around the beach, Mary making her universal animal sound the whole time (it mostly resembles a bear growl), but I don't have any pictures or videos of this because it involved numerous threats from both girls of diving headlong into the water so my hands were a little busy.
My plan to make it back to church in time for communion was not entirely successful, but we did make it back before church was over for long and someone sent out a search party for us.
And we even had enough energy to play at Heritage Museum & Gardens for a bit afterwards.
Catherine really liked this little maze.
Although at one point she and Mary got stuck on different paths and it took a bit of convincing to get Mary to listen to me about walking around, not through, the wire fence.
The only way I got Catherine out of there at all was by telling her there was something else further on that I thought she might really like.
I was eluding to a large Carousel housed in the gardens. As expected, Catherine loved it (getting ready for bed tonight she told me it was her favorite part of the day) but Mary was not impressed. She rode it once (with me standing next to her holding on) but was pretty unhappy the entire ride, and I'm pretty sure she was shaking at some point - so we found something Mary is afraid of. The second time she and I watched Catherine and Daddy go round and round, and Mary thought that was a lot more fun.
Hooray for the mailman today! He delivered a new camera battery charger to our house and all has been righted with the blog. Well, almost. We had a bit of a busy day and by the time the mail came and the charger actually charged the battery, all photogenic parties of the household were in bed, but I do have a few pictures from last week that were being held hostage in the camera!
After our typical Saturday morning: pancakes, pick up, vacuum, and beg Daddy to take all the diapers to the dump, Michael and I played weekend hooky. We left the girls with a friend and went to lunch at the Beach House at the Chatham Bars Inn. It was a perfect day to eat lunch on a breezy patio on the beach, and the food, as always at the Bars Inn, was delightful.
Catherine is fast becoming a professional at entertaining babysitters, and since Mary is already a professional at copying everything Catherine does, Mary is getting pretty good at dealing with our departure as well. She ran to get her shoes when I started putting on mine, and cried for a minute when we left, but was soon distracted by a trip to the park and had no more problems while we were out.
Our neighbors decided today was a good day to rent a dunking machine, smoke a whole pig, and have a party, so after our delicious lunch we enjoyed a pig roast dinner. It was a good day of eating.
I know, I told you I have some pictures, and I do. Catherine has been raiding my closet a lot lately, usually for a pair of "slippers" as she calls them.
Apparently she finds these heels very comfortable, because she likes to bring them to me and ask me if I would like to wear my slippers around the house for a while. She does not understand why I would decline such an offer.
As long as the weather is nice we plan to go to Heritage Plantation after church tomorrow, so I should have some new pictures!
I had a really good feeling about the mail yesterday, but no battery charger. So here are some videos, mostly of Catherine talking nonsense. It's what she does best.
If you listen closely to this one, you will notice that she starts to say "It's too hard for my grandparents" but apparently she realizes to whom she is talking and stops at "grand..." then after a pause says "It's too hard for my parents." Hilarious.
This was Catherine's first test run with pushing Mary in her new toy, and let me assure you, she is no where near this cautious now. Mary has nearly lost several toes.
And here's a little show for you. Catherine likes to sing in her made-up language.
You're all suffering withdrawal. I get it. But my battery charger was being shipped from California and California to Massachusetts is a rather lengthy drive, so it's not here yet. But I love you so I scoured my June and July folders to try and find some more pictures that might have been overlooked in past posts. Although at this point I'm pretty sure no one is going to mind a few repeats.
But first I'll try to give you an idea of what this week has been like in the house.
First, another molar decided to saw and scrape and erupt it's way through Mary's delicate gums this week. You can imagine how she feels about that.
Catherine rediscovered her Dora movie and now she runs around saying things like "Swiper No Swiping! Swiper No Swiping! Swiper No Swiping! Oh Man!" and "Strawberry Mountain...Chocolate Lake...Coney Island! That's how we get to Coney Island! Then we can get some ice cream! Chocolate is my favorite. Swiper NO Swiping!"
She has also become rather dependent on the phrase "all around the town." She adds it to the end of most sentences. This habit results in sentences like "Mom, Mary is crying all around the town" and "I like to eat raspberries all around the town" and "Mary I can smell you all around the town" (Mary did not seem offended by this). I don't even know where "all around the town" came from, but it seems to have been implanted in Catherine's brain and is not going anywhere.
And now for some pictures.
When Mary gives us this face, we know that she knows that she's already smarter than us. It's a worrisome event.
Then she eats some sand and all is right with the world.
When Catherine gives us this face, we know that she knows that we know that she's already smarter than us, and she's trying to fake it so we don't feel bad. It's a very worrisome event.
And she doesn't eat sand anymore so there's not really any making us feel better.
Here is one of many failed attempts at getting a good picture of Michael and Mary. Luckily you're to the point of appreciating failed photos.
Did I post this already? Probably not, because it's really nothing, but I like it for some reason.
These "pictures of nothing that I like for some reason" are the reason Michael's computer is out of space on the hard drive. Sorry honey.
