Spring is coming!

I can smell Spring on the horizon! In my future, I see days of Nellie coming in from playing in the back yard, full of mud and wagging her tail in glee, spraying mud and muck all over my walls and furniture. I see morning walks with Nellie turning into a game of Dodge the giant mud puddle and turning into her wagging her tail in glee...you get the picture. I love Spring for so many reasons, but the smell of mushy grass and soggy yards and a very dirty dog just don't fit in to my vision. It's a good thing the dog is so cute!!
Recently, Horsie has decided to test the boundaries in the house and has taken up residence on Nellie's bed. Nellie, being a giant, golden, baby, just resigns herself to the fact that she won't win against the cat and takes up a floor spot nearby. Adam and I have hopes that some day we might see the two of them curled up together on the big bed, but in reality it's never going to happen.
Horsie turns 13 in 2 more months, so she's got some experience on Nellie and I don't think she's going to let up on making Nellie walk on eggshells around her.

Marin got her long-ish hair chopped off a few weeks ago and we started blow-drying it in the morning with a giant curling brush to smooth it out into a sweet little bob. One morning, we had a bit of extra time and dried Calli's hair while we had the machine out. We then straightened it a bit and sent her off to school looking like this!!

She LOVED having straight hair that actually moved around differently than the curly locks. Of course, we told her not to get too used to it and reminded her that women pay to have curly hair like her. I bet in about 9 more years Calli and the straightener will be morning buddies....
Before the Christmas holidays, both my girls were quite sick with some sort of flu/cold bug that seemed to be getting the best of everyone. Marin was set to have a Christmas concert at her school just before school ended before the holidays, but more than half of the kids in the school were ill, so the concert was postponed until February! We finally got to see the show last weekend and see our very shy girl actually perform with the other kids!!

Here they are getting all of their "props" ready.
Marin was so confident in front of all the parents and stood up with the other kids and sang the first song....
...until disaster struck. In this little clip, you can see the cute little boy to the left of Marin pick up his chopsticks and play with them for a bit. He eventually puts them down but during the next song, picks them up again and pokes Marin in the eye by accident, ending her singing abilities for the rest of the evening.



Somehow, Marin manages to look very cute, rubbing her eye and staying just on the verge of tears, throughout the entire repertoire. She looked at me a few times, but refused to step out of the concert and come and sit with me. Calli was sitting on the sidelines, prompting Marin with all the words to the songs, but Marin was beyond participating by that time, poor little peach.

Don't you just want to reach out and grab her for a hug??



We had a great time at the concert. We drank a little wine, feasted on homemade quiche and salads and participated in a family craft project. Next year, I'll be sure to request Marin not to stand too close to anyone with chopsticks!!