Style

On Saturday, the girls were excited to get ready for their friend Neve's 4th birthday party. The party wasn't a theme party or a costume party, but a fun run-around-with-a-pack-of-kids party which always seem to end up being the most fun. As it was the weekend, the girls were largely free to select their own outfits. Separately, the girls were cute, but together they were comical.

Madeleine went for a cowgirl look: pink/grey Western shirt, brown shorts, knee-high motorcycle boots [note: I really should try to find her cowboy boots for Christmas], and a green straw cowboy hat. Josephine went for her fanciest gear: a satin and chiffon ball gown and her newly-acquired high heeled sandals (which provided newly acquired blisters).

What's a history?

Josephine likes for us to sing in the car. Mostly, she likes for me to sing songs in which she has some participation. One of her year-round favorites is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. She likes to join in on the Ho Ho Ho's, and also chime in at the end with "he'll go down in history."

This morning, she asked me to sing it to her, and as I finished she segued into a favorite game which grew out of the song. One day just after I finished singing, she asked me "what's a history?" and I told her that it's the story of what happened 'before'. She now likes to ask to hear specific histories: hers, mine, Madeleine's, Michael's, Bobo's, Snowboard's, and of course Abraham's. Abraham's history is a little hard for me to make it through right now as he died a few days ago. Josie remembers him well though and loved to feed him and pet him. Here's Abraham's history, as Josie likes to hear it.

Abraham Burglar Abate was born in the fall of 1993 in a warehouse in San Jose, California. A short time later, he moved to San Francisco where he met his friend Michael Abate. A year or so after that, Michael and Abraham moved in with their friend Laura and started moving around the country. Abraham lived in Washington, DC, North Carolina, and Washington, DC again, before finding his favorite home on Milford Avenue in Silver Spring, Maryland. After a few years on Milford, Abraham added Madeleine and Josephine to his family. As a young cat, Abraham loved to play fetch with Mardi Gras beads and to look out the window. As he grew older, Abraham loved to find a sunny spot on the floor and to sleep on the bed. Abraham, Hammy Cat to his friends, will be remembered for his sweet disposition, his beautiful black and white fur, and his green, green eyes.

Grandma & Papa Visit, then Halloween

Girl and monkey

Josie insisted on wearing her boots to school yesterday, and also insisted that Bobo try on her extra pair.

Goals

Madeleine and Josephine both had big weekends. Madeleine kicked things off, literally, by scoring two goals for her team at their Saturday morning soccer match. Madeleine and her friends are known as the "Golden Girls", a team name which they selected themselves much to the adults' amusement. Madeleine's current technique plays off of her ability to kick the ball reasonably hard, thereby freeing it from the crush of the other nine players on the field. Madeleine follows the ball and scores the goals before most of the other players catch up.

On our way home from the soccer game, we stopped in on several garage sales and ended up buying a nice camping tent. Later in the afternoon, Madeleine and I pitched the tent in the backyard. The original plan was for her and I to sleep outside, but when it came time for Josephine to go to bed she resisted and said "No! Sleep in tent!". We still forget that she knows what's going on. So, we all slept outside.

Madeleine was thrilled to be camping which she has long wanted to do. When we got settled in the tent, she took the flashlight and shined it under her chin and told us a scary story (In the dark, dark woods, there was a dark, dark house...) then lay down and was instantly asleep. Josie took a few minutes longer to settle down and felt the need to bark back at some dogs a block or two away, but then also fell asleep. Michael and I did not sleep anywhere near as soundly. In the morning, we awoke to squirrels dropping nuts and shells on our tent (it may be a cold winter, judging by their activity) and Madeleine was thrilled to still be outside - "We did it! We stayed outside all night!"

Comic books and others

Two nights ago, Josie became visibly upset at bedtime because she couldn't find her comic book. At first, I assumed that this was the latest phase in trying to be like her sister as comic books are something that Madeleine and Michael enjoy together. Eventually, though I realized that she wasn't saying 'comic book' but 'Carl book'.

Two weeks ago, Madeleine found 'Carl's Birthday' at a used book store so we purchased it for her and Josie. The following weekend, Madeleine found 'Carl Goes Shopping' at the library booksale and asked Michael to buy it for Josie. Josie likes them both a lot, but the second one has turned out into Josie's new favorite book. She asks for it every night, and becomes upset if she can't locate it. In turn, it's of course driving Madeleine, who likes a lot of variety at story time, crazy.

Another issue is that when Madeleine was small, we told her how the little girl in the books is named Madeleine. This isn't in every book, but is in at least one of them and Madeleine has an amazing memory. The first time we were 'reading' (the books are primarily pictures with just a few words on the opening page and 'Good Dog Carl' on the final one) one of our new Carl books, I started out and called the little girl the baby. Madeleine immediately said, "No, that's Madeleine" to which Josie, perhaps predictably responded "No, that's Josie." So there's that too - the girls warring over who is really in the book - Madeleine or Josie.

More pictures

Shelby, Spencer, Madeleine & Josie

at Rose Hall

Josie and Monkey enjoy an early a.m.

Madeleine goes to John and Bridgid's wedding, without her two front teeth.

California Dream

Madeleine and Josephine had a wonderful visit with our family in California. On our return, we quizzed Madeleine about her favorite part of the trip. I was thinking that she would answer swimming at the beach, but her answer was "Cousins, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle, Gigi, Aunt Kathy, Aunts, friends..." Since our return, Josie has taken to standing in front of the computer and demanding to see pictures of Papa - yesterday we printed her one of her, Chance, and Papa which she carried around all evening. It was great to see everyone.



Madeleine and Josie's grandparents were pretty busy with work (their busiest month of the year), but had a good time with the girls in the mornings and evenings. During the days, we had a lot of fun with Adrianne and her friend Anna at the beach and at the ranch, and a great time swimming at Avila Beach with all the cousins and Aunt Kim and Aunt Kathy. Thanks to some long naps our first two days there, Josie had a much easier time adapting to the time change which made the trip more pleasant for everyone.





It was a wonderful trip and both girls are already asking when their cousins arrive for a visit. Both their Jamaica cousins and some of their California cousins are coming to visit in August.