In which there are battle cries

I think it's a hallmark of babies and toddlers to yank their socks off at every opportunity.  Not sure why they are mortally offended by socks, but they are.  At any rate, the husband is getting K ready for bed, and I hear a triumphant baby cry and the sentence 'There's no battle cries for taking your socks off'.'  Funniest thing I heard all day.

In which one entertains herself and the goes for a ride

The guy who did the heavy machinery work on the yard was great.  So great, that he left the keys to the bobcat and excavator and told me to have fun.  He'd been required to give me a crash course in driving the bobcat after the dump truck got stuck in the mud.

After he'd left, I drove both, making dinosaur sounds as I dug giant holes with the excavator.  When the machines first showed up, Lara wanted to get on them, but we'd told her no.  Since I now had permission to drive them, she got her wish.

And us in the bobcat.

The other little squirt figured out how to turn her mobile on.  She was in bed blabbing away, and as I walked by, I heard the 'click click' sound of her mobile.  Thought it was weird...turned on the monitor and lo and behold, she'd reached up, either purposefully or not, and pushed one of the buttons, turning her mobile on.  Smart cookie.

In which she becomes a mud puppy

The house we live in we bought because it was mostly done.  By done I mean that there was nothing that really needed to be done/fixed in order to happily live there.  Some cosmetic stuff, blinds, but it was a flipped house, and they took care of the electrical and the plumbing and a kitchen remodel.

The yard, however, was a completely different kettle of fish.  It's a half acre, and when we bought the place, the back quarter acre was mowed down blackberry bushes.  That grew back.  With a vengeance.  So the second summer we were in the house, we cut down and poisoned the blackberries, paid someone to come out and do a landscape plan, and started putting money away for the plan.  The plan was to make a cohesive backyard that was parklike, had a large garden area, potential for a treehouse, and a large space to play ball with the dogs.  And could support a riding lawn mower.

The implementation of the plan began last Saturday. 

This is what brings the boys to the yard.

and this was late afternoon when they left for the day.

And this is when Lara wanted to play in the dirt.  Because she started off wearing a white dress, I figured it was easier to just strip her down and let her go.  She wasn't as dirty as she could have been, but there was a ring around the tub when she got her bath.

In which she rolls over

That would be the second she. Elder mastered rolling awhile ago. So far just back to front.

In which she asks for a birthday present

She's been singing happy birthday of late to both herself and to me.  I've tried explaining months to her and she definitely seems more of a visual person.  At any rate, I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, as it's coming up in a few weeks.  She gets a very pensive look, then looks at me slyly and says "frosting".

That's my girl.

In which she loves her Riley

Riley used to be super skittish whenever munchkin was nearby. Over the last month he appears to have chilled a bit.

In which she's in a fort

She loves tunnels and forts.  And her dad builds a good one!

In which she gets stuck

She was hiding. Didn't know she could shimmy flat. Her head got stuck on the cross post. No idea why it didn't get stuck on the way under.

In which she interacts with nature

We've been having trouble getting her to stay in bed after we put her there for the night.  We don't really care if she stays up and reads or plays, but she needs to stay in her room. 

Last night, we hear a knocking on her window, and her wee voice saying 'hey birdies, come inside'.  Apparently she wants to play with the birds.  Maybe she's just lonely.

In which she isn't a grasshopper

"I want to hold it"
"In a minute, let me finish getting your splinters"
"I want to hold it"
"Lara, just wait"
"I want to hold it"
"Patience little grasshopper"
"I'm not a grasshopper, I'm Lara"