Wrapping up a great weekend

These end-of-summer-beginning-of-fall weekends are just the best - we are really appreciating our time together and having lots of fun with all of our Missoula friends. This weekend we participated in the Memory Walk to fund Alzheimer's research, we had brunch with great friends, we made oatmeal raisin cookies, we cleaned our house as a family, had a trip to the bookstore, and celebrated the birthday of a dear friend. Wonderful!

To top it all off, we had baths! Exciting, no? The girls think so -we usually have great bath times together, and often the girls will ask us to take pictures. We usually don't show them on here (for obvious reasons) but one here shows the girls in their "lean back." They love to say that term and then just recline in the tub - so funny!

And although the girls get baths every night, Sunday is hair-washing night. The girls are getting SO much better at the water-near-the-eyes thing. And the best part is that after Sunday baths Dad gets the "Zzzzz zzzzz thing" out for them. What's that you say? You don't know the "Zzzzz zzzz thing?"

Daddy-stylist. He is so tender and sweet with them in taking care of their hair, and they just love it.

So efficient, his comb is but a blur!

Bonus cuteness:

- Elena is having a love affair with the moon lately. It started on our trip back from Portland when she saw it for the first time as we drove home at night. Now that it gets darker a bit earlier, she has more and more chances to see the moon, and always greets it with (literally) open arms, exclaiming: "My moon!!"

-Clara has definitely embraced the beauty of good manners, and regularly now does a number where she tilts her head to the right, softens her voice, and says "PLEASE ______, I want ______." Like "PLEASE Elena, I want a turn." Or this morning, when Christina was leaving to go running: "PLEASE Mama, I want to go." Almost irresistible!

-Both girls have discovered the power of eye contact for real attention. Just like we do when we really need them to listen, the girls will regularly say to us: "Mama/Daddy - look at me!" when they want to tell us something especially important to them. It's different than when they say "watch me" to get us to SEE something they are doing. The "look at me" is purely to get eye contact to share important info - so savvy of them!
-And here are the little babies of almost one year ago. How TINY are they? And look at that hair! This "look-back-one-year" thing just never gets old to us. It's amazing to see how quickly these girls change.