I am going to turn into Spiderman when I grow up...

Claire's sitting beside me now playing polygamous Barbie, where each of her Barbie's get to change into her one Barbie wedding dress (which I have to change) and get married to her one and only Ken doll. The plot is elaborate, complete with the traditional walk down the aisle, the first kiss, the first dance and the bouquet toss (which determines which Barbie gets married next) and sometimes even a poison apple at the end which dramatically kills all the princesses.

Claire's imagination apparently carries over into her dreams as well. This morning at 5:30am she comes into my room and stands next to my bed and announces to a sleeping me, "I was Spiderman!" I open my eyes to her jubilant face and her exclamatory hands and just had to listen to this one. She continued without even a blink of acknowledgment from me, "I was flying and spinning my webs, ping, ping ping (while gesturing Spidey hands three times in a row) and I saved all my friends." As Spidey she even had to dip into a waterfall to save Rachel, Maddie, Brinley and Austin. Logan was somewhere on scene as well, but he was a train and I am not sure how he tied into rescuing everyone. I think this was Claire's first flying dream and to say it was liberating is an understatement. She lay in our bed until Dave got up a half hour later just reveling in new found flight. I'm glad her first experience was as uplifting as this one as for weeks I have been certain that she would try and fly with her lady bug wings, pictured in the last post. I have caught her several times standing on the back of the couch with her wings on, arms spread--Vitruvian Man-style--prepared to take flight.

And because summer pics are too great not to document, here are some from the Thatcher Family Reunion in Jackson Hole, Wyoming over the 4th of July, except for the first pic that is a random but maybe my favorite shot of Miss K ever taken. That pucker is the funniest thing I ever saw.

How can I resist?

I could look at these pictures all day long. Of course, as long as my girls were napping all day long and left me uninterrupted. They were taken on a recent trip to the Monterey Peninsula to visit my family by none other than my beautiful sister's-in-law, Laurel and Amie who have started a children's photography biz to complement Amie's already bustling wedding photog biz. Their pics are natural and carefree. I love each one.

His Day

When Claire came in at the crack of dawn to wake us up two Sundays ago, Dave and I both looked at each other with a "It's your turn" plea and then nothing. No one moved. Dave finally in somewhat of a huff got up and I feel back asleep. A few hours later I walked into a clean living room and kitchen with the kids dressed and eating breakfast. Throughout the day, Dave continued to help out to an extent that it was remarkable. That night, I did just that, I remarked on how amazing he was to get up with the kids, clean up the house, cook breakfast and be generally cheery all day on little sleep. He replied, "Well, I thought it was the least I could do on Father's Day." I looked at him quizzically and told him that he was two weeks early, Father's Day wasn't until the 20th. He sheepishly grinned and told me that at first he was ticked that I had forgotten but then got over when he thought about all the goodwill he was building for the future when he misses my day.

Alas, his day was in tact and it was great to celebrate him surrounded by family and two adoring little girls.

The Royal Family

Claire's version of our family hierarchy chart, as given today:

"Mama is the Queen Mother, Dad is the King of the castle, CC is a princess and Kennedy is a fairy."

When I asked why Kennedy was a fairy, Claire responded, "Every princess needs a fairy". And so it is.

Seven

Dave and I celebrate seven years of marriage today. To get rid of some of the bad juju created by the seven year itch mythology, a quick review of the more favorable qualities of seven is in order.

Seven it the number of stars in the Big Dipper and Orion.

Seven is the number of objects an average human can hold in working memory.

There are Seven Wonders of the ancient world, seven virtues, 7-11 and a seven day week.

There is the famed Seventh Inning Stretch.

George Costanza wanted to name his first born Seven.

There are Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Mickey Mantle's Jersey bore the lucky number seven.

In numerology, seven is the number of completeness and totality.

The US declared independence on the 7th month in 1776.

From the seven creative periods and seven lucky gods to seven heavens and the seven chakras, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and most Eastern religions revere seven as one of the most spiritual numbers.

The heptagon is a visual representation of seven.

We rest on the seventh day.

Today, I feel less like itching and more like stretching, or even just letting out an audible sigh, while thinking back on OUR auspicious seven.

Happy Mother's Day

A friend of mine, Caitlin Creer, is doing a give away on her design blog, which is amazing by the way. In order to get a shot at the give away, she asked everyone to write why you love being a mom and I shared this experience. Yesterday morning, shortly after Kennedy woke up, I was carrying her to the living room in a sleepy snuggle in my arms and I passed the bathroom mirror. I paused in the doorway to get a better glimpse of my daughter in my arms and despite the fact that I was still in my PJs, my hair was a crazy mess and I had no make-up on, our reflection took my breath away. I was spellbound for a moment by the intensity and beauty of mother-child love. I am so grateful that I have experienced it as a daughter first, and now a mother.

Change is in the air

The night we before we moved to our new house this is what I found in the sky. I stood in the middle of the street, holding Kennedy, and marveled how sometimes nature reflects my moods perfectly.

The next day we moved in and this is the first thing I put in place.

We love it. Every. Inch. Well maybe not every, but most of it. It has three bedrooms, two baths and is pretty petite (of course in comparison to a 900 square foot apartment in NY, it is palatial). But, it is perfectly situated and has a great yard that gets grass today. It is a Sante Fe style. I was always a fence sitter when it came to Sante Fe style homes, but they are perfectly matched with the desert. The yard is currently desert landscaped but with one too many run-ins with "the pokies" as Claire calls them we have pulled out a lot of the cacti (why do I feel so pretentious writing cacti?).

We had our own version of a barn raising this past month with a virtual army of friends and families who have pitched in more time and labor than I dare to count to make our new home feel like OUR HOME. I can't tell you how blessed I felt to have so many people come to our aid. My brothers, Ethan and Jared, and my mom came to help paint. My mom ended up staying a full week and sanded and painted my kitchen cabinets with me, in addition to painting all the trim. Dave's brother Brent, his sister Lindsey and her husband Riley, installed our wood floor, arguably the most pain staking job (Unless you talk to my mom and I would would give you a list of reasons why those cabinets took the cake. My hand cramped for weeks into the paintbrush grip.). All the while my mother-in-law babysat my munchkins. When she left, Shari and Mark took up the babysitting responsibilities for almost a month for my kids. Kennedy saw Shari so much that she took to calling her "Ma". My cousin, Nate, was on hand to assist in all design decision-making and gave us some great ideas. My neighbors spent a day packing with me, as did wonderful, Alysa. Even pregnant Noelle spent a very late night with me putting my headboard together. Not to mention, the little acts of service others chipped in that makes burdens lighter. The labor was above and beyond. Thank you, each of you.