7QT: Mud, Coffee, Darth Vader on the Trombone, and Some Other Stuff

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"Leia's Mud Wallow" so-named by herself:

Yes, we've been having a good bit of rain!

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Swimming is serious exercise. We had a great day at our friends' pool, and I was so happy, relaxed and tired after. Wow. But the kind of happy tired you feel on a good vacation.
(Related note: I did get a photo from Fyodor of my amazing pregnant self at the beach last August. It is amazing, and special. And not gonna be public! Cuz, wow. That is a whole lot more of my skin exposed than I am comfortable with.)

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Blue Willow plates:

 I love them. Not all are created equal. Guess which is my favorite!

Best blue color, best pattern transfer and plate quality....

'Royal' blue willow plate, bottom center! I wish I could find more of these...

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Fun family get together last weekend with my husband's brothers and their families with Kim and Bella. We celebrated Bella's fourth birthday, too! Fun Rainbow party, and my little girls got to take home the decorations:

Look Auntie Kim and Bella! (The bedroom is way too untidy to show more than this.) Isn't this a great drawing of Rainbow Dash? That cute rainbow tail is taped on, 'cuz the kids played 'pin the tail on the pony'.

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The Ergobaby carrier is a home run hit!

Here's Bilbo sound asleep and so comfy. And the other day I even put a grumpy, post-nap little girl on my back with it and carried her around while I finished making dinner. Perfect way to short circuit any after-nap tantrums! She is near the weight limit, but was actually not too heavy carried this way, and she felt very cared for and was happy and peaceful. Win-win.

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I love coffee. And cream. I gave up half and half in my morning cafe for a couple weeks to see if I could lose a few pounds "French Women Don't Get Fat" style, by cutting out one high-calorie item that I eat regularly. I used whole milk instead. The coffee was barely worth drinking anymore! It may have worked, but boy did my quality of life decrease as well! (Yes, #firstworldproblem.)

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Our Haldir is about to turn 11. He plays the trombone. I'm making the kids keep practicing 30 min a day all summer, and he needed something fun to work on:

Oh yeah.

Have a great weekend!

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