Belly Dancing, or my little daughter is gross...

Okay, so I was focusing on Alex and didn't realize WHAT Greggie was doing until I saw later... For the record, she did go into the kitchen and find her potty and basically fill it, despite the false start on the chair. And WHAT is with the finger in the butt???

So, focusing on Alex, she got her beautiful outfit from her beloved Aunt Marie whose family brought it from India when they came. She has been fascinated with belly dancing from the moment she saw it and usually does more "moves" -- in fairness, she is exactly mimicking the girls/women on the video. The video is at Topanga Days a couple years ago. Greggie says, "playground" at the start because the dancers are at the community house, where the playground is.

village Green Picture of the Day - June 30

Old and new. How haggard and withered my old hand is on her sweet fresh back...

The garden is growing

We have lost the 8 largest tomato plants to the gopher (who is, PETA forgive us, hopefully dead). Those that remain, many of which are volunteers growing in random spots, are doing well. One of our upside down plums now has a fruit and I expect that many others will follow soon. I think we have a lot of grape toms coming -- I'm sure the ones with the tiny and abundant flowers are going grapes (Alex and Greggie mixed up my seedlings so I didn't know what went where). Most of those we lost were heirloom slicing tomatoes so we'll need to "backfill" some of those once we're sure the gopher is gone. The lower beds, not pictured, have been really slow to come on -- too much shade and something eating the heck out of most stuff -- but is finally showing some results -- the carrots look great, some pole and bush beans, and a couple cukes coming along, as well as the melons. The best melon so far is a volunteer in the center of one of the bean teepees. We re-seeded the lower beds with lettuce and arugula and hopefully those will thrive in the shade. Back up top, seems the pepper plants are finally growing! We put cukes in the former lettuce bed on the deck. The broccoli is now sharing space with the beets but something keeps eating both.

For comparison sake, here is what the garden looked like two weeks ago -- the Solstice makes it grow!

http://topangabubbles.blogspot.com/2008/06/more-of-garden.html

Close-ups

The Bubbles

I feel so exhausted tonight -- a big day of play. Here are some pics:

Village Green Picture of the Day - June 29

We had lots of mama and daughters time today -- mostly good -- a little too much whining and hanging -- but this was a good moment.

Greggie tonight

She just cracks me up. Some stories from tonight.

We went in the hot tub, just she and Alex and I. Alex was riding around on this blow up giraffe, pretending it was a boat. Greggie kept yelling, "Pirate! Poodle is a pirate!" This upset Alex and she kept saying, "No, not a pirate!" in that awful sobbing, picked on on the playground voice.

G: Pirate! She's a pirate!
A: NOOOO. Not a pirate!
G: Pirate!
A: No!
M: Okay Greggie, she's not a pirate. She's a beautiful princess.
G: Oh, awwww-right. Poodle's a princess.

Alex paddled off to the other end of the hot tub. Greggie leaned in really tight and whispered in my ear, "Pirate!"

So we came inside and they were cold.

A: I'm so cold! I'm so cold! Need my clothes on.
G: Clothes on! Clothes on. Pajamas!
M: Greggie, are you cold?
G: Yaaaaa, cold. Cold like a snowman!

So then, she ACTUALLY put pajamas on! That's a coup! We came in here and they were dancing and singing and I watched this video that a friend sent me:

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/video/censorbarart

Greggie looked up and saw the girls stripping: "I need to take my clothes off! I need them off NOW!" And she stripped. I did somehow get them back on her to sleep in though!

What am I going to do with that child as a teen????? She is 7 steps ahead of me now.

Today in Pictures - Part 4 - Watching Toy Story with Daddy

For the record, Greggie was dressed at least three times today and probably had clothes on for a total of about 2 hours, one of which was when she hiking with Daddy.

Today in Pictures - Part 3 - Going Swimming

Today in Pictures - Part 2 - Helping Mama with the New Storage Box

Today in Pictures - Part 1 - Building with Julia

Village Green Picture of the Day - June 28

The farmers market bounty! I know I show pics of this every week but it always looks SO pretty!

Village Green Picture of the Day - June 27

Or: Eve never left the garden. You can dress a girl in clothes but you can't make here wear them...

Greggie at The Grove

My Village Green Pic of the Day -- June 26 -- Or, I am more than just a booby

My younger daughter greets me excitedly every day when I get home from work, "Mommy's home! Mommy's home! BOOBY BOOBY BOOBY!""

Yes, all moms know that motherhood takes a lot of our roles and puts them on the backshelf or in the drawer, hopefully with a lavender sachet to keep them fresh. We become not even a sum of our parts. In my case, for part of my day, with Greggie, I am but one part. My right breast. But I am more than my right breast, more than all my parts, more than just Alex and Greggie's mommy. Mothers lose touch with their "me" and sometimes forget they are a person. And also sometimes forget they are somebody's wife or lover. Getting back in touch with our "me's" is important for the mamas, and the daddies!

So here is my June 26 collection of POD's == all blasts from the past, portraits of Marlyn, with a nod to HNT given the amount of skin involved.