This is the nickname that Tyler has bestowed upon his sister and it has stuck such that we all use it now.  Our amazing, incredibly happy little girl.  She is such a bright light!  Quinn smiles with her entire face - her eyes squint, her nose wrinkles, her smile is as wide as can be and her giggles and squeals will draw a smile out of me on my most tired days.

Independence

She is fiercely independent and EVERYTHING these days is “do myself”.   Get in her carseat, get down from the carseat, get her shirt off, make some perilous climb on the playground equipment that has my heart in my throat, buckle herself in, open the car door, carry this or that.   I am amused that she prefers to carry the 2 pound weights while Tyler prefers the 1 pounders.

Helper

She always wants to “help you” and is eager to lend a hand.  If the situation doesn’t allow for that, she is just “watchin’ you”.

Observations

The other morning she was up before Tyler.  We had let Chase out in the backyard and followed him out there.  The birds were chirping quite a bit and Quinn told me, “singing, Mama…singing Chase”.  Ah, yes the birds were singing at Chase that morning.

“Right There”

Another one of her favorite phrases is “right
there” pointing to the EXACT spot where she wants you to put whatever she has requested.  Or if she can’t hold what she wants, then she wants you to set it right near her.   She always wants things in her hand.  She will hold her hand open and point inside it, “hold it…right here”.  Size makes no difference - she has requested roly-polies, ladybugs, the cats and even Chase.  Also, if she sees something in a book, usually a bug or animal, she wants in out of the book and into her hand.

“Don’t Like That”

She has gotten good at the phrase, “don’t like that” to express her disdain for things.  This phrase is useful with her brother!  :-p

“Eat It! Mine!” 

Quinn still eats like a bird, but has gotten much more protective of her food.  For so long Tyler and I would eat off her plate when it was apparent to us that she was done eating.  Apparently, Tyler and I are the eaters of this family - we eat a lot and eat it quickly.  Quinn has started getting very upset with us and is now declaring her food off-limits.  She may not eat it now, but she wants the option open that if she decides she is hungry later, her food will be there!  So Tyler and I need to start foraging elsewhere for our seconds! :-p

Social Cues

I don’t know if it is a female thing or what, but Quinn is so quick to pick up on social cues.  She already says “bless you” when someone sneezes..something her brother never does.  She also had the whole “thank you…welcome” transaction down pretty quickly.  She has always been highly imitative and hence picks up things so quickly.

She will pick up repetitive choruses in songs.  She loves London Bridge right now and also likes “We Got Everything” by Modest Mouse.   She sings all the time.

Silly

She is straight up a silly monkey.  She is in this stage where she just smiles and laughs and lives every moment to its fullest.   She adds so much joy to our day.   She has also started calling Tyler “Tyler Buuuu” as Chris and I always call him “Tyler Boo”.  It is so cute.   I have some cute videos of the kids together to post soon.

Suffice it to say that she is our Little Miss Sunshine…

Tyler likes to vacuum and I needed to clean the car…a “win-win” situation if you ask me….

Here are some photos Tyler took when he disappeared with my camera one day…

Quinn’s doll	Daddy at the computer
Ahem…our dirty laundry…	A track built by Daddy

Sorry all - I have been so busy and tired.  Quinn has been falling asleep after 9pm and last week I even fell asleep with her twice.  Life isn’t bad - just really busy.  So many projects…   These days I am almost happy to just focus on my family and this house.   A crazy time to have big plans though, because there is no time to execute.    We actually planted some awesome gardens in the backyard this past weekend - I will have to post pics soon.

I promise more soon - I have so many updates and stories to share….

So I am now past my climate change/dreading the impending gloom freak-out. It was bad. One day I was seriously going through all the possibilities of how we could survive if everything went to hell. I was thinking we would go to Alaska, nice and remote. We would have to become hunters and gatherers because growing crops would mean we would stay in one area too long and risk someone would raid our crops. I thought how maybe money would allow us to buy access to a place with great resources, but then rejected that thought because we would end up fighting off constant raids by those who wanted our resources.

I was calling my friends to talk me down from this craziness. And my most awesome, wonderful friend Susan responds on the phone, “Dude, we are getting Thundercloud subs and heading to Barton Springs…” She has a lot of this living thing figured out already! :-p

I then was thinking about how this has been the most amazing spring and wondered would this be the last one? Will all the forthcoming seasons be hot and icky? Will we cease to have a fall, winter and spring? I realized that really all I can do is truly enjoy and soak up every beautiful day we have. I have to live in the moment. There is so many terrible things that could happen, so I can’t really dwell on what I can’t control.

With that I appreciate all the things I DO notice out in nature thanks to having kids. Here is a picture of the first bloom of the season on our pink skullcap out in the garden.

I also pulled out some vintage some Dave Matthews Band…the Crash album specifically. Crash is my portal to the past. And since memories grow even fonder as time passes, I spent yesterday swimming in the carefree ecstacy of my youth. The many fun adventures with the man I was (and still am) madly in love with. I love how a song can take you to an exact moment…

Crash - to Chris’ Dallas apartment during our internship and me in his room. He wasn’t there, but I remember putting that song on repeat and listening to it over and over. Not to mention it is really Chris and I’s song. We danced to it at our wedding and in Chris’ ring, I had engraved, “so lost for you” - a line from the song and truly how I feel about him.

#41 - I was in a popular cajun restaurant in Downtown Houston. (what was the name of that place y’all? You who live in Houston should know, we went there all the time…. in was a chain there i believe). I was waiting for a group of MISA students and was there with a friend from Arthur Andersen. I was wearing black pants, a white shirt, and a cute black, orange and yellow scarf. This song came on the jukebox before they arrived and it hit me in my gut. It made me think of Chris and how much I missed him. We lived in different cities at the time.

Lie in our Graves - Chris loved this song - I remember the part where it got so quiet and then came back into the chorus and Chris would sing that part and do a little air drum thing. It makes me think of him.

Tripping Billies - an anthem! Eat, Drink and Be Merry for tomorrow we die. And this is my mantra. Even without climate change, eventually I will die, so I might as well sieze the day and make the most of each one I am given. This song has so much energy and listening to it from the perspective of the “now” me, radiates freedom, excitement, spontaneity and electricity that I didn’t realize I had access to back then. For just a few minutes driving by myself if our “fun” car - I feel 22 again…

I have such an amazing life - it is a dream come true in so many ways - so why dwell on impending doom when I am living in a dream right now?

It has been a crazy week and I stayed up far to late last night getting some tasks completed, but it was TOTALLY worth it! We had a fantastic May Day! All week we had been slowly delivering May Day baskets to our friends and we spent the entire morning delivering the last few. The kids also got a little surprise when they woke up this morning - two new Spring books, (from a great list compiled by Soulemama), and some delicious flower cookies! The seasonal table had reflections of the holiday with colored cloths, fresh flowers and its very own Maypole.

Some days I think that I do this more for myself than the kids, but they today Tyler asked, “why didn’t we do anything for Easter?” I told him we did the egg hunt with our friends and we had a bunny cake from Grandma H and easter baskets from Grandma W, etc. He said, “no…” and meant our seasonal table!?! I was way behind on Easter and the table didn’t have anything special…and he noticed. He even suggested “a Christmas tree with bunnies and chicks and eggs” for next year! I told him I thought it was a great idea and we would do it.

Those moments make the late nights getting everything just right so worth it! Here out some pics from our special day.

Our May Day table!	May Day baskets for our friends - full of flowers, cookies and an invitation to our spring Beltane celebration!
Surprises for the kids!	Tyler checking out his new books - he LOVED “The Sun Egg”