"I love you for..."

OK, many of you are familiar with children's book called I Love You Forever. It's a very sweet book that includes a song with the following words:

I love you forever
I love you for always
As long as I'm living
My baby you'll be

Well, Oakley dropped her baby doll this morning. I asked her if she was going to drop the baby in Mommy's tummy if we let her hold it. She said, "No, I'm going to hug it tight!". The she started singing her personalized version...

I love you for Oakley...

Nana and Papa are coming to town

Summer is in full swing, and we had the pleasure of a visit from Nana and Papa!

Nana, as grandmothers are apt to do, brought a gift for the girls. In this case, it was the O ball pictured above with Papa and Aspen. O balls have been a staple for our family, and this one takes it to new heights (or sizes).

Well, Oakley expressed some real frustration when she saw Aspen playing with it. In an angry tone, she said, "It has O's. It doesn't have any A's." Can't argue with that, now, can we?

Blogger Visit?

OK, so we found a note on our backdoor last week. Someone had visited us unannounced (which is great) and we happened to be out. They mentioned having visited this blog a number of times, but they didn't leave a way for us to get in touch with them!

So, Been's, if you check the blog again, please send us an email so we can check up on you. If you don't, we may just appear in Spring Green!

Email jenn@flamingobear.com!

ASPEN435B

The girls have foam letters they like to play with in the bath. A few weeks ago, Aspen threw a collection of letters up on the wall and kept "reading" it to Oakley over and over. "Cleaning today... no play." The letters, of course, had no relation to that saying.

Tonight, I dumped all of the letters in. As is customary, Oakley started sqealing and reaching... "Purple O! Purple O!" Once we got past that drama, Aspen collected her letters and wrote:

ASPEN435B

When she read it to me, she said, "Aspen is 4 years old, she used to be 3, her favorite number is 5, and she goes to Brentwood School." I thought that was pretty cool.

Marketing "Expertise"

OK, so tonight I went to dinner with the girls. And we had to follow that up with some ice cream, of course. Tonight, the place of choice was Ben & Jerry's. As you can see througout their website, cows play a large part in their marketting material.

Well, Aspen was following her Cheerios streak of brilliance and stated...

"Daddy. I think they put the cows on this ice cream cup to tell them how much ice cream to put in it."

OK, so she was a little closer with the Cheerios thing. I explained that cows make milk, and milk is part of ice cream. That led us to an unending set of questions about milk and whether it melts... "But Daddy, it doesn't melt fast, does it?" Ugh. I guess it's better than, "Why?"

Marketing Expertise

Aspen: "Daddy, come in here!"
Tim: "What, honey?"
Aspen: "I want to tell you something funny."
Tim: "OK, what?"
Aspen: "Daddy. I think they put those Cheerios on the front of the box to tell, 'Cheerios are what you're eating.'"

The park also has a really fun set of fountains for kids to play in. Aspen and Oakley both found their way into the water.

The Bicentennial Park in Nashville has a HUGE map of Tennessee. Here, you see Oakley with a certain special city!

5 days!

I just got back from a two week trip full of implementations on the west coast. I figured it would be better to knock them all out at once rather than make 3 successive trips out there, so, two weeks. That is a long time away from my ladies. I missed them tons.

All of my ladies have been unbelievably sweet since I returned. They've shown me how much they missed me without one time making me feel guilty. It's very cool.

Aspen, however, has lain down the law. And I have to say, I think she's being pretty darn reasonable.

"We're not allowed to go past 5 days anymore! 5 days!"