All the pretty flowers

I love this time of year in the Dalhart countryside. Every meadow and hill seems to be covered in beautiful yellow flowers. They just blanket the ground and that is what makes it so pretty. So yesterday when Eric announced that we were going to Dalhart, I made sure to bring my camera in hopes of capturing pictures of the girls in the pretty yellow flowers. These patches of flowers hold a special place in my heart with memories of walks with my dad in them as a little girl to a photography "expedition" with Hisano (my roommate and the exchange student our family housed when I first moved to Dalhart). However, the girls were not thrilled about cooperating. Eleri wouldn't stay still and Mali was refusing to stand any where near an actual patch of flowers because of her recent encounter with a beautiful purple flower on top of a cactus. So, maybe next year???

Berry Pickin'

Yesterday I was cleaning up the house and the girls were just dying to be outside. So I told them that once I got to Mali's room, they could go outside and play right in front of the window. I opened the window and got to cleaning and they got to playing. Within about 5 minutes Mali yelled to me that Eleri and Scotty (the dog) had eaten some berries. I ran outside and made the two youngest berry eaters come back in, tears and all. Mali got to still play outside with instructions not to eat the berries. When we put in our flower beds, we purchased a serviceberry shrub. The guy who sold it to us asked if we wanted edible or inedible berries and I could not remember what we had chosen, but was hoping it was the edible kind. I dug around for the plant's "tag" and then used googled to increase my plant knowledge. Sure enough, we had chosen the edible kind. So, the berry eaters were allowed to resume their berry eating. In fact, Mali and I joined them and we spent the morning picking the ripe berries.

Last Day of Preschool

Today was Mali's last day EVER of preschool. I'm actually pretty happy that it is over. Driving to and from school has taken a toll on Eleri's nap time and our gas tank. I'm looking forward to a summer of exploring in our own backyard and then next year WALKING Mali to school!
To end the school year, her class had a picnic at the gym at Paramount Baptist. It has been so rainy lately that they changed it to inside. Mali had fun anyway playing with the boys and going crazy and then playing with her friend Kate. Eleri and I got to join her and say good bye to the people in her life this past year.

Mali's beginning and end of the year self portraits

The Sweet Life

We are enjoying our summer, well except for the tornado sirens going off at midnight. This is definitely the sweet life: running with my girls and then enjoying juicy watermelon on the porch while we watch Eric mow the lawn and promises of homemade ice cream tonight.

Crazy Day

Wednesday was crazy day at preschool for Mali. She had sooo much fun dressing crazy, she was definitely in her element!

Didn't I just blog this?

So the day that I blogged about Eleri being so adventurous, I later found her sitting on top of our table eating green beans. Since then nothing has been safe, the computer desk, the toilet, the bathroom counter...NOTHING is safe from this little explorer!