Damn, it's hot

Maggie, Zoe and I have been sharing a lot lately - a love of girls' outings, daddy, conjunctivitis and the flu. After Zoe woke up this morning with encrusted eyes and snottiness, I decided to keep her home with me so as not to share the fun with her pals at daycare.

And, if you hadn't heard, Seattle hit record highs (103, beating the '94 record of 100) without a cloud in the sky. (Though this was nothing compared to the 107 temp the grandparents saw in Vancouver!)

Talk about perfect storms.

So, the girls and I clung to the fleeting cool of our lower-level playroom/family room, while I tried to actually report for work remotely.

I hate heat. I hate and kind of get freaked out by extreme weather (I do believe strongly in global warming and am not convinced this kind of freak weather isn't related). So I am really ready for this crap to end (they are predicting a 'break' with only high 90s tomorrow). I'm also very ready to feel better, sleep through the night (as much as Maggie will let me) and see my girls clear-eyed.

On a much lighter note, the heat and snot-induced nakedness around here served up a little opportunity for cuteness.

Enjoy, and man, stay cool.

When the temp gauge reads this...


...you do this:



and this? ;)

girls' day out

Some shots of our girls' outing to the zoo yesterday. I thought these exhibit some particularly mature-looking shots of Zoe. Where oh where has my baby girl gone??




The outfit was nearly totally her doing. I like to think of it as girly-girl meets 80s with a slight edge ;)


"I think the bears are this way...maybe."
Oh, and Maggie had a big-girl event yesterday, too. She got to ride along at the zoo on my back carrier. She could barely see over the side, but she certainly enjoyed the view.



though not for long...

shoes

You can only borrow these if daddy lets me buy more for myself.

Coffield family reunion 2009 - part 1

(Blogger won't let me upload the rest of the pix that I wanted to include on this post, so I think I'll do this in a few separate posts.)

Every third Sunday in July, the Coffield family holds its summer family reunion in Battleground, WA. Dave, the girls and I took the trip down and here are some of the highlights:

Zoe doing her share of the drive


Puppy love (thanks, Grandma Lani!)


Maggie and Grandma Leona


Mmmm...love that jam toast



Splendor in the grass


Yummy blues

Garden girl

Just the blue ones!

Scoping the scene

Z & Grandpa Derrel

The wheels on the bus

Oh the obsessions of a two-year-old.

There is NO getting in the car with Zoe these days without hearing the dreaded toddler tune "The Wheels on the Bus" at least 30 or so times. We can't even mix it up by playing the catchy "Hello Elephant, Yellow Elephant". No. It's got to be "Wheels". Dave and I are ready to stab ourselves in the ears.

So what do I do? I feed the obsession with a toy. Novice? Sure. Pushover? Not exactly, certainly not always. Eager to see some genuine joy on Zoe's face? Absolutely. So it goes...




Hey you! Both hands on the wheel, girlfriend! (in our car, it's usually, "Both hands, Mommy" or "Hands on top, Daddy")


Suckers!

The Joker, aka Zoe

From our visit to the GP's in Vancouver this weekend (more on that later):



Heeh. Gotta love that jam toast.

Sitting pretty

In truth, Maggie's been working on this one for a long time. I swear it's been months since she started to lurch a bit forward when we place her in her car seat or when propped by the Boppe. (Yes, I do that. Yes, I've read the dumb warning tags.)

And lately, she's doing a better job of not folding over quite so much.


Thinking through the strategy


Getting a leg up on it


Pretty pause

I think she's on her way!

...And over

As much as Maggie loves to be up and seeing the action, we're trying to work in some serious floor time lately, so she can get on her way towards crawling.

She's mastered the tummy-to-back flips - hardly bothering to stay on her front now - and she's making some great strides towards mastering the back-to-tummy flip. (She managed to roll off her back, over her arm and onto her tummy the other day!)


Down for now...


...but not for long!

Watch out, Zoe!

Upright...

Being upright is all the rage now. Maggie's been doing so well, working the office and rocking the chair, that since she's begun demonstrating her love of jumping in your lap, I've been sticking her in the johnny jumper.



I know this isn't exactly an action shot, but she has started to kick up her feet a bit and loves it when doing so creates a bounce.



More than that, she loves watching me bounce around (boobies!)... I'll try to have the camera trained on her the next time I'm up for dancing a jig ;)

Artiste at work

If this was video, you'd see the posturing and such that goes into the production of Zoe's artwork: hair brushed off forehead, arm under head, paper tilted just right...



And I think when we're not looking she must be surfing her cousins' blog for inspiration because this is a new talent (deliberately coloring one's fingers):

Just so

Zoe couldn't leave the playroom without folding the blanket just so.



I had nothing to do with this, I swear.

Sisters

Lovely.

waiting for nana

Kinda speaks for itself.

Sisters

Heeh.



What a good sport.

What's in the box?!

Zoe!



A new shipment of diapers came in the other day (diapers.com - love it!) and Zoe had a blast with the jumbo box in which they arrived. It's still in our family room.

I'm enjoying watching it absorb quite a bit of her attention (ah, focus and creativity rear their beautiful heads!) and energy ;)



(yes, those are mom's flip-flops on the feet and mule socks around her ankles)