An Utterly Otterly Week!

Can you see the little otter on the rock? Whats also crazy about this photo, is that in the reflection, Anastasia looks just like me when I was a kid. Its really weird because all the rest of the time she looks like little Nick.

Isabel is 5 months old now!

Do you ever feel you are on the verge of completing so many things at once... but are so far from actually finishing? That would be a good way to describe my life right now. I have been trying to take some pictures for my shop so I can announce it here... but the elements (wind) is getting in the way of my perfect pictures!!! ugh. I think we could power our entire neighborhood if we had a windmill right now. I mean, its not even that windy, but everytime I step outside with my camera, the wind blows. And yesterday I was going to spend all day sewing some cuteness to sell, and I couldn't find anything so I decided to clean my craft room... or more accurately, my craft shelves. So I have been cleaning that room in between all the wants and needs of my little ones.

We have also been spending tons of time outside. Its been so nice. Last week my mom and I took the girls to Richmond to the art museum and Maymont, an amazing public garden with a little zoo. Anastasia loved the sea otters and fish. So I bought her a cute little Folkmanis Otter finger puppet at the gift shop that she insisted she show the real otters. The real otters must have thought it was their little brother otter because they followed it around from the inside of the glass! They went up to it with their nose and wherever we moved it, they followed the puppet nose-to-nose! Anastasia LOVED it! We also happened to have this adorable book from the library called Utterly Otterly Day by Mary Casanova that is so cute! I picked it out without even knowing we would visit real otters so it worked out great even though Anastasia still thinks they are seals. Anastasia likes reading it with her puppet.

Anastasia developed a new fear of bees. WEll, bugs actually but she calls them bees usually. It is sort of my fault as I found a tick on her neck last week while brushing her hair and yanked it off and it hurt her. She screamed and cried and didn't want me brushing her hair or touching her neck. WEll I showed her that it wasn't me, that it was the bug that hurt her. That atleast seemed to calm her while scarring her for life. Then over the weekend she woke up with a nightmare where she was "Afreed" of the "Bees". What have I done? Now she randomly freaks out about bees when we are outside (and sometimes inside) especially if she is surrounded by dirt. It didnt help that a prickly plant got her leg yesterday while I was planting the peas. She was sure she got attacked by bees and wouldn't let me put her down and screamed histerically! I meant to pick up a spray bottle for "bee poison" (aka water) for her to spray when she is scared of bees. Maybe it will work? Either way, it is half funny and half really sad especially when I think she would be okay if I never showed her the tick... but then I might never have been allowed to brush her hair again.