Nail Technicians/ Bakers/ Grave Diggers (8/12)

On Friday we were out front all day long.  The kids played in the sand as always but we made sure to paint our nails before Daddy got home.  The smell of nail polish gives Daddy a headache, Grandma too, now that I think of it.  : )  I let the girls paint the top coat on my nails for practice.  Lilyanah did a pretty good job, Ethne dripped it all over my toes but both did great considering it was their first time.  I love how intensely they were concentrating on doing a good job.

Their favorite thing to do in the sand is bury their little prince (ss) dolls in the sand.  In a distant second place is making sand cupcakes and cakes.  Bakers, or grave diggers, hmmm. . . .  Seriously, this picture is what we do about every day we don't have rain.  As I sat on their slide watching them play, looking around, I was acutely aware of how immensely I've been blessed.  It is a little disconserting living in a sand box, I am often reminded of the song, 'don't build your house on the sandy land.  . .'  It didn't work so well for the foolish man.  : )  But the beauty here is reminiscent of Oregon.  I truly hope that you will all be able to visit us here sometime.  What would you ladies think of a Butcher cousins NY  get together. . .  Seriously, Mom, (my most faithful reader), you could come up to be with the kiddos and we ladies could spend a few days upstate maybe go to Lake Placid, shop in downtown Saratoga Springs. . . .  Then take the train down to the city for a couple night's. . . time it for a fantastic broadway show. . . .  I'm dreaming aren't I!?  Okay, back to Friday. . .

 I just loved this pic of Ethne. . .  This morning Lilyanah accidentally smashed Ethne's little finger in the closet door.  Which we know means Mommy got a lot of cuddle time.  I started missing when she was small and wanted to cuddle all the time.  Now she's wiggly when we cuddle unless she's hurt & then she just buries her head into me & is still.  The sweetest part though was that without me asking Lilyanah went and got Ethne a cup of cold water to put her finger in to make her feel better.  Made Mommies heart smile.

I usually let Westyn run around in just his diaper with sunscreen on.  He's quite the coppertone baby!  I pretty much have our clean up routine down now.  The first clean up step to every 'play in the sand' day is searching all the sand for their dolls.  It's like Easter all over again.  : )  Grave robbers. . . nice.  In the kids defense I have never heard them pretending like the dolls are dead, just hiding.  : )  I'm just so thankful to have so much free entertainment right in our front yard.