In what we keep thinking just might be our last family outing as a threesome, we went down to the Saturday Market this a.m.-- seen here eating strawberries (I ate the whole pint), with Daddy carrying some tomato, spinach and arugula starts in the background...

Tonight, we went out to the farm to meet our farmer... and the goats who give us milk and the ducks who give us eggs!

Family Portrait
Sure, we could get matching outfits, a professional photographer and some photoshop touch ups... but here is a more realistic moment in time.

If you've ever wondered what a mama does on maternity leave during that time in which there is still no baby, allow me to take you on a Nesting Tour...

Flowers get arranged...

Bread rises on the back deck...

The candles from the wee one's blessingway are set up around the tub...

and all the things on the midwife's list of "Things Needed" are put in their place at the ready. (Note reflection of belly in mirror).

And speaking of ready....

Our midwife came over this morning to check up on the babe and mom. Everything looks good--and we're all getting REALLY excited!

This morning, Mom had some quilt squares to make for the Gamma babies and Dad had some gardening to do, so I gave them each a bit of my time. I started out in the garden, watering, potting and making bread from rock gravel. Then I headed up to the craft table to help mom.

I was very focused on this creation, which I called, "A Hat for my Little Brother or Sister."

And once I discovered Mama's button stash, well, let's just say no one heard a peep out of me for a looooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnngggggggggg time.

Ended the day with a trip to the pool to show off my new moves to Dad.

Tub? Check. Towels? Check. Random odds and ends? Check.

Kiddo desensitized to tiger growls and loud moaning? Check.

Boy name? Um, probably not Kembly.

Inspired in part by the coming of a new little one who will inevitably distract us from some of the Nona Moments that are now so centrifugal to our lives, and in part by a friend's recent blog post on her son's latest and greatest antics, I, Julie, am taking the blog narrative over tonight to capture a few things that I just don't want to forget about this stage in little three year old Nonie's life...

(Yeah, you better be nervous. It ain't ALL cuteness and smiles).

But most of it is.

She tells stories that goes something like this: "Okay. So. Let's pretend there's a SEA turtle and he's on an adventure with his HAT. Okay? Okay. And they use a HAIRBRUSH to go to the store and get some BAGELS for their adventure. Not cookies, mama. BAGELS, okay? okay. With Raccoon. Do you want some bagels? Huh? Blueberry bagels? Okay. We get you some. That's okay, turtle? That's okay." (and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Okay? Okay.)

"In just a minute, Dad."

"But I'm DOING something."

"Hang on one sec."

"But I'm PRETENDING not to listen."

And my personal favorite stalling line, used today for what I believe to be the first (and I hope to be the last) time:

"That just doesn't work for me right now, Mama."

She's learning to swim and is very proud of this milestone in her life. That, along with a recent introduction to soccer, she has a newfound (and rather theoretical at the moment) appreciation for all things sporty. Now, when we see kids on a distant soccer field, or the neighborhood boys riding bikes or the water polo team practice, her first reaction is, "I CAN DO THAT!" Sometimes it's followed up with a "When I'm BIGGER, I can do that." Sometimes, not.

Affection and tenderness are big, delicious parts of her personality and she often says, out of the blue, "I love you so much" followed up by a hug and/or kiss. Some variations:

"I love you too much, Daddy" (a phrase coined by a Turkish friend of ours and used by the Grossman family ever since).

"I love you to the moonshine and back, Mommy" (slight variation on a phrase coined by author of a kid's book with bunnies--forget the name).

Silliness comes in many forms.

Dancing the Tushy-Butt Dance is a fun expresssion of that these days--

(I'll leave that visual up to your imagination).

Making up silly songs that end with crazy faces is always a hit.

Words that rhyme are HILARIOUS! If she can't think of a word that rhymes with the one she just said, she'll just say the same word again.

"Did you see that, Mom? I RHYMED!"

She's definitely turning the corner onto Seeking Independence Alley--that dark, somewhat scary stretch of street between Easy To Convince, Distract And Control Avenue and Makes Good Choices and Uses Good Judgment On Her Own Street. I've heard this Alley is about 24 more years long.

We're holding on for the ride and loving every minute of it.

To kick-start the Celebration of All Things Mama Day, we started the day with strawberry pancakes.

Dad took care of the pancakes; I was in charge of the strawberries.

Then we did some gardening (which is a job I take very seriously).

After "nap," (I put this in quotes, because mom and dad still think I sleep. Shhh. Don't tell that I actually color, read, rearrange my room and cook in my kitchen during "nap" time). I digress....

After "nap," we went to a fun park for a picnic and playtime.
I found some cool stuff with my magnifying glass.

And Mother's Day is now my new favorite holiday, since it ended with a trip to a divine dessert cafe that serves wildberry gelato.

We had a little party for our mamas on Friday at preschool.

(As evidenced here, I am pretty indifferent to the affections and friendship of the girl to my left.)

In celebration of our family of three, which will soon be transformed into a family of four, we spent the weekend at the beauteous coast...

Sorry, Bodhi and Lucy. Make that "...family of 5... into family of 6."

We had a great time running, digging and exploring on the beach, watching movies, taking naps, eating yummy food and just being together!

Running back and forth across the COLD freshwater tributary was a highlight for me...
But not for Bodhi who had to be carried across after MUCH urging on our part and much exploring upstream for a dry crossing on his part. He's sort of a wuss.

Yoga with mama...(who edited out most pictures of her because until she saw the pics from this weekend, was not quite aware of how unbelieveably enormous she is.)

I wasn't totally convinced that this was fun,

but when mom says, "Smile!", I try to oblige. Sort of.
Treasure hunting, on the other hand, was more fun than I can possibly put into words. Crab shells were my favorite. I collected DOZENS! Whoa. It's HUGE!


I learned how to play "GO FISH!" which was okay when we played by mom and dad's rules, but it really picked up when I added a new rule.
"Whoever gets the next card has to hide, okay?"
Turned into a game of Hide and Go seek and mom and dad didn't even notice. Sometimes you have to sneak these things in.


The weather was stormy and rainy, then sunny and warm all weekend long, which made for really pretty skies and sunsets. We saw one rainbow but it "didn't stick," so I suggested that we "put some glue in the sky." Mom said that would be a good idea, but then didn't go and do it, so the rainbow faded...

But here's the sunset!