beautifying is universal

a few days ago, i was busy working a sewing project, so i sent the four girls out to play. i checked on them a number of times.


once, they were all playing on the swingset. B and S were on the swings, E was hanging from her knees on the swing bar, and A was crawling across the monkey bars along the top.

nostalgia time...it was the same scene i saw out my glass doors March 26-the day after we came home from China.

this time it was warmer so the kids stayed out for hours.


another time i checked and they were jumping on the trampoline...


and yet another found S on the swings, B and A on the trampoline, and obsessive E scooping up goose poo from the grass and chucking it in the pond. giggle.


the final time i checked, they were just coming in to show me what they had been up to...

S put a Chinese bun into E's hair and apparently raided the bleeding hearts, dandelions, and lilacs from the gardens.

A

they did it to A too. then they decided that they could do an EVEN better job with E sitting in a chair...

note the additions of chopsticks, a drink umbrella, and birdhouse. poor E got the look on her face like my cat gets when harassed by small children. S and B treated her like a lifesized American Girl Doll. later, she commented that she had felt like Beast, in Beauty and the Beast, where he gets done up in curls and bows. i think he says, "i feel stupid." i laughed at her and took pictures anyway. 

i forgot a vital lesson we are teaching the children, the one that states do unto others...

yup, they done it to me!

then the cruel paparazzi hounded me while making dinner.

four girls giggled and pointed at me, cackling in their MandarEnglish. go ahead girls, yuk it up, this is my camera and i can delete pictures whenever i want. I HAVE THE POWER! it is either my lack of self respect or vanity that I CHOOSE to share these gems, which will be deleted off my camera soon.   

today i got asked for the hundredth time, "how do you all communicate with each other?"

i gave my pat answer, "we live in an endless game of charades and pictionary. don't ask me to play-i will crush you!" 

BUT beauty and girls is universal. no language needed for dress up.

i lie! there was a lot of language going on. it was LOUD in my kitchen while i made dinner. still 'twas the sweetest form of Mandarenglish you've ever heard. i love my girls.

A