friday cute shot

he does like to never stop

He Does Like to Never Stop from Amber Broughton on Vimeo.

i love you as much as a rose smells

Friday afternoon Gramme and Lucy and I took advantage of a break n the clouds to run off to smell roses at the Portland rose garden. It didn't turn out to be much of a break in the rain, but no matter; Lucy came prepared with rain boots and we jumped in the puddles when it started to drizzle and gathered some fallen blossoms in the not-crowded gardens.

When it started to rain hard, we found a fancy hiding place--a natural fort inside a large bank of trees edging the garden. It was dry with lots of headroom, tree branches for sitting, and sort of magical lighting, and Lucy immediately decided we were a family of skunks and she was our mother and that was our home.

The Royal Skunks, starring . . .

Lucy as . . . . . . . Queen Rosina
Mama as . . . . . . Cupcake Cake Princess Rose, who loves to eat meat
Gramme as . . . . Honeysuckle Honey Princess Daze, who loves to eat honey

And, in absentia . .

Daddy as . . . . . . King Applesauce, the skunk king who went for a walk and got lost and thought he was just a regular human daddy ("that makes my heart laugh!")
Oscar as . . . . . .  Prince Delicate


As we were driving home, Lucy talked to me and Gramme (her little daughters) about what it means to be a mama:

"Little daughters, did you know that I will always be your mama? Even when you are a queen and you marry somebody, I will still be your mama. Even when I die, I will still be your mama."

lulu and ox

friday cute shot

grandpas

Mother's day in Sherwood was fun, but the best photos were not of any mothers.

friday cute shot

piano bench jailbreak

Piano Jailbreak from Amber Broughton on Vimeo.

heard on the street

"You can call me Glenda or Rosie or Daisy or Sparkle."

                               - Glenda Rosie Daisy, feeling indignant that everyone at home and at preschool keeps forgetting that her name isn't Lucy

thirteen months

Dear Ox,

This picture was taken while your Daddy was in Virginia a week ago. Before he left you had taken to darting up the stairs to the attic playroom like a shot of lightning, and he hadn't had a chance to finally make that door close again, so he put the piano bench in front of the stairs as a quick fix. It worked for a day, thwarting your efforts as planned. But by Sunday morning you discovered that if you just held your head down a little longer, and shimmied your shoulders with a little more gusto, you could get right under that piano bench and up the stairs after all.

You were so proud of yourself! You didn't even care so much about actually climbing the stairs anymore; now you just wanted to squeeze under the bench, then look over your shoulder and laugh and yell, then squeeze back out and do it again. I was proud of you too.

Also while your Daddy was gone you broke through your first molar. It's out of order--you still only have the two bottom front--and I wasn't expecting it, and when Shaggy pointed it out to me I got the same weird sinking feeling I got when your sister broke through her first two teeth. Something big had been going on in your body and I despite how close every inch of me is to every inch of you for large parts of the day, I had no idea.

You don't talk, or walk. You have the fine motor skills of a surgeon in training and your favorite thing to do is find cords and available outlets and plug them in. You successfully plug them in. You climb like something fierce; you are beautiful and full of mischief. You are a messy eater. Your hair in the back is wild. You are very charming.

You like to grab fistfuls of hair at the nape of my neck and nuzzle into my forehead and under my chin. I reach up to my neck during the day, thinking about dinner or an email I need to write, only to find a sticky film of leftover banana or sunbutter from your early morning hugs.

Thirteen months on the thirteenth of May, I think that means this is your magic month.

Thanks for sharing the magic.

Love,
Mama
 

there goes the neighborhood

heard on the street

"Why is that kitty cat on the floor? And where is Gramme?"

-Lucy's first words upon waking this morning; hear hear to visiting grandparents

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shaggy absconded with the computer to Virginia

. . . but we still love him so here are some videos from the beach:

I Love You This Much from Amber Broughton on Vimeo.

Jumping Waves from Amber Broughton on Vimeo.

friday cute shot