It's Raining, It's Pouring

It's been raining in Georgia. A lot. This afternoon we had small rivers on either side of our house. Sally and I took the opportunity to go run and play. And get soaked.

She loved it!
I got out the umbrella to take pictures and we ended up dancing all around with it. Sally thought this was a grand idea.

Thogh it was bigger than she is.

We played a game where we would send a flip flop of mine down the "river". The other would have to catch it, because the current picked up in the gutter. Luckily, I still have two shoes.

It was really moving.

You can see some of the speed here against her feet. She started with boots but opted for bare feet when she saw me without footwear- mine kept coming off with every step.

Sally's skirt was so wet and weighted down it was falling off her little bum. We had so much fun, and were out there for quite a while. It was great to play like this with my special big girl.

Bombarded by Pictures

I haven't been awesome about keeping up. Much has happened- a trip SLC, and a trip to Florida- those posts will come. This, however, is all about the everyday greatness that has been the last month or so. Be prepared for the bombardment.

I think she looks pretty here- she's about to scale the mountain

She's climbing it- can you believe the altitude of that mountain? Laundry can get crazy.

Alice is pulling up to everything and cruising when highly motivated. She can stand by herself for 15 seconds or so- I think those first steps are coming very soon.

Sally can be SO happy sometimes!

We tried to go to a water park and this is what we got.

These are our friends JK and Naybi. We'll have to try again.

This is what Sally wore to her first dance class- she LOVES it! We now have more proper attire, but are back to finding a class. They are all SO expensive and have crazy hidden fees. She absolutely adores going, though.

She loves playing with my wallet. I love looking at her eyes.

Sometimes I wonder if Alice's hair will curl. You can see the little curl ups by her ears here.

Such sweet sisters.

I love these girls SO much!

Cute little Alice was so pleased to play with Sally's new rain boots.

She's on her way down from a jump off the pig.

Sally and Naybi- I think they are being butterflies.

I LOVE this picture- she is so beautiful.

Sadly, this is the most action all these cute undies get. She runs away and screams if I ask her about the potty. It will come.

Alice found a cozy spot.

She is so cute I can hardly stand it! I love that her tongue is twisted here- very true to life. She has enjoyed playing with her tongue from day one. If you ask her what a lizard says, she'll dart it out quickly. She'll also do a fish mouth.

I love this little retro top Alice is wearing. I need to find some good thrift stores around here.

They both think Daddy is a playground. He is so great with them.

Here's Sally in her full Ballet gear- I lOVE it!

She is always doing "princess twirls" and tippy toes. She is such a girly girl. I am not what I would consider terribly girly, but it is fun to indulge that side of myself with her. It's all about the pink and princesses and ballerinas with her.

There are two videos back to back. The first is Sally singing one of two Alice Marie songs that are sung A LOT in our house. The second, is Alice dancing adorably.

Well, I'll bet if you made it this far, you are Nicolich girled out. I'm not, though. i can't wait to play with them in the morning. I love being a mom to these amazing children.

A Trip to the High Museum in Atlanta

The Monet water lillies exhibit was showing at the High Museum in Atlanta, so we made a visit.
















































Occasionally, when one dabbles in art and literature, these might converge unexpectedly - producing a psychic pause in the space time continuum. This happened to me with the painting shown above entitled Moonlit Market, 1874 by the American painter Johann Mengels Culverhouse.

I've been reading the short stories of Anton Chekov. In the midst of this collection is the story entitled Easter Eve where the narrator exclaims "'What a restless night!' I thought. 'How nice!'" This was precisely the identical reaction I had to the painting. There's something about the painting that appeals to me perfectly.

In addition to that coincidence, the Chekov story unfolds a very similar scene which takes place at midnight in a Russian village to that which is depicted in the painting. I'll quote here and allow you to judge.

I took a few steps through mud, but a little farther walked on a soft freshly trodden path. This path led to the dark monastery gates, that looked like a cavern through a cloud of smoke, through a disorderly crowd of people, unharnessed horses, carts and chaises. All this crowd was rattling, snorting, laughing, and the crimson light and wavering shadows from the smoke flickered all over it.... A perfect chaos! And in this subbub the people yet found room to load a little cannon and to sell cakes. There was no less commotion on the other side of the wall in the monastery precincts, but there was more regard for decorum and order. Here there was a smell of juniper and incense.

Also note that above, I've photographed a painting of a cave island in the sea. This is entitled Fingal's Cave, Island of Staffa, Scottland by American painter Thomas Moran. Notice the similarity of this painting to the description above of "looked like a cavern through a cloud of smoke."