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Hilary With One L

Hilary With One L

Hilary With One L

Hilary

Teal, Turquoise and Aqua

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I have been crushing on this color family lately. Just can’t get enough.  My 2011 summer uniform has been consisting of various shades between blue and green with pops of yellow, green and white. Love, love, loving it!  It instantly lifts my mood and transports me somewhere way many degrees cooler than the pit of fire we’ve all found ourselves in the past few days. Happy week-end! Stay hydrated!
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IN: ON: July 24, 2011 TAGS: random BY: Hilary
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Knock, Knock. . .

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I guess now my secret’s out. Of course, having Morgan and Coever shout, “There’s someone at the door! There’s someone at the door!” when I’m doing my ninja thing kind of blows my cover, too.  Note to self: add ninja skills to the girls summer activity list. 
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IN: ON: July 20, 2011 TAGS: Odds and Ends BY: Hilary
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Fun with Photography

I’m trying to push myself creatively with my camera and sometimes the girls are less than willing subjects.  Today, however, I tried something that they were more than willing to help me with.  The toughest part was keeping them in position because after every shutter release they begged me to show them the shot.

 

The expression on Coever’s face in these is hilarious.  She’s all, “This ain’t no thing. I do it all the time. On one foot, too.”

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IN: ON: July 14, 2011 TAGS: Odds and Ends BY: Hilary
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Water, Water, Everywhere

One good thing about moving to a place that you used to live is that you can readily call upon a plan B when things don’t go as planned.

Case in point? We went to YMCA on Tuesday morning, where I promised (stupid, thy name is Hilary) the girls that I’d take them swimming after I worked out.  We had had a late start that morning and didn’t leave the house until after 10am.  Once we got the Y, got our membership cards, got checked into ChildWatch and the like, it was quarter ’til before I hopped on the treadmill.  I put in a solid 40 minutes before wringing out my tee-shirt and collecting the girls.

Off to the pool we were headed, the girls skipping down the hallway holding hands.  We pull up to the membership desk so I can ask where the family locker room is located and the kindly raisin wrinkled lady says, “Oh, the pool is closed from 11:30 to 12:30 for adult swim.”

I cast my eyes to the clock above her head.  11:27.

Dang it.

The girls go from glee to grimace in about 2 seconds. How was I know that the pool was going to be closed right then? You would have thought I had planned this on purpose. Morgan lit into me with a vitriol usually reserved for avenging a wrongfully dishonored spouse or sibling.  That’s what I get for making promises.  And no, I wasn’t going to hang around the Y for an hour until it opened up again. I’ve got other things to do.

Dejected and disgusted, the girls harrumphed their way to the car, bitterly complaining about yet another blow of injustice they’d suffered.  What to do? What to do? We had a blow up pool at home, but the backyard had year to be cleared of the previous owner’s doggie deposits.  Plus, I don’t yet know where the hose is and I think our sprinkler was left at the last house.  What to do? What to do?

Of course! Pop jets at Stony Point!

When we lived in Richmond before, Stony Point Fashion Park had a little atrium that had popping water jets.  Morgan was too little at the time to really appreciate it, but now, she and Coever both could run, jump, splish and splash.  And Mom could read her magazine.  Oooh, and Chipotle is right across the way? Yay!  Everybody wins!

 
 
 
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IN: ON: July 14, 2011 TAGS: feel good, my girls, summer BY: Hilary
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Morgan and the Book of Poems

I recently gave the girls a copy of Shel Silverstein’s “A Light in the Attic“, which was one of my favorite collection of poems as a kid. In second grade, we memorized poem after poem to recite in front of the class.  To this day, I see the title of a poem, like “Bear in There” or   “Fancy Dive“, and instantly, I’m spitting out stanzas like I’m back in Mrs. Mahoney’s class.

This morning, while I was straightening up, Morgan was sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor with the book in her lap.  In between flipping the pages, she was ticking off a list of things that she wanted to see, places that she wanted to go, and things that she wanted me to buy for her.  Currently, tops on the list is a trip to Build-A-Bear Workshop.  I told her and Coever that I would take them there for their respective birthdays, hoping that would be the end of it. But of course, that is never the end of that.

“But Mom, I really, really, really, really want to go build my own bear,” Morgan implored.  She folded her hands together, bringing them up under her chin and doing her best Puss in Boots eyeball routine.  You know, this one. . .

 I again reminded her, “For your birthday,” and then told her to go back to reading the book.  “Why don’t you read me some poems that we can write about later ?” I suggested.  We’ve got a summer reading journal going, but that’s another post for another day.  I turned back to the bed where I was putting on some fresh sheets.  “How about,” I continued, “you pick out a few poems that you like.”

“Mmmkay,” she said.  Flip, flip, flip went the pages.  I couldn’t tell if she was looking for a particular poem that she’d read before or if she was just looking at illustrations that caught her eye.  Flip, flip, flip.  “Got one!” she said and began to read.


Little Abigail and the Beautiful Pony
by Shel Silverstein
There was a girl named Abigail
Who was taking a drive
Through the country
With her parents
When she spied a beautiful sad-eyed
Grey and white pony.
And next to it was a sign
That said,
FOR SALE- CHEAP.
“Oh,” said Abigail,
“May I have that pony?
May I please?”
And her parents said,
“No you may not.”
And Abigail said,
“But I MUST have that pony.”
And her parents said,
“Well, you can’t have that pony,
But you can have a nice butter pecan
Ice cream cone when we get home.”
And Abigail said,
“I don’t want a butter pecan
Ice cream cone,
I WANT THAT PONY-
I MUST HAVE THAT PONY.”
And her parents said,
“Be quiet and stop nagging-
You’re not getting that pony.”
And Abigail began to cry and said,
“If I don’t get that pony I’ll die.”
And her parents said, “You won’t die.
No child ever died yet from not getting a pony.”
And Abigail felt so bad
that when they got home she went to bed,
And she couldn’t eat
And she couldn’t sleep,
And her heart was broken,
And she DID die-
All because of a pony
That her parents wouldn’t buy.
**Morgan then turns to Coevers and reads the last lines of the poem**
(This is a good story
to read to your folks
When they won’t buy
you something you want.)
When she started reading, I kind of vaguely remembered this poem and I glanced over my shoulder to see the picture.  From my vantage point, the book was upside down and all I could see was the girl in the bed. 

Here’s the illustration from the book.  The mom saying”Oh if she were only alive I would buy her a hundred ponies!” And the dad is saying, “Oh….what fools we were.”

  
I thought it was some kind of princess thing (hello, canopy bed), but as Morgan continued to read and it all came back to me.  Somewhere around the line, “If I don’t get that pony, I’ll die,” I knew exactly where this was headed.I even turned to Morgan and said, “Really? This is the poem you want to read.” She nodded and kept going.  Her elocution was flawless. 
Boy, I tell you what.  A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.


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IN: ON: July 14, 2011 TAGS: funny stuff, my girls BY: Hilary
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Home Sweet Home

Another move under our belt.
Another whirlwind of  packing up, moving out, moving in, and unpacking.
Another bout of “Where should we put this? Where does this go?” and “Wait, what happened to that?”

It’s only been a few days, but we’ve taken care of the important things, but we’ve been steadily crossing things off our to-do lists.

1. Installing canopies on the girls’ beds. Check.

And finding the dress-ups? Check. 

Showing off the new place to old friends?  Check.
We’re coming through the other side of cardboard boxes, packing peanuts, and rolls upon rolls of tape.
We’re home again, home again. . .

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IN: ON: July 11, 2011 TAGS: feel good, sharing, summer BY: Hilary
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Just Beachy

So what if we’re moving in two days?  If it didn’t get packed, it ain’t coming with.

Besides, why spend the last of our Norfolk days inside when we can wring out every last bit of summery, sand-filled, sun-soaked fun right up until the moving truck arrives?

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IN: ON: July 5, 2011 TAGS: activities, summer BY: Hilary
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Hilary With One L

© 2015 Hilary Grant Dixon.