Hubs has been home in the evenings pretty much since we got back from Ohio. He works most evenings but it’s been slow and he’s been coming home early and spending time with us. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my evenings with my girls when he’s gone to work. We sit and watch girly shows or movies and paint our nails and in between commercials we play girly songs on my iPhone  and dance. When Daddy’s home, we don’t do those things. It’s “our” thing, me and my girls. BUT when Daddy’s home, everything is perfect. We’re all together for the first time in the day and I look forward to it…so much so that when Hubs told me last night that he’ll be home tonight too I did a mental happy dance even if I was half asleep. It doesn’t take much to make me happy.

Last night Hubs grilled a steak and I made the veggies while the baby ran around babbling about who knows what and Hannah played outside with the little girl who lives next door. I breathed it all in because THIS is what I dreamt about when I was young. When Hubs and I first started dating and even a few years into our relationship before we were married I tried SO hard to imagine how my life would be. The image that I had was pretty close to this…right down to the 2 little girls because in my head, I was destined to have daughters.

And so in between watching the stove I took pictures of my fantasy turned reality. The little baby girl who walked back and forth between the backyard and the dining room.

AND I FINALLY got a picture of this. When she gets tired she grabs her little blankie and her paci and puts her arm up like in the picture. She’ll rest her head against her arm and walk around with tired eyes. It’s so freakin cute and last night I finally got a picture of it. This is something that I’ll remember forever…her doing this.

It makes me look back to when Hannah was this little and the little habits she had that I still remember. I wish I took pictures back then like I do now because she was the same way with her blankie. Not so much the arm in the air but she always had to have it against her face and practically up her nose so she could smell it. I was determined to get both girls hooked on their blankies, or as we call them, a papa, because I had a papa when I was a kid. After Hannah was hooked til she was 3 on hers I knew I couldn’t have another baby without that one being hooked too. It’s too cute. I can’t help it.

Since she knows she’s too cute, she likes to do things that she’s not allowed to do because she knows mama will holler a “NO!” or “DON’T DO THAT!” and then grab her up and kiss her and smell her neck. She was busted trying to pry open this decorative storage thing with a heavy lid.

“No No!!” I say and instead of tears like most kids, she laughs at me. Yes, we got trouble right here.

And just because she did it again, Liv yelling “MAAAAMMMMAAAAAAA” to me. Priceless.

And since my big baby is so hard to photograph these days without a “UGH MOM!” or “No more pictures!”, I have to sneak and take them when she’s not paying attention. This actually works because I get stunning photos of her and while big happy grin pictures make me happy, so do these.

My fantasy was pretty. My babies? My life? Is beautiful.

After school everyday Hannah changes clothes. I don’t blame her. As soon as I get home from work the first thing I do is change into my pj’s. I can’t stand wearing pants at home. EVER. Apparently my kid is the same way. Most days she’ll throw on something that doesn’t match but it’s still a normal outfit- tank top and shorts or something to that nature. Not yesterday. I got home to see her dressed in this gem.

At least her tights matched the stripes in her shirt, right? After I saw that I was like wait! I gotta get my camera. While I was doing that Livie snuck and grabbed the remote. AGAIN. I’ve never seen a kid who loves a remote as much as her.

We can’t ever watch TV in peace unless she has the remote…which also means taking it back from her when she accidently changes the channel or hits mute. It’s a daily ritual and most days I get annoyed because the struggle to take the remote from her to make the TV ok again is not exactly fun. Or easy. But last night I just said forget it. Have the remote. Have at it. And you know what? No changed channels. No mute button pressed. Go figure.

I told y’all how Livie has been awful lately about Hannah being near her. Well that hasn’t changed.

Poor kid.

But one thing has never changed: Hannah’s ability to entertain this little girl. Remember how she made a bracelet with beads the other day?

Yes. It does say “summer” on it. Smart girl. For some reason Livie thought it was SO funny for Hannah to put the bracelet on her head and let it slide off.

I actually love how Hannah is blurry in this. Shows how much she was laughing and how much Livie was just sitting there giggling but waiting oh so patiently for her to put that bracelet back on her head. I watched my babies…Livie with her onesie on that had a chocolate stain on the front because yes, she already loves chocolate. Hannah with her rocking awesome outfit that really, not many can pull off. The best evenings are the nights when there is no dance…no homework…just us sitting on the couch, watching the girls on the floor, and me with my camera in my hand.