Worms in the foyer!

Tonight as I prepared to go up to bed, I walked past a little table that I have in our foyer, and lo and behold...there were worms on it! Ick! First I have to explain that I spent the better part of the afternoon in our front flower bed weeding. And every time I would unearth a worm, Annie would want me to announce, "Worm alert! Worm alert!" And she would come running to collect it. Yes, my children have inherited my collecting genes (hmmm...wonder where I got that?!?), so they each have their own little collections...Macy collects rocks; Annie collects bottle caps; and Tressie collects wine corks, and no, we do not drink too much! But we do like to celebrate!

So after seeing her collection growing, before I knew it Annie ran inside to get an empty "container" in which she could put her new 'pets.' She returned with an empty box from her Strawberry Shortcake bandaids...of course, she had that saved somewhere! (Did I also mention that we love to recycle? This container was a no.5, so it wasn't with the no. 1's or 2's! She must have had it hidden somewhere else safe!) And when she brought it outside, she ever-so-proudly announced, "Momma, look! I put the word 'Bate' on there, and aren't you proud of me? I remembered to put an 'e' on the end of the word to make the 'a' have a long sound!"

Of course, I was so proud of her! Who would have the heart to have her spell that word any differently? It was so cute that I just had to take a picture of it!

And after seeing my sweet gals asleep, who could get upset over their having left their little "collection" of worms on the table in the foyer?!?
And the other cute, little thing that I saw on the table next to her 'bate' was her beautiful flowers that she had 'collected' at the flower/garden nursery. (I tell ya...these gals will collect anything, and at this stage it's still pretty cute!) Earlier today we went to 'The Barn.' The girls love to ride in the little, red wagons and occasionally stop to pick up flowering stems that have fallen off of a plant so that they can create beautiful bouquets. (Of course, they always ask the check-out guy/gal if they can keep them!) So Annie came home with quite a little collection of flowers for Mommy, and she had arranged them in her little water cups (which the girls also have to get at the Barn) and displayed them on the table as well!

What fun days these are! I really miss the days when I had to buckle them into their car seats and do more for them, but I'm so much enjoying watching them grow up into beautiful, little ladies! So for now, I gladly encourage their precious, childhood spirit which allows them to find the joy and fascination in so many little things!