On Saturday, I took the girlies to The Village Of Rochester where they were having ice carvers, and what I thought would be many ice sculptures. It wound up being, in my opinion, very poorly laid out. They had ice carvings, but they were spaced so far from one another. I'll never go back. It was really cold and even through our snow gear, the cold was uncomfortable. I did get a few pictures, but nothing like I thought I would. We were hoping to go to dinner and come back to see them all lit up, but never even bothered to go back after dinner.  From what I could see, none of them had any lights in them.

There were some very beautiful ice sculptures, but because they were spaced so far from one another, I was just not much of an impact. Whomever organized this event really did a crappy job!

I think the most fun the girls had was playing on these statues, and even that was pretty lame.

These next two carvings were really pretty. They had real flowers frozen into the sculptures.

We spent a whopping 10 to 15 minutes. QUICKLY looking at the sculptures and then left. Next year, we HAVE to go to the Plymouth Ice Sculptures. They are amazing. The sculptures are all together in a big field and they are lit up at night.  They have artists from all over the world come to participate in that event. 

It felt good to be home, in our jammies, and warm!!

Where Tara informed me that she too is able to wink!

But of course Madeline was quick to point out..."That's not winking Tara, that's pushing your eye down."

But she's also beautiful....

Not only is she beautiful and smart.....she's a very talented artist too.

The subject of her masterpiece:

And the magic begins...

Ummm...please ignore the state of her nails. I didn't realize how long they were till I uploaded these pictures At least they're clean!

One more look at the subject of her inspiration...

And here it is. Absolutely beautiful don't ya think??

Okay fine! I admit it, as I have so many times on this blog, I'm biased! But there is no other child artist as good as this! I know this to be true!  I'm slightly delusional too... But just look at it!!!

This should be hanging in a museum somewhere!  Okay...I'm sleep deprived and I need to get to bed before I say anything more about this AMAZING piece of art.    I'm certain I'll be having dreams about this being in the Smithsonian!

She is our parent educator through the PAT program we're involved with. She comes each month to spend time with and play with Madeline. She also does periodic developmental testing. She got to paint with Miss Heather and then had a story read to her

For more information on our amazing PAT program and Miss Heather, please read this previous post: http://imaginationcreations.blogstream.com/v1/pid/273987.html#TP.

Then Madeline wanted to play with me and build with mega-blocks...

There is a lot of thought and purpose involved in picking the right pieces.

Finally, a masterpiece is completed and ready for occupency

Madeline...

Can you wink for mommy??

...and glow in the pride I feel for this very special child?

She truly is special to me on a level that reaches down to the depths of my heart and expands outward more and more each second she is in my life. Tara is my miracle baby. She began life in my womb after years of fertility struggles. She began life in my womb when I was one more failure away from suicide. If you haven't already, please visit my post about how this child came to be, and spare me the tears I may shed if I have to reiterate it here.

http://imaginationcreations.blogstream.com/v1/pid/75684.html#TP

My life has never been the same since God placed this miracle into my arms. She continues to bring me so much joy. She has taught me what true unconditional love actually feels like. Trust me when I tell you that there is no way that I can possibly convey the extent of love I feel for her and her incredible baby sister.

Back to my reason to bask....

Tara got her report card yesterday and I am just so incredibly proud of her!!

On this next section, notice there are no 1, 2, or 3's to mark her progress. Instead, there are X's. These X's mean that academically, the end of year goal has already been achieved. {pride, pride, pride} I'm so proud of her!

As a reward, Tara gets to go to Big Boy for her favorite...Pancakes topped with fresh strawberries and drenched in strawberry syrup.

Last night before I went to bed, I went in the girlies rooms to make sure they were tucked under the covers, and when I entered Tara's room, this what I found...

Tara has told me recently that she doesn't get lonely in bed because Pegasus keeps her company.  She's always sleeping with the little baby unicorn as well.  It is a regular basis that we go in and find Pegasus laying on top of Tara.

And this is what I found in Madeline's room. Her nestled in with her blankies to which Tara and Madeline both own tons of.

Go here to see the story of their blankies.. http://imaginationcreations.blogstream.com/v1/pid/268716.html#TP.

In taking these pictures, I used a method that I invented.  Both pictures were taken in a dark room with only my camera flash.  The trick however is that I put a piece of  satin computer paper under my flash, and tilted slightly upward.  The light then bounced off the paper and up to the ceiling.  Rather than casting directly on the girlies causing a flat appearance, it allows all the soft curves of their faces to be present.  It looks like they were taken with natural light rather than flash.