{pretty, happy, funny, real} on July 7

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Well, what an exciting week it's been! We had Canada Day celebrations on Friday, and then Sunday evening and Monday were spent in the company of their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, aka Will and Kate!! It's all too much for one post! You can see our Canada Day celebrations here, and I'm working on a post with some of our pictures of Will and Kate and a little diary about our royal watching adventures. Check back soon to see Prince William waving right at us from about 3 feet away! But amidst much excitement, there have been lovely little moments in our own humble castle, moments that I wouldn't trade for all the pomp and circumstance in the world. So without further ado . . .

{pretty}

{happy}

{funny}

We have set up our living room as the "babyproof" room. Between a combination of glass doors, a gate and couch placement, the room is blocked off from other rooms. The only tricky bit in the the room is the  TV, which of course, is the most interesting thing to Arden. We had it blocked off with the coffee table turned on its side, wedged between a couch and chair. And it seemed to do the trick. Until one morning. . .  We had put Arden to play in the living room while we drank our coffee in the dining room. I could hear her happily playing with her toys in the next room. Then I heard this funny scraping sort of noise, but I figured she was pushing around a little end table we have in the room. But the noise stopped, and then I didn't hear anything. That should have clued me in I guess. After several minutes of silence, I decided I'd better peek into the room and see what she was up to. . .

And there she was, on the other side of our coffee table barrier, playing with all the knobs and wires!! She must have pushed the coffee table towards the TV, then made her way around it and pushed the table back into position! Just look at that look of satisfaction on her face. We have since reinforced the barrier :)

These next photos show Arden with the binoculars, looking intently into (well, almost into) the eyepieces like she had just seen Mommy do! It was too cute.

{real}

~ ~ ~

~lg