Pick Em Up Sticks ~ Toddler Style

This morning  Anna and Christina went out for breakfast and some shopping. I babysat in order to give them the opportunity to get in the important sister time. Like all relationships, the friendship of sisters takes repeated investment to keep the bond strong

While my girls were gone, 10-month-old Evelyn took a long nap. Brielle and I went out on the deck to enjoy a beautiful morning.

Brielle quickly saw great potential for fun in an upside down wading pool that held water following thunderstorms earlier in the week. First, she picked up a good-sized branch that a storm had brought down and began splashing.

Next, Brielle found a leaf to float in her "pond."

She wasn't quite sure how she felt about her "boat" when she pulled it back out, and it was all wet.

Next, Brielle took a short break from water play to survey the yard flanked at the top of the deck stairs by the family dogs.

While we were outside, I couldn't resist the opportunity to snap a picture of Brielle's eyelashes. She is "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14)!

No detail of her surroundings was too small to escape this two-year-old's notice.

However, her chief objective was to collect storm-downed sticks.

Meanwhile, her canine friends carried on a prolonged wrestling match.

But in the end, Spurgeon, their white maltese, decided to undo what Brielle had worked so hard on. Thankfully, she had moved on to opening and shutting the patio door...repeatedly...toddler style.