Memory Lane...

My old laptop is on death's door.  There are about four years worth of pictures stored on that old thing that I need to save on disks before we send it off to live with Steve Jobs.  So far, saving all those pictures has been a ridiculously slow process.  The old laptop does not read DVDs so I can only save the pictures onto CD.  CDs do not have enough storage space to hold a whole months worth of digital photos (usually about 150-200 pictures).  So I have to split each month into two (or more) disks.  It takes the old laptop about an hour to burn a single disk.  

Please, oh please, oh please do not let my old laptop crash before I get all these pictures saved!

On the plus side, I am getting a chance to see some great photos from the last several years.  Here are a couple of Lorien and Clare in our old apartment.  

If I remember correctly, Lorien decided to put on a play about two raccons.  She dressed up herself as a gray raccoon (maybe she was a fox?) and Clare up as a brown raccoon.  She made tails and ears out of paper and busted into my make-up for--well--make-up.  

The two of them were adorable.  I don't remember if they actually ended up putting on a play.  I do know they had more fun dressing up for their parts than anything else.  

I loved stumbling onto this memory, my two little girls playing so happily together.  

We are having a bit of trouble with Lorien lately.  I just spent a chunk of my afternoon commiserating with my sister-in-law about our way-ward children.  (Thanks Erin!)  These pictures and memories help me to remember that Lorien is just a little girl who is trying to figure out her place in the world.  Most of the time she is a dream and we are so thankful for her.  Some of the time she is a monster and we wonder what unnatural universe she escaped from.  We are with her all the time so we get to witness every. single. monstrous. moment.  Some times all of those monster moments overshadow her goodness in our mind.  

And shame on us for it.  

We are going to figure this out.  Hopefully, before she hits puberty and things really get ugly.  By the way, I'll take any parenting book suggestions anyone might like to offer.

Look how adorable these little girls are!  Do not look at how trashed the home in the background is...

I SAID DO NOT LOOK AT THE BACKGROUND!