I have some explaining to do.

I feel as though I have some explaining to do.

Did you ever hear that phrase as a child? Maybe you put the cat in the dryer, or a toad under your sister's sheets. And even though it was out of pure curiosity with no harm meant, you still had some explaining to do.

Now, I never put any of our cats in the dryer, and I didn't even have a sister to scare with a toad, and quite honestly I believe I was a pretty even keel kind-of-child and a wonderfully well-behaved firstborn. So when I say I have some explaining to do, I only mean clarifying. I've done nothing wrong, except lacked in the specifics of my posts. And thanks for keeping me on my toes, I wouldn't want to leave anyone wondering if we've welcomed a goat into our residential neighborhood. More on that...keep reading.

To start, you all are getting good. The picture--a couple of posts down--of our towel wrapped twin is Norah. While Hazel has a more round face, Norah has the more full face. Norah is the big sister by 2 minutes. She always measured about a full pound heavier in utero, and was born at 6lb 10 oz while little Hazel was 5lb 10 oz. (Yes, if you do the math, that's over 12 lbs of babies induced exactly 3 weeks early.) Now their weight split is about 1 1/2 lbs. Norah still weighing more. And a sure fire way to tell them apart is their forehead. Hazel has a more pronounced line that runs from the bridge of her nose to her hair line. When they were born, we didn't have to tag them, or paint ones toenails to tell them apart. We could always tell by the shape of their face.

And, you met Molly the Milking Goat in my last post. Have you ever milked a goat? What a good goat she is. But not ours! Oh, no. I have a hard enough time keeping the few flowers we have around our house alive. I'd not be a good candidate for taking care of any kind of animal. But my hippie friend does a great job. Her, her husband, and their 3-year-old are our home-away-from-home, along with their horses, goats, cats, and sheep. They have 2 goats, one of which they milk, and hope to get 3 or 4 more. She no longer has to buy her raw goats milk, and soon she'll be making her own butter, cheese, and ice cream. She's striving to be self sufficient. She's on her way. She's.on.her.way.

And finally.

Julia is a Preschooler!

Phew!!! I'm glad her first morning is over. For my own sake. We had a special Preschool breakfast of runny eggs, frosted and sprinkled donuts and pulpy orange juice. She couldn't stand it she was so excited, so we loaded up and headed out early. And thanks to the sunglasses that I remembered to grab, I'm pretty sure I hid any inklings of a teary eyed, first time, preschool mom. I racked my brain as to how I could distract myself for the next 2 1/2 hours. Do you know what we did? Remember when I "Twittered" about that decorating itch that I had? Well I still have it. So after dropping Julia off, I decided we'd swing through Home Depot for a gallon of paint. If paint doesn't sidetrack a person.... Soon Julia's dresser will have a face lift. As well as her walls. I'll keep you updated on that.

As for now....I'll leave you with this. Can you imagine her begging for "No more pictures, please. Let's go, Mom."