All is well

 My little family is back together again.  Papa is home from the hospital after his emergency surgery and week-long stay.  Sylvia is back from spending a fun-filled week with my parents, and oh, life, is coming back into all of its usual chaotic glory.  The girls spent the better part of a day being "proper ladies".  Apparently proper ladies only open their eyes half-way, and they learn French, and take an evening stroll around the property to improve their constitutions.

 I usually spend almost exactly no time at all editing photos beyond the occasional crop, but I couldn't resist playing around with the different filters on my photo editor for these.

 

Don't you just love when a book captures your child's imagination and takes them off on a grand adventure?  Camille has been listening to the Bloody Jack series about a young orphan girl who disguises herself as a boy to work on a ship in the late 18th century.  It's a pretty rowdy series.  I think it's recommended for ages 12 and up, but she is loving it.  In the second book, Curse of the Blue Tattoo, they send Jacky to a boarding school to make a proper lady out of her.  Camille is now into the third book, but so far the conversations and tangents that have come up from this series are deep and wide.  Women's rights (right to own property, to go out in public unattended, etc).  Clothing options (Can you imagine being arrested for showing your knees?).  French.  Table manners.  "Mom, what's a shiv?"  Nautical terms. Napoleon.  Self-defense.  And more.  So.  Much.  More.

Plus Ayla runs around now saying in her best 2-year-old voice, "I be a proper lady."  Undeniably cute.