Fall Decorating

Here are some pictures of decorating around the house for fall. We decided to do a picture (all 3 of us). The girls really liked making a scarecrow and pumpkin picture with pastels. I did the outline and some of the detailing, but the girls really did a great job filling in. They looked like pastel dusted princesses when they were done!

Ah, pumpkin carving. Natalie drew the face all by herself this year and did a lot of the cleaning out. Our little pumpkin was kind of lopsided, but we fell in love with the little guy.

With the hair, he does kind of remind you of, dare I say, Tom Hank's basketball friend in "Cast Away?" No, he's more happy than that.

Camping Out

Wow, it was a family outing even though not all the family was there the whole time! Woody had to work, so it was a little hesitation to take the girls camping with the church group. However, since it was SO close to home, and Natalie really wanted to go, I gave up thoughts of comfort and decided to give it a try. The kids were excited. Grandma & Grandpa took them to the children's museum that day to give us a little time to get everything packed & set up, and then stayed around until dinnertime as extra hands. I know I won't remember the 14 trips to the solo potty or other inconveniences, only the fun times that we had!

Wow, a tent to play in!

The girls and me at the tent site. It was a great site, although far away from the action. If I had planned better, we wouldn't have had to make so many trips back to get different items!

One highlight was that Natalie was able to ride a horse. She really liked that, and the hayride we rode back from riding the horse.

Of course the girls loved the hot chocolate, strangely more than even the glow in the dark necklaces & bracelets I got them. I thought they would be a hit!

Everybody loves smores!

Here's Grandma & Grandpa helping out!

Natalie with her friend, Jenna Kate

The hayride in the background was quite different...I'd never had one pulled by church van!

The family...the funny thing is well, this is an equestrian park, and well, that is a pile of, well, you know...in the background.

Camping is always fun! Hotdogs on the way...

Everything went really well until 2am when Nicole woke up and decided to cry until I put her in my sleeping bag. After that, she slept pretty well and so did Natalie & Woody. However, I was waiting for sunrise! All three girls in the 2 person tent with Woody stretched out in the 3 person tent. [Woody wants to comment that he did not sleep that well...poor sweetie!]

Costume Craze

There has been quite the costume preparation here. Mimi was gracious enough to make each girl a costume. She made a cute Tinkerbell for Natalie and a cat for Nicole. However, we found out our church isn't having their usual fall festival late, and the criteria for the costume time at Awana was either Bible character or animal. So, Natalie now has a cat costume made by Mommy trying to look like the one Mimi made!

They are cute! We'll put whiskers on them on the actual time to celebrate.

This Tinkerbell is very cute and we'll be finding somewhere to wear it!

Now, I have to make a bug costume for school this week. Gradually picking up pieces to make one...update later!!

Pigtails

Love it!

Poppa's Day

More blogging catching up! We loved celebrating Poppa's birthday. He and Mimi came over to stay a few days for the celebration. The girls liked making and decorating cupcakes for Poppa. We celebrated the first night he was here, then continued the rest of the time. The girls loved to sing as well as decorate. We still have balloons here to remind us of the time!
The girls spent most of the time outdoors with Poppa because the weather was excellent. They went to the playground as well as went to the lake. Mimi and I were at the market getting shrimp for that night's dinner while they went to the lake. But, Woody took some pictures of Poppa enjoying being the focus of their attention. It does take quite some courage to take a 2 and 5 year old out on the open water!

Man, sweetie, those are some COOL shades. I think I'll keep this photo for later blackmail....

Poppa and Nicole. She definitely has him wrapped around her finger!

Happy Birthday, Poppa, we love you!

Crunchy, Red, and Sweet

Ooh, the third year to the Apple Farm. It's great this year that Nicole can walk herself, which made it a lot better! Because there were no grandparents and Woody had to work! But, we had a really great time together. Even though, there were several hundred people there! But, the good thing was that I saw several people I knew, who weren't with the school group.

Here's Natalie with her friend, Maya. I hadn't spent much time with Maya, but she really is a sweet girl. It is good that Natalie plays with her at school. There are only 3 girls in the class and they kind of stick together!

Here's a picture of the kindergarten class. There was one girl from K4 in the picture who must have gotten confused as to who her teacher was! They all love their teacher, who is really good! What great time to have only 9!

We started off finding the bees. I forgot to look for the queen bee like the teacher said!

Nicole and Natalie liked the little chicks too...I think if they had been selling them we might have had to take one home...I would like the fresh eggs!!

Nicole loved the cow. He mooed at her, and she thought that was special. She wanted to go back later, but he was asleep later!

Getting the pictures of Nicole too!

Nicole and I were together for the hayride, and Natalie sat with her friends. We were definitely crunched together!

After the hayride, the mining began. It is something new this year, and we weren't sure how it worked at first. They give you a bag of dirt. You pour some dirt in the sieve tray. Then, you put it in the circulating water. Nicole just liked playing in the dirty water! Natalie did like this part!

And, voila! There were some little gemstones and pyrite. It had a listing of what you had. We have a little ziploc bag that has our treasures!

Nicole liked picking out her pumpkin. She really enjoyed grabbing something! We didn't really pick apples this year because they said the ones were too high up on the tree for the kids to pick. They had prepicked them in a bin for us to select. So, we did get apples, but not like before. (note the portajohns in the background...they come into play later).

Natalie enjoyed picking her pumpkin from the patch. She picked as big a one as she could! But, it wasn't as big as the one we found near the store which was huge...and marked with a $80 price tag...wow!

We ran into Emma (and Meredith and Allie as well as Jo Ellen and her parents). It was a welcome surprise but we didn't get to talk long as Nicole was ready for snack time!

It was a hurried snack time as the bus was about to leave! Since we didn't ride the bus. I thought we might stay and do the maze that we didn't get to do. I had never done the maze since I was usually holding Nicole. So, I decided we would be adventurous!

The maze entrance...we entered fresh, excited, and enthusiastic.

And, we walked....and walked...whoops, wrong turn, turn around....note the sign stays to stay on the path so you won't get cornfused...

and walked....

and walked...by now I am tired of carrying all my supplied in the backpack, plus 2 pumpkins and several apples. I am redfaced too! Nicole is starting to lose interest and wants to sit on the ground. So, add a 2 year old to the load.

After much prayer and second wind, we found a few paths through the interstate signs on the path to the...

Exit! The best sign I had seen all day! By now, we are ready to head to the only other activity of the day, some more playground time.

By now, several hundred are gone and it is prime time to be at the Apple farm. The kids enjoy jumping for a while, but Mother Nature has been working and everyone has the need...so finding those portajohns!

By now, all the people we know are gone and so I have to squeeze all three of us plus the backpack (one of the pumpkins stayed outside) into a portajohn. Not something I ever want to repeat!

And, then we said goodbye to the scarecrow and all the fun!

Now, for the sweet part. I love to have at each fall we make caramel apples as we did when I was growing up. I was so happy that there were the ones that were premade like Mom found and not the pack that you had to cook the caramel first. This was much easier, and truly, much less sticky!

A great end to a great day! Even Woody was able to enjoy this part!

Big Parade

One cute thing that Natalie did this week was make a Statue of Liberty costume. They all dressed up and had a parade shouting "USA!" as they went around the entire church. I wish I had been there to see it! She had a really great time, though. We celebrated afterwards with a picnic for the three of us (Woody had to work). It was great weather for a parade & picnic!

I turn my back...and

• Natalie is looking at me, much too old looking to be my child. Reciting addition and subtraction as well as writing her letters into words... working activity books with minimal help... doing chores to help out at home.
• Nicole is talking in words that everybody can understand. Saying a crisp "Yes," as well as many other words. Although potty training is going slowly, she tries to be independent in almost every other way.
• heard thumping in the bathroom the other day, and went in to find Nicole had climbed over into the sink and was sticking my toothbrush in her mouth. A little TOO personal!
• Natalie lost another tooth yesterday and the tooth fairy was not as prepared as she had wanted to be! Before I know it, she'll have her whole permanent set (and the tooth fairy will have to get a job!)
• I hear laughter and the girls are playing fun make-believe games with each other...enjoying each other's company.
• then I hear fighting over a certain toy or item....oh well!
• Nicole is focused on activities, like playdough for quite a while. She is also singing the alphabet song as well as recognizing the letters.
• Natalie has made another friend on the playground...she is so very social (one of her gifts)
• Natalie's supply of underwear is too small as she shot up a size overnight it seems! Just bought some for school; now, back to the store!!
• I realize I've missed many opportunities, blown it many times, but may I focus on this being the most special time in my life with these 2 precious ones...