Fall Fun!

As some of you know, I've been co-authoring another blog on learning activities for children. I realized today that I've share my ideas and pictures on that particular site, but not here. Here's what we've been up to:

Our November countdown calendar is up and ready to go for Sunday!

We painted apples and did apple printing for thank you cards.

Here's Charis's wreath she made. Yes, she did it all herself.


Painting fall trees with Do-A-Dot art markers.

Our fall leaves chocolate chip filled cookies.

Pumpkin Pie Popsicles! Yum!

Pumpkin magnets!

Our wall hanging! We are thankful for Fall!

Taming My Wild Beasts

Brian's parents, Mimi and Da, brought by a bunch of costumes for the girls this past week. This is my little wild lion trying on her possible costume.



She wasn't sure what to think of the mane at first.









Practing her "roar"...no, really I think she was trying to eat the camera. The closer I got, the wider her mouth opened.

Brian got in on the fun, too. His head nearly came with the hood when he tried to get that thing off.









Appararenly Charis thought we were shooting a slow-mo shot for a kung-fu movie. Looks like Atalie is getting a roundhouse kick to the back of the head.


Why is it so hard to get a good photo of two kids at the same time?

These were my best shots of them together.

Sad.

Though Charis (again) looks like she's attempting to play whack-a-mole on Attie's head, and Atalie looks like she's using her Jedi skills to block her...

no. Actually Atalie is (again) trying to taste something. This time, Charis's costume. And Charis, well, she's just wiggling. What else is new?

My Gym!

For Charis's birthday, her Uncle Jason and Aunt KeeKee got her a 3 month membership to My Gym. It's been so much fun!! Every Monday (and every time we get in the car) I hear, "We going My Gym, Mommy?"

She's climbing to kiss Mr. Bear.

Her favorite...the ball pit!!

Circle time! Not her favorite (since it involves stopping free play), but once the music starts, she's all smiles again.

Thank you Jason and Keex for the amazing gift! They even let Atalie roll around in a walker while Charis plays. Big thanks to Bean for babysitting Attie while Charis and I spent a little time together.

Brian has officially decided that we now need a rock wall, balance bean, and hanging swings in Charis's room.

Almost on the move...

Just a few update shots of Attie-bean (notice the tongue is out in most pictures). She's 8.5 months and attempting to crawl. There's a lot of knee-rocking going on, and a few face-plants forward. She loves her sister to pieces and can't get enough of her! Still no teeth, though I think she's working on some.

There's a few outbursts of tears when I leave the room, but she's done within 10 seconds. I guess she doesn't miss me that much. :)

She also lights up when her daddy walks in the room. Definitely a daddy's girl. She'll stare him down until he notices her and will screech in attempt to get his attention. Feeding her with him around is a no-go...all she wants to do is gaze lovingly at him and perform just to see him smile at her.

She likes to be read to, but mostly in hopes of tasting the book. Atalie loves being outside--the windier, the better.

She's finding her voice, which can be heard if the room is mostly quiet. Otherwise she's busily taking everything in, waiting her turn to be heard.

Babies, bugs, and baths!

Bathtime has gotten to be a lot of fun around here. Atalie happily chewing her washcloth and Charis lining bugs around the rim of the tub.

And of course, a serenade or two from my girls.

Her lyrics: Zip-ee-doo-da, Zip-ee-aye. My goodness, wonder day. Penny sunshine in my way. Zip-ee.....Everybody ready go swimming!"

Our new playset!

We were recently blessed by our neighbors with a play set. Their youngest son had outgrown it and they wanted to know if we'd like to have it. That decision required no thought.

So when Brian came home the next morning, I asked him, "Guess what you get to do this weekend?" :)

The neighbors even disassembled it for us and helped carry it over. Since Brian is such a handyman. He quickly assembled the play set. It's not hooked up yet, but there's even a teeter-totter on the end.

When Charis got up from her nap, I told her to look out the window and asked her what she saw. Her eyes got wide..."A park!"

So...we now have a "park" in our backyard. Yay!

Charis is even learning to slide....

head first.

It was slow and painful (to watch) at first, but she got there!