a fun visit

Tuesday, Roger and I spent the morning at preschool with Emilia. This was our first opportunity to visit her classroom. We had fun participating in calendar time, circle time, and recess. The group of parents that were visiting helped at each station during circle time. Our station was pinning clothes pins around a turkey to help develop fine motor skills. Each student counted the pins once they had put them all on. We enjoyed seeing the different skill levels between the students.
When Emilia's class went to music, the parents set up the Thanksgiving party. The class had finger foods waiting for them when they got back. Emilia really like the snacks. In fact, she finished most of what was on her plate! Roger ended up leaving to go back to work. I was so happy he could take off and be there with us.
It was a pretty morning so we were able to go out for a short while to play. Emilia had fun showing me all the things she liked to do on the playground. It was fun watching her walking in line to and from recess. She looked like such a big girl. A very good student indeed!

congratulations callie and russ

Russ asked Callie to marry him yesterday! He surprised her at work to pop the big question, balloons and flowers in hand. He invited his parents along for the special event. I guess his mom brought ring and heart shaped sugar cookies and sparkling grape juice for all of Callie's employees. His dad videoed the whole thing. Looks like I definitely need to lose that extra baby weight now. A July wedding is in the works! Love you, Callie and Russ!

sisters

Last week, my mother-in-law told me about a special offer that she saw on Oprah. You could redeem a coupon from Snapfish to make a free photo book. So, I did it! Since I could only get one, I decided to make a "sisters" book. It was fun looking back at all the pictures I had taken of the girls together. I just wanted to share a few of my favorites. I love having two little girls.








I tried three times to get my pictures to post in a nice format. I'm not sure why they are so randomly placed.

happy birthday cody!

Cody and his girlfriend, Megan

busy little bee

Lately, I feel like I am constantly chasing around a 10 month old. You would think the extra baby weight would start coming off soon! Avery is all over the house, getting in to everything. Today she pulled the rest of the toilet paper off the roll in the girls' bathroom and part of the paper off in our bathroom. When I went in to see what she was doing, she giggled! Over the weekend, she figured out that she could turn on the bath water in our bathroom. She has been in and out of there the last two days. On, off, on, off...I hear from the other room. What a joy she is!

a tale of two princesses

Michele and Sophie invited Emilia and I to go see the play Cinderella. It was the first play Emilia had been to. It was also the first time she had heard the story of Cinderella. Before we went, we talked about what a play was and I gave her the short version of the Cinderella story. Emilia was really excited that it was just "two girls going today." (Grandma Susie stayed home and watched Avery.)
The little girls dressed up in their princess costumes. Thanks to Cassidy, we had a Snow White costume! We were able to purchase a pizza lunch before the play started. It was fun to see Emilia's reaction as she watched the characters. Afterwards, she didn't want to go and talk to them because they were mean. We had a discussion about how they were just pretending to be mean and that they were really nice people that went home to their families! By that time, we were well on our way home. She started crying because she now wanted to go back and talk to them. What a special day together!

a quiet house

When I went in to check on the girls during their naps today, this is what I found. Emmie usually has all of her "guys" sharing her pillow and quilt. She seemed to have a bit of a frown on her face, but still sweet none the less. Avery was so cute with her foot propped up and cuddling her lamb. A sleeping baby...precious!

now and then

Avery turned 10 months on November 8. I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of her at this age and of Emilia when she was 10 months. As I was looking back through my folders of pictures, I found it funny that both girls were interested in the same things. In the first pictures, the girls have on the same pair of jeans. You can see the difference in their height at this age. Too sweet!

rainy day fun

Today it is cold and rainy. Michele, my neighbor and wonderful new friend, and I had been texting back and forth most of the morning. She mentioned they were going to Super Target to get milk and wanted to know if we should meet up there. My answer..."of course!" I needed diapers (when do I not need diapers?) so we bundled up and headed that way. Emilia was very excited that she got to use her umbrella.
This is the second time we have met Michele and her girls there. Her girls and mine are very close in age. Emilia and Sophie love to play in the clothes racks and get a complimentary cookie. Avery and Lilian are content, most of the time, to sit in the cart and watch the big girls run around. Michele and I are always game for a Starbucks.
Well, today we managed to blow two hours there! We are always tempted when looking at the little girl clothes...seriously tempted. That took up a lot of our time there. We decided to eat lunch at the food court before picking up our groceries. No mess at home that way! What a fun morning with friends.

conversations with daddy

Roger: "What a beautiful rain."
Emmie: "Yes, what a happy rain."


Roger: "Emilia, you need to go to our bedroom to watch a video."
Emmie: "Okay. I will ride my (stick) horse. It's a long ways."

pumpkin...the flavor of fall

I love it when other people have really good ideas! My neighbor, Michele, has posted a few recipes on her blog. I thought I would share a couple of my favorite fall recipes. The first one is my mom's pumpkin bread. In high school, she would always make it for our Saturday volleyball tournaments. The bread was the most sought after. I'm sure it was the key to our volleyball success!
The other recipe is pumpkin pancakes. When I was in college, I babysat for two little boys. Their mom was the chef at a local bed and breakfast. Sometimes I was lucky enough to get leftovers. Well, that sounds kind of funny. Not food leftover on someone's plate, but food that wasn't served! I wasn't that desperate for home-cooked food. I'm sure you all knew what I meant the first time, just had to clarify. Anyways, they are the yummiest pancakes.
With all that said, I hope you enjoy!

Susie's Pumpkin Bread
3 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
(I use Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend in place of the above spices.)
2/3 cup water
15 ounce can pumpkin
3 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp. baking soda

Combine all ingredients, beat with a mixer. Divide batter into 3 pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. This freezes well.


Pumpkin Pancakes
Mix together:
2 cups flour
2 T. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix together and add to the above mixture:
1 3/4 cups milk
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
2 T. vegetable oil

For each pancake, spoon desired amount of batter onto hot griddle. Continue making cakes in the same manner until all the batter is used. Serve hot with syrup.

Syrup:
Add vanilla extract and cinnamon to maple syrup.

our blossoming three year old

Last week we attended Emilia's preschool conference. She is in a 3/4 year old class that meets every Tuesday and Thursday mornings. It was fun to hear what her teachers had to say about her.
Her most recent assignment was to decorate an "I am thankful" feather. We enjoyed working on it together. I got out my supply of buttons, some scrapbook paper, scissors, and glue. Emilia was very set on gluing the buttons on top of the circles on the paper. Try explaining to a 3 year old what it means to be thankful. You'll never guess what came out of her mouth first. Yep...horses! Mommy, Daddy, and Avery were a close second.
She has learned the letters A-G and their sounds, she can write her name, and cut paper with scissors. A highlight of the last month was Emilia showing us how to stop, drop, and roll! She enjoys being the leader, singing classroom songs, and playing with her new friends.
When did my baby grow up?!

family+food=fun

We had a Halloween party at our house after the kids went trick-or-treating. I posted pictures of some of the foods we had. Thanks to Callie for her great decorating and organizational skills, and to Megan for capturing the food through some creative photography. It was a great evening with family!




spider web dip

mummy dogs

little (and not so little) trick-or-treaters

Trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood was so much fun. Emilia had been telling me for the last year that she wanted to be a kitty cat for Halloween. So, a kitty cat she was! Avery's little pumpkin costume came from Potterybarn Kids...a great clearance item last November! We were excited to have our cousins here to trick-or-treat with us. As soon as Caitlin and Claire found out about Emmie's costume, they wanted to be cats, too. At first, Mason was only interested in passing out candy in his scary costume. Once he saw the loot the girls brought home, he quickly headed out to get some of his own.

applejack pumpkin patch

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch with our friends, the Blaggs. The kids enjoyed all the fun activities that were there.