October Happenings

I still don't know what prompted this, but one night while I was making dinner, #1 decided to put on a play. She and Daddy designed the "costumes" (construction paper hats/crowns) and then she wrote the lines. She got two chairs and draped blankets between them to be the stage curtains. For some reason, even the people watching the play had to wear costumes, thus #2 and I have on ours!

Here they are reading their lines. #1 wrote "Will you go to the ball with me?" on a piece of paper for Ryan to read. She wrote "Yes, I will." on her piece of paper. And that was the end of the play. A lot of work for two lines, but she was proud of herself! It was cute!

Here we are with our girlies. Don't I have a great husband?!

The girls were enjoing a nice fall day....


playing outside before the cold weather got here....

The girls helped Ryan plant a couple of trees. We purchased another Tulip tree. We planted one at our first house and were pleased with it. We also used tulips in our wedding, so I like that we have a tulip tree! Ryan also found a maple and transplanted it. I think he found it growing in one of our other beds...we'll see if it survives!
Back in the spring....before tax season was over....Ryan and the girls were trying to figure out what to do while I worked one Saturday. The previous home owners had left a small flower bed next to the garage....maybe 4 or 5 feet long. Ryan decided to let the girls plant flowers in it. I have enjoyed that bed all spring, summer and fall and cannot wait to have even more gorgeous flowers next year! Since the girls like "instant gratification," Ryan bought a few six packs of various flowers to plant in the bed. That way they had something pretty to show me that day. But he also purchased wildflower seeds and sprinkled them all over the bed, too. The girls and I both had so much fun checking the flower bed to see what new flowers were blooming. And they kept blooming, and kept blooming! Even after the first frost, we still had flowers in that bed. It was amazing. Here a few of the pictures we have of the flowers. At the very end of the summer, I cut a few and put them in a vase. Next year, I'm going to do that more often so I can enjoy them inside, as well as outside!



Playing in the playroom......

Here are Sweetie and #2 hanging out....can't you tell that Sweetie was being "sweet?!" (I guess I'd be fighting back too if a 3 year old was holding me by the neck!) By the way, #1 has decided that we should change the cat's name to Cutie. "Because she's not really sweet, but she is cute!" She has a very good point!

I found this picture on the camera one day and had to ask Ryan what it was! Apparently after bathtime one day, he put a green plastic barrel from the Lincoln Log set on her nose and got this super cute picture! I love it!

This is how Ryan spent many, many evenings this fall. He took a course at the U of A in order to get a certification that he wants for work. He only needed 3 more hours of physcial science. He could take freshman level geology, or a senior level course called Karst Hydrogeology. He opted for the senior level course because it would pertain to some of his projects at work. WRONG CHOICE!!!! Next time he will opt for the easy A! He had field trips and a presentation and LONG homework assignments! I'm proud of him though. He stuck to it and worked hard and got a B in the class!
(do you see Sweetie sleeping by his leg? She LOVES to curl up on HIS lap every night. We can both be sitting side by side and she chooses him. I think she knows that he doesn't love her as much as the rest of us, so she's trying to woo him. Cats are like that, aren't they?!

The girls took Daddy's spot, so then he had to try to get all 3 of us out of bed and ready for work and school! Yuck! What happened to the days of seeing Ryan off to work and the girls and I hanging out at home in our jammies until after lunch?! They went by so quickly!

Growing up with Grampy Don

I couldn't resist digging out these pictures of #1 and my grandpa. #1 was almost 4 when the pictures of her were taken, and #2 was almost 3 when the pictures of her were taken.


Grampy Don always used to take me for bike rides. I would "ride" in the basket like #1 is. Basically, straddle the back tire and let a foot rest in each basket. It works great unless you hit a bump. That happened to me one time when I was about 5 or 6. I still remember how scary it was flying off the back of that bike and landing head first on the sidewalk....ouch! I reminded Grampy Don to watch out for any bumps!

Going off to explore......

Silver Dollar City

It's been a while since I've posted anything...I got sucked in to Facebook for a while, so my blog has been neglected. Since I'll be busy for the next 3 1/2 months, I thought I should get my blog up to date, or else if will never happen!

In October we went to Silver Dollar City with my brother and his family. We actually went over on a Friday night and visited my grandparents. They are retired and travel full time, so we rented a cabin at the RV park where they were staying and got to spend time with them. We hit the outlet malls on Saturday and had a bonfire on Saturday night. Then we got up on Sunday morning and headed to SDC. The weather was PERFECT and the park was not crowded AT ALL! We could walk up and get right on most of the rides. They only had one person operating a couple of the kiddie rides, so we had to wait for a little while on some of those, but not long...maybe 15 minutes. The cousins had fun getting to go on the rides together, and the parents got to alternate riding with the kids. It was a win-win situation!

#1 and Allison on the trolley ride into the park.
Waiting for Dad to get the stroller rented....doesn't #2 look so happy?! :)

Andrew thought it was taking Uncle Ryan too long to get the stroller!
It was worth the wait! Look at all of that room to spread out!
I'm not too proud to admit that I liked the frog ride, too! It was actually fun!
The big girls were trying to make it look a little more exciting than it was! They rode the kid's roller coaster later, so maybe they were just practicing for it.

See how much fun this ride is?! The dad's each rode with the little ones later in the day, but I didn't think they'd appreciate their picture's being on here, so I left them off.
Grampy Don & Grammy Saundra (the great grandparents) came to SDC for a while. We let them eat with the kids, and the parents snuck up to the next level and had a nice, semi-quiet meal. I love that my girls know their great grandparents!
We all went on the Great American Shootout after lunch. I discovered that my hubby is REALLY GOOD at that game! I had to take a picture to prove how good he did! He won out of everyone on our boat.


We couldn't leave without a stop for ice cream.....what a mess!
We had a great time! We were finally able to get a picture of all of the kids in the parking lot on our way home.

Labor Day Weekend

We had a busy Labor Day weekend. We went to the lake with Ryan's family on Saturday, had #1's best friend from pre-school over on Sunday and went to the lake with my brother & sister-in-law on Monday! #1 also had a birthday party to attended late Monday afternoon. After the party, she came home and fell asleep. When I woke her up, she was really, really hot. I took her temperature, and it was around 101. She had a low temp through the weekend, but by Monday night, it was obvious she had a bug. After a trip to the doctor on Tuesday, we learned that she had strep throat! At least she was able to have a lot of fun before the illness got her down!

After a eating lunch on the boat, we went for a swim in the lake. Ryan tried to fish while we swam, but for some reason the fish just weren't biting....I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with us being in the water...we were really quiet! ha!

Grandpa went for a swim with us...

then we got to ride on the tube! I don't know which kid is in the tube with me in this picture, but both of them got to ride. They really enjoyed it! #1 even enjoyed swimming from the tube to the boat when we stopped out in the middle of the lake! I was proud of her for swimming so far, and in such deep water!

When #1 was 9 months old, she started going to a Mother's Day Out program at a local church. There was a girl in her class that was one week younger than her. The next year, they were in the same class, and the next year, and the next year! They became best friends, and since we moved their last year of preschool, they have missed each other so much! We have scheduled a few play dates and they have seen each other at birthday parties. We got to have Ryleigh come swim and play on Sunday afternoon. It is so neat that the girls are still such good friends. I will have to be sure and continue to make a point to have Ryleigh over so that they can stay friends for many years to come!

Here are some pictures of the bathing beauties....

We don't have any pictures from our day at the lake on Monday. We went to my sister-in-law's grandfather's house and I forgot my camera. My SIL took pictures, but I haven't gotten copies yet. My SIL's parents and my mom came, too. My little brother stopped by, but didn't have time to swim and tube with us. We swam off of the dock, and then took the houseboat out for lunch. After we got back from our cruise on the houseboat, we took the ski boat out and did some tubing. The girls didn't like the tube as much that day. My brother goes a little bit faster than Grandpa! And there was more activity on the lake, so the water was choppier. At one point, we hit a wake so big that it bounced #2 right out of her seat, up into the air, turned her upside down, and she landed on her side on the tube inbetween our seats. Luckily, I saw the boat cutting through the wake and anticpated what was coming. I had a tight hold on her life jacket. I did not think it would throw her out of the tube like it did though. That scared me so much that I decided I was finished tubing for the day!

First day of Kindergarten

Wow....the first day of school seems like so long ago! #1's first report card should come home on Monday, so I guess it has been about 9 weeks.

She was excited to go to school and was not nervous or sad at all. No tears or clinging to us....

Here are some pictures...I just couldn't resist including the one of the two girls together!!

On our way in, we ran in to our neighbors. Their youngest son started kindergarten this year, too. When they stopped to talk to #1, you could tell that she felt so big and important!
Here she is outside her classroom and sitting at her desk. She had a great first day and has loved every bit of school since....well, except for P.E. It's not her favorite! She doesn't like getting sweaty! :) her words, not mine!