Apple Jack's! {Oct. 4}

In an effort to do something fall-like between the rain and the imminent snow, Chris and I took Mira and Amelia to Apple Jack's Orchard today. It was a lot of fun!

First we rode on the wagon through the orchards:
Then Mira got her face painted. She chose a pumpkin to celebrate fall!
Mira and Amelia had a great time on top of the hay bales. {With all the rain lately, they smelled a little musty. The hay bales, not the girls.}
They pet a goat and saw some chickens. They climbed some fun things:
We enjoyed all the photo opportunities they offered!
And we capped off the day with popcorn and a caramel apple. I also have an apple-cranberry crisp in the oven right now. Can't wait to eat that nice and warm with some whipped cream. Yum!

Happy fall to all our friends and family!

Happy birthday, Daddy! {Oct. 3}

Amelia just wanted to say a big Happy Birthday to her Daddy!
And Mira wanted to say how much she loves her daddy and that she hopes he has a great birthday too! She painted him a beautiful picture.

Today was a nice lazy day. I winterized the girls' clothes and cleaned out my linen closet. Made some chili and an angel food cake for Chris.

Mira and Amelia stayed at Grandpa and Grandma's last night. They had a great time! This morning, Mira comes home to find her lost tooth gone and a Target gift card in its place. What can I say? The tooth fairy ran out of cash!
Tomorrow, we head to an apple orchard for a little Sunday fun. The Vikings don't play so we can do something as a family on a Sunday afternoon. Bliss!

Jeepers! She lost tooth #4! {Oct. 2}

Hopefully this will be the last tooth Mira loses for awhile, or she won't be able to eat! 3 of her 4 front teeth are missing now, and Mira is a few dollars richer. She's so proud each time they come out, though. As she says about today's lost tooth, "I was eating a fruit snack and it just popped out!" Great job, Mira!

Amelia has a toddler bed! {Sept. 27}

Our home is officially cribless! We decided Amelia was ready for a toddler bed this weekend. We found a great one on Craigslist and Amelia took her first nap in it today. She and Mira love that they are both "big girls" now. Here is Amelia, after just waking from her maiden voyage in her bed. Love the bed head!
And look at these eyes! I don't know if I've ever seen a prettier pair.

Water works! {Sept. 26}

Chris did some landscaping today and needed to water some bushes. Mira took full advantage of the sprinklers being on in the yard. She really loves to run through water of any kind!
We spent the afternoon relaxing at home, and Mira found a bear craft project I had started and abandoned way back in January. So we finished up both projects. Now the girls each have a homemade bear with decorated outfits to bring to bed with them. Mira named her bear "Rosie," and Amelia named her bear "Josie." Too funny!
The other night, Amelia decided she wanted to sleep on the floor rather than in her crib. We let her and decided that now is probably a good time to do away with the crib and move on to a toddler bed. We are hoping to find a white wood toddler bed on Craigslist very soon. We are selling Amelia's crib in the meanwhile.

On Wednesday, Mira asked me if I was 100 years old yet. I said no, not yet. Mira started crying and said, "I don't want you to be 100!" I asked why and she said, "Because you'll die!" I assured her I won't be 100 for a very long time, and that it doesn't mean I'll die when I reach 100. It's hard for me to realize that she thinks about things like losing her parents in her spare time.

Mira is LOVING kindergarten. It seems her favorite part is going to the library, which they are allowed to do every day. They can only check out one book at a time, so we have to read Mira's library book every night so she can return it for a new one. She's made quite a few friends already, something she's really good at doing. She's not shy about asking another child her/his name and playing with them at the park, so I'm not surprised she's carried that skill to school.

Amelia is a typical 2 year old. It seems that our sweet girl was replaced with this stubborn, whiny, crabby little kid a few weeks ago. We are still waiting for her to come back to us! She's sweet as pie one minute, then crying and crabby the next. We can't wait until the terrible two's are over!

Hope you are all enjoying the start of fall. We have an apple orchard and a pumpkin patch in our future the next three weekends. And, of course, a visit to Lanesboro to visit my sister and her famiy as they visit from Sydney! We can't wait to see them!

Goodbye, Loose Tooth #3! {Sept. 20}

Say "hooray" for lost tooth #3! Mira has been working on this loose tooth for about 3 weeks now. It finally came out today. She's very excited for the Tooth Fairy to come tonight.
Now Mira "only" has one loose tooth left. It's her other top middle tooth. It's not too loose, so she'll probably have it for a good month or more. We'd like a couple other to grow in first so eating isn't too difficult!
Great job, Mira!

Book Festival . . . and a date! {Sept. 12}

Chris and I took the kids to the Target Book Festival this morning. It was a nice time! Yo Gabba Gabba was playing on the stage. We couldn't see them very well, so we abandoned the show in favor of the craft table and book tent. Both girls picked out a book to buy and decorated a book bag each. They also met Bullseye, the Target mascot.

This evening, we called a sitter and got a date night! My wonderful neighbor has a 12-year old daughter, Natalie, who has been putting out the word to babysit in the neighborhood. She was wonderful with the girls. They loved her and want her to come back, so we'll have to make this a twice-a-month thing. Mira even said she wished Natalie was her older sister. Bullseye with the babysitter! We saw "All about Steve" (I loved it!) and had dinner at 3 Squares. All in all, a very fun evening out!

Mira creating a mermaid puppet:
Amelia dancing to the music:
My sweet baby and her sweet daddy:
Bullseye and Mira:
Amelia and Mira decorating book bags:
And on a happy note, Chris is feeling much better since that gall stone was taken out this week! He still has a little pain, but it's nothing like it was and is manageable. Thank God he's feeling better. Between August 10 and September 10 this year, Chris had a surgery, 2 gall stone procedures, and our basement carpet flooded and was replaced. Let's say it wasn't our favorite month. Here's to a better fall!

Would you like scrambled or over easy? {Sept. 9}

Lately, Mira has taken a great interest in cooking, more so than the baking she's loved to help me with the past couple of years. She keeps saying she wants to be a chef or a baker when she grows up. Tonight, I let Mira help me make scrambled eggs for dinner. She cracked the eggs herself, poured them in the pan, and cooked them. She did a great job and the eggs were delicious! Thanks, Mira!

Interview with a kindergartener {Sept. 8}

First day of kindergarten today. I took the day off to walk Mira to the bus stop and take pictures. Her friend, Olivia, is at her same bus stop, and I know Olivia's mom, Lisa. I'm really glad about that. I talked to Lisa about our situation with the bus stop being so far from daycare and she agreed to look after Mira and Isaac as they walk to the bus stop every day. Makes me feel better, but I'm still trying to get that stop moved.
Mira was really excited to start kindergarten today! She picked out her new dress and asked me to braid her hair last night so it would be wavy today. She looks so grown up! We got to the bus stop and there are 4 kindergarteners at that stop, so she has plenty of company. I didn't have time to cry, since the bus rolled to a stop and before I knew it, Mira was on the bus and it was driving away!

Waiting at the bus stop:
I didn't get a good photo of Mira getting on the bus. Boo!
I picked up Mira at the school today. The first thing she did was run up to me, hug me, and yell, "I love school!" That is so great! I asked her a few questions about her day. Here is what she said:

What was your favorite part of school?
Playing with the horses.

Did did you get to do anything special at school?
I got to hold the America flag and eat a snack.

Did you learn anything new today?
My teacher told us about American flags. That was the end of school.

I'm so glad it went well! She's a little trouper, very eager to experience kindergarten. I think she'll love it!

State Fair and a back-to-school picnic {Sept. 7}

Today, we decided to go to the state fair at the last minute. We go every year, but weren't sure we wanted to go this year. But, since it's such a tradition in our household, we packed up the kids, drinks, and a stroller, and headed to the great state get together. We had a nice time. The weather was beautiful, and we tired the kids out with a few rides at the beginning. I was surprised Amelia liked them as much as she did.
We ate our traditional pronto pup, cheese curds, and corn on the cob. We took our photo in the photo booth and visited the new birth barn. Mira was enthralled with the baby chickens.
Chris took Mira into the butterfly house. Not quite my thing. I don't like insects flying around and landing on me. Amelia and I watched from the safety of outside.

Then we all came home for naps. For dinner, Mira, Amelia, and I had a picnic on our front yard. It was really fun to do something different before school starts for Mira tomorrow. She's really looking forward to it. I still haven't resolved the bus stop issue, but I'm not done complaining about it yet! Wish me luck! I'd hate to have to change daycare or school because of it.
Mira and Amelia, enjoying running around in the yard after the picnic:
Mira learned to snap recently, so she snaps all the time. Tonight, she "snapped" me "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Guess what? It sounds like any other song when it's snapped! I was laughing so hard because Mira actually thought it sounded like "Twinkle, Twinkle."

Little Miss Fancy {Sept. 6}

Today, Mira and I had got pedicures together. She had never had one before and really liked it! Here are a couple photos:
Pretty! Mira starts kindergarten in two days and is "really excited, but a little nervous." I have the feeling she'll be just fine.

Happy Labor Day Weekend! {Sept. 6}

Yesterday, Mom, Dad, Jeff, Sara, Abby, and Nick came for the day. We went to Chris's dad's house for the afternoon and hung out on the beach. Everyone had a great time! The kids went down the slide off the dock, fished, rode on some jet skis, and drove the pontoon! Nick caught a big sunfish! Thanks for having us, Randy and Terrie!

The men on the dock:
Abby and Mira:
Amelia fishing:
Nick caught the day's "Big One":
Chris gave Mira a jet ski ride:
Enjoying the beach:
Mira on the pontoon:
Dad and Chris on the pontoon:
Mira and Abby on the pontoon:
Mom and Jeff on the pontoon:
Amelia: