The Natural State

We went camping again last weekend in Thor.  Same spot as last time: Natural Falls State Park.  The leaves are turning and it's so gorgeous outside right now.  We had great weather too.  I actually took my real camera on one of our walks to get some practice.  The pictures never do it justice, and it doesn't help that I still have lots to learn.  Sometimes the leaves are in focus but the people aren't....whoopsie ;)

Syd slept on my back in the Ergo carrier the whole time...

And now for the iPhone pics:
It was raining when we got there on Thursday; the girls enjoyed puddle jumping.  These rain boots have been a great investment.  For some reason, they love wearing them, even just around the house.

I was there alone with the girls on Friday while JKK was at work.  Thank goodness for the nearby playground!

We even did a little exploring...

One last hike before we headed home Saturday afternoon

Wheeee

This weekend, we are staying home to participate in the Halloween festivities.  This will be Millie's first time trick-or-treating!

Camping in Thor

We bought a bus!  At least, that's what Millie calls it.  It's technically a motorhome, and we are very excited about it.  We've named him Thor because a) that's the brand of motorhome, and b) because it sounds awesome.  I just need to find a hammer to hang over the door.

Two weekends ago, we were supposed to go on our maiden voyage, but it was raining all weekend.  Yes, I know we can go in the rain now that we don't have to use a tent, but we didn't want our first trip to be spent indoors trying to entertain the baby beasts.  So instead, our first trip was to the Subway sandwich shop parking lot for lunch.  Ha! We had to go somewhere because we promised Mills an adventure in the bus.  Turns out, everyone had a really lovely time on our short little outing.

Our real maiden voyage was this past weekend to Natural Falls State Park in West Siloam Springs Oklahoma.  The weather was perfect and it was a very successful first outing!

The park had a playground very close to our campsite, so the girls were in heaven.

The girls slept well, even with naps.  Of course, they were up before 6am, but that's nothing new.

It's so fun to get them out into nature and see them explore.  I can't wait to spend lots of time out with Thor in the future.  This feels like the best family investment...quality time together.  The first time I can get everyone to play a game of Yahtzee will feel like a huge milestone.  I have the best memories of camping: playing games with the family, exploring in the woods with my brother, campfires, and swimming in lakes.  So much to look forward to...

Syd was so happy to be back in the Ergo...surprised all of us.  She snuggled right in like she had missed it.

There were some beautiful water falls and easy trails for the kiddos.  It was a good spot for our first outing.

The girls had their first s'mores...sort of.  Millie loved the roasted marshmallows.  Syd loved the chocolate. ;)  I was worried about them around the campfire, but they did pretty good.  We just have to be on guard with Syd.  Camping isn't quite as relaxing as it used to be.  Still...it was nice to be away from home and making memories.

Give Millie a cash register and she's happy.  I bought some cheap toys to leave in Thor, and it was fun for Mills to bring them outside.

Syd, as always, is just happy to be included.

We had so much fun, we're going again this weekend!

Millie's Fall Party

Last week, Millie's class had a Fall party.  JKK, Pid Pid and I attended the celebration, which I think Millie really enjoyed!

She's so sweet with her classmates and teacher.  Love seeing her so happy.

Mills was very sweet to to take care of Syd and share her snack...

...and kisses too

They played a few rounds of Duck Duck Goose, which was funny to watch.  No matter if she was chosen as the goose or not, she still gave chase.  Video of Duck Duck Goose  Now she walks around randomly screaming "goose!" and takes off running expecting you to chase her.

picture perfect

not so much

Afterward, we had a special lunch at Red Robin, then Mills terrorized Syd with her balloon.  Syd's face is hilarious....as if she doesn't have a choice but to take it.

The Fall weather was perfect this week!

playdate at the park with Sawyer

Syd can slide all by herself!  She was doing it just fine by herself, then I walk away to talk to Sawyer's mom for a bit and I see Syd go all wonky and end up sliding off head first.  I took off sprinting over to her, but I failed to see the park bench in the way.  Down I go...quite embarrassing (and painful...I have a humongous bruise on my leg).  Of course, I look up and Syd is just fine.

Thursday is normally a school day for both girls, but this past Thursday, Millie was out of school for teacher training.  So it was just Syd.  Poor Syd still isn't super happy about me taking her to school.  It breaks my heart every single time.

Millie loved having a special day together.  We met some of her classmates at the park, then our group went for lunch together, complete with ice cream cones.  She's so tall!

Afterwards, I took her to the mall where she loves throwing coins into the fountain.  And since it was her day, we went back twice. ;)  Here's some video, but it's a little boring until the end when she shows her dolphin imitation.

Silly Millie

Millie says some of the craziest stuff lately.  I know that's what all 3 year olds do, but that doesn't stop it from blowing our minds.  A small sample:

• JKK was watching the girls one day and I got this text: "Millie trying to get Syd to do something and Syd won't...and Millie finally says "SYD!!  You're not listening to my mind!!"

• Along those lines, today in the car Millie was asking Syd a question.  Syd had a paci in and was trying to answer her.  Millie perfectly imitated the garbled mess that Syd just said and asked "what was that, Syd?  I don't know what that means.".  She expects more out of Syd's language skills.

• I have the following conversation every day:  

          Millie: what day is it?
          Me: Tuesday
          Millie: yes, but is it Monday or Friday
          Me: sigh

She's very interested in the days of the week.  Maybe I should get her some days of the week panties to help her keep it straight.

• Her pretend play is getting sort of strange.  Recently, she kept calling me Rusty and talking to me in an angry voice...getting on to me.  I kept asking who Rusty was, but she was in her own world.  Finally, I'm embarrassed to say, it got to me and I told her to quit calling me Rusty and go play somewhere else.  Every day is strange when living with a 3 year old.

She's drawing people now!!

She's such a good helper, big sister, and inquisitive little leader.  Typical first child. :)

She has a wicked sweet tooth, but who can blame her?!  We limit the sweets, but probably not as much as we should.  At Little Gym this morning, I overheard a mom of a three year old say her daughter just had cake for the first time at a bday party recently.  Whaaaa?!  That's definitely not how we roll.  Thank goodness Millie also LOVES vegetables.

I just love her.  So much.

Pid Pid

Syd's gotten a couple more teeth in the past few weeks:

• upper right lateral incisor ~ Sept. 23
• upper right first molar ~ Sept. 28

She's also started blowing kisses, nodding and answering "yes", searching for bellybuttons, and trying to jump.  She loves Buddy (see video here), and she loves trying to use a fork...she's getting pretty good at it. :)

She's been crushing it at The Little Gym!  Huge milestone today: she gave the teacher a high five when we were in the introduction circle!  This is a big deal.  Each parent introduces their kid and then the kid is supposed to go up and high five the teacher.  Syd's been too shy until now.  I was so proud.

Silly girls think juice boxes are the best thing ever.

Happy 9th Anniversary!

September 24th was our ninth wedding anniversary.  This year we did something a little different...we finally had some wedding pictures taken!  Not something we had planned to do, but the opportunity sort of fell into our lap.  So here's the story: back in March, we attended a charity event with a silent auction.  I, of course, bid on all of the professional photographer sessions.  When I found out we had won a package, I was thinking we would have a family picture taken and it would be no big deal.  I looked up the photographer's website and found out they only do wedding, bridal, and engagement sessions.  Uhhhh, what are we going to do with that?!  Then I started chatting with the photographer and told him our story about how we were to be married on the white sand beaches of Destin and the pictures should've been amazing...however, Hurricane Rita had other ideas and we were married in a room with no windows and have ZERO wedding pictures displayed in our house because they are all dark and blurry.  For someone who loves pictures, this has always made me a little heartbroken.  One day after our ninth wedding anniversary, I got the dress out of the attic, hired a babysitter, and now we finally have some beautiful pics (and a good story to go along with it).  It was kind of romantic to put the dress back on and be transported back to where it all started.  All we were missing was some sand...