Columbian Park

 I love these pictures of Maria and Joshua; Uncle Justin was playing with them and was going to come and get them so they are peeking out to check out where he is.

We have plenty to praise God for; special memories of exciting times with family.

tub time

She loves to be in the tub, especially the duck.

 

She is such a talker lately...saying just about everything we do.  Do you notice how she says "ummm" when we ask her questions.  She has gotten that from sissy.  And she does a little "twinkle, twinkle" solo.  She also does a "evil baby" laugh!  And don't you love the hug and kiss for the duck.  What a fun stage she is at.

She just loves to tease us and fake cry when we start to sing Twinkle, Twinkle.  Not sure where or why it started, but she also can sing part of it herself.  She says "little star"...so cute.  She is big into saying her name right now too.
We have plenty to praise God for; a very talkative girl.

getting messy

Anna sure likes good pasta!

apple person

On our way home from the orchard today Maria was talking about making her own lunch.  She was desciribng the things that she wanted to use to make a person.  This is what she came up with.  It was quite cute, and she ate the WHOLE thing.  I'd say that's a pretty good way to get her to eat some carrot and celery! 
We have plenty to praise God for; the creative cook.

apples

 Don't you like the perfect ring she has eaten around her apple?

 Anna's new friend wondering if Anna is going to share her apple with her.

 Matching sister ponchos.

 Anna on her second apple of the day.

Most of the group...are we a bit girl power?  There were 4 boys there, one is behind the girls!

We have plenty to praise God for; fun in the orchard.

Trail of Courage

We enjoyed our time at the Trail of Courage period festival near Rochester last weekend.  We were checking out the tee pee. 

putt-putt

On our "vacation" last week we headed to the local miniature golf place in North Webster.  Maria had fun figuring out the game, and Anna just enjoyed putting the ball in the holes.  It was a nice day, a bit warm, but a great day for golf.  The lady even gave us a discount and we only paid $3 total.

We have plenty to praise God for; simple fun

September 23rd...really??

We have plenty to praise God for; unseasonably warm weather to allow us to frolic on the beach.

a great day to garage sale

 The Kindergarten set, I have grades 1-5 also.

Some of the math manipulatives I got (there are multiples of many of these)

Sometimes I am SO glad that I stop at a garage sale.  I was at one just down the block looking at books.  The lady having the garage sale had lots of books and things from a teacher friend that had retired.  She also mentioned that the friend had a math set at home that she wished she could find a homeschooling family to sell it to.  I asked if she knew what kind it was.  She didn't know but said, "hey, should I give her a call?"  I said sure, so after talking to her friend, she said that she would bring the set with her on Saturday morning and I could look it over.  So when I showed up in the morning I had already done a bit of research on how much it was probably worth. 
Well, the price I paid probably couldn't have even bought all of the manipulatives I got.
She was a rep. for Houghton Mifflin and their new program, Math in Focus, the Singapore Approach.  Singapore Math is supposed to be a great method, and has been well liked in the homeschool scene.  When she stopped being their rep. they said to just pitch of the set, thankfully she didn't!  So, I was SO excited to get such a great deal on this set.  It is essentially everything a teacher would need from K to 5th grade. 

We have plenty to praise God for;  provisions for many years to come.

A video for great grandma

helmet

A wee bit excited about sissy's bike helmet and there were two loud motorcycles driving by...she was yelling "bike".

outdoor play

can you tell that Anna just LOVES crabapples?  What a crazy girl!

no looking back

Today was the first day of Maria's junior preschool class.  She will go twice a week for 2 1/2 hours. 

She requested cinnamon rolls for her first day.

Yes, she is excited!

She was SO excited, she just bounded up the stairs to the teacher and didn't even look back.  I am sure some of the confidence is due to the fact that it is held in the church where we attend, where Daddy works down the hall, and it is right next door to our house.  In fact she wanted to check at the open house that she could actually look out the window and see our house...she can. 
It will be nice to have a couple hours with just Anna, in fact she may not know what to do with all the toys that she has free reign over...not that big sister ever tells her she can't play with something!
We have plenty to praise God for; first day excitement.

playing dead

Whenever we play chase/tickle, tickle here Anna has been doing this thing where she drops to the floor and freezes for a bit...like she's playing dead.  I wonder if she thinks we can't see her if she stops moving??  Who knows what goes through the mind of a 15 mo. old.
We have plenty to praise God for; playtime with the girls.

the case of a broken record

One thing is for sure, no one can accuse Anna of not saying thank you.  Just watch the video and see what I mean.

Thank you for Anna can be interpreted in many ways:  literally, thank you or can I have that, I really want that, here take this, so, it gets quite confusing.  She does know the word please, as much as she didn't want to say it for me in the video.  She will if she really, really wants something.
She is learning new words at amazing speed...just the other day at the doctor's office, she said doctor, today it was cracker, and in recent days; walk, purple, pickle, button, all gone, and this is in addition to the other 15 or 20 words she already says and the animal sounds...my favorite is her fish noise...gotta get that on video for you.
We have plenty to praise God for; a communicating little girl.

storytime

Maria "reading" Squirrel Nutkin to Anna.  It's fun to hear her mash up and make up the story from other things she knows. 
Kind of a long video, but cute one of her in the pre-reading stage.

We have plenty to praise God for; the natural desire to learn.

Lydibug

My best friend, Mindy, had her baby girl August 23.  The girls and I had a chance to meet Lydia Renee when she was one week old.  She didn't seem too interested in our visit as she slept the entire time...but, hey isn't that what newborns are supposed to do.  Maria was sweet with her, and enjoyed playing with Zane, their two year old.  Anna wanted to kiss on Lydia, and poke check out her face...poor Lydibug. 

look at all the beautiful dark hair

Anna going in for yet another kiss.

We have plenty to praise God for; new life.

school anticipation

We think Maria is a bit excited about preschool starting next week, as her most frequent pretend play these days is school or class.  She has even recruited Anna to be in her class...oh, how I remember the days I would make Andrew be in my class, even assigning him homework to do for the next day.  Maybe my future playing out there huh?  Anyway, today Maria even stopped to have tea/snack time for Anna's class.
About a week ago, she had these chairs, etc. all lined up for the van to take kids to school. 

We have plenty to praise God for; a fun imagination.

peaches

Last Friday I met a friend up in Michigan to pick some peaches.  The girls had fun playing while we did the work, and later, they commented that they needed to rest, uh...sure!  I got 1/2 a bushel, freezing about half and canning the rest.  We save a nice dozen to eat fresh....yum, nothing beats fresh picked peaches.

We have plenty to praise God for; fresh fruit

look-alikes

After I was editing some pictures I realized that Anna had made a very similar gesture as to one that Maria had made in a picture...at about the same age too.  wearing the same hat also...too bad the suit wasn't the same!  Maria was showing her excitement over the seagulls and Anna over the water fountains at the splash park.  It was fun to realize the coincidences in the pictures.