Hodgepodge

This morning over breakfast I saw three deer walk into our backyard. If you've been to our house you know we live in a subdivision and our house doesn't back up to any woods. By the time I grabbed my camera and took the picture they were trotting into our neighbors' yard.
Also during breakfast Lydia and I noticed some leaves falling from the trees. She exclaimed, "Mom the birds are falling!" I explained that the wind was blowing some leaves off of the trees. A few minutes later after she had done a little processing she said, "The leaves are breakin' Mom."

Here is my littlest girl showing off her latest skill. She loves to grab her feet these days. She also now rolls from her back to her tummy. We knew she was really close and she actually did it last night. I think it was the first time.
She enjoys her bouncy seat but we frequently see her straining and trying her hardest to sit up! She does not want to be a "baby." We remember Lydia acting this same way.

Since this post is kind of random already, I'll list a few of my latest favorites.

1. Izze drinks. Have you tried one? They are so delicious. No refined sugar, no caffeine. Just fruit juice and sparkling water.
2. Baby Bee diaper ointment by Burt's Bees. The ingredients are all natural and gentle to their skin. No parabens or mineral oils here.
3. Pizza dough in the Publix bakery. We have started having homemade pizza night on Fridays. (If you can still call it homemade even though I buy the dough!) I am hooked on this and we haven't even wanted to order out for pizza in months.
4. The book "Teach Them Diligently" by Lou Priolo. Maybe I'll have a chance to do a little review sometime; it was a very worthwhile read.

Thanksgiving in Review

Although we feel a bit spoiled that we always get to "host" our family members, we are so happy they are willing to drive down to spend holiday time with us. This year, Patrick and Susan stayed at our house for the few days they were here.

Lydia beat Patrick fair and square at Memory.

Lydia bonded right away with Aunt Susie. She started calling her "Suze."

Ben's Uncle Carl and Aunt Rita usually join us either for Christmas or Thanksgiving and they are fun to spend time with. We say it every year, but Rita has the magic touch with the babies. My girls, who don't really cuddle, always seem to snuggle up in her arms and fall asleep!

We had the feast at my parents' house on Thursday. It was a large crowd of both family and friends.

All of the tables were decked out in silver, fine china and fresh flowers.

Where Patrick goes, a game will be played! He has introduced us to many games. He is a good sport and patiently explains the sometimes very complicated rules as many times as needed.

"Two matchin' girls"

I don't think Carl believed us when we explained that the big red ball gets daily use with Lauren!

I'm not feeling very verbose, so I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

my fashonista

Yesterday I began (and almost finished!) sorting through the girls' clothes. It is well past time for shorts and tanks and sleeveless onesies to make their way out of closets and into boxes! It was fun to revisit Lydia's clothes from two years ago and get them laundered and put into Lauren's room. I have also found that in that short period of time, some of my taste has changed! Oh well. I hope I don't feel this way every time Lauren moves up to Lydia's clothes =)

Lydia loved helping me sort. She also decided to redress herself using several interesting items from various piles. She is getting more independent by the week. Every day I hear, "I do it myself Mom." Just a few weeks ago she was saying, "Me do it!" so we have at least progressed closer to correct speech!

struggling with her socks

the end result: a summer skirt that finally fits, newborn hospital cap, pink socks andMom's slippers (or flippers, as she calls them)

Dinner

Last week I made Zucchini Moussaka for dinner. We had not had it in quite a while, and I'm not sure Lydia had ever eaten it. Of course she wanted towatch (and help) me make it earlier in the day. When dinner time came, she was sitting in her booster cheering when it came out of the oven. She kept saying "Yum!". This seemed unusual, but then she's two, so you just never know what they decide is funny or weird or YUM!
I put her portion on her plate to cool and after the prayer she dug right in. After a few bites, the reason for her previous anticipation became clear. She said, "It's not choc-wit Mom," as if I had been misleading her all day! She seemed to enjoy it despite the fact that it wasn't the yummy dessert she had been expecting. =) She likes Italian type foods and was even convinced that the sauteed onions were noodles.
The slices of zucchini were not as well liked. I had given her both a fork and a spoon for the meal so she could use whichever utensil was easiest. (We are battling with her about using utensils these days. The novelty has long since worn off and she just wants to get the food to her mouth with the most ease and speed!) Anyway she was spooning the food in with ease and picking out the zucchini slices and placing them carefully on her fork which was on the table beside her plate. I was quick to remind her that she was going to have to eat some of the zucchini too. Her response - "Dey're waitin' right on da fork for me, mom."

Fall

at Amicalola Falls

We had fun a few weeks ago on our outdoor expedition here. Liz posted about it so I won't rehash the details except to say I hope not to have a baby strapped on next time! Actually it wasn't so bad after the first 30 minutes...I kind of forgot about it.

Oh - and Lauren is sporting a brand new outfit in this pic. We had a diaper catastrophe of gigantic proportions! It was so bad that I had to go buy her something to wear for the rest of the day. (You'd think when I know we'll be gone the entire day I might learn to leave the house fully prepared for any situation...)

Last week was our family's first Fall Festival. Lydia has no idea what "Halloween" is or what it entails for some people. I did not even bring it up to Lydia until right before room time that day that anything out of the ordinary was in the works. So after I finished teaching that evening, we got the girls ready. The idea of spending much money on a costume is foreign to me. So whatever we can come up with for a few dollars -or free! - works for us. Thus, Lydia was a cat (ears compliments of Auntie Liz's stash) and Lauren was a cow -- a $3 hand-me-down from big sis. I gave Lydia some whiskers and a pink nose. She waited pretty patiently while I drew on her face and then when I told her to look in the mirror, all she could say was, "MOM!".

Lauren was great. This is how she spent her evening while we raced around with Lydia.

The church had quite a few of these giant inflatable play things. It was Lydia's first experience on them and she LOVED it! Every time we pass by the church now she says, "Mom - we go pway games?"

The happy trio of unlikely animal friends

It was a fun night and best of all - everything was free --hotdogs, popcorn and drinks -- cupcakes, balloons, pony rides, candy and games!