Wake Me Up When September Ends

I'm having trouble coming up with an all-encompassing theme for the last month and a half to explain why it's been so long since we last updated, so we'll have to settle for life with a toddler and an infant. Most of daily life is pretty uneventful - we do a lot of coloring and reading books, playing in the yard/driveway/swingset, a fair amount of trying to take toys away from one another, and far more cooking and cleaning than I would like. A few highlights of the last few weeks:

Abby fell out of her crib! We're still not exactly sure what happened there. All we ever got out of her is that Gingham jumped out and she went after him. She insisted on a bandaid on her forehead where she bonked it to help it feel better. For a few days after that, she would climb out when we lowered the side of the crib for her, but she lost interest in that. Which is probably just as well.



Abby and I both got to ride a horse for the first time a few weeks ago. One of the families in our small group at church has a horse, so when we met at their house we got to ride it. We weren't sure if Abby was going to get on, but she's gotten so brave about things lately! She talks to strangers when we're out, she touches animals, and last time we went to the park she ran around by herself and climbed up and went down the slide by herself too. It's such a turn around from just a couple of months ago.

Nora had her 8 month birthday.


Waiting patiently for her cake


How old am I? That's a lot of flame!

Both of the girls enjoyed their birthday "cake."



The squirrels continue to taunt us. They like to take a tomato, take a bite or two, and then leave it somewhere we won't miss it. Some favorite spots include the top of the garden gate, the sidewalk right outside the door, and the top of the swingset.



Last weekend, Adam's parents came down to help Adam put up the living room ceiling. Adam and his dad moved the couch to the back of the room while they were working, and we just left it there for several days. Abby loved playing in the space that the couch usually takes up. One morning, she lined up several of her stuffed animals along the wall where the couch usually is and insisted on a photo shoot.




Nora's at that age where she's always doing funny things for the camera. Adam took some pictures of her this morning that made me laugh.




Adam didn't think they were as hilarious as I did. Maybe I was just tired when I saw them.

Nora also discovered that there's a cute little baby living in the fridge. She loves to crawl into the kitchen and try to touch her. Today, she realized that she could give her kisses.