Pictures

Wow, it's dusty in here...

So, yeah.  I fell off the face of the Earth.  Again.

Sorry 'bout that.

Things have been a bit hectic...our new schedule, birthday parties, traveling, blah blah blah.

The girls are doing great.  Mini Me is absolutely LOVING school and is doing really well.  Sweet Pea is now 2.  She's also doing really well.  She loves gymnastics!

And.....  we're headed into potty training.  Which, I'm sure will provide with plenty of material for the blog.

The other day, she pooped on the potty for the first time.  I'll be completely honest....  I hate potty training.  I'd rather change a diaper.  And, really....  I do NOT want to be driving to FL and spending a week at Disney with a newly PT'd child.  Ahh, well.  She calls the shots now.

I'll get a post together with some pictures of our fall fun so far.

Preschool

It's official.

My first born is growing up way too fast.  She started preschool today.  I was/am excited about this new chapter.  I am looking forward to getting to spend time with just Sweet Pea.  But, it was still hard to watch Mini Me wave goodbye and walk into school without us.

Sweet Pea was devastated that Mini Me was not getting back into the car with us....until she realized that she could have the toys all to herself.  :-)

Come inside it's party time!

Let's face it.  I only have so much creative energy left after a day entertaining a preschooler and toddler.  So, instead of using that to blog, I've been working on Sweet Pea's second birthday party.  I am making the gift bags, banner, lacing cards, and felt cupcakes for each child.  I am *trying* to finish knitting mickey washcloths too, to go along with some adorable Mickey shaped soaps.  But, the jury is still out on whether or not the knitting will be done in time.

I am also making a huge Mickey's Clubhouse feltboard for the kids to play with.

Thank goodness I have someone awesome who is making the cake for me.  I can't wait to see it!

13 days until party day!

Fall!

The past week has been busy with a visit from my parents, a trip to the zoo, my birthday (and subsequent obsession with my iPhone--thank you hubby!!!!!!), fall decorating (I LOVE fall, it is by far the best time of the year), and preparing for Sweet Pea's 2nd birthday.

Mini Me starts gymnastics tonight and we officially begin our fall schedule.  I can't wait!

Sorry.  Gotta run.  My iPhone is calling.  

Irene

Hurricane Tropical Storm Irene has come and gone.  We are extremely fortunate and did not get hit as hard as others.  Our neighboring town (and by that I mean the town that is on the other side of our backyard) got hit pretty hard.

We did what we could to prepare--had non-perishable foods, bottled water for drinking, bathtub full of water for flushing toilets, and secured everything that was outside.  All we could do was sit here and wait.  We had rain that was pretty heavy, but clearly nothing compared to other areas.  The wind was crazy at times, particularly during the night when it woke us up--several hours after we thought it was all over.  But, all things considered, it was not that bad for us.

We lost power around 12:30pm on Sunday and it was back on at 4:30 Monday afternoon.  So, 28 hours with no power or running water.  We will certainly be investing in a generator soon.  The worst "damage" from the storm was to our refrigerator, since we lost a fair amount of food.  But, even that wasn't a huge deal.

Here are the few obligatory fallen tree pics from our yard:

One tree down, but note the one leaning in the upper left corner 

That tree that was leaning in the previous picture?  Yup, it fell down too.

Sisters

I love when I catch them in these little moments when they are just enjoying life together.

Hurricane

Well, I'm sure I *could* be talking about about Hurricane Irene which is on track to hit us over the weekend.  Most of the projected tracks are showing it going directly over us.  Thankfully, flooding shouldn't be an issues since we're far enough inland, and at the top of a hill.  However, wind and power outages are pretty much a given, I think.  So, who would have thunk it...we're preparing for a hurricane.

But, I digress.  This post wasn't meant to be about a hurricane in the meteorological sense.

I overheard my 4 year old singing in the playroom the other day:
"pour me a hurricane before I go insane.  It's only half past twelve, but I don't care.  It's 5 o'clock somewhere."  --Pause  "MOMMMMY?  What's a hurricane?"


Do I tell her about the weather phenomenon type or this kind?

Clearly, I explain that it's a drink for adults.



What?!  She'll have plenty of time to learn about hurricanes this weekend while we're sitting in the dark in the middle of one.

ooohhhhh, shiny.

That's what I've been feeling like lately.

I have an idea.  I get all excited about it.  About 5 minutes into executing it, a newer, shinier thought pops into my head and I drop what I'm doing to chase the newer, shinier idea for about 5 minutes until an even newer, shinier thought pops into my head and I drop what I'm doing to chase the newist shiniest idea for 5 minutes until....  You get the idea.

As much as I'm not ready for my little girl to start school...I can't wait to have a routine again.  To have some structure to our days.  Without it....  I just bounce around like a day-glo green orb in a pin ball machine.

Literal

That is the definition of a 4 year old.

Mini Me loves using the computer and is quite proficient at navigating websites.  On occasion when something happens and the computer freezes up, she'll ask for help:

"My computer stopped working.  I think it's cold again."