Beach ball fun!

These pictures are actually from August 31, but somehow I just found them on my camera's memory card. Cally is such a little ham. :)

An apple-picking day!

The girls and I spent a week with my grandma and grandpa after we closed on our old house. We really enjoyed the down time after a frantic two weeks of packing and organizing. One of our adventures at grandma and grandpa's was a visit to an apple orchard. It was a fun way to pass a good part of the day. Oh and I can't forget to mention the yummy apple squares and apple muffins we baked with our apples.

Cally was too frightened by the scarecrow to join in this shot. She was much happier to stay safely with me. :)


Grandma was able to get Cally to join in this shot.


Here we were on the wagon ride out to the apples.


Cally was so excited to pick her share of the apples.


Here Addy is rolling around on the ground with the worm and bug eaten rotten apples in chase of a toad. The toad ultimately won this battle but Addy was pretty thrilled by the chase.


Hopefully we will make it back to this orchard next year too!


In case you were wondering, David was happily tucked away at a hole motel and working away his time... We love you David!!! <3

SOLD!!!

For the two weeks the SOLD sign was in our yard I did my best auctioneer impression every time we pulled into our drive. S-O-L-D!!! It was a happy end to our house-selling adventure of six long months!
I learned one main thing about the real estate world in our (old) neck of the woods. One was that kitchens and bathrooms do NOT sell a house! Forget putting money into updating important rooms that families need to use. What was most important to all the couples who looked at our house twice (and all but two did), was a two-car garage. I made it through our kitchen remodel and am sure that adding onto a garage would be much less taxing on daily family life. But really all I can say to all the large garage lovers in the area is, have fun entertaining your family in your large garage. Not that I am bitter or anything! ;)
Addy is pretty sad about moving to our new house. She says that I am making her sad when we talk about our new place. Addy loved the house when we looked at it with her so I am not too worried. She starts her new kindergarten tomorrow and I hope being in the eagle classroom makes the move bearable! Ca-caaw!!! (Addy's eagle call to the uninitiated)

Bakers or clowns??

We have been doing a fair amount of baking this week. Addy calls our baking sessions her cooking lessons, which I find pretty cute. :)
Here we were making chocolate chip cookies.





The girls were enjoying peanut butter cookies a couple days later. The peanut butter cookies were a huge hit. If I might complain, they are awfully crumbly though...

Puzzlerific

Ok, I am a fool for silly blog post titles! I guess there are worse things to fall for?! Cally is pretty good at doing puzzles. She LOVES them and stays wonderfully occupied while completing them.

Park play!

Cally and I spent a couple of insanely nice afternoons at the park this week. We have had interesting conversations/observations with and of other park goers. Life never fails to amuse, I guess!

Cheese!


David's mini-me in her full glory!


Wheee!!

Try, try, try again!!

The girls and I made it to our favorite orchard and picked raspberries this past Saturday. We had a great time, but I will say it was a very hard won activity. The first road block was when we stepped outside all geared up to go muck around in the vines to find that it was sprinkling/raining. The girls and I decided that we could brave it out as long as it wasn't a lightning storm. Once we decided that we were off to stop by the ATM for some cash to pay for all the raspberries we had bucket enough to pick. The first time I put my card in the machine I accidentally hit the button to hablo espanol. I was tempted to gamble our checking account balance but at the last minute hit the cancel button and decided to start again. The second time I put my card in, the machine made an ominous crunching sound and flashed an out of order message. Two phone calls later (my bank and the atm's bank) my card was cancelled and the machine's bank was notified. I still had no cash and I thought it would be best to pick berries another day. When I told the girls this Addy reminded me to always keep trying. So, the solution to our dilemma involved raiding her cute little piggy bank!
We had a great time at the orchard/berry patch. The girls absolutely loved the raspberry lemonade slushy we tried.













It probably should be noted that our day did not turn into a shiny ray of light after picking berries. A small tree branch landed on the hood of the car as I was drivng and my cell phone finally bit the dust. Luckily the last two incidents were not directly related!

My tumbling bugs!

The girls are both doing a session of tumbling right now. Cally is in the parent and tot class and Addy is doing a group for early elementary aged kids. Addy and Cally both love it. Cally is doing great with following her teacher's instructions and waiting her turn. Her favorite activities are bouncing, swinging on the rings/bar, and the balance beams. Addy is working really hard on doing a bridge by herself and being brave. Some of the skills 'scare' her, but she is doing great at doing the skill regardless. I am so proud of both of them!