Outfits

The other day Alexa went outside sporting this outfit...

sweatpants, ballerina skirt, and rubber boots. So it should have come as no surprise to me that tonight I discovered she had dressed the dog for bed.

Oh the humiliation.

Grammie Sweaters

It is that time of year again, Fall. Nothing says fall more at our house than the newest round of sweaters made by Grammie Eva. The girls picked out some yarn back in August and we dropped it off at Grammie's house on our last trip to Maine. Today it was a chilly 54 degrees out this morning so we layered up.

Thanks Grammie they love them! You know this only serves to encourage them.

Alexa wanted to make sure you saw the scarf too (created out of the little bit of yarn she had left after the sweater was done).

*** Sorry Mom, we got them on Saturday, and the kids wore them on Monday, but I couldn't get the pictures to post for some reason.

Apple Picking

We went apple picking today. It is that time of year, and Alexa has been asking to go since about June. She has been counting down all week for today to come. The kids love the animals at the farm and the tractor ride out to the orchard.

It was a cloudy cool day, but the rain held off.

We ended up with 18 pounds of apples. This now means I will be searching around for creative apple recipes.

Alexa's big motivation in wanting apples though was for pie. So we took care of making that as soon as we got home.

Cookie Jar

"Don't break the cookie jar," is a statement well known to my sisters and I. It is the one act that we knew would doom us to some type of horrible fate. It still does in fact as I believe my mother said it too me the last time I was visiting. So it is with a touch of irony that I tell this story. My cookie jar broke. I was not all that broken up as, unlike my mother's jar, it was not an antique of any kind. It was, however, a gift from my mother about 15 years ago. It was a cat cookie jar. At the time I had a couple of cats, so I am sure my mom saw it and thought it appropriate. In all fairness, the jar had been broken before. Years ago in a  move the head (which acted as the lid) was broken and I glued it back together. A few weeks ago I went to open it and the glue finally wasn't going to hold it all together anymore and it broke some more. I decided that was it and tossed the jar into the trash. At this point Chloe burst into tears. Huge, sobbing, grief inspired tears. To which I responded, "Oh honey, it is ok we will get another jar. It isn't a big deal." The conversation that resulted was pretty amazing and really rather sweet.

We talked about what it was about this jar that was making her so sad. In Chloe's mind the jar is part of what makes our house home. It is always there on the counter, sometimes full, more often empty, but it is still there. It was probably one of the sweetest conversations I have had with the kids in awhile. We went around the house pointing out all the other things that they liked about our home. Things that make it comfortable for them. I am saddened to say I may never be able to get a new couch or replace to curtains. We did decide to go online and try to find another cat cookie jar.

I am a little disturbed to say exactly how many cat cookie jars one can find on a google search. It is a bit disturbing to say the least. However we settled on one that Chloe felt would work. So here is our new cookie jar...

I can't say that I would have in any way picked this jar, but there you have it. I probably get to look at it for another 15 years. I did decided to fill it up for them.

As you can see the cookies taste just as good in this jar as the old one.

Because I Can...

...and it makes me smile.

Some oldies but goodies of Alexa. Don't you just love a good book?

Fire House

Alexa's preschool went on a field trip to the fire house today. It went along with their unit on communities and community helpers. Alexa was pretty excited as this was her first field trip. She has heard about her sister going on lots of them, but this was the first one she has gone on with her school.

I woke her up this morning and she wanted to wear something "fire stationy". Not being sure what that would look like we settled on a dog shirt, "Because firemen like dogs." She also chose a red vest as she felt it was important to wear red.

As you can see she was pretty excited about the whole thing.

She arrived home a bit mad that there weren't any fire dogs at the fire house, but she said she saw this many fire trucks.

She also had some wonderful coloring about all the things she saw...

including seeing the fireman in all his gear.

Open House

Chloe's school had their annual open house tonight. So after eating a quick dinner we headed back to school. Alexa was just as excited as Chloe. They were all smiles on our walk to school.

We arrived a few minutes early and played a bit on the jungle gym before everything started. Alexa was thrilled to play with her sister at the "big kid" school. Until Chloe found her two buddies and off they ran leaving Alexa feeling a bit left out. We tracked them down in the field and they let her join in making Alexa feel even better. Nothing like having the big kids include you in the fun.

I asked Chloe what she wanted to make sure she showed us. Here are her highlights...

Her self portrait.

The class tessellation.

Her individual pegasus listing her hope for the year.

A Bean Plant and Some Bulbs

Chloe came home from school on Thursday carrying this...

A bean plant that she had planted on the first day of school. She was adamant that he needed a bigger pot and a stick to tie him to. We headed out today to get some more soil to repot the little guy. While we were there we picked up some bulbs to plant. We had stumbled upon a 50 percent off sale. We have covered my weakness for purchasing plants for the garden haven't we? We got right to work when we got home taking full advantage of a warm September afternoon. Chloe repotted her bean plant in a huge pot.

Alexa made sure to offer helpful advice and moral support.

After getting the bean plant all tucked in we were ready to tackle the close to 100 bulbs we bought. Alexa was set to help dig holes for our bulbs.

Cabbie did his usual foraging through the garden for sticks to chew on.

Lucy soaked up some rays.

We got a lot of new bulbs planted, giving us something took look forward to next spring after a long winter.

The bean plant has taken his spot in the office with plenty of stick to climb.

Pet Parties

Lest you think that we only make our own pets suffer humiliation, fear not we are equal in all our endeavors. Today was our house guests Lucy's 5th birthday. Knowing that this would be her first birthday without her dad, we wanted to make sure she didn't feel forgotten. Also any chance for a party is good by us. So we did the usual things for the birthday girl. In our house if it is your birthday you get to pick the dinner. We were not too sure what Lucy would choose so we added a little extra yummy in her kibble...

The party hat is a must.

There were gifts. We figured the party guest (Cabbie) needed a party gift too.

The birthday girl got two.