Alexa's "New" Bed

Alexa and I have been on a search for a new bedspread for her. The one she currently has has been on the bed since she moved into a big bed at about 2 and a half. It is getting a little worm out. Mostly due to a small dog who has been sleeping on it with her for the past few years. We have had some problems finding a new comforter that she liked. I am happy to say she ruled out the princess ones that we came across this summer. We have found a few others that she liked, but they were all for a full or queen size (who buys a queen size bed for a kid???). Today we were out getting her a new pair of sneaker for school and came across one she loved.

She wanted butterflies to match the rest of her room and she didn't want it to be "too pink." Which I know shocked me since over half of Alexa's wardrobe is pink but that is what she said. She is really happy with it.

We also made up a bed just for Cabbie using the old blanket. Our hope is that he will learn to sleep there instead of on her bed and maybe help this one stay in a bit better shape.

So far they both seem to like it.

Open House

Tonight was the annual school open house. Of course this year we had two classrooms to visit. Alexa's class showed us their math song and their clean up dance.

Chloe showed us her new composition book,

the new pencil Mrs. Robinson got just for her to work on her grip (she is actually excited to use it!),

and she showed off her new book browsing bin.

I apologize for the short entry, but when we got home the dog managed to get sprayed by a skunk. frankly people, short is all I have the energy left for after dealing with all that.

Role Playing

When we arrived home today, Alexa announced that she was getting her stuffed animals so she could play school. She decided that she was the music teacher. She then came to me with one of her dress up dresses and asked me to help her put the fancy sparkly side inside so she could wear the boring one to look like a teacher. Needless to say I am feeling the need to step it up a notch on what I wear to work. At any rate she got them all arranged in a circle for music class.

They were a very good class apparently and learned their songs rather quickly.

Apple Picking

We took our yearly trip to the apple orchard today. We are a bit earlier in the season than we normally go, but Alexa has been itching to go since about July.

We got in some animal feeding and were able to pick about 21 pounds of apples.

There was, of course, Chloe's constant quest to catch chickens. She only actually got one, but that didn't keep her from trying.

Alexa grew tired of the chickens and was more interested in petting the other animals around.

The Summer Flowers

I went around today and took some pictures of the flowers. I figure I will need this around December to remind me that there once was something other than snow piled all around me. Here are Alexa's sunflowers. They were the only problem that we encountered from Irene. They were flattened, but my mom helped her tie them back up so we can enjoy the blooms. She is hoping to gather the seeds for her hamster. We shall see if she can beat the squirrels to it.

She also has some morning glories winding their way up the deck and the sunflowers.

My flowers boxes on the shed did really well this year. The box on the left is almost completely covering the window.

We still have some things in the garden. Alexa's has one pumkin growing. I am not sure he will make it given how late he got started, but she guards him dutifully and checks on him often. She is hoping he gets made into pumkin bread.

We still have some cherry tomoatoes, although our crop was no where near what it was like last year.

The front garden has had a great year, despite my battles with the cat across the street. The zinnias have been blooming for months which is one of the great features of zinnias.

The sunflower that was planted by a squirrel has finally bloomed. I love it, but I am not sure how much longer it will be there before some drunk on their way home from downtown decides to do it in.

As fall closes in on us and the cooler tempertures settle in the garden will fade away and I will have to settle for browsing through seed catalogs to plan next year. Although there are still the fall bulbs to plant!

Lego Guinea Pig

What?

You don't build Lego stuff for your guinea pig?

Chloe's Book

I am a rather forgetful parent at times. Chloe brought home this amazing book of poetry at the end of the school year back in June. I kept meaning to put it up here for others to see. It got buried in a pile of other papers that came home at the end of the year too. Today being the start of the new school year we are cleaning out all of the old things to make a place for the new. So here it is a little late, but I hope you enjoy it.   

Back to School

So I realize that I haven't posted much in the last few weeks. My apologies. Things get a little crazy at the end of August when you are a teacher. It is like all those weeks of leisure get through aside and you a thrown into the frenzy of getting ready for a new school year.  It all becomes a little frantic. I did realize that my quiet combine with the recent visit of tropical storm Irene to Vermont has cause a few people to worry about our safety. Fear not my loyal readers we are fine. With the exception of a few flattened flowers we suffered no ill effects from the storm. Which is much less than can be said for others in our state. For us things have moved ahead at the usual pace. All of the preparations for the first day of school. Today was the first day for both Chloe and Alexa. Alexa started kindergarten today. I am not sure how it happened, but it did. Chloe begins third grade. Grammie Eva was kind enough to be here to help out this week (Aunt Andrea was here last week). Grammie escorted the girls off to their first day of school today and took some pictures. I took the first few of the girls at home before I left for work today.