Snow-tober

We managed to squeeze a few mild days into fall, but fall is here to stay. Though, we did get a peek of winter this week. We had a dusting of snow Thursday night while a good four inches fell last night.

Abigail and Sarah woke up early enough to spend a while playing in the snow before breakfast and church. They had fun during their sneak preview of winter.

One of the first things Abigail did was make a few snow angels.

Sarah enjoyed grabbing at the snow and tossing it into the air. Can you believe that this jacket/pants combo is size 12-18 months!? It looks like we'll get two full seasons of use for Sarah before Lily will have a turn.

Daddy showing Abigail how to make snowballs.

The girls.

First snowman of the season.

Photo Fridays 10.28.11

It's still Friday, so I thought I'd share a few fun pictures from this week. Lily's car seat came in a nice big box, which made for a good deal of fun for the girls...

Belly Shots: 37 Weeks

It has been a rough week this week! I have very little energy, very little motivation, and very little patience. I feel like I am climbing an uphill battle when it comes to keeping up with house chores. I'll get one room clean, then my little munchkins undo my work. I often find myself saying to Jonathan when he gets home, "The living room WAS clean today, I promise."

I would really like the apartment to be in half way decent shape before I have to go to the hospital when I have Lily. The last thing I want to see when the two of us come home is a mess. I think I need to face reality though.

Other than the state of our house, we are all set for our girl's arrival. Though, we do need to figure out logistics when it comes to having the girls looked after when things start to happen.

I know I'll be very tired when Lily comes. But a big part of me (namely, my belly) is ready for her to be born. I'll still be exhausted, but at least I should be more mobile.

Ready when you are Lily!

Virtual Baby Shower

All week long I had been looking forward to going to my cousin's surprise baby shower kid-free. I let Abigail know I was not heading home with her after church because I was going to the shower and then she gave me a puppy dog look and told me she wanted to go too. I couldn't resist, so the two of us went together.

My Aunt and cousin threw the shower to celebrate the upcoming arrival of a little girl, so they went all out on girly stuff.

Here is Abigail decked out in a feather boa and bright pink nail polish (courtesy of Auntie Laura).

This picture reminds me of the last time she wore a boa.

The Mommy-to-Be is actually a resident of North Carolina, with most of her family living here and out west. So, with the help of a TV and a few Apple products my cousins were able to make it a virtual shower. All of the presents were shipped to NC, where my cousin David intercepted them and wrapped them all. My Aunt went all out and baked cookies, packed shower games (and more feather boas), and sent everything down so my cousin would be well-equipped to throw the same shower simultaneously in NC for his wife.

Grandma saying "hi" to the Daddy-to-Be

I wish I had more pictures, but my lens stopped working mid-shower. It was a blast-my Aunt certainly knows how to throw a party!

Photo Fridays 10.21.11

We made caramel apples yesterday afternoon. I got things started while Jonathan finished things up with the girls when I went out for my doctor's appointment.

Belly Shots: 36 Weeks

We are in the home stretch now. We're down 36 weeks with 4 weeks to go. You know you're close to having another baby when your Doctor's appointments go from every four weeks or so to every two weeks and then every week (which is where we are now).

So, are we ready? Well, if the baby needs changing we have the changing table all set (though we still need to pick up diapers). If she needs to sleep, no problem! Sarah is in the bottom bunk so the crib has been vacated. If Lily needs to be lulled in the swing we've got that covered too.

There was just one little thing we still needed to do-buy a car seat! My friend Jennifer (who Abigail insists is not my friend, but hers) came over tonight so Jonathan and I could go out on a date. We took advantage and went out to buy Lily her car seat. Now we can take her home from the hospital! We also went to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert, so our date was fun and productive.

Here's a picture Jennifer took of us before we headed out:

Pumpkins!

It rained pretty much all day on Friday as we went to school and got ready for Sarah's party. So we were happy to see blue skies and sun on Saturday morning. After Papa K, Grandma, and Jonathan put the bunk beds together we gave the girls a snack and then headed north to go pumpkin picking.

Soon after hitting the highway both girls were fast asleep in the van. As we got closer and closer to Crescent Farms we saw more and more grey clouds. Then we saw sprinkles. Then we had to use our wipers. Once we pulled into the farm's parking lot the rain really came down. I thought we could leave while the girls were sleeping but then they both woke up and saw the pumpkins.

The rain slowed enough for us to brave the cold, wind, and light rain so we could run up a muddy patch, quickly grab pumpkins, and then run down the muddy patch. I think the girls had fun even though the conditions were far from favorable.

One of the things I wanted to do when we grabbed pumpkins was to get a picture of me, Jonathan, and Lily like one I saw my photographer friend, Krista, take. I thought it was such a cute idea-lucky for me Lily is due a little after pumpkin season, so it made for a fun picture (thanks, Mom, for taking it!).


On Sunday afternoon we did some carving. Last year Sarah was just a spectator-this year she got to participate. Boy did she love helping. She wasn't phased at all by the slimy seeds and pretty much stuck her whole arm down her pumpkin. She made a funny pumpkin face with Daddy while I made a cat pumpkin with Abigail.


I'm looking forward to snacking on toasted pumpkin seeds shortly!

Big Girls!

Grandma and Papa K drove up to spend the weekend with us as we celebrated Sarah's second birthday. They came bearing gifts-a beautiful set of bunk beds!

Now that Sarah is two and Lily is due so soon we decided we were ready to get Sarah transitioned to a big girl bed. She was showing signs of being ready too.

Grandma and Papa did such a great job refinishing the sturdy set of beads, complete with custom-made pink bed rails and a sky blue board with pink slats (so Sarah has something pretty to look at from the bottom bunk).

The girls were so excited to see their new set up. Abigail was sure to let us know ALL DAY LONG that she was to sleep in the top bunk and Sarah's was the bottom. Also, I think their bedroom has fast become Abigail's favorite.

Thank you Grandma and Papa K for the bunk beds! And thank you Nonna for the spreads and afghans!

Sarah is Two!

I just cannot believe that Sarah is two. There is so much to love about our little Sarah. I love to see her personality continue to develop.

• I love how Sarah is so entertaining at the dinner table. Whether she starts singing a tune, or makes faces to get us to laugh, she has me smiling or laughing at every dinner.
• I love how she finishes a lot of her sentences with the name of the person she is addressing. Like "tank yoo, Dada" or "your turn, Ada" (Ada is how she says Abigail).
• I love how she loves to dance with her dolls and her Daddy. Both of the girls have taken to dancing with Jonathan when our Friday night movie ends and the end credits play with fun music. If you catch her dancing, you should tell her to shake her tail feather-it is so cute!
• I also love how she tries to sing along with people and even sings on her own. I caught her the other day with her Little People playset. She set up the prince and princess at their table, complete with a plastic candelabra. She sang a short version of "Happy Birthday" and blew the candle out.
• I love how she gets so excited about the big and little things. When we went to look at pumpkins while apple picking she raised both of her hands and jumped up and down because she was just so excited. She also gets excited when she sees some of her favorite people and runs to them for a good hug. This is pretty remarkable because she used to be terribly shy.

These are just a few things that we love about our sweet little two year old. Happy Birthday Sarah! We look forward to seeing what the future holds for you!

Here are a few pictures from Sarah's birthday celebration.

We made a Care Bear cake (though, Abigail will tell you she made it):

Here's Sarah talking to Papa M on the phone:

Cake and presents!

Fun with Scissors

Abigail has been using kid-friendly scissors on and off for about a year now. For the most part she likes cutting paper into confetti-sized pieces. It's a bit messy, but it keeps her occupied when I need to do a chore of some sort. She also uses her scissors for some of her homeschool activities and is getting quite proficient at using them.

Sometimes Sarah gets a hold of Abigail's scissors and goes straight for our countdown chain. I've had to repair that silly thing quite a few times now. I guess Sarah thinks she can speed up the waiting process by cutting the chain to pieces!

This brings me to our amusing story. Yesterday I was in the middle of cooking dinner and checking things out online (I have to be honest with you all). I could hear the sound of scissors scissor-ing in the other room. I immediately called out for Sarah to stop cutting the chain. It was then when I saw Abigail in my doorway, scissors in hand, up in her hair! Her hair that she took almost two years to grow enough for pigtails!

I ran straight for her and the scissors and tried to assess the damage. She ended up cutting a decent amount of hair, though not to the point where the untrained eye would notice it. She did this one handed, so she ended up "thinning" her hair out rather than chopping it off. Needless to say, this made for an interesting conversation with Daddy while he was at work - and it is another thing we can laugh about now that it's over.

The hair:

The "damage" (not a great angle, she cut mostly from the right side):

The spectator:

Apple Picking!

The past few weekends were pretty rainy and miserable, so we ended up postponing our annual apple picking adventure to this weekend. It ended up working out perfectly as the weather this weekend has been unseasonably warm with highs reaching the upper 70's/lower 80's.

We went back to Smolak Farms, where they celebrated 30 years in business this weekend. We got there earlier than normal, which I am glad for. As we finished up picking our apples the crowds came rolling in.

The girls enjoyed picking lots and lots of apples. We ended up with 73 total. I'm looking forward to making pie, apple crisp, maybe some apple sauce, and a few caramel apples wouldn't hurt either.