Blast From the Past 5

I've been talking to my sister a lot lately since she's trying to figure out a nap schedule for my nephew.  I don't think I offered much help but maybe I offered a little distraction when she was frustrated that he wasn't sleeping.  Anyway, I found a couple of fun sister pictures...

The last time I was at Rocky Mountain National Park. Summer 2002. Need to go back.

Laura and Brett's wedding. Summer 2005.

Writing/Reading

Grace has been showing a lot of progress in her writing and reading skills lately.  She is definitely confident reading very simple words and sentences and she loves it.  She is also showing that she can/wants to write things she hears.  For example the other day she showed me this...

At first glance I wasn't that impressed but then she told me she wrote Strawberry Shortcake and I was super impressed.  I'm so proud of her!  This emergent reading stage might be my favorite stage yet.

3rd Quarter Book List

July - September produced a bunch of good books for me. I went on a long fiction reading kick and even knocked out one 800 page book and one 700 page book. But by the last couple of weeks of September I felt like I needed some non-fiction to change things up. I only gave two and three *'s this quarter because I thought everything I read was really good.

I continued to rate the books on an * system that is as follows...
* - Not great and don't read it unless you're bored or it looks really really interesting to you personally and even then you might want to think twice.
** - Pretty good and if it looks interesting to you I would recommend it.  I don't think it would be a waste of time.  I generally enjoyed these books.
*** - Great book!  Definitely read it (if it looks interesting) and you will like it.
F is for fiction and NF is for non-fiction.

27.  Divergent by Veronica Roth - (F)***

28. Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan - (NF)***

29. Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother by Carolyn Mahaney - (NF)**

30. Inferno by Dan Brown - (F)***

31. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell - (F)**

32. A Game of Thrones: A Song of Fire and Ice Book 1 by George R.R. Martin - (F)***

33. The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck - (F)**

34. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - (F)***

35. Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple - (F)***

36. Tara Road by Maeve Binchy - (F)**

37. Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem by Kevin DeYoung - (NF)***

38. Enemies of the Heart: Breaking Free from the Four Emotions That Control You by Andy Stanley - (NF)**

Blast from the Past 4

I think Matt and I were engaged before the photojournalistic style of engagement and wedding pictures was in.  Or maybe we just didn't realize it or were too cheap to look into it...

Anyway we had my mom take our "engagement" pictures.  My favorites are below...

Before our "engagement" pictures the picture below taken in August 2006 may have been one of the only pictures of the two of us together taken while we were dating.

Fall Crafts

A couple of weeks ago I decided I needed to be a little more organized about having crafts in our day.  If I don't plan crafts then I just don't do it.  So, I emailed my mom and asked her for some craft ideas.  Long story short she mailed me a box of some craft supplies with a fall or harvest theme.  Then I found this book at the library.  I love having ideas right there for me and I still haven't mastered the art of Pinterest so the book works well for me.  For now it seems to be enough to inspire me and keep us going at the rate of about 2 crafts a week.  And both kids are loving it so it's totally fun.

Pipe cleaner button trees.

I watched J & L one morning so we did our bean tree craft with them.

Making sure to get lots of glue

Used foam brushes to paint to glue on and then stick on beans.
It eventually turned in to bean and glue soup.

Finished bean trees

Working on making school buses

Caleb's bus.  We used watercolor paint boxes for the windows.

Grace's bus

Apple Orchard

Today we made our second trip of the season to the local apple orchard and as we do every time we go we enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Both times we have gone we have made sure to purchase and immediately eat apple donuts.  Theres also tons of free stuff to play on so we obviously enjoyed that.

And today we actually bought a bag to fill with apples the kids picked.  In all the trips I've ever made to the orchard I've never actually bought apples so I'm glad we did this time. The trees were overflowing with apples and the bag was full within five minutes.  The kids also enjoyed climbing and playing on the pumpkins.  Hopefully we can make a few more trips this fall.

Here are a couple pictures from our first trip...

And a couple pictures from today with friends A&P...

Sally and Blankie

Grace just keeps growing up on us!  Three nights ago she told me she was done sleeping with Sally and Blankie.  Sally is the lovie she has been sleeping with since she was 4 months old.  Blankie is a soft blanket she got attached to about 18 months ago so it's not quite as dramatic.  I just can't believe she gave up Sally.

I will admit I have secretly been wanting her to give those things up.  They are kind of a pain to pack. So I've done things like require they stay on her bed and not travel around the house all day.  I've also mentioned that when she gets older she might not want to sleep with them anymore.  And now she doesn't want to sleep with them anymore.  I hope it sticks.

Napping with Sally on her eyes at 4 months old.