Picking Apples

On Saturday we went to our favorite apple orchard to pick apples. 

When the tractor dropped us off the guy explained all the apples that were ready for picking and what they are best used for.  He pointed to the red and delicious and said they were good for baking right now . . . so because I want to attempt my first apple pie . . . and we thought where he pointed was close, we went there first.  Turns out those apples were way up the hill so we headed up in the heat:

We finally got there and the girls picked some apples for us:

Off to find the apples we could eat.  We got Beni Shogun, Golden Delicious, Jonagold, and Empire apples:

The girls got too hot and I didn't bring water with me to the orchard, so we headed back in the tractor to the store so I could get the girls some water.  Joe headed back in the tractor to finish filling up our bags:

After the girls cooled off we went thru the store to buy some peaches, our favorite popcorn butter that we buy from here each year, chips and salsa that we sampled, popcorn kernels, and a couple of fried pies. 

We then headed into downtown Blue Ridge to walk around and get some ice cream:

Emily didn't want to wear her bow anymore so Joe put it in Abigail's hair:

Then Emily wanted to take a picture herself.  She did a good job:

We headed home to watch the football game we had recorded and guess what we ate for supper . . . apples, peaches, and popcorn . . . . yummy!

Pool Time

I thought pool time was over for the season but we went one more time with our friends to their neighborhood pool.  The girls had fun together.  Abigail is officially independent in the pool.  I discovered if I put arm floaties on her with her life vest that she could balance better and could play in the water without me holding her . . . this made her a much happier swim partner:

 

It also helped that this pool had a play area for children that was completely enclosed for safety.  So we were able to stay at the pool much longer than normal because Abigail played here for a while:

 

At the end of the day, Emily decided she wanted to jump off the diving board!!!!  She did 3 times!  She wanted me near her in the water and she got her goggles and her tube float and jumped in.  I forgot my camera so we never could get a shot of her actually jumping in since the camera on my phone had such a delay . . . but here she is right after she jumped in.  I was so proud of her!!!!

Dance Class

Last week Emily tried out a ballet/tap class to see if she would like it . . . she had fun so we have signed her up for weekly classes.  Today was her first class dressed in her proper attire:

 

I lucked out on the ballet shoes because my sister gave these to me as dress up years ago . . . Emily didn't even know we had them and  I remembered that they were buried in the bottom of her closet.  They just so happened to fit!   I got the black leotard at a consignment sale last Thursday night.  I lucked out on that one because I was planning on getting her a new one and just happened to find it on the rack : )  I bought her tap shoes on ebay and we got them in the mail Saturday.  I sure do love how easy it is to get gently used items for kids!   I did buy the tights new : )

Abigail was on a roll today during Emily's class.  She spent her time digging in the trash can, putting her hands all over their fan, trying on some random girls' shoes, going behind the director's desk, and scooting on her bottom across the floor (which she has never done until today).  It was like I had given her a Mt Dew on the way to class.    A couple of the moms enjoyed talking to her and she told each of them about her eye and kept pointing to it and saying "hurt eye".   She was making me tired : )

When we got home she put on Emily's shoes and sunglasses, grabbed two purses, and took her baby for a stroller ride.  She looks like a hippie in this picture:

The last couple of nights Abigail has wanted to add to her collection of bed time sleep mates.  Tonight she grabbed two dolls and an Elmo doll and was hugging all 3 when I put her to bed . . . I asked her how she was going to suck her thumb while holding all those babies:

This youngin' should sleep good tonight with all the energy she burned this afternoon : )

Our Dare Devil

Abigail made a tumble down the stairs on Thursday evening and got this shiner:

 I was so worried she had hurt her eyeball and kept checking to make sure it was o.k.  . . . because of course she fell down the stairs at 5:30 when the doctor's office was closed.  After checking it for a while we decided it was o.k. not to go to urgent care.  The next morning it looked a lot better than I thought it would:

She did it while trying to get up the stairs to play with her sister and our neighbor.  She things she is one of the big kids!

Dress Up

Abigail has enjoyed dressing up this week.  She loves to get shoes out of anyone's closet and put them on.  She actually got her own shoes on quite well!  Emily helped her dress like a chef last night:

At the pool yesterday she also wanted to wear everything we brought to the pool with us:

It was hard to keep her balanced in the water with the swim ring while she insisted on holding the ball as well.  I finally talked her into putting her arm floaties back on so she could balance better.  The goggles stayed on to the point that they were so fogged up I don't know how she could see anything.  She was cracking me up.  I kept asking her if she wanted to take them off so she could see and she would point to them and say, "No, goggles on"

The pool is about to close for the season so we went yesterday just in case this was our last chance to go.  We had the whole pool to ourselves which was nice . . . but Emily was sad because she kept telling me there were no friends for her to play with . . . what are me and Abigail . . . chopped liver??

The girls had a great first week at school!

Preschool

The girls had their first day of preschool today.  Emily is in the PreK program and Abigail is in the Young 2s class.  They are going to the school where Emily went for 2 years before Abigail was born.  They were excited to go this morning!

 They have on their shiny new tennis shoes we had to buy them this weekend because all of a sudden . . . their shoes don't fit them anymore : )  They were also excited about using their new lunch boxes.  I used to love the first day of school with new shoes and new lunch boxes too . . .

 Neither one of them looked back . . .

Here's to a fun year!!!!

22 Months Old!

Abigail is 22 Months Old Today!!!!

I can't believe my baby girl is this close to being a 2 year old!  I want to soak up her sweetness that she has and enjoy it before she learns how to talk back : )  I love this stage where they love to talk and sing and copy all the things that you are doing.  Her speech has exploded over the last couple of months and it's so good to hear.  She still wants you to hold her a lot which makes dinner preparation, etc hard but this too shall pass.  Her favorite thing to do is to stomp her feet and say "Ma hold you, Ma hold you" over and over again until you pick her up.  Then she grins and pats herself on the tummy when she finally gets her way : )  She requests that you sing "I B pider" (Itsy Bitsy Spider) or "A B C D" for the ABC song each morning when she wakes up.  Halfway thru singing she will say "Agail turn" to let you know that it's her turn to try to sing the song.  She calls Emily "Emy" and recently has started saying "E-e-e-m-m-my, come on, chop chop" when I tell Emily it's her turn to take a bath.  As you can see from the photo above she has recently discovered the joys of playing dress up and wore this pink tutu of Emily's two days in a row.  She walks around the house patting her tummy and saying "Agail's tutu".

She has 12 of her baby teeth in and I can see the beginnings of her eye teeth starting to poke thru.  She also has curl to her hair and it looks like she gets her hair professionally highlighted : )

She is a sweet baby who is starting to stand up for herself around her sister and WE LOVE HER!  She loves to give hugs and loves to kiss you on your nose.

In other news we have mainly been "hanging out" together this month so not many pictures to post.  My sister and her kids came for a couple of days the first week of August.  It was a short visit but I love for my kids to see their cousins.  They all play together so well.  Poor Sawyer got sick so couldn't make it to the pool with us, but Sarah and Sam enjoyed swimming with Emily.  Sarah was a big help to me in the pool with Abigail:

 

We also recently purchased a round kitchen table for our kitchen area.  For the past two years, I've wanted to get a round table for this area because the other table we had was really too long for the space we had.  Plus I've always wanted the closeness that you get when 4 people sit down to eat together.  So periodically I would check out Cr@igs List just to see what was available, and a few Fridays ago this table popped up for $160.

It came with an extension piece so we can seat more around the table when we have guests.  So I called around and got a van rented from a local hardware store and we picked it up.  Even with the $40 we spent renting the van and gas $ this was still a great deal.  I'm excited and we have enjoyed having more open space in the kitchen area and sitting together for meals at our new table.

Last week, the girls and I went to the water park one more time before it closed during the week and enjoyed ourselves.  We ended up going 5 times with the kids this summer and once just the 2 of us so I think that was $99 well spent.

I also spent a lot of last week getting all the consignment sale stuff together to sell in a couple of weeks.  Hopefully that will bring in some good spending money to buy some fall clothes for Emily.

This picture of Emily shows how good she is getting with coloring pictures and drawing.  She loves to sit down and color or paint or draw.  She made this dinosaur with her sketch board and I think she did a great job!

This is their last week at their in home child care because next week they will both go to Preschool.  Emily will be in the PreK program and Abigail will swap between the MMO and the Young 2's class.  They are getting excited about starting school on Monday!