Playing in the "leaves"

The leaves here don't really start falling off until November.  So, of course, in the end of October, the girls got all excited about going out and playing in the leaves.

See that pile?  That was about the extent of them.

I think Becca was taking a nap.

Greg decided it was time to raise the seats up on their bikes, and top off the tires.  Of course, he couldn't do it himself.  He needed help.

I think Julie looks so much like Greg in this picture.

Always studying...

Emma helping to pump up her tires.

I love that she puts her chin into it.

Now, of course, the yard is covered in leaves.

Outside

The weather has been gorgeous lately.  Have I mentioned that I love October?  On top of that, Greg's parents were with us for the last week, and they've had the girls outside running around for most of the week.  Even on the days early last week when it was cold and overcast, the girls wanted to be outside.  It's so hard to come home from work and have them ask, "can we go outside?" and only be able to think about all of the things I have to do inside before I can go to bed.  It makes me resent cooking dinner even more.  I mean, I want a healthy meal on the table, and I want us to eat dinner together.  But more and more, it seems like the girls aren't even hungry for dinner, or don't want what we're having.  And then it's like we're cooking for the two of us.  Anyhow, rant over.  Just something I am really struggling with right now.

Fall is coming.

The pulled out the water table that we have converted into a rice table.  That means rice goes everywhere.  We try to clean up as much of as it we can.  Emma's insisted on sweeping up her own mess.

Unfortunately, she doesn't quite have down the technique for pouring it back in the bucket, so half of it ends up on the ground again.

Luckily, Papa moved in to help.  Because, um, I thought it was funny and kept taking pictures.

I can't help it.  I love the glare and sunspots.  The is the former water table, and the remains of a bag of rice from Costco.

We had to move the seats up a couple of notches on their balance bikes.  I can't believe they're getting so big!

 
Becca at the rice table.  Safety first.

They also like to play with their $1 butterfly nets from Christmas Tree Shop.  I got these when we visited my parents last summer.  We just got a Christmas Tree Shop here a few months ago.  I took the girls there once, and when they asked where we were going, I told them "the junk store."  So, now, that's what they call it.  :)  They tell Greg, "We went to the junk store!"

Emma collecting leaves

 Grandma helping Julie catch some leaves while Emma does something with a broom.  Which reminds me that Emma is saying that she wants to be a witch for Halloween.  Actually, a "big bad witch that's going to eat up Becca fairy."

Rainbows

The light was just right to catch some rainbows when we pulled the sprinkler out last week.  

We're tough on sprinklers around here.

We're on sprinkler #4 so far this summer...

#1 was this one that we've had since last year or so.  For a while, they were scared of it, so it wasn't a big deal that the "arms" didn't really wave around like they were supposed to.  The arms would twist around each other, so probably 75% ended up shooting straight down at the ground.

#2 was the ball, which I think we didn't have enough water pressure for, since there are supposed to be 3 streams, and we only ever really got two.  Oh, and now it's missing.  How you lose a giant inflated pink ball, I don't know.

So, recently we bought this one, which is #3.  And it actually worked, and everyone loved it.

Apparently the box needed to go through the sprinkler.  And apparently this is hysterical.

Well, it's hysterical until you drop it and get sprayed in the face trying to pick it up.

Taking a little break on the front porch.

Emma learned from daddy that you can grab the "hair" sprayers and spray them at someone.  Perhaps that was why Julie and Rebecca were on the porch.

So everything was grand.

Until the second time we tried to use it and Greg broke it trying to attach the hose.

And now?  Now we're using a square solid metal little sprinkler that we bought to water to flower beds.      Let's see what we can do to it...

Memorial Day Weekend, part 3

Hope that everyone had a nice Memorial Day.  Thank you again to my parents for putting up this flag when they were here.

We mostly stayed around home.  We did some yard work, and the girls helped us water the flowers.  This lone flower under one tree is "Becca's flower."  Apparently she picked it out from the clearance rack at Lowe's with my parents, and helped plant it under the tree.  It now has a pretty yellow and red flower on it.

I let them fill their watering cans by themselves.  This may or may not have been a mistake.

Exhibit A.

We found a pretty blue egg shell in the back yard.  We had just been reading a Winnie the Pooh book (thanks, dad) where Tigger finds a blue egg shell.

We sold some assorted beverages.

We pulled leaves off the tree.  Sigh.  Even after I told them it was like pulling the tree's hair, I caught Julie trying to get some more.

We got the pool and sprinklers out.  They do this jump over and over - they jump up, and then land on their knees trying to make a big splash.  It makes me knees hurt just to watch.

Emma jumping over the streams of water.

I'm sure Julie's shrieking in this one.

I love some of the looks I caught.

Becca was all about controlling the hose.  She also has started that "Now?"  "Now?"  "Now?" phase.

We brought out the other ball sprinkler that I got at the end of the season last year, but I don't think we ever used.  I'm not sure we have enough water pressure to get three decent streams out of this one.

They were taking turns plugging up one of the streams.  Then they were pretending to take a shower.  I told them they could take a real shower later, instead of a bath.  But they didn't agree that it was the same thing.

No matter about the water pressure, though, because they quickly figured out that it rolled.

The whole sprinkler ended up in the pool at one point.

We wrapped up the day with some cheeseburgers on the grill and some carrot fries.  They didn't come out like I had hoped, but the girls didn't seem to mind.  I think we'll just start putting ketchup on all our vegetables.