Bouquet

Becca collected these at recess one day, and insisted on bringing them home.

Playing in the leaves

I can't believe these are from last weekend already.  Emma was still napping when Julie and Becca went outside with Greg to "rake" leaves.  Greg kept scooping up some leaves and dumping them on top of the girls.

But then I went and woke Emma up, because we were having too much fun.  Emma got right to work. At first, she had absolutely NO interest in getting in the pile.  She was all about the raking.

workin' hard

And then... the girls decided that they needed to be using the big rake.  Seriously, I'm just glad no one lost an eye.

Emma finally decided to jump in the leaf pile, or at least walk through it.

"swimming" in the leaves

And then the guy across the street came out with a leaf blower.  I think her expression kind of says it all.

They huddled down with daddy on the porch for a while, hiding from the leaf blower.  Which is where they discovered their pumpkins.  Which were clearly not having enough fun on the porch.  So, they needed to come visit the leaf pile, too.  I don't know how many times I said "please be gentle with the pumpkins!"  They just wanted to sling them around... on the porch, in the leaf pile... on the porch, in the leaf pile. 

Becca finally gets a turn with the big rake.  I love the hair flying around.

And then we decided to share the rake.  And take off for the neighbors' yard to rake their leaves.

And, um, yes, that would be Rebecca.  Pulling leaves off the neighbors' tree.

What a difference one week makes!

vs

Catching up, part 3

The rest of last weekend we just enjoyed playing outside.  Most people play outside until it gets dark in the summer.  But for us, that's more likely to happen in the fall.  We've had a really great string of gorgeous weekends.

R throwing leaves up in the air.

R under the tree

Emma and Julie exploring

Julie picking up leaves to throw

Oh poor, neglected blog.

So, after being thoroughly spoiled by one round of grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa S came to visit. The girls have just been loving all the attention, and the extra set of hands meant that I could go out of town last weekend feeling a little less guilty.

That's right. After 2 years, I spent my first night away from the girls. I had the awesome opportunity to go to CHA, the Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show, with Coordinates Collections. I finally got to meet some fabulous people in real life that I've only ever talked to online. It felt like we had known each other forever, though! And to have someone understand you when you say "yellow cardstock is ok, but it has to be just the right yellow"? Priceless. So we scrounged some samples and put together 10+ kits (that's 5 months worth). I was only gone for a long weekend, but it was just weird to be away. I don't think my body knew quite what to do. I didn't sleep terribly well all weekend, but wasn't exhausted the way I normally am. (That's *totally* returned now that I'm at home.)

It was nice to come home to my family, though. Greg surprised me by showing up at the airport with the girls. Julie saw me first, but it took a second for it to register who I was. So cute to see. Emma ran over and wanted me to carry her. And Becca was more interested in my luggage.

While I was gone, the girls had a blast with Grandma, Grandpa, and Daddy.

Emma at home with Grandma and Grandpa one day. Cooking some fruit, I suppose.



The girls took Grandma and Grandpa where they take all the ones they love - the zoo!


This is what typical group pictures look like.


We never got around to raking the back yard this fall. Most of the leaves weren't down until Thanksgiving/early December, and we just didn't have time. I new it would be a group effort, so I found the girls some rakes online, and they got here while I was gone. I hear they loved their rakes. :)




Julie on the computer with Grandpa