September 2012

Well, it may have taken us a while to get back on schedule, but we did it eventually.  With that means Daddy goes back to his busy travel schedule too.  We really loved his work/home time, but we knew this time was coming.  We enjoyed it while it lasted!  Here are some September pictures:

Digging at the playground.

Food shopping, of course.

T.V. time

Jeanne at the top of the slide

Loki coming down on his belly.

Jeanne in the bubble.  It's cool to be higher than mommy!

Loki's up there too!  "Hey look, Mommy is way down there!"

Crazy chick climbing up the slide, and too happy about it.

I love this picture, even though the sun is blaring.  

Can't tell if I like the bright one or faded one better.

Loki climbed this ladder, with minimal help, upwards of 50 times.  Here he is patiently waiting for me to take his picture before he climbs it again.

Patience GONE.  Here he is screaming 'ELP" at me because he can't wait a moment longer to climb ;p

Big man at the top of the ladder.  He is so proud!

Sick Day:

After we brought Daddy to the Airport early Tuesday morning (went out for breakfast and went food shopping), we changed back into pj's and brought every blanket into the living room to snuggle and watch a movie.

 Lunch with Grandma and a visual on where Daddy was going that day.

Afternoon walk to the construction near our place. Yes we are all still in our PJ's.

When we got back we did a fall sensory bin.  This was cool and lasted quite a while.  Jeanne was telling stories about the 'children' (i.e. the seeds).  Loki loved the dumping and pouring.

Loki pulled all the trains out one at a time and linked them all.  I was surprised by this purposeful dexterity and lack of banging and throwing.

Back to normal

Well, clearly I didn't 'spruce up' the other posts.  It took us a few days to get back onto East Coast time, and unfortunately old habits too, like Loki waking in the middle of the night.  We have since re-arranged their bedroom, in hopes that his crib placement close to an air vent may be waking him.  So far, he has slept all night 2 out of three nights.  Eh, we'll see.

Other than that, we are all smiles here.  Jeanne has gone back to taking naps everyday, and we are both better off for it.  Luckily for me, Loki and Jeanne's nap schedule are taking place at the same time (hence this post).

I am personally trying to keep a more positive mind set and trying to rid some old nasty ones.  Part of that means less play dates to occupy the kids, and more hands on baking/science/family play/nature walks.  I find this keeps my family much more sane, happy, healthy and curious than  'go crazy at the playground' play dates.

With that, Daddy gave the kids a bath last night with rainbow colored shaving cream, and all three had a blast.  I don't have pictures, as I wasn't in the bathroom, and when I did go in, Daddy's was partially covered in shaving cream himself, so it seemed a bit 'hands on' ;)

Right now, I am cooking up some pasta and dying it various colors to play with on the porch.

Speaking of outside, it has been decidedly 'Autumn' like here, and for North Carolina, that means waking up to high 50's-60's.  I'm rather surprised really, even though it gets back up to high 70's-80F during the day.  It has reminded me of all the beauty of a New England Fall.  Crisp air, knitting scarves, getting out the sweaters and the glorious trees.  It has made me all very excited to celebrate this Autumn Equinox with the kids.  Since Jeanne is 3 now, we can really get into the good stuff!  We've already made butternut squash soup (and everyone lurved it!), and we just got an acorn squash at the farmers market.  I've already told Jeanne about the gooey joy of scooping seeds out of pumpkins and roasting them and making bird feeders with peanut butter and oats.  We also came home with a bunch of apples, so I think we'll be making some apple butter and apple sauce real soon!

Hm, I think I might be hungry..

HOME!

Finally pictures and stories to come. But needless to say the kids and parents all survived the cross country flight and are well rested this Sunday morning. Much love to all!

P.S. a special thanks to Gramndma Barb for picking us up at the airport.