Gymnastics Class and a Stop at the Park...A Fabulous Friday

We're in our third week of gymnastics class. It's called Tumbling Tots and it's designed for walkers through age 24 months. Parent participation is required, and luckily, my mom has been able to help so the girls get some one on one assistance, which is especially helpful during the obstacle course. The class starts out with some circle time songs like "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and then the kids get 15 minutes of free time to explore the gym. Addison LOVES hanging on the bars. Emily doesn't seem to have a favorite, but loves that there are so many people around to smile at and flirt with. Then we go through an obstacle course that the instructors have set up all around the gym. Then the kids pick out an instrument and we do a marching lap around the gym. Then it's back to circle time for our favorite...the parachute! First the kids get on top of the parachute while the adults make it billow and flop and then they get to go under the parachute, which is just plain magical.

Yesterday, I took a few pictures during class, but it's hard cause we're always on the move.

By the end of "Under the Parachute" all the kids' hair is standing on end and everyone's super hyper

Our class is an early one, so we still have a lot of time between the end of class and lunchtime to kill. Yesterday, it was an absolutely gorgeous fall day, so we stopped at the playground to have our snack and a little playtime.

I'm loving these new sweaters on the girls

Contemplating what's next...more granola bar or time for swings?

There were lots of birds singing that we needed to look for in the trees

We still both fit in one bucket swing!

Joy!

And then, Emily noticed the big girl swing beside her, and decided it was time to exit the bucket swing and give this grown up swing a try. I was a little hesitant at first, but she did great, holding on tight just like I told her to, and concentrating hard on staying safe on the swing.

Soon after Emily got onto a big girl swing, Addie wanted to try, too. She was a little more adventurous and kept trying to jump off the swing, but she'd just sort of fall out into the woodchips and then immediately want back on the swing. We're going to have to practice the  "holding on tight" a little more.

A Very Loud Machine Visits Our Backyard

The stump grinder came to take out the last reminders of our aspen trees earlier this month. We were upstairs when we heard the machine turn on and the girls went straight to the window, where they stood, riveted, until the job was done.

Chew Toys Are Back

With all the biting that's been going on in our house lately, Chris had the ingenious idea to break the ol' chew toys back out of the "baby toy" box in the basement. Now when one of the girls (usually Addison) comes at you with that wide-mouthed, crazy-eyed look, you aren't completely defenseless, because you have a Sophie to offer as an alternative. The sister-biting-sister and daughter-biting-parent injuries have vastly decreased since the chew toys came back! Yay!

Hiking with Grandpa John

One of my dad's favorite hikes by his house goes up Pisgah. A couple of Fridays ago, we were hoping to make it to the top, but didn't get very far because I didn't know how to get Emily correctly buckled into her pack (it's usually the one Chris wears).

Something's not quite right, here.

She was sliding all over the place and kept saying the same thing over and over and over again in between wails of frustration, "guck, guck, guck." I think she was trying to tell me I'd done the buckle wrong. So we didn't make it as far as we'd hoped, but had a very nice picnic under a very nice pine tree and then the girls got to do some real mountain climbing on real mountain rocks. It was quite the adventure.

Before we started out for the hike, Grandpa showed off his bear horn. Here's Emily before and after the alarm was sounded:

Now that I know how the backpack works, I'm hoping we'll get another hike in before it gets too cold!

Little Works of Art

On Thursday we broke out the watercolors for the first time in our house. Surprisingly, they were less messy than crayons as they weren't immediately eaten. The girls had a great time, making one painting for Great Grandma Nicoll's birthday and one for the fridge.









Painting ended with the girls looking like this.

Happy, messy, joy

She's a master at the paint piano

It was a hit, and we'll definitely be doing it again soon!

Peekaboo!

We see you! 

The Diaper Wars

Addison has known how to take her diaper off for awhile now, but her uncanny undressing abilities really started to become an issue towards the end of August, when she decided she just never wanted to have her diaper on. 

We've tried several approaches. 

Duct Tape.

Who is this zombie child terrorizing my kitchen?

By the way, before becoming a zombie dressed in only a diaper held on by duct tape, Addison was dressed in a onesie and shorts. Not only is she a master at taking off pants, onesie snaps no longer present a challenge.

Think I'm looking cute right now? Just wait til we get home and I get bored!

And why is the duct tape necessary? Because otherwise, she'd be walking around like this, and since she isn't potty trained yet, I just don't don't feel comfortable with it.

Those are her pants tucked under her arm. For some reason she likes to walk around with her  pants and diaper in hand after she's taken them off. Shortly after this picture was taken, the diaper duct tape came out.

On this lucky day, she was taking her pajama bottoms off, but then she was putting them back on!

tah dah!

But on this other rather unlucky day, Chris got so tired of stopping her unsnapping her pajamas, the duct tape had to come back out.

We have one pair of zip-up non-fleece footie pajamas that I cut the feet off of two days ago. I put those on her with the zip in the back, and she has yet to figure out a way to get out of them. Both yesterday morning and this morning, I went in to get the girls and Addison was laying in her crib, perfectly content, and naked from the waist down. Those backwards PJs came out, and stayed on her all day yesterday and today. I do get her dressed when we leave the house, as she hasn't yet become enough of an exhibitionist to strip down in public, but she's very happy being naked at home, so it looks like our backward PJs are going to be on a lot for now.

First Haircuts!

On Saturday, we took the girls to a little place called Pigtails and Crewcuts, where they got to sit in awesome car seats to receive their first haircuts. Both girls did very well. Sitting in cool cars and watching cartoons probably helped!

Before leaving for the big haircut, the girls got to enjoy their morning snack on the deck.

Emily: Do you think it will hurt?
Addison: Not much, I've heard it isn't bad.

 And then Mom made them pose on the front porch right before leaving.

The before and after shots....

Emily got to drive the Taxi and Addie got Fire Engine number nine.

All done and looking cute!

Baby #3...12 Weeks Today!!

We're twelve weeks pregnant, almost out of the first trimester! Baby #3 is due March 24th, 2013!

Baby's first fridge pic (8 week ultrasound)