Birthday, Messiah, and Camping (or not)

Life is full.

They are enjoying the weather and very busy sweeping off the driveway.

Emmy is finally using a regular swing, but still wants someone to push her.  Sometimes Cecily will help and hold both chains to make them swing together. 

 Cecily is usually a "half-day friend," but she got to stay all day for the Walk-a-thon.  She was soooo excited.  She talked about getting to be cold lunch all week long.  And then, after school, there were inflatable things that Emmy got to play on too!  It was pretty much the best day ever for Cecily.  

 The next day was garage sale day.  We went for a long walk in the afternoon and picked up a few treasures.  Little Emmy picked out a glass swan candle holder. It's beautiful.  

I'm so glad Bob came with us to help carry the crinoline slip we found.  Hehe.  He's a good man.  Also, what are the odds I would find two of these, one on Varage sale and one at a garage sale, in the same day?  Yay for dress-up! 

 Examining all their amazing finds... I shouldn't laugh; I came home with a bag of notions and trims that I have no real need for.

 On Sunday my family came to church with us.  The girls were soooo excited and it was nice to have them there just because, and not because we were serving lunch or a program or something.  After church we all went to Wildlife Prairie Park for the afternoon.  The otters were very friendly.

 Cadence enjoyed the animals she could see and the walk through the woods.

 The buffalo were within view, which I love.  

 Especially these two cute little buffalo.

After we saw all the animals we ate cupcakes for Cecily's birthday and opened presents.

 "It's an American Doll!"  

Last item on the agenda was the slide!

 It's just as tall as I remember and most of the adults got in on the fun too!.

 She was very happy.  "It was a fun day!"

 She got to pick from the AG historical dolls and she chose Rebekah because she liked her purple dress.... Aunt Lena is letting us use her old doll trunk so Cecily had to put away all of Rebekah's things.   

 Oh look, it's another "American Doll." Or maybe a Bitty Baby?  

 On Monday I went to Messiah practice.  I'm so excited to sing again this year!  It's so fun!  Seriously, it's a little ridiculous how giddy I am about it.  
Cecily got to go to school on her birthday and pass out birthday treats, which she loved.  We got to play outside.  Grandma Koch and Matt brought over her new bike!

 And we got to go to the library to make fall crafts!  It was great- they got to decorate gourds, make mobiles, bird feeders, and leaf pictures.  The best part was that the mess stayed at the library and I didn't have to clean it up!

 She wanted a rainbow butterfly cake again this year.  

 And opened her presents from us. I think she had a happy 6th birthday!

 The rest of the week was quieter.  She is not.  

A rare moment while Emmy was at story hour when she wasn't trying to destroy something. 

 Chemistry keeps happening.  Thankfully it's a lot less prep work this year or I would be going crazy.  I mostly just have to read the chapter and make sure I've got all my supplies together on the right day. 
Koch Cousins Camping turned into hanging out at Dale and Meg's due to rain.  We weren't planning on camping anyway, so it was an enjoyable evening and we didn't have to keep small children away from a fire.  Dale and Kevin entertained us with music.

 She entertained us with busy-ness and general cuteness.  At one point the kids were at the table eating popcorn, and Cadence kept reaching over and taking the popcorn off of David's plate and putting it on hers.  Poor David.  

So ornery.   

Yesterday it got quiet while I was making lunch and I went looking for her.  Her little face was peeking in through the front door.  (Insert heart attack)  Not where you want to find the toddler who is known to take off on a walk down the road.... 
Blessings.

They say it's fall now.

Definitely doesn't feel like fall.  It feels like August and September switched places.

The cat is still hanging around.  It likes to watch us through the windows.  The girls have been feeding it, but it is NOT our cat.  :)  It still sleeps at the neighbor's and doesn't have a name. (Cecily suggested "Panther Black," which I nixed given the current political climate...)   

Fall is for apples.  None of this pumpkin spice stuff. I made apple pie and the girls turned up their noses.  And apple muffins went over like a lead balloon... apple cinnamon baked oatmeal was "not my favorite"... *sigh*

 It rained!!  There was great rejoicing.  Any excuse for rain boots!

 They found the only puddle and took full advantage.

So we survived with an open basement staircase for quite a while.  Then we had a Cadence.  

So we finally put up a railing for a little more peace of mind, except now that she has something to hold on to she goes up and down by herself.   We're keeping the tumbling mat at the bottom of the stairs.

I think it looks great.  Bob wants to flip one of the boards because he didn't realize two edges are rounded and two are square and they don't all match.  (I won't let him because it's completely unnoticeable and I'm NOT repainting.)

Such helpful girls.  We washed a couple of the windows that we look out of the most- they were getting spotty and full of fingerprints for some reason.

Last Monday we spent the evening making apple cider at the farm.

 Little squishy went wading in the apples we were washing and sorting.  And I forgot to bring extra clothes for her.  Ooops.

Part of the crew.  

Pretty sure Cadence tried to take a bite out of every apple.

Emmy got to start story hour at the library.  She loves it, and loves that she gets to do something "without Cec-wee."  Cadence is not a big fan of hanging out at the library- I won't let her climb shelves, pull books off, throw puzzles....

There was a praying mantis on my flowers.  He caught a fly and then looked right at me when I took this picture.  :)

We did our first chemistry lab and there were no unintentional fires, thankfully.  One beaker got broken and sent hot copper sulfate all over the floor.  Just as the pastor's wife walked into the kitchen.  ...dootdoodoo... Nothing to see here... But in general it went well and they got good results.

Playing peek-a-boo in an empty box.

Bob's coworker, Jason, and his family came over Saturday evening for supper.  We went the easy route and got take and bake pizza.  The girls had fun playing with their girls, their little boy is a little bit outnumbered.  :)

Blessings.

The days are just packed

When you get home late from work, and it's been a few hours since the little one ate supper, and you turn your head for a second...

 School just keeps happening.  I keep waking up to my alarm and thinking, ugh, we have to do this again!  Haha.  Cecily loves it though, and wakes up and is out the door no problem.  And I'm very spoiled; Sharon and Marie have been picking her up in the mornings so we just have to go get her at noon.
I don't mind shopping and running errands with only two kids along.  They are under there, somewhere.

 We've been enjoying the lovely weather.

 The raspberries rarely make it into the house. This one does not discriminate, she's an equal opportunity picker, be it a pale pink berry, or white...

 Afternoon fun with the bubble mower.

 We didn't make any plans for labor day weekend, so we got a lot done in the yard and garden and had plenty of time left for relaxing.  Bob is running out of low branches to trim off the ash- the rest will have to wait for a chainsaw.

 The girls are so helpful.

 And such hard workers!

 Littlest miss in the dress Shelly brought back from India. So long ago.

 We went to the farm on Labor day.  Jakey was home, Shelly stopped in, the girls got a bunch of Farm Progress Show loot from Grandpa...  I went shopping for a little bit and the girls got to swim one last time with Grandma.

 The proper way to eat homemade ice cream is to wear it.

 Silly girls.

 They were 'sneaking' up on me.  I couldn't see them because they were sneaking.

 Don't mind the crazy selfie- we sent Cecily off to Kindergarten and then we three went to "teaching school!"  Here's to another year of attempting to teach chemistry.

 So one of our bathroom fans quit working and we replaced it.  The old fan was round and had a round hole, the new fan was square and smaller than the round hole.  So I got to patch the ceiling.  I love being covered in spackle and sanding dust late at night.... don't I look lovely in that handkerchief?

 We took the girls to Restmor to visit Grandpa Beutel.  It was a lovely day, and they had a great time exploring the courtyard and playing with a visiting dog.

 Thankfully, Willow is a very laid back dog and put up with our crazies.

 ...It's like herding cats....

 Oh look, a decent picture of our three ring circus with Grandpa.

 This one has discovered that she can reach our phones while they are charging if she climbs up into the stroller.  So ornery. So smart.

Sunday evening we got to spend some time at David and Jenna's.  The girls enjoyed their trikes AND wore themselves out running up and down their TWO staircases.  (I may have a small case of house envy- beautiful old house in the country with amazing woodwork and two stairs. sigh.  haha.)  It was an enjoyable evening.
We need some decent climbing trees.  Poor girls have to settle for a bush.  

 We surprised Cecily on Tuesday and picked her up from school and went straight to the park for lunch. Cecily ate fast and was off to the monkey bars....

Why are the bathrooms so far from the playgrounds??  We had to make two separate trips and each time I had to haul them all along... good times.
Anyway.
Blessings.