The Moon

Andrew loves looking at the moon!  The other night when we went out to play after dinner we looked up but the moon wasn't out yet.  While we were playing he saw it and showed us by pointing at it and walking towards it.  Then he took a seat on the driveway to look at and and of course Julia joined him.  I ran and got my camera to snap a photo of them taking in the small things.  After all it's all the small things that make the big things, right?

Enjoying it all...

Yesterday Daddy had to unfortunately work late but that didn't stop Julia, Andrew and I from having fun.  Nowadays, Andrew is walking all around the house...often times he is going nowhere...just walking.  He loves being able to walk and he's so proud of himself.

And yes he gets into more stuff now that he can walk.

Julia helping Andrew walk on the grass in the backyard.  He is not a fan of how the grass feels unlike Julia who loves to run in it barefoot.

Had to get a photo of cute Julia who is my little sweetie.  Love spending time with these two kids.  I'm just enjoying my days with them because I know they will be grown up before I know it.

Evening Walks

The weather has been so nice lately that we usually play outside and go for a walk after dinner each night.  Recently Andrew has discovered the moon and now he points to it on our walks.  Maybe reading Goodnight Moon is helping him make that connection too.  As always he likes to be holding onto something.

Such a smiley little boy.

We're trying to encourage Julia to ride her bike more since its great for strengthening her legs.  Unfortunately on this walk she hurt her leg on the bike and now she's not that interested in riding it since she thinks she's going to get hurt again.

Taking in all the sights.

Name

Guess who can write their own name?  Pretty good, right?  We only practiced a few times and now she's writing it all by herself...so proud!

On the go...

Andrew has been walking and getting better and better everyday.  Today he spent some time getting from a crawling position to a standing position without the help of anything like a chair, sofa, or the walls.  He was so determined to stand without any help and when he did he just smiled and walked along.

Not quite...this one he landed on his bum.

He did it!  Now onto some walking.

Another successful attempt and so proud of himself!

So proud of you Andrew...way to go!

Outside Fun

Now that Andrew is moving around more he is loving the playground in our backyard.  He can climb up the ladder by himself and sits in the fort for a tiny bit and then goes down the slide on his belly with his feet first all by himself.  Once he gets to the bottom of the slide he holds my hand to walk back to the ladder and does it again and again and again.  The other day I tried to put him in the swing for something different and he clearly let me know that's not what he wanted to do.  He likes to be moving around instead of being confined in a swing.  He's a man on the move!

Grumpy Girl

Yes, our love bug gets grumpy (don't we all at times) and yesterday after her nap she was in a grumpy mood.  Gotta love that face.  :)

Apple Picking

On Sunday we went for a great drive to the North Georgia Mountains to go apple picking which is one of our favorite things to do in September.  It was such a nice day...not too hot or sunny but just right.  Normally we drive a different way but the route we took on Sunday was very scenic and it made the 50 minute drive go by rather fast.  Both Julia and Andrew took a little snooze on the way up there.

Julia was a fantastic helper this year.  She was tall enough to reach the apples and pick them herself, in fact she picked most of our apples this year.  She LOVED being able to do it all by herself.

Andrew enjoyed munching on the apples this year.  Daddy cut up a few while we were in the orchards.

Julia is on the hunt for the perfect apples.

Taking a break from picking apples to give one a try and a quick photo.

Mommy and Andrew surrounded by apple trees.  Andrew loved holding the apples.

Daddy and Andrew and of course Andrew still has his apple.

Me and my two cute kiddos.

Andrew helped out by putting the apples in the bag.

This year we were able to pick stayman winesap apples which are delicious. Last year we went later in the season and they were all picked out so I was glad we got them this year.

Ready to go.  Giving Andrew a chance to do some walking before we had to get back in the car again.

And Julia enjoyed a chance to sit and relax with all the apples.  We didn't get a good family photo this year which was a bummer but we always have a good time apple picking.

Hot Air Balloon Ride

On our way home from downtown, in the field right off our exit, five hot air balloons were about to take off .  Julia and I decided to pull over to get a closer look and watch the balloons being blown up and take off.  It was neat to watch and apparently we weren't the only ones who thought it was interesting to watch.  This was the second balloon that we saw take off and my favorite one.

Getting another one ready.  They use fans at first to start blowing it up.

Here comes the gas.

The people for the last balloon didn't show up so they offered to do tandem rides.  I've always thought it would be fun to go up in a hot air balloon and when I asked Julia if she wanted to give it a try she said yes.  It's not everyday you get to take a little ride in a hot air balloon so we got in line and waited our turn.

A nice guy down below took some pictures for us.  His son was in the basket with us since he wasn't interested in going for a ride.

That's us on the right!  We enjoyed our short ride.

There's the balloon Julia and I had a ride in today.  Such a random but fun thing to do.

Sesame Street Live

Sesame Street Live is in Atlanta from Thursday-Sunday and today Julia and I went to see the show.  Since Andrew is too young to actually sit and watch it we decided we wouldn't bring him so the girls got to enjoy the show together while the boys stayed behind.  Julia and I headed downtown for the 2:00 show and we had such a fun time.  She loved seeing Elmo on stage and whenever he wasn't on stage she would ask me where he was and when he was coming back.

It's so fun watching her watch the show...she LOVES Elmo.

We loved all the singing and the dancing.

This was our third year in a row of seeing Sesame Street Live and every year they put on such a great show.

Had to get a photo of Julia with Elmo.  Thanks to the nice lady outside the ticket window that gave us her extra ticket.  

Julia Visits the Dentist

On Wednesday Julia had her second dental appointment and she did fantastic!  I wasn't quite sure how she would do since she barely opened her mouth for her first appointment.  I've been talking about her dental appointment and reminding her how she needs to open her mouth wide so they can clean her teeth.  It also helped since Daddy and I just had a dental appointment and got our teeth "super shiny" and she recently saw her friend Cole after his dental appointment too.  After all that Julia said she wanted her teeth "super shiny" too.  Way to go Julia!

Julia still sucks her thumb and we talked about that at the dentist too.  We're trying to help her stop by being positive about the whole situation and giving her tickets when she doesn't suck her thumb.  Right now we're mostly working on not sucking her thumb in the car and I must say she is doing great.  We're taking baby steps and hopefully we'll be able to help her kick this habit.  We'll see...if not as she gets a little older there is an appliance they can put in the roof of their mouth so they can't suck their thumb.

First Day of Ballet Class 2012-2013

On Monday Julia had her first ballet class for the 2012-2013 season.  She takes ballet at Cumming Dance Academy on Mondays from 9:30-10:15.  Miss Julie is her teacher again this year since we think she's great.

Ready for ballet class to start.

Reagan and Jaiden were in her class last year and it's nice for Julia to already have friends in her class.

There are twelve three year old girls in her class this year which is a bunch compared to last year.  Miss Julie was the only teacher on Monday but I'm sure they will add another teacher since there are so many girls.

Everyone was ready!  Julia was a great listener and had such a fun time. This year she will preform in a Holiday show along with the end of the year performance.  Fun, fun!

Learning Time

Since Julia doesn't nap on a daily basis I thought it would be great to have a little bit of learning time while Andrew takes his afternoon nap.  Lately we've been working on counting, writing her name and reading words in the -at family.  Here's Julia using M&M's to count the rainbows on a piece of paper and then locating that number. We've also been playing Uno and goldfish to reinforce numbers and counting.

Ready for Halloween

This year Julia has decided she wanted to be Cinderella for Halloween.  On Saturday I went to a Halloween costume consignment sale and got Julia's costume (dress, shoes, wand, and tiara) for $17.  She was so excited when I brought it home and has been wearing it so much around the house.   The dress is from the Disney Store and normally cost $45 so I was super excited with my great deal.

We can't wait until the movie Cinderella is released on October 2nd.  We bought our copy and I'm looking forward to watching it with Julia for the first time.  I'm sure she'll be wearing her Cinderella dress while we watch the movie.  I was also lucky to pick up a brand new costume for Andrew at the consignment sale for $12.  This year he is going to be a lion.  He tried the costume on to be sure it fit but unlike Julia he hasn't been wearing it everyday so you'll have to wait until Halloween for a photo of him in it.  Are you getting ready for Halloween yet?