Beautiful Fall Sunset

Jim and Emily ventured off to Trader Joe's this evening to pick up some dinner; which left Gracie and I to ourselves.  We decided to make some Peppermint Chocolate Bark.  While doing so I looked out of our kitchen window and saw an orange glow, which can only mean one thing SUNSET.  I decided to grab my camera and try to grab some shots from our front yard.  Here is what we got...

I hope you have a beautiful day too.

The Joys of Picture Taking

I will be the first to admit that I am no photographer (although that would be fantastic if I were)... but when it comes to taking posed pictures of my kiddos, well they have their own ideas.  Every year, along with most of America we try to get that "perfect" Christmas card picture to send out to the ones we love to show off our little ones.  I decided to take the picture a little suddenly; nothing was planned.  You'll notice the girls have a gold medal necklace on, along with a macaroni necklace they made   And now that I'm looking at the picture again, Emily has a pearl necklace on.  (It's always a good time to have a pearl necklace on!)  I decided not to try to take them off because I didn't want to cause any tears or ruin this so-called moment.  When picture time has been decided, you don't want to do anything to rock that boat.  Oh, and yes, that is a pajama top Emily is wearing!  But like I said, when the time is right, you must strike!   So this is one of the first ones we took.

OK, so things are going so well.  Emily refused to sit next to her sister so I thought, hmm it might be cute if Gracie got behind her and gave her a hug.  Uhhh.. not so much.  Next we got this..

We're getting a little better, but what's up with Gracie's eye??  (Check out those necklaces and pj top!)

Finally we got this one.. the winner!! 

Thank you girls for such a "perfect" picture.  Doesn't it appear that we have perfect little angels and that our life is always so calm and full of rainbows??  That's what I wanted!!

Now we had to have a little fun!

We hope you and your family have perfect, yet silly holiday season!  Cheers!!

Happy Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving to all friends and family!  We spent this bountiful holiday at my sister's house along with my parents, and my brother-in-law's family.  We shared many laughs together as well as way too much food!  The turkey was delicious, however Emily still had to have her ketchup up and Gracie had her honey.  At least they ate their dinner!  
I am thankful for many things in my life.  Of course family, friends and my health are always at the top of the list.  Although I do have a few unconventional things I am thankful for.  Those are...
*Gracie wearing "panties" through the night
*Emily taking wonderful naps
*Our new mattress (just purchased today, and yikes are those expensive!!)
*The new drink my mom introduced to me... sparkling water, raspberry syrup and some half and half (can I just say yum?)
*A working heater
*Nice sized playroom
Those are just to name a few!  Now that turkey day is done... it's time to get into that holiday spirit!  Christmas Carols, here we come! 

Lovely centerpiece thanks to my mom and girls

 The girls and I have been on a crafting kick lately, not sure really where this is coming from! 

Little Indians that Gracie created (with a little of mom's help of course!)

Getting ready for feast time!

 This seriously entertained my girls for like 20 minutes!  They also took many napkin rings and were stacking them.  Whatever makes them happy!

Gracie being silly at the dinner table

Until next year....

I HEART FALL

A Pick'n We Will Go

When Fall begins, it means one of many things... picking your own apples! We visited Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville and picked strawberries and apples. It felt very invigorating to pick our own fruit. I felt very organic! The girls each had their own little bucket to put their freshly picked strawberries. Gracie had a great eye for the ready-to-be-picked strawberries. Where as for Emily, she picked whatever she could get her little hands on... green or red!



There was a sign posted that said we may "sample" the fruit, but not "graze". Unfortunately, I don't think Emily got that message. I think she had more strawberries go into her mouth than the bucket.

Some mommy and Emily time :)

Is she still eating those strawberries??

Off to pick some apples.

It was enjoyable picking the apples too. We had to help the girls somewhat to reach by holding onto them and allowing them to stretch their little arms. The girls had that proud look on their faces when picking their fruit; like they grew it themselves and were picking their prizes!

Here's Gracie showing off her beautiful strawberries.

If you look closely you can see all the strawberry residue on Emily's mouth. She LOVED the strawberries!

We will for sure do this again next year. Hopefully Emily will be able to control herself and not eat all the strawberries before paying for them! Happy picking!

Off to the Mid-West

We went to the Mid-West to visit Jim's family over Labor Day weekend; which was a really long time ago! Traveling with two little ones is always interesting. We had long days, off nap/bedtime schedules and a few tantrums. But it was of course all worth it. We had a really nice time. While there we went to an apple farm called Apple Holler and Lincoln Park Zoo. The girls really enjoyed themselves.

Gracie was brave enough to feed the goats!

Gracie picking an apple, which technically we didn't pay for :)

We went through a corn maze.. which if it were me alone, I'd probably still be there!

This pretty much says it all...

This was really cool. We got to see the polar bear under water. The girls got a kick out of this!

Chicago

See you again, Chicago!

School Days

The day finally came where Gracie started preschool. Jim and I have always thought that we'd start Gracie in preschool when she turned three, but the night before she started we began to think maybe not. Not because she isn't ready (because believe you me, I know she it) but because she's our "baby girl"! The time with these kids goes by so incredibly fast. While you're going through the everydayness of things, it seems to go by slowly. But then you blink or take a deep breath and all of a sudden 6 months have passed.

Gracie had a wonderful, fun-filled day! She loved her teacher Miss Megan and recited what she said pretty much all afternoon. Which, as a teacher myself, makes me a little nervous about what my students have repeated at home!
Gracie wanted us to call her Miss Megan and she continued to ramble about going to the bathroom, listening ears, secrets, singing some songs that I don't quite recognize yet, and timers. The good news is she is looking forward to going back next week. The following are some pictures of this big First Day of School.

Gracie eating breakfast before this big day!

And we can't forget about Miss Emily. While Gracie is in school I get to hang out with my precious little Emily. I really enjoyed this one on one time with her that I don't usually get!

Ready or not, here we come!

Gracie is to find an apple with her name on it and take it over to a tree to hang it.

Here is the tree where she is to hang it, except she's too busy looking at someone else's apple!

I think Emily is ready to start school too!

Last hugs good-bye! We love you Gracie, have a great day!!