Lil' Buckaroo Ranch

I'm in a moms group for stay-home moms in my neighborhood and we get together throughout the month for field trips, playgroups, recipe club, etc. This month our field trip was to the Lil' Buckaroo Ranch. Everyone had a lot of fun feeding the goats, petting a rooster and Peter Rabbit, riding a tractor, brushing a miniature pony, and roasting marshmallows!

Larkin was brave enough to go on the tractor this time! Last year she wouldn't go near it!
Larkin brushing the pony with a special hand brush.
Watching the pony do tricks--jump! Roll over! So many giggles.


Time for roasting!
The girls with Ella and Laura, our neighbors.

Willa reading

Here's some video of Willa reading Peter Rabbit. Not her best rendition, but it's cute anyway.

Also- It's my first time downloading video-- to those who know-how do I cut and edit it?

Favorite reading nook

If I ever can't find the girls, one of the first places I look is in Willa's room behind her rocking chair. It's to the point now where I will yell, "Where are you?" and Willa will yell back, "I'm reading!" and it's understood that she means she's behind her favorite chair. She goes there at least 10 times a day and sits by herself and reads out loud. In this pic Larkin is telling Willa all about what happens to Spot (and Larkin should know the plot because I swear she read this book 1,000 times when she was Willa's age!!). They really do read to each other back there and it is just the cutest thing to watch.

Willa's favorite book to read to herself is Peter Rabbit. Here's what she says while she flips through the book--
"Peter eat berries. Go garden. Oh no! Mista Greggor! Run Peter, run!! He get you! Hide!!" She is always so caught up in the book--if you didn't know she had a book in her hands you'd think that Mr. McGreggor was chasing Peter right through her bedroom! :)

moo-zik class

Once a week the girls go to a music class (Kindermusik), and it's one of their favorite things to do! It's been fun to see them progress as they get older and more used to the class routine. We started last spring, and Larkin pretty much spent the entire semester on my lap and rarely participated at all...but as soon as you got her in the car to drive home, she would talk about how much fun it was and how she can't wait to go back. This semester she is like a totally different kid-sings, dances, and mimics every single move the teacher does (she adores Ms. Deborah!). Willa likes it too but does flash her "Go to Hell" frown for the first 1o minutes or so of class.

Marching with Daddy

Willa's front row seat during storytime...little Miss Bookhog

Boat-mama's visit

We had a wonderful visit with Joel's mom this past week. She couldn't have dreamed up a better welcoming party than these two girls. They both squealed and ran right up into her arms in the airport. We heard lots of... "Boat-mama hold my hand! Hold ME! Don't hold my hand, Mommy, I want Boat-mama!"
During the week we really didn't do anything too special-just hung out at home, played, and stuck with our usual schedule. G-ma got to come with me to drop of Larkin at school, and Larkin was a little hesitant to go--she clung on tight to G-ma and cried a little bit. G-ma was there to pick her up after school too, which is always such a cute sight. Larkin walks out of the building in a straight line with her friends and always has her hands up on her backpack shoulder straps. Once Larkin got outside she had a huge grin and yelled, "That's my Boat-mama! Hello Boat-mama!!"

G-ma has a special makeup bag just for the girls (no actual makeup, just clean brushes and empty containers-but they don't know the difference!). I don't think she was in the house more than five minutes before they were requesting makeup and toenail polish!

Larkin climbed up in G-ma's lap one night in the living room and snuggled up to her for almost 20 minutes (very unlike her!). She let G-ma rock her and she even whispered, "Boat-mama, I love you."

The night before G-ma had to leave, she told the girls that she would be flying on an airplane the next day to go home. Willa started crying, hugged her and said, "NO! I come with you!" In the morning when they woke up G-ma had already left. Larkin ran right to her room then ran back to me and said, "Yep. Boat-mama was right. She's not in her room anymore. She's in the woods in Three Lakes. I bet she's hunting." When Willa woke up, she didn't talk about G-ma at all, which was unusual. On every morning that she was here Willa would ask for her and run to find her. So after a while I asked Willa where Boat-mama was and she said, "Boat-mama on airplane! I sorry, Mommy. I sorry."

Boat mama is coming!!

Boat Mama (aka Grandma Barb in Wisco) is coming to visit today! Her school closed down for the rest of the week b/c so many students were out sick...so we quickly found her a plane ticket and she'll be here this afternoon! Willa's reaction this morning was the best:

Me: Willa! Guess what? Boat Mama is coming!
Willa: Yeee-sa too? (Aunt Lisa)
Me: No, just Boat Mama.
Willa: Papa too?
Me: No, just Boat Mama.
Willa: Gamma Woof too? (Grandma Ruth)
Me: No, just Boat Mama.
Willa: Okay! Where is Joel? (she is starting to call us Joel and Jenny!!)

Joel is out of town for work and won't be back until late tonight, but he'll have a surprise for him when he gets home!

Our weekend

Here's a few pics that I downloaded from this weekend. We pitched the tent in the backyard and attempted (yet again!) to camp. Willa was way too wiggly and we gave up on her about an hour past her bedtime. We put her in her crib and brought the baby monitor outside. Larkin fell right asleep and didn't wake up til 4am. Then we decided to call it a night and return to our own warm beds! In the morning Larkin said, "Wow Mommy! I slept in the tent all night and I wasn't even comfortable!" You can say that again! Top of my list for Christmas is better air mattresses!! :)

The air mattress that could have used just a bit more air!! My back is killing me.


This weekend we also visited a new hike/bike trail near our house that Joel helped build. He volunteered for a trail building team that helped clear brush and create 5 miles of biking trails on some watershed protection lands near our house. The trails were finally opened recently and we were excited to check them out. Unfortunately we didn't get to see too much of it because we got there kind of late (gates close at 7 and will supposedly lock you in if you don't get out in time!) but we saw enough to know that it's worth hiring a babysitter and coming back on bikes together!

I thought these pics were kind of funny. I can't tell you the number of times I realize (after the fact) that I've dressed them in pretty much the same outfits. This day was obviously a pink shirt and blue jean kind of day! And then not only are they dressed the same, but in most of my pics they are doing the same things as well. I didn't notice it until I downloaded the pics at home-

Pick up rocks with your right hand...
hold baby doll in your left hand...
and squat down and pick some flowers...


all in all a great relaxing weekend!

Willa's imagination

Our Wild Willa is starting to do pretend play quite a bit now. It started a few months ago when I was getting her out of her carseat and she said, "LOOK!! Mommy, LOOK!" and kept pointing to her palm. I thought she had a scratch or something and I kept looking all over her hand until finally she said, "Baby owl! Look! Hand! Hold 'em!" That was a couple of months ago, and it has only snowballed from there. She is still quite obsessed with this imaginary baby owl, and will ask you to toss him food, blankets, water, etc. while you drive. He also likes to fly onto my shoulder while I drive, or so I've been told.

She also has quite the eye for finding tigers in wooded areas. Almost everyday when we drive out of our neighborhood (and pass a wooded park area) she yells, "SHHHH!! Quiet! Hear dat? I hear it! Tiger!"

Today when I dropped off Larkin at school Willa cried (and Larkin didn't cry one bit!). "I come wit you! I come cool!" After a while she finally stopped crying, and then started talking to herself and pretending that Larkin was there with her. Here's what she said:
Yar-kin! Nice meet you! (hugs self while sitting in carseat)
Play butterfly! (a game they play together--run around and fly like a butterfly)
1,2,3,4,5, ready not, here come! I get you!

Usually Larkin entertains Willa and will extend whatever it is she is pretending...although on occasion Larkin has been known to say, "Willa, there's no tigers!! Stop saying there's a tiger!" which almost always makes Willa cry.
:)

Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend we went to a pumpkin patch in Marble Falls (about 45 min outside of Austin). We had such a great time! The girls could not believe how many pumpkins there were and kept trying to pick all of them up (even the gigantic ones).



We beat the holiday rush by going early (and on a weekday!) so we had the hayride all to ourselves.
Searching for more pumpkins for Boat-Mama (aka Grandma Barb)!


On the hayride, they take you to a huge field of zinnias, and you can pick as many as you can fit into a cup for a dollar! Here's a pic of Willa trying to figure out how scissors work! Also she has become VERY attached to her Mr. Duck and this Auntie Lisa baby--she refused to get out of the car without them.