biking and sweaters

Willa has been begging for months now to have a bike of her own. We bought Larkin the next size up in bikes and gave Larkin's old bike to Willa (poor girl always gets the hand-me-downs!). She didn't mind though and couldn't wait to ride her big girl bike on the biking trail near our house.

She can ride super fast and can steer around any obstacle, but can't brake on command--so watch out!!! She's kind of like a mini-Joel on a skateboard!

Larkin usually rides up in front (she knows to stay far away from Willa!) and then stops and waits for everyone to catch up.



A few days ago the weather changed and we got our first breath of fall air. It was in the upper 50's in the morning, and the girls ran outside and then immediately ran back in to find warmer clothes. They were excited to finally get to wear these cute sweaters that their Great Aunt Karen knit for them. I'm sure they will be wearing these a lot this year--they are so cute!! They kept saying, "Good thing we have these warm sweaters. It's freezing out here!"

Willa is mad at me in this picture because I took like 20 pics of them trying to find the best lighting. Forget the lighting-her face is priceless! Come on Mom, quit taking pictures of me!!

Party!

Here's some pics from Larkin's birthday party. She had so much fun and has been telling everyone (total strangers included) that she "turned four at the bounce house."

Happy Birthday!

First birthday

Second birthday

Third birthday

Fourth birthday

It's hard to believe Larkin is four! Each year brings so many changes and time is flying so fast!

Our little girl...
-loves the color pink
-is best friends with her sister
-loves nature and the outdoors
-still sleeps with Mr. Pink Bear (now renamed to "Lucy") every single night
-loves to ride her bike
-is quite the athlete
-loves carrots, pistachio nuts, queso, and lemonade
-hates bananas
-can swim
-has changed her name at least 50 times over the past year (Elena, Ali Rose, Lucy, Aurora, etc.)
-likes routine
-immediately puts a dress on first thing in the morning
-refuses to wear shorts, unless at gymnastics
-gets attached to particular outfits and wears them for days in a row
-loves to snuggle
-is so excited to be four years old!

Goodbye Simon

My parents' dog Simon passed away a few days ago. He lived a long, happy life and will be missed by all of us! Just a few days before he died, he had stayed with us while my parents were out of town--so the girls had some good final memories with him. When I told them that Simon died, they both kept repeating, "That is so sad! Oh no! Poor Simon!" Lately they keep weaving his death into their daily conversations and play. Here's some examples:

Larkin was looking at a calendar and we were counting down the days until her birthday. She said, "My birthday is on Thursday, and then I die!" When I asked her why she thought she was going to die, she said that, "Four is very old so I think I'll probably die."

I called my neighbor Susan but she didn't answer. Her car was outside though, so we knew she was home. We were trying to figure out reasons why she didn't answer the phone when Larkin said very nonchalantly, "Maybe she died."

Both girls keep asking how Simon got to Heaven since he can't fly (and they don't think that heaven can float either so they are a bit puzzled over the whole thing).

For a couple of days all the dolls in the house had died of old age. Willa told everyone that, "My doll is dead but she was old, so...it's okay!"

Ethan Wigmore

Uncle Matt and Auntie Laura had their baby! Ethan James Wigmore arrived on Aug 18 and weighed 8 lbs, 15 oz.

Matt called us once he arrived, and we put the phone on speaker so the girls could hear Matt tell us. They heard crying in the background and immediately started running around dancing/yelling, "Our cousin is here! Our cousin is here!! Yay!!"

That night when I was tucking Willa into bed she said, "I can't wait to hug my cousin and hold him." I told her that yes, she could do that someday. She immediately got out of bed and said, "Let's go!" and truly thought that she was going to go give him a hug right then.

The girls have been full of questions ever since he was born. Here are some of the questions they've asked me--
-"How come Ethan was in Auntie Laura's tummy and not Uncle Matt's?"
-"How did Ethan get in there? How did he get out?"
-"Will Ethan always be my cousin, even after I die?"
-"Can I hold him? Really??!!"
-"Is Ethan as tiny as a mouse?"

For a few days after he was born Willa was going up to complete strangers and saying, "Auntie Laura had a baby! I have a new cousin!! And I get to hold him!!"

Congrats Matt and Laura! We are working on coming to see you soon--can't wait to get all the little cousins together and kiss that baby!

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Children's Museum in New Braunfels

About 45 min outside of Austin is a WONDERFUL museum for kids. If I lived closer we would be there almost everyday!! Here's some pics from our trip. There is so much more than my pictures show too--if you have young kids you MUST go to this museum. I can't believe Austin doesn't have something like it.

The best bank tellers in town

Willa relaxing by the fire. She did try to catch fish in the fire (??)--we must get this girl on some more camping trips ASAP!

Willa braving the Class 4 rapids

Willa and friend Zoe painting a real car!

They spent a lot of time in this "house"--the girls are putting up the blue shingles and they also have magnetic wallpaper inside. They kept saying, "We're busy working and we've gotta hurry! The big bad wolf is coming but we're building our house out of bricks!" They had a pipe that they used as a "telescope" to see the wolf coming.

Grocery shopping. They had cash registers with real money, and a conveyor belt that really moved!

Emergency! Emergency!

candycanes and tomatoes

We've had lots of rain here lately thanks to Tropical storm Hermine. Close to 10 inches has fallen at our house over the past few days. Thankfully there was no flooding at our house, but many others in Austin weren't as lucky!

A day before the rain started, I explained to the girls that a strong storm was coming and that the winds were almost strong enough to be called a hurricane. They were both very interested and a bit anxious about its arrival. The next day Willa heard the rain start and ran around yelling, "THE CANDYCANE IS HERE! THE CANDYCANE IS HERE!!"

We were also under a tornado warning for a little while so we talked about tornadoes. No matter how many times I corrected her, Larkin kept accidentally calling the tornado a tomato. "Mommy, when will the tomato come? Whoops! I forgot again! I mean tornado!"

Skirts/ Fire Station visit

Here's a fun activity to fill up an afternoon! For any who want to try it, I got the idea from this website-- Filth Wizardry
I took some old white pillowcases and trimmed them to skirt length. Then just dilute acrylic paint 50-50 with water, and start painting! I also let them use sharpie markers on the skirt, but I must say I will not do that again--Larkin was so excited to finally use a sharpie that she colored her skirt with it for probably 45 minutes straight. Definitely burned a few brain cells! After you paint it, let it dry and then iron it to really make the paint stay...then wash it and add some elastic for a waistband. The girls loved it and the skirts are super cute!

Anyway the girls wore their skirts to the local fire station for a playgroup field trip. The firemen gave us a tour of the station and did a presentation on fire safety. They showed us all their gear and then put it on for the kids. Here's a pic of Willa touching the fireman. His loud air tank and mask did make him seem a little scary, but he encouraged all the kids to come touch him and to not be afraid of a fireman if he comes to save you..."firemen are your friends!"

Touring the ambulance

All the fireman made it very clear that this was the public's fire station and that anyone is welcome to come visit it anytime, and that you don't need an appointment if you just come with your child. They told a story about one kid in the neighborhood who came once a week for an entire year--he was in love with fire trucks!

Yes, I really do supervise around here...

So today I was folding clothes in my room while the girls were jumping on couch cushions on the ground. I had made it very clear (or so I thought) that they could only jump on the floor.

They were giggling and jumping, and then all the sudden I could tell from the way they were talking to each other that they had moved onto something MUCH more exciting. As I turned the corner I saw Willa perched on TOP of the chair and she immediately launched herself off and landed right on the couch cushion. I told her she was not allowed to do that EVER AGAIN, but to do it just a couple more times so that I could take a picture. :) I will say though that she nailed every landing!!




We hosted playgroup at our house this week. Some other stay-home moms and I get together each week and let the kids play while we talk. Here's everyone in our dining room-slash-art room.

Look out-Larkin can now cut with a REAL knife! We made peach/raspberry jam the other day and she loved cutting up some of the fruit. She loves to cook and is always asking how to make different things. Now when she asks to make things she always says, "If we make that, do we need to use a knife? I can do it!!"
The girls in their "campsite." Their definition of a campsite: run around the house and grab as many things as you can-hopefully without Mommy noticing...pile it all somewhere and jump on it. They did this DAILY for about a week. I still have yet to find the novel I was reading--I know they put it in a campsite somewhere around here!!!! This picture really does not do justice to the amount of stuff they pile up. One day they literally took every single article of clothing out of Willa's closet--hangers and all!

Almost everyday they put on a "show" underneath our Texas map. The content of the show varies (thankfully) , and you can expect anything from a music show, poetry (they "write" them on paper first and then "read" them), nursery rhymes (they each have at least 20 totally memorized), or (as seen in the bottom pic) a choreographed walk through a maze of toys.