Another Week, Another Farm...

Last week was Belle's first day of school. Wednesday got off to a bit of a rough start because she didn't want to wear shoes or a jacket but once she got to school, she did very well. A couple of tears here and there but a big smile on her face come pick-up. We cuddled on the couch for a few minutes after school before I had to go back upstairs to work and Nina captured these sweet pictures.

Friday's drop-off was much smoother and she had a fantastic day! Here I was trying to capture the first day of school picture that I missed on Wednesday but Claire stole the spotlight - which somehow I don't think Belle minded.

On Sunday, Belle wanted to go see animals and get pumpkins so we took our first trip to Lookout Farm. The girls seemed to enjoy riding the train to the orchards and kids play area. We didn't pick apples because we had just gotten a big bag the day before but we explored the grounds, peeked at the animals and bought apple butter, apple cider donuts and apple pie.

We also picked out pumpkins which proved to be a very difficult decision.

By last night, we were all pretty tired so it was fun time on the couch. Belle tried on Daddy's baseball hat and Claire rocked her Cars jammies which I had initially bought as a Halloween costume but which have since been turned back into jammies since Belle would now like both of them to be giraffes - anyone in need of a Curious George costume? ;-)

Davis Farmland

It's Fall, which means it's football season! In between college games on Saturday and the NFL games on Sunday, we took a drive to Davis Farmland on Saturday, to see the animals and check out the scene. Belle was a little scared of having a strange person try to put a bracelet on her but once she calmed down, she really enjoyed all the different animals, especially the cows and the goats. Of course it figures that once she got comfortable enough to pet the animals, a goat mistook her hair for straw and started to eat it!

Claire, for her part, stuck her fingers in every gate and fence she could find so we're lucky we came home with all of her fingers!

On Sunday, while Claire napped upstairs and Mommy worked out, Daddy and Bellle assumed their standard football-watching positions - too cute for words!

We looked up this week and both girls looked so big and so grown-up suddenly. Claire loves to run around the house and watch movies, particularly "Cars..."

It's only appropriate, then, that she enjoyed a bowl of popcorn with Daddy while they watched Nascar!

Belle now wears a different pair of sunglasses every day - she's quite the fashion maven!

Preschool orientation was this morning so hopefully I can post a first day of school picture from Wednesday as part of my next blog post...

East Haddam and Nina's First Week

Week 1 with Nina went great. She and the girls instantly hit it off, with Belle especially showing her all of her toys. Here they had fun making Playdough cakes.

On Saturday we went to visit Gaga and Grandma Janice at their new house in East Haddam. What a beautiful house and hopefully not too worse for wear with the girls who had fun running around the house and testing out the floors - sans clothes - or diapers - because that's how they roll!

We also "celebrated" Claire's 18 month birthday and realized why she looks like she's as big as Belle - because she is. At her 18-month check-up, she weighed in at 26.4 pounds and 33 inches, which is about as big as Belle was at her 2.5 year visit in late June. Wow, no wonder people always ask if they are twins!

We've had a blast running around, laughing, playing and being silly - which makes the frequent temper tantrums so much easier to deal with. We're looking forward to how much more changing and growing the girls will do this Fall, especially with Belle starting preschool again next week, while also beginning to show interest in potty-training!

Elyse's Last Week

We were so sad that last week was Elyse's last week with us for awhile so it was fitting that it rained for much of the time! We made do playing inside...

...with messy popsicles...

..."car seats" made out of empty diaper boxes...

and donning our raincoats and splashing in the puddles outside...

...and then - once the rain had passed - wearing rainboots to soak up any last raindrops!

And once inside, we had to make sure that no rain snuck in so Belle insisted on wearing her rain hat while she ate snack.

On Thursday, the girls and Mommy took Elyse to Crescent Ridge Dairy Bar for her first experience of their cows and their delicious ice cream. Elyse and Mommy made more of a mess than the girls but we really enjoyed watching them run, jump and play - on a gorgeous summer day...

While we've reached the height of sisterly fighting - what with Claire wanting to watch "Cars" all the time and Belle wanting to watch anything else - I've also managed to capture a couple of cute moments between the girls, who really can be quite loving. Belle's favorite expression this week, "Baby loves me, Mom!"

We had fun this week learning new expressions and faces too with Claire learning to stick out her tongue and Belle soaking up like a sponge everything she hears. Heard from her little mouth this week:

"Claire, you're a mess! I want you to take a tubby right now!"

"Hey Missy"

"Hey sweetie"

"Hi cutie"

"No, because I don't want to"

"You're too cute"

"Hi Tatric" - she insists on calling Daddy what she thinks is "Patrick"

Potty training has started up again and we're making slow and steady progress, though have to tread lightly as Belle says no if she thinks we want her to try too much - she's clearly in control.

This is also our first week with Nina - so far so good - so we'll let you know how that progresses as well.

Thanks for reading, as always!