Hello October!

 With both girls in school our routines are changing and our time spent together feels much more limited.  The girls go to bed about an hour and a half earlier than they used to, so we've been packing as much as we can into evenings and weekends and are still having fun!  Here's a recap of the past two weeks:

Spin-art and water fun on one of the last warm days!  When the girls started to get bored with the spin art they just painted the driveway and then took pics!

The girls pick-out their own clothes most days and we had to capture this one of our 'golden bear'!


















More pics from our little photographers!  Poster in their room, and hallway bookshelf...

 One of the things Stella was most excited to tell us about on her first day of school was the snack calendar, and that "our family is signed up to bring snack on the 25th"!   It certainly wasn't a surprise to us that Stella wanted to bring something healthy.  I asked her if she wanted to write her classmates names on a tag and when she said yes I printed some leaves from the cricut for her.  She copied all of the kids names from the class list, and bagged up all the grapes.  Then I helped just a little by adding a cheese stick and tying the bags for her.  This was a fun project she really enjoyed and was super excited about!

 We are simply amazed at all of the things both girls have been learning.  Out of the blue on a Sunday afternoon Claire wanted to have a show.  She proceeded to say nearly all of the Pledge of Allegiance.  Glad to know schools are still saying this each morning (and that Claire-Bear is paying attention)!

3rd Tooth Out, lost @ 'Sticks'
during dinner out

We've been working on cleaning out a few things and since our friend Kerry has a young child we thought we'd pass along this swing/slide.  When I pulled it out to clean it up Stella asked if she could help.  She wanted to do it all by herself and I of course was happy to see the initiative.  When she was finished I was astounded by her question 'What do I get?'.  I asked her what she meant and she replied 'I just did all that work, do I get something for it?'.  When I said, 'No, I don't think so' she ran off and found something else to do and we haven't discussed it since!  I'm not sure if it's the conversation we had a few days prior about some day getting an allowance, or if she's getting trained by school that everything ends with a reward but we dodged that hilarious but possibly concerning subject for now!

Stella and Mommy recently put a few health kits together for UMCOR and the Syrian Refugee Crisis.  While I did show Stella a video of kits being handed out I'm not entirely sure she really understood why we were assembling them but she had fun doing it all the same.

 Claire, on the other hand, didn't want anything to do with the health kit project.  Afterward I asked her if she wanted to make apple crisp and she was excited about that.

















We made a last-minute trip to Fobare's Fruits to meet up with Courtney and Ryan for Conner's birthday.  The kids were super excited about this surprise and had fun playing with their cousins.  We also had the chance to meet one of Stella's classmates who happened to be there too.

 Mommy's friend from WVWC visited the area for a Train and Toy Show in Massena so we headed over one afternoon for a visit with Nick and to check out the fun.  It was a treat!

The girls had their second trip to the dentist which went great!

We've been displaying all of the fun things they are bringing home from school and will need to sort and purge now that the month has ended.

We spent a school night out one evening so daddy could get a hair cut. We had dinner at Between-the-Buns and then checked out the Halloween Costumes at Walmart.  They had a NEW Mickey Mouse attraction.  What a treat!


















And the girls had a weekend with Grammie and Aunt MJ while Mom and Dad spent some time away at Jay Peak Resort in Vermont for the Bean and Brew Fest.  It was a great weekend!  Thanks for the help ladies, the girls enjoyed spending time with you!

First Day of School

The end of summer and the start of the school year has been a whirl-wind at our house.  It's definitely been a dramatic change in our routine having both girls going off to school in the morning!

The good news is both girls LOVE school and their transition to new child care has been terrific. 









To get everyone excited for the start of school we had a 'First-Day of School Party' the night before.  Stella who's our little party planner made a banner, picked out a game, taped some decorations to the walls, and made some pretend 'goodie bags'. 

Claire dropped these a few times but they still
tasted great AND those princesses are rings they could have afterward!

Even though it wasn't a birthday party
both girls INSISTED we have candles!

This pin the star on the crown game was a party leftoever hand-me-down from a friend at work.  It was a little silly but mom took the opportunity to talk about what being a 'star-student' at school means.













We also had a fashion show of their new school outfits earlier in the week.  Our girls have tons of hand-me-downs so we only bought two new outfits and two new pairs of shoes, mostly just to get them excited.  When I asked if they wanted to have a fashion show it never occurred to me they would want a run way!  Too funny!  We brought down a mattress from one of their beds and used that and played some of their favorite songs.  I have no idea where some of the poses Stella made came from but it was silly and fun!  Claire wasn't so in to it but she danced around a little bit.

 Needless to say, we all had a lot of fun preparing for the first day of school!  When the day finally arrived both girls were happy and ready for the day.  Claire was a little shy when we first arrived to the morning program but only for just a moment.  No tears and an exciting day followed by family dinner at the Cactus-Grill afterward, which mommy thinks should become a new school year tradition!

Other exciting news for late August/Early September:

Mommy took the girls to campus for the welcome weekend Carnival which was full of fun games and activities, one of which was making your own stuffed animal and another was painting your own piggy bank.  The girls had tons of fun!

The orchard down the street has opened for the season so we met Aunt MJ there after church one Sunday and picked apples!













In an effort to have a better bed-time routine and encourage the girls to go to bed and sleep in their own rooms we bought them a new bunk bed and let them pick out their own bedding.  We tried to convince them to buy matching sheet sets but ended up letting them choose what they wanted: Paw Patrol on the top bunk, Frozen for the bottom, and Inside Out for the trundle.  We are happy to report that so far they are going to bed in their own room every night!

 Last Friday was school spirit day at Brasher Falls Elementary so on Thursday night we made some theme shirts to join along in the fun.  The girls liked making the shirts and despite it being kind of messy it was a fun project (that took us off our nightly bedtime routine....).  In the morning, my attempt at photos was a fail because Stella was a tad-bit grumpy!

 We have had some tears in the mornings since the start of school but mostly attribute that to tiredness.  We started with an 8:30 bedtime and then switched to 8.  It sure comes quickly at the end of the work day but we are all gradually adjusting to our new routine.  Amazing that we have two school-aged children now!