They are just too funny sometimes!    I guess the photo doesn't need much explanation but Sophia was carting Annabelle around the yard thus morning :-)

I love being able to blog from my phone - it makes it so easy to share things with you!

A BIG DAY AT THE FARM ...

I decided to pack up the girls and take them to Great Country Farm which is the BEST place in the world to take your kids to completely exhaust them (and myself)!

We went with 2 of my girlfriends and their sons and we were all there for 3-4 hours and didn't even get to play with half of the stuff they have there, there is just so much to do!

We were able to get to the water/rock mining, the GIANT air pillow, the tractors, the tire mountain, the super sized chess game, the super slick slide, and we a little picnic lunch and played with our friends. As I'm typing this I am realizing that we actually did alot :-)

The air pillow was awesome and the girls loved it! I even put Stella Grace on it for a bit and bounced her around.


The tractors and chess game were fun. Annabelle "drove" her and her friends to the "store" to buy some bananas and then she decided she'd play a game of chess. Maybe she's our quiet genius.

Then the girls climbed up the tire mountain. Sophia (as she did last year when we were here) climbed to the top and flexed her muscles for me. Annabelle was right there with her climbing but instead of flexing at the top she tried to dive head first right into the big top tire, it was pretty funny!!!

From the tire mountain we moved on to the super slick slide. It's 2 side by side big long tubes that are super slick and pretty long. I went down first with Sophia on my lap, then she went on her own while I went with Annabelle on my lap, and last ms. independent (aka Annabelle) wanted to go down on her own so I put Sophia in one slide and Annabelle in the slide next to her and the went down together. It was a cute little moment for them to race each.

I have to say, they are growing up so fast and becoming such people it is making me a little sad. Don't get me wrong, I know they are all under 4 years old BUT they have all become so close and they interact like best friends it is so great to watch. I love them all so much and I just feel luckier everyday to be able to watch them grow together. We ended our day with some apple cider, pumpkins, and a pot belly pig named Edgar.

I posted a bunch of photos from our day. Enjoy ...


The Tire Mountain:







Sophia flexing her muscles







Most of the kids on top of the mountain




Annabelle going over the tire head first in celebration!

Ahhh .... The Cider

Annabelle was a big fan .... until

a bee flew into her cider!

Stella Grace couldn't keep up and the lights went

out around 1:00pm

Edgar the Pot Belly Pig!

Pumpkin Time!

The kids first game of bag-o and I must say, they are pretty good for 2 & 3 year olds. We should be proud parents ... HA!

Chess:

She is a master :)

The Tires:

The Water Mining:

We have POOP!!!

We have been loosely potty training Annabelle for a couple of weeks now and she has gone "pee pee" a few time but no number 2 yet.

Today she came downstairs from her nap, said she had to poop, sat on the toilet for a few minutes and then actually pooped!!! It was a big day for us :)

When she pees she gets one m&m and if she poops she gets 2. We were so excited and Zack asked her "how many m&m's do you get when you poop?!?!?" and she yells out "THREE!" ... oh she's learned a lot from Sophia already.

Maybe we're making some potty training progress ... let's hope.

Second Day of School

Sophia left again for preschool and it was easier on Mommy but a bit harder on Annabelle. One of the big draws to her new preschool is that they have a car line so I don't have to unload all 3 of them and take Sophia into school unless I want to.

On Sophia's first day we all walked her in and saw her off and yesterday I decided to give the car line a try. It is very easy on me, we chat while we wait and they sing songs, etc. So when it comes time for Sophia to get out of the car a teacher comes to the car and gets her and takes her to her classroom.

Anyone who has met Annabelle knows that strangers are not her thing. SO ... when a strange lady (her teacher) came to the car and took her big sister she was less than thrilled.

She started by crying, just crying.
Then moved on to crying while gasping and asking "where is Sophia, where is Sophia?"
Then as she continued to cry and question her sisters whereabouts she realized she wanted to go to preschool so then she moved onto "I want to go with Sophia!"
So my ride home was made up tears and the realization that she does in fact love her sister a lot.

It was very sad to see her so upset but also really cute at the same time so see how much they mean to each other.

So today is day 3 of preschool, I will use the car line to drop her off, and I hope that Annabelle will handle the transition like a champ!

***UPDATE: Drop off was a success :)

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!

When did my little girl grow up?!?!?!?! I was a little sad and teary eyed today when Sophia went off to her first of school this year. I know she went last year but for some reason this year was much more sad to me. She is such a little kid now and not my little baby!

She started a new preschool this year. Last year she was at Winnie the Pooh preschool and we decided to move her over to HOPE preschool this year. HOPE is a little bit bigger and more established (and my mom started the school way back when) and we thought it was a better fit for us all.

So off she went ... and she didn't miss a beat!

On our way in we ran into her friend from Winnie the Pooh last year who also started at HOPE this year so they were able to walk in together and play together at the play ground during recess.

Then when we got to her class she didn't even turn around to say good-bye to me, Zack, Annabelle or StellaGrace (yes, we ALL took her for her first day) and when I went to pick her up I stood in the class room for about 3 minutes before she even realized I was there. Needless to say, it was a much more traumatic day for me than her.

Her teacher said she did awesome! Apparently she did alot of "helping" with some of the younger kids in the class and "helped" then learn what you do at preschool (by "help" I mean "boss"). Most of the kids in her class are new to preschool as a whole and because she went last year she now thinks she is a master preschooler and she doesn't mind telling you about it.

This is what happens when she dresses herself for a walk through the neighborhood ...

The end of summer ...

Our summer is almost over and I am pretty happy to have some sort of
routine again. Sophia starts preschool on Monday and we are all happy
about that. She going to HOPE preschool this year so it will e a bit
of a change because the school is much larger and she will be going
Monday-Wednesday. As for me, I'm happy she will have some new friends
to play with!

I put a few photos up of us from the last two weeks or so. We went to
the park at the elementary school across the street and the girls got
to play and Sophia did alot of soccer playing, although by the picture
you'd think she just sat there :-)

So now we are preparing for school and birthdays. Sophia will turn 4
on October 1 and Stella Grace will turn 1 on October 18! The last
year seems to have gone by faster than any other!

Enjoy the photos!

Stella Grace was able to have her first play date with her friend Ben
:-) My friend Rachel from High School comes over every now and again
and our kiddies get to play together. Ben is almost exactly 2 months
younger than Stella Grace

I let Sophia take the lead in feeding Stella Grace. I figured she has
start earning her keep somehow :-)

I took the girls to the school park across the street and they just
wanted to sit by the door with their sunglasses on while Stella Grace
tried to walk.

Her superior soccer skills ...

She actually did great and kicked the ball all the way down the field and back!

We made homemade pizza for lunch ... A big hit!