In the Wood

October Birthday

My younger sister Melissa was an October baby. I was about Savannah and Isaac's age (5 1/2 yrs) when she was born. I remember it well. Mama's water breaking in the middle of the night, three weeks before Melissa's due date. Mom had been out with me and Jessica all day, shopping and looking for winter coats for us. It was too much stress for a 9 months pregnant woman. Melissa can probably thank her two older sisters for her birthday being in one of the best months of the year.

October 1989:

 My beautiful Mama with tiny Melissa Joy. We called her "Missy". Now the twins call her "Missa".

Sister Love. Jessica is holding Melissa and I'm on the right. Jessica was seven and I was five.

 Jessica and I adored Melissa and were fascinated with everything she did. We would just lay on the bed with her and watch her sleep. She couldn't do anything about us invading her personal space back then.

Me and Melissa. I was so proud, and also happy that she wasn't crying!

~ Moving forward 23 years ~

Melissa's birthday, October 21st, 2012:

Me and Melissa in 2012.

I love you Melissa! Happy Birthday!

Side-note: You might notice Dad isn't in the pics above. He was taking the pictures - in my humble opinion, he has quite a knack for capturing the moment.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we met Mimi, Aunt Leigh, and the cousins at Country Pumpkins (aka, the Pumpkin Patch). This was Baby Avery's first outing. Her sister Elizabeth (Lizzie) had her first outing here two years ago, so it was really neat that Avery's first outing was at the same place. They were both August babies, and are two years apart. I know they'll be best friends!

 Can you believe how much the twins have grown? I can't.

 Sweet Lizzie riding in the wagon.

Baby Avery. You can tell her Mama is talking to her.

Smiles!

Playing in the corn bin, still a favorite!

Baby Love. She is so so precious.  Joe laughs at me when I say things like that, but I can get away with it, so HA! I'm a Mama and an Aunt.

I'm not sure what is so wonderful about lounging in the corn, but obviously it is very relaxing. They did this quite often.

We were trying to get a picture with Lizzie too, but she was very distracted. You can't tell by looking at their serene faces, but total craziness was going on in front of these three.

Savannah, Mimi and Avery. I know I just posted a picture similar to this, but this is so sweet I had to add it. I have several of these, each with Savannah admiring different things about Avery. Her little fingers, cheeks, ears. Savannah loves babies, and especially Avery. She is so good with her, it just melts my heart. (Another phrase I can get away with since I'm a Mama)

:-)

Anywho, I've gotta run! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thursday!

October

Sam and Savannah.

Playing in the yard at our new house. This is what Isaac did when he saw that I was taking pictures:

 Sam.

 Celebration.

Sunset.

At Country Pumpkins:

 I know it's a little odd for Isaac to be alone in this picture, but Savannah said she didn't want to be in it because her neck was too cold. Fortunately her neck warmed up later on - it was a chilly day!

Isaac and Aunt Lydia. He makes such funny faces.

 Savannah and Aunt Melissa.

 Crazy faces on the hay ride. I wasn't sitting next to Isaac and couldn't get a good picture of him, but he was making some pretty crazy faces too.

 Tire swing!

These two! They make me smile.

I hope y'all are enjoying this beautiful season! Happy weekend!

Happenings and Amusing Moments

On this lovely Friday morning we're enjoying the great outdoors. The twins are swinging and I am just far enough from them that they're not worried I'll hear secret plans.

Earlier Isaac ran into the house like a wild man and I discovered him digging through Savannah's closet, pulling out shoes. He looked up and exclaimed, "Mama, I can't find Savannah's flip flops!!!" Me: "They're behind the door in the kitchen." Isaac: "Okay!" He then grabbed an armful of shoes and ran back outside, where I could hear Savannah telling him those weren't the right ones. As I walked up to the swing set, Savannah said, "Mama, Isaac is being mean! He will not get me the right shoes. I told him to get me the shoes shaped like a  A . He got me some high-healed shoes instead. *(dress up shoes)  I said the ones shaped like a A!"

Me: "Savannah, Isaac is being really sweet to you. He didn't have to get you any shoes at all. He's been inside looking for your shoes and now you're being very rude to him. You need to tell him "thank you". You can't expect a boy to know which shoes are the ones shaped like an "A". And if you meant your flip-flops, he got those too. He dropped them on the patio."

Savannah seemed to feel bad and told Isaac "thank you". 

Isaac, who had been quietly swinging through our conversation, looked up at me and said, "Mama, can you get my shoes for me? They're the ones shaped like a "B".

...............................................................................................................................................

iPhone pictures from this week:

 We got a dog! Or, actually, were given a dog. A handsome yellow lab that is so sweet. The twins love him and named him "Sam". He looks like he's smiling for the picture.  :)

Savannah finally got to hold her cousin Avery. She was so good with her! I hope to get good pictures of this precious baby when I get my camera working again.

Isaac and Lizzie were running around like hooligans when this picture was taken.

We went to Country Pumpkins! Our first visit this season.

Happy Fall! :-)

An Update

I'm alive! We've been working on the new house and the twins have officially started kindergarten (home-school), so we're busy around here lately.

I love this cool fall weather. It seems crazy that tomorrow is the first day of autumn, but I am so ready. I wish our house was more "ready", but it's getting there.

Isaac and Savannah have a new fascination with "The Chronicles of Narnia."  I read some of "The Magicians Nephew" to them, and they liked it, but I had to skip many parts that were too scary for five year olds. Eventually I just said "and they all lived happily ever after, the end." I hadn't remembered so many "scary" parts. They will have to wait a couple of years for the full story. However, we did watch "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" (I skipped some parts of it too), and yes, they loved it!

Yesterday I took them to an antique shop. The first thing Isaac noticed was a wardrobe. I was surprised he recognized  it since it didn't look like the one in the movie. He ran up to it and asked if it was a wardrobe and then opened one of the doors to get a look at the back of it, saying emphatically "I really need a wardrobe for my new room!"

The other day Savannah asked me "are there really mermaids?" I didn't want to disillusion the beautiful world of a five year old (a much bigger world than adults live in), so I just said that I hadn't seen any. Savannah replied that maybe mermaids didn't like to be seen.

Right now we're outside enjoying the weather and Isaac is slashing a sword and pretending to be "King Peter."  Savannah is showing me her pet worm, which sadly looks a little (or a lot) stiff. I told her it didn't look like it was alive and she frowned and said "I know, it's a little bit crispy. It was so cute this morning." Sigh. It is hard to keep a straight face sometimes, but I must.

I will leave you with some iphone pictures:

 Playing on the stairs at the "new" house.

 Putting down wood floors. Not me. I'm not that skilled.

Princess Spot

I haven't posted in awhile, we've been so busy! So I thought I would post a few cute pictures from this morning:

 I love Savannah's hair, flowing in the wind! It was a little too breezy though (felt great!), so I put her flowing locks back in a pony-tail. ;)

 Isaac Isaac Isaac... Does this face remind y'all of Dennis the Menace?

 A sweet neighbor dog came over for a visit. Savannah named her "Princess Spot", because she's a girl dog, and she has a black spot on her back. Do I have a girly girl or what?

The twins are so excited about getting a dog when we move! We were always afraid of having a dog in this house because we live close to a highway. We definitely won't have to worry about that in the new house.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Side-note: I noticed Ariel is lounging topless on the swing. I apologize for her indecent behavior.