Apples, Apples, and Pumpkins

How appropriate that fall is here and the theme of the last two weeks at school has been APPLES!!! And to go with it they have learned songs about apples, made apple crafts and are going apple picking next week for their first field trip. Audrey is so excited to be going on a field trip where she gets to ride a school bus, pick apples, go on a hayride, and of course, eat apple cider donuts.
Also to fit the theme and to practice a bit we took Nana apple picking today. Audrey had a blast. She has turned pro in no time at picking and finding the best apples to pick, and eat. She called herself the apple girl today and then giggled. There was an abundance of apples and pumpkins to see. And the apple cider donuts were so yummy! In fact Nana and I only got to eat one each and Audrey ate the other 4 from the bag. She said they were quite yummy and they were. We also brought home several bags to share with dad tonight.

We picked 20 lbs and there were still so many apples!

Audrey picking a great one for Nana

Audrey & Nana comparing their picks.

So many pumpkins!

Audrey is very proud to sing her new apple song that she has learned at school. And she cannot wait to find all the colors of apples next week on her school field trip. And DAD is going to be one of the chaperones for the school field trip. Mom cannot wait to hear all about it.

1st homework assignment

Hi! Today was a thrilling day at school for Audrey. She learned many new songs and could actually sing them to us. That was really cool. She was the "helper" for the day and got to help the teacher with the calender and to hand out the snacks to all the kids. She has been wishing to be the helper since day one. Last Thursday Audrey was the "leader" so for outside time she was the line leader but even better that was fire drill day so she got to lead the kids out of the school and back in. What a big girl. But none of that even compared to her first homework assignment. Audrey was beaming that her teacher gave her an assignment to bring home to complete. And she listened to the directions very well at school because she was able to tell me exactly what she needed to do before I even read the attached note from the teacher. All of the kids were given a large white sheet of paper with a pumpkin outline drawn on it with a black marker and then they were to decorate it on their own. Before I could even ask how she wanted to decorate her pumpkin she told me that she was going to paint it orange with a green stem and once that dried she would decorate it with jewels to make it a princess pumpkin. The painting was completed within 10 minutes of walking in the door from school and the decorating was completed immediately after dinner tonight. She saved the decorating so dad could watch her work on her homework too. We are very proud of our studious daughter.

Painting the stem green, of course!

The final product, not due until Tuesday!

Simon says...

Learning new games has been a top activity around here. Over the summer at the beach Audrey's cousins played "Simon Says" and Audrey thought it was super funny but never wanted to be Simon. She was just getting the hang of how it was played. Now she is a pro and loves to see if she can 'trick' us and from time to time she really can. Its so cute to just sit and watch her & dad play because when she decides to throw in a 'trick' she plans it out and giggles and then says "touch your nose" (w/o saying Simon says) and giggles some more. Tonight was a marathon game and it from the den to the kitchen and back to the den with running, skipping, jumping jacks and even acting like various animals. The laughing was continuous and so very contagious that I had to join in. Not really to play but to capture the moments on camera and I got the chance to be Simon. I could not fool the new pro but I was able to stump dad. :)

21 weeks down, many more to go

I have been asked by several to keep updates coming on the newest member of our family. We are now 21 weeks along and overall feeling pretty good. I am starting to think we might have a soccer star on our hands. Every night around 9pm and many moments throughout the day the movement begins. This little guy is already very active, twice that of what his older sister was. We are also gearing up around here with more blue and green items to fill his room and closet with. However, I have a feeling his big sister may try and dress him up in a tutu when she has the urge to play dress-up, which is quite often.

Playdate with Marissa

Yippee!!! Today we went to an indoor gym after story time at the library to play, play and play a little bit more. Story time was lots of fun and we read 3 books. Audrey's favorite was about a mouse who had an apple that would not fit into his mouse hole. How silly! So what did the mouse do? He took bites of the apple of course. According to Audrey he took 100 bites! Now that's one hungry mouse. But the indoor playground stole the show for the day. The girls bounced and played and climbed and literally wore themselves out. It was so nice to be able to sit back some and chat while the girls played and interacted.

Oh no! Audrey & Marissa are trapped!!

Audrey sailing the boat.

Preschool Day 2

Day two of preschool came with just as much excitement as day one. The weather has turned almost fall like and Audrey was able to pick one of her new fall outfits. The joy of this could not be contained! :) Today at school Audrey got to play the piano with a new friend and she thought this was pretty cool. Even better though two kids in class had birthdays and snack consisted of chocolate cupcakes and ice cream cups! WOW!! Where were those when we were in school?? Another thrill of the day was a really cute book about a mouse tip toeing past a cat with a plate full of chicken & cheese for lunch, but to the mouse's surprise the cat wakes up, takes the food and makes a mess. Audrey's version was so cute and she was so excited to tell me about the story that I had never read! She also ventured to the slide on the school playground and pretty much giggled & chatted non-stop all afternoon about school. Yea!!!

First day of Preschool

Audrey's first day of preschool came with much anticipation and excitement. Bed time the night before was well after 10:00 and the morning came earlier than any of would have liked but the excitement was in the air. We all sat down for yummy muffins for breakfast and began our talk about the big day. Audrey picked out her outfit and shoes and was ready before we were. It seemed her only concern of the day was learning how to hang her backpack up when she got to school. But she did great and loved everything about school including the juice and chocolate chip cookie snack. She excitedly told us about her day and surprisingly remembered a good bit. She even got to dress up as Snow White, play with the dolls and swing at playground time.

A change in the air...

Good morning! With fall right around the corner and so many new happenings in our life we finally decided to join the blogging bandwagon. As emails with pictures were becoming less & less yet so often requested we decided to join the times and create a blog all about our family. My goal ( and mind you this is just a goal) is to post as much as I can so that you guys can keep up with all of Audrey's fun activities and daily stories and keep tabs on the little brother to be.