October Fun!!!

Claire and Chloe try out the refinished bench that Papa completed this week. The bench used to sit on their front porch at the old house and was quite weathered. Papa worked several weeks, on and off, and the results were very nice. The girls were quite pleased. Papa also grew pumpkins for Claire and Chloe this year. It was time to carve a couple of them and Claire is quite interested.....until.....

she sees the messy stuff on the inside. Chloe got right in and assisted Papa but Claire decided to just supervise.

Chloe examines the finished projects.

Both girls like hanging out in the back of Papa's pickup.
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Chloe tries on her alligator costume.

Chloe checks out her sister's tail!

Claire and Chloe make their trick or treat bags by using stickers and small brown paper bags.

"We really, really, really, like decorating" Chloe kept saying. Mommy has to work at the hospital so Aunt Suzie invited them to come to her neighborhood. The last I heard, Uncle Superman, Aunt Suzie and Daddy were going to take them to a few houses. Needless to say, they were excited.


Just a glimpse of a beautiful tree outside of the girls bedroom window. Wow, spectacular!

Newsflash: Halloween Evening, 7:30 PM. Uncle Superman just sent some pictures from Trick or Treating. Claire and Chloe changed their plans and became Tinkerbell (?) and Little Red Ridinghood. They also called from Aunt Suzie's phone and I can assure you they are having a wonderful time!!!
November is upon us already! Enjoy!

Skeletons, Cowgirls, Engineers, and Biologists!!

Monday and Tuesday of last week were the highlights of our week. Those were the days spent with Claire and Chloe. Our little skeletons pose for the camera...
And our cowgirls pose for the camera.....

And one of our little gardener girls poses with Papa....

Busy little Chloe heading for the water....

Claire stops to tell me about something she is watering.....

Eventually they started pouring a little water down the driveway and it would run down the hill. Soon Claire decided that they needed to make a "dam" so that the water wouldn't get away. She and Chloe began to gather pine needles, which they called grass, and piled them together to stop the water. We were interested in where the dam concept came from and when Daddy came home she explained to him what they were doing. He responded with, "How do you know about dams, Claire?" She replied, "I'm not sure!" We had a good laugh about that.

The last picture is so precious to me. The girls are so affectionate and loving as is demonstrated here. Chloe and Papa are watching and talking about the bees that are working the rosemary along the driveway. Their little minds are like sponges and Chloe had been identifying birds that were in the yard earlier, telling us that the family of woodpeckers were looking for food for their babies but that they would be back. Both girls can identify some plants, and Chloe had also warned Papa "not to touch and pick red berries because they might be poisonous." We are looking forward to seeing what information about the bees has been retained after the conversation with Papa, and to listening to them chatter endlessly about all that they are absorbing.

It never gets boring!

Happy Fall Days!

The past week has been full of fun and laughs, beautiful weather, and very busy. I can only give you just a glimpse of what took place.

Under the lovely princess dress that Chloe has on, is her I ♥ NY shirt that Papa and Grandma brought her. Both girls seem to love the shirts and when I asked Claire if she had been to NY, she said, "No, but I am going with you and Papa." I told her that was true, she could go, but not until she is about 13 years old. Her response, "But Grandma, I am only two!!!" I think she had the concept that it might be a few years before that happens.

Play dough activities took up the majority of one morning. They just couldn't seem to get enough.

Mommy and the girls made a trip to the hairdresser where both girls got a trim and some slicked-back pigtails. After that, Claire and Chloe visited their "old" house. The house was empty at the moment, waiting for the new renters to move in. Here is Claire with her pig-tails and big smile, followed by Chloe.

Below they investigate an empty bedroom and then take the stairs to their old room. Chloe wanted to know where her crib was and Claire wondered where all the toys could be. We reminded that one of the cribs was at their new house waiting for their new brother and the other crib was given to a friend who is going to have a new baby as well. As for the toys, we reminded them that all the toys moved with them. That seemed to satisfy them and they continued exploring.

Below are the girls having a snack before going outside to play.What a great time they have with water...as all kids this age do. We had taken a walk first and both girls insisted on wearing their rubber boots. I think they had a plan all along for after the walk.




The week ended with a birthday celebration for Aunt Suzie. Below are Claire and Aunt Suzie, Papa and Chloe, and then Chloe in her Stevie Wonder mode.

After dinner we all went to Shubert's, a local ice cream place where Uncle Eric treated the family to some yummy ice cream. Below you can see Claire and Chloe with Uncle Superman (a.k.a. Uncle Jon). They are crazy about him and have such fun when he is around.

Here is the rest of the group looking quite full and satisfied.
Happy Birthday Suzie!!!

Home Once Again!

We are home again (for a week now) after having a wonderful trip to New York City and several points on the East Coast. We saw and experienced so many new things, too numerous to write about. We spent 4 days in Manhattan and then boarded a cruise ship and visited Halifax, Nova Scotia, St. John, New Brunswick, Bar Harbor, Maine, Boston, MA, and Newport, RI before returning to New York. Our traveling companions were terrific, we experienced lots of laughs, and created many memories. Below are Norm and I on a ferry headed to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We particularly enjoyed Ellis Island and spent several hours taking it all in. We visited Ground Zero, took in a Broadway Show, saw a small area of Central Park, toured the battleship Intrepid, rode the subway, and walked and walked and walked cramming in as much as possible in our time there.
Our cruise was great, weather was up and down, but it didn't hamper any activity that we wanted to do. We particularly enjoyed Bar Harbor and Boston and would like to return there someday.

We have both been fighting a bug this week, probably picked up on the airplane, but are looking forward to more time with the twins this upcoming week. We are home for a while now with no travel plans in the near future. That is good...we have more than enough to keep us busy for a long time...partly catching up on things that have been neglected while we traveled off and on most of the summer and early Fall. Stay tuned.