Memory Lane

Thinking of our apple picking outing last year and how little my girls were...

Field Trip

Fall just started but we have had a bunch of fun already. Today Sydney's preschool had a field trip to a local orchard. I am glad the rain held off because we had so much fun! We pet the animals and then we took a hayride. Soybean was a little freaked out by the hayride but she finally braved it out while watching the horse gallop alongside of us. Sydy loved the hayride, but she was anxious to get back to the animals (go figure). The kids got to see how cider donuts were made, got a lesson on how honey was made and then got to pick a few apples and pumpkins. Sydney had fun hanging out with her classmates. Soybean was also having a blast. She ran around like she was one of the 3 year olds!!! Many of the parents commented on her...one mom even said "she's busy, isn't she." Yeah, understatement! Busy busy busy...that Sawyer Molly.

Sydney kept talking about her field trip today. Her fondest memories are learning about bees and petting the animals.
My kid was the first one to the fence to feed the animals! She loves her animals.

Go figure that Soybean chowed down on the cider donut...little did I know that she stole it from another child. The dad came up to me and wanted to make sure she could have it! I was so embarressed. He said no worries because his son didn't really want to eat it!

She was admiring her apple that Sydney shared with her. One minute she is being so well behaved and the next minute she dips her apple in a muddy puddle of parking lot water!!!

Sydney was so excited to get her bag of apples. She was quick to share one with her baby sister. Ah, so sweet.

What a great first field trip with our preschool. We are looking forward to the first Friday night pizza night at the preschool this week. I can't wait to see the turnout. Sydy is going to help me make a couple of dozen choc chip cookies.

This time last year...

Look how little they both were...where has the time gone??

Apple Picking

What a great day!!!! We started the day off with a yummy IHOP breakfast then headed to the local orchard to pick apples. The girls had an amazing time. Sydy loved picking the apples from the trees and tossing them in the bag. She finally had the sense to give me the bag once it got too heavy. Sawyer was chowing down on her yummy apple for most of our visit.

We plan on pumpkin picking at our friends parents' farm right up the road from our house in a few weeks but I did take a couple of quick snaps of the girls looking through the pumpkins at this particular orchard. I am glad I did as I found this really pretty pumpkin with its stem and leaf still attached. I think the shot is very simple and pretty.

Sydy wasn't too happy when we said we weren't going to buy pumpkins today. So we gave in and bought this one.

Sawyer was really mad that she couldn't lift this particular pumpkin up. She pitched a fit. She got even more upset when daddy helped her pick it up!!!! Needless to say, it was nap time and she was sleepy...

Ah, apple picking. We did this last year at this orchard and we had such a great time. It was fun seeing Sawyer so involved this year. She was so little last year. She had fun eating and didn't do much picking...maybe next year she will pick some too!

This was just a random shot that I took and it has now become an instant favorite. Daddy and Sydney were passing some pretty apples back and forth. I love her chubby hand and daddy's gentle touch. Thinking I need a big enlargement of this one!

Showing me her delicious apple.

One of Daddy's favorites.

The little calf loved my girls as much as they love him. Sydney didn't want to feed him the corn but she loved petting him. Jim and I fed him a lot and I also enjoyed petting his soft and adorable head.
Sawyer loved the slide.
Getting a little love from my lovable little girl. She loves her creatures and animals.
The girls were both sound asleep by 7:30 tonight! They had a busy day. We love our annual apple picking day. I can't wait to make applesauce and apple crisp!

Random

I know this is random and I don't have the pictures downloaded to showcase, but Sydney has been really into coloring pictures lately. They both love to get their markers and crayons out often, but lately Sydney has been carrying coloring books and markers around with her and any chance she gets she will sit down and color. She is starting to color in the lines too. It is so fun to watch.

We took a day trip up to camp today so that Jim could do the yardwork that has been neglected for several weeks. The girls and I just hung out and played. I made a yummy lunch and then we took a boat ride. The water was really choppy so we didn't stay out for long. We are keeping the boat in the water for a few more weeks so that we can take a fall foliage boat ride. I can't believe that the summer is over and that we will soon be pulling the boat off the dock. It went by way too fast. But I will look forward to long fall weekend walks in the woods and sitting by the wood stove when the house starts to get colder than outside!

Brown Eyed Girl

I never get tired of looking at these big brown eyes...

Minneolas

The girls have been chowing on minneolas like crazy lately. Yummy!

Izzy was following Sawyer around while she was eating...note the evil eyes that Soybean is sending Izzy dog's way!!!

Evening at the park

We have been hitting the park a lot in the evenings lately. I mean, seriously, every night for the last 3 nights. It has been so beautiful. I have dinner ready when Jim walks in the door and then we immediately rush out to get to the park before it gets dark. The girls have been having a great time. They both run around like crazy kids. Sydney has found a new favorite activity. She likes to walk across this tight rope. She thinks it is funny to bounce on it. I think she misunderstood when I told her to balance...not bounce. Now she just bounces!
Way high on the swing.

Sawyer thinks the rubber tire mulch is the best. It is all through her hair!

How quickly darkness comes and we all get bummed that we have to leave so soon. A few more weeks and we won't even have the chance to go in the evenings. But we are enjoying it while it lasts.

piggy tails

I photographed a family yesterday and they have a little girl Sawyer's age. This little girl was wearing piggy tails and it made me think how cute Soybean would look in them. I tried it out this morning and I think she looks pretty darn adorable. Note to self, with curls, I must put the pig tails down lower.

Hello sweet and saucy little girl. You are so cute!

Sydyisms part...I lost count

I was hanging out with the girls after I got home from work this afternoon. We had just finished lunch and I had just taken a sip of my drink when Sydney gave me a kiss. She wiped her mouth and I quickly grabbed her arms and said "don't wipe my kisses off" in a funny, joking tone. Sydney cracked up laughing! It brought back memories of me playing a similar game with Bethany when she was a toddler. I used to pretend to be so sad when Bethany wiped my kisses off.

So, all afternoon Sydy kept asking me to "give me kisses." I kissed her, she quickly wiped it off and then I tickled her senseless and told her to not wipe my kisses off. I think the patrons at TJ Maxx thought we were pretty crazy and loud! Oh well. Wasn't about to turn down my kid when she asks for a kiss.

Want to know something even more hysterical? Soybean wanted in on the game so she joined in and said "kiss off." I kid you not!!!!! It was so funny that I had to interrupt daddy while he was mowing just to tell him that Soybean told her mommy to kiss off!!!!! Of course she was trying to say no wiping kisses off...but that is an awful lot of words even for my 19 month old. I was pretty impressed with "kiss off"!

I will get this whole game on video one of these days.

Just in case

Just in case no one believes me when I say Sydney is a great eater, check out this photo from last nights dinner.

Two heaping piles of salad!!! She devours lettuce like she is a rabbit. She even favors light dressing!

Second day of preschool

Day 2 of preschool went really well! I kept explaining to Sydney that Sawyer and I would leave her at school by herself today.

The school mornings are going great. We don't have to rush around at all because we are used to getting up early and getting started anyway. Sydy ate her yummy cereal before school.The walk to the driveway wasn't so scary today. She had a much bigger smile and no nervousness! Doesn't she look adorable in her denim dress. Blue is a cute color for her.

We got to school a couple of minutes early because I wanted to take a few photos of her in front of the garage/barn wall in the school parking lot. All smiles!

She cried when I left and kept hanging on to me tighly. The assistant teacher took her and went to read her a book. I left with just a tear or two and then I got back in the car and realized how much easier grocery shopping was going to be with just Soybean. My tears quickly dried up!

The teachers gave me a great report. Her tears dried up quickly too. Right after I left. She was pretty clingy to the assistant teacher, but in good spirits!

We will see how next week goes. Lots of days off in between Tuesday.

Couple days off

I have to take a couple of days off from blogging (sorry Aunt Jen). I have 3 photo sessions this weekend! I am so excited to meet two new families and to photograph a newborn who parents' maternity I shot a few weeks ago.

Summer was nice. I took a few sessions and weddings when I could, took some time off to enjoy camp and family but now my busy season is starting. I can't wait!

I will take a few more pictures of the girls tomorrow as we drop Sydy off to school again. But then the memory cards need to be cleared and camera batts charged and personal pictures on hold...really need me the D700 so I have a work camera and a personal camera.

I will be back next week!

Calico Critters

Daddy had to mow the grass tonight and I was stuck with two grumpies....all by myself. So we pulled out our Calico Critters and all the grumpies were gone. My little ladies love these toys. I am so happy that Sawyer enjoys them now too. Some of the pieces are still too small for her to play with, but Sydney is very understanding of this and doesn't put up a fuss when I leave all the tiny parts in the storage bin.

Bathtime and soft light

I often give the girls a bath shortly before Jim gets home. It makes our evenings easier but more importantly, the light coming into the girls' bathroom in the evening is so soft and buttery. I love taking photos of them in that light.
Soybean didn't take a nap today, so she was ti-ti and grumpy.

What is this face!

Tonights bath was hysterical! I got some funny faces out of Sydney and Soybean was just so adorable.

After school giggles

After we left school on Tuesday, I took the girls to Stride Rite to get Sydy some new shoes. Then we had a celebration lunch at Panara's. Our favorite spot! Sydy ate a big bowl of mac and cheese and Sawyer barely touched her grilled cheese but devoured her yogurt.

When we got home, we all had the giggles. It was a nice day.

Sydney goes to school

As most everyone knows : ) Sydney started preschool yesterday! I took her to the summer orientation playgroup on several occasions over summer, so the building and Mrs. F were all familiar to her. She did great yesterday. After much conversation over the last few weeks, she was prepared to be there with all of her friends and teacher. Parents stayed with their child yesterday.

I have been photographing the kids at the nursery school for the last two years. This fall will be my third year (thanks to Pam for suggesting me for the job). I am so glad that I am so familiar with the school and with Mrs. F. She is a great teacher and she has the best personality! I am also glad to know that several of our friends have sent all of their kids through this school. As much as I am going to miss her for the several hours a week that she is gone, I know this will be awesome for her. It will also be great to have some one on one time with Sawyer.

Who couldn't feel welcomed with a sign like this.
Anxiety took over a little bit as we were heading out the door. She was a mix of nerves and excitement.

She climbed the steps of her school with such purpose. I was so proud of her.

During our one on one meeting with Mrs. F, she showed all of the kids where to hang their backpacks. Sydy was so excited to hang her backpack up.

With all of the kids and parents there, it was very crowed in our "little red nursery school." But she quickly found some fun activities to do. She kept looking up at me to make sure I was still there, but she really got involved. NOTE: I found out from my friend Mike that when he went to this school, it was called the little red nursery school. So fun to know the history of this school.

The corn table is the most popular activity. She played with it several times over the summer, so she immediately went to this activity. Soybean had fun with the corn table.
I know this post should be all about Sydney...but Sawyer acted like she owned the place. She was just as excited to play as Sydney was. She raced around and acted like she was one of the 3 year olds. I was kind of bummed that she never gave me a backwards glance! Several of the parents were commenting at her "big kid" personality! She really took to one of the daddy's and she followed him around a lot! I think she is going to love preschool in a few years! My little spitfire!

***As I write this post, I hear Sydney in the living room talking to Sawyer about going to see Mrs. F tomorrow!!!!!