Abilene, Abilene...

We were so excited to spend our Labor Day weekend in Abilene. We used to spend so much time there when we were dating and first married and we miss it! Of course, our road trips look a little different these days. First of all, we travel in Homer instead of the G or Pontius. Secondly, we carry a potty with us along with a little two-year-old who likes to use it while waving to the cars passing by on the service road!

We stayed at Papa and Nana Barr's house for what would be their first night in their brand-new beautiful home. They were so sweet to let us stay with them on such a busy weekend as they continued working on the house and moving furniture in.

On Saturday morning, we enjoyed time with Raegan and Baby Adam.
Amity, who hates to have me do her hair, let Linda fix it into the cutest ponytail after watching Raegan get her hair fixed. She knew she looked good! We may have to send her down to Abilene every few weeks just to get her hair fixed!

Raegan with the inspirational 'do!

Vivien watching Adam

Adam watching his toys We stopped by Mom and Dad Barr's house and Vivien gave out some snuggles and smiles. Amity enjoyed their crackers!

We ate lunch at Grandmommy's house with Linda's sisters and brother. The only pictures I took were of all of the kids lunching on the shower curtain liner. The food was delicious and it is always so sweet to see Grandmommy!

Vivien met her birthday twin, Samantha, and shared her Cheerios.

Rosies with Raegan

Amity has finally found someone who likes to do Ring a Round the Rosie as many times as she does!

Big Girl Bed

Vivien was getting close to climbing/falling out of her bed because we did not have the latches to hold the gate up. So, on Saturday night, we decided to switch the girls and change this crib into a toddler bed. Amity was "so excited" ("I'm so excited!" being one of her favorite phrases) and there was no stalling bedtime with her typical requests to go potty.

She also started wearing big girl "night-time panties" which is code for pull-up diapers. Even though she was staying dry about 2/3 of the nights, we were getting tired of having to do rushed baths as we were getting ready for church or work plus keeping up with the laundry. Ever the frugal mom, I spotted a good deal at CVS and bought the "night-time pants" that were intended for older children instead of toddlers. I might as well have bought adult Depends! They are huge and Dennis and I were laughing so hard we were crying when we got Amity dressed for bed. Thankfully, she has been so enthralled with her big girl bed that she hasn't seemed to notice AND she has stayed dry all week long!

Our Sunday Best

When I first learned I was going to have a little girl, I started paying more attention to how little girls dressed. I quickly decided that I would be happy if my girl(s) were to wear smocked dresses until the day they graduate from high school. Since that may not happen, I take advantage of putting these two in smocked dresses every Sunday possible. This morning, Amity wore her birthday dress from GG and KK and Vivien wore her dress from Uncle Bill and Aunt Rita. Amity wasn't really excited about a photo session but Vivien didn't mind.

Looking up at her daddy!

Of course, every smocked dress needs some bloomers for added modesty and overall cuteness. These were a gift from the Browns.

And these were a gift from Mrs. Patsy. I think they are 12 months but they still fit!

There's nothing like gradually disrobing after church and lunch in preparation for a Sunday nap!

Maybe we should have worn these to accessorize the dress this morning!

Gorilla Therapy

Amity's fear of gorillas continues! She woke us up screaming at 5:00 this morning and chose to go back to bed in Vivien's naptime pack and play in our room. This is a snippet of our morning therapy session:

And guess what her daddy is considering for his Halloween costume?

Little Buddies

For all of his hair that I sweep up and his barking we endure...


Paco has been a good buddy for our little girls!

I think he enjoys having someone who is close to his size!

Back to School

Dennis left for his first day back with kids this morning. He didn't really wear this Yoda backpack but he considered it. Yoda was our gift to Eli for his third birthday but it now "freaks him out" so Yoda is residing at our house for the time being.

I decided to try doing a letter of the week this school year with Amity on our days at home. I found a whole bunch of fun activites to download at http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/ We started today with the letter A and have been singing "Apple Annie" all day long. Vivien really likes it!

Amity loves any opportunity to use "gloob" and she really liked pasting these apples on the apple tree.

She also did a great job of coloring an apple tree page so I was feeling super-confident and had the great idea to pull out the scissors. I soon decided that we are not ready for scissors yet!

We did have fun making an alligator A. Apparently, this alligator is going to need some braces! :)