Sunday Snapshot~ This is embarassing.....

so i've been a little lazy and haven't been the greatest at keepin' up with the blog
but i gotta get these in or i just won't be a happy mama. because this has become my scrapbook ya know and there's no leavin' out fall of 2011. since turkey day is fast approaching i'm just about outta time-
so here goes
we made "acorns"
then at some point we went to the renaissance festival where the boys got to throw tomatoes at some peasant in the stocks

then they shot some arrows.

the only thing the First Lady wanted to do was ride the elephant...

so she did.

{isn't she beautiful?}

with her two brothers in tow

than some other weekend we did our annual pumpkin patch tour....4 in one day that is

i realize this is a random shot but what you have to know is that our Second hiding there in the middle was at the apple sampling table so many times that I think they were ready to tell him to buy a bag already. every time we turned around there he was, reveling in his honeycrisp heaven

then it was off to pick some pumpkins and gourds


here we are inside an old silo renovated into a theater with a big ol' flat screen and a movie about spookly the pumpkin

throwing in a picture of dad....why there you are honey! always nice to see you. where is he this time you ask? Australia again, and this time hobnobbing with john travolta and his illegally parked airplane that was blocking the plane he was due to inspect. in the last 6 months his work travels have allowed a few exciting encounters- like staying in the same hotel as justin beiber, talking to ed asner at the baggage claim, and watching taylor swift shoot a video in the airport as he's waiting to board. me? well i got to see the UPS guy yesterday. no sarcasm intended.

the straw maze. Lil' Lady couldn't quite figure out why this was considered entertainment

so big brother rescued her

the older ones seemed to enjoy it though




back at the farm we carved those pumpkins while the Lil' Lady took notes on the circumference of each one
remember, a pen and pad are her comfort objects


mmmmm, i wish this one was scratch and sniff. i love the smell of pumpkin guts


halloween night and an extra child who happens to not be ours, for once

this is what you see while trick or treating in minnesota. i mean come on, it's only october. sheesh
Lil' Lady did an entire street before succumbing to the stroller and some treat sampling
please don't let the following photos frighten you....

she i was in control the entire time

so there you go.

Fall 2011!

Sunday Snapshot~Our Fourth Lately

home 15 months and our little girl is like a butterfly emerging from her cocoon. where there was silence we now have words- too many to count now and we actually understand some of them. she still has a speech therapist come to visit once a week and will probably continue to do so at least until spring when they will re-evaluate again. of course by then she will be hosting her own radio talk show so I doubt they'll continue services.
she's lovin' her sister and brothers and her powers of manipulation over them. she so wants to be like them and to do everything they do. no toddler stuff for this lil' lady. she wants the homework too and can be seen at the table most afternoons with her workbook and pencils trying to copy them. instead of her puppy or monkey she prefers to sleep with her notepad and pen. seriously. it's her comfort object. it really wasn't a problem until she woke up early one morning and did her math equations on the wall beside her bed. dad still doesn't know about that yet. and then there was that morning that she woke up with blue hands and sheets because her pen leaked. gosh, where can a mom find a plush stuffed pen for bedtime?
we're still learning a bit about low muscle tone and hyper mobility. so despite the fact that she's required to wear an eye patch and be fitted for ankle braces soon and wears kinesio tape to strengthen her abdominal muscles round the clock it doesn't hold her back. believe me, she can keep up.
which is good because on some days we can have up to 2 therapy appointments and that's tough when you also have to try to work a nap in there somewhere. this girl likes her sleep. she's happy to go to bed and sleeps through the entire night. she also prefers a 3.5 hour nap every day. she's slept more in her two years than our first three slept in 12! okay i am exaggerating a bit, but the Lord must of thought we could use a sleeper for once and He provided one. He also provided time for mama to take her to all of her appointments this school year. you see our enrollment at school went down and i was taken to a .8 position teaching only 4 days a week. without that day i don't know how i could be doing it- but He knew and He provided it before we knew she even needed all of this therapy. God is Good and isn't this just the best little smile?