Amanda's newest "stop" before playing in Farley's water bowl is at the dishwasher where she takes all of the magnets and throws them on the floor. Although it requires me to pick up magnets several times a day, it is a good thing because it gives me a few extra minutes to realize where she is before she dumps Farley's water.


She is not yet walking, but loves to stand up. Her 11 month mark passed last Sunday, so she is quickly cruising toward her birthday!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I just love watching the talents and gifts that are developing within my kids and wondering what they will be when they grow up. Scott loves all things science. He loves to explore, ask questions, take things apart and put them back together. This week, his favorite Library book has been this one:

So, I came outside today to discover Scott digging like this:

He showed me that he thought he had found an old knife tool. He also showed me how carefully he was digging with his shovel, even though it was really too big to use at an archeological dig. He took soil samples and then sifted the soil for clues.

I can't wait to see where his passion for science leads him.

Soccer!

Can you guess where we went Friday night?

Yes! We purchased shin guards for soccer practice that started on Saturday morning. We only needed one pair (for Scott), but you can see that we left the store with a pair for Andrew as well. It broke my heart not to get him a pair. They were so excited that they insisted on wearing them home from the store. Unfortunately, Scott did not quite have on the right foot apparel.

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Andrew & Amanda at Home

Andrew, Amanda and I are having so much fun filling our days with learning and activities. In the last two weeks, we have started our own little school at home and played with many friends.

Isn't it fun to go to school in your pajamas?


Andrew is such a different learner than Scott. He absolutely loves sitting at the table and working on activities and games. It makes teaching him such a joy.


Amanda is learning through exploring...

...especially trying to figure out how to open Farley's cage. It is still her favorite spot. I've had to start keeping it locked during the day, whether or not the dog is in it.


As much fun as we have during the day, I think the time we most look forward to is Scott's arrival home. Andrew misses his playmate during the day and I miss my little helper. We always try to make 3:00 a focused reunion with some food and focused conversation. However on Thursday we decided to greet Scott's bus with loaded water guns. He thought that was hilarious and jumped right in on the action.

Our Shopping Trip

Yesterday morning, I took Andrew and Amanda (at 7:45AM) for a nice quiet shopping trip at Walmart. We went at that time last week and it was delightful. Since everyone is up at 6:15 anyway, why not venture out early.

We arrived to find that they were holding the grand opening celebration for our newly remodeled store. It was an employee breakfast celebration, complete with a live band. So much for my quiet trip...

As we were completing our shopping in the vegetable section, the band played "Proud to be an American." He finished the song and said, "I'm proud to be an American. And, I'm proud to be here at your new Walmart!"

The irony, I thought. Walmart represents everything I dislike about America - big, gluttonous, disposable, homogeneous. And its low prices (the only reason I shop there) are due to buying everything from China. Pride for America is not what I feel when I shop at Walmart. I'd rather see the mountains & fields, taste food at a local restaruant or simply hear my son recite the Pledge of Allegience.

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On another note, I looked at the calendar yesterday and could not believe it has been two weeks since school started. In some ways, it feels like we have had this schedule forever. But I also miss Scott when we do fun activities without him and we are definitely still adjusting to our morning schedule. I've been taking some pictures of our days without Scott and will post them soon.

A "busy" baby

Our little girl is growing by leaps and bounds - literally! I didn't think toddlers were supposed to be "busy" until they were able to walk, but Amanda has already proven that theory wrong. She is into everything and especially likes to be places where she is not supposed to be.

Not all of these pictures were taken today, but you will get a picture of how active she is. She was wearing the pink sundress today. The dog crate pictures were from yesterday, but I caught her heading in that direction at least 10 times today. She has also discovered Farley's water bowl in the kitchen and loves to splash in it.

"Farley's crate is the best place to play!"


"Hi Farley. Do you want to play?"

"This looks like fun. What is it? Oh, it is your little fire hydrant toy that I love to chew on." (Notice Farley's ears perking up, thinking "hey, that's my toy!")


"Let me just give you a little kiss to make everything OK." (Actually it turned out to be an eyebrow tug.)

"It sure is fun to share toys."

"I don't want to sit still for a picture with my brother!!!!" (She has perfected the art of arching her back in just the right direction to wriggle out of arms.)

"This looks like a fun new toy." (If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see a bit of drool hanging out of her mouth. Still no teeth, although we think she must be working on them.)

"Hmmm, I sure do like this standing up stuff."

"52 card pick up is Mommy's favorite game, so I make sure I let her play it often." (Although it is highly unlikely that there are actually 52 cards left in the deck, since it is on child #3.)

"LEGOS!! The perfect size to put in my mouth. Yum!"

(About 15 minutes later.) "Wait a minute...what happened to the Legos? Why did Mommy replace them with these trucks that don't stand a chance of fitting into my mouth? Hey, look! They swing! Right to the floor! Cool."

"I love my Pack & Play. I'm in here a lot. Mommy says it is the only place she can leave me and feel safe. It is a great place to watch my brothers play, practice standing..."


"...and read a good book. Actually, I'd rather just turn the pages and eat them."

This video is truly unbelievable to me. It is the first time ever that I have actually caught the first step of a child. I wasn't even planning to. I just thought I'd get some video of her standing and crawling. (I apologize that you have to turn your head to watch it.)

New Software

Can you tell I have time on my hands today? We have spent so much time and energy preparing for the start of school that we forgot to look beyond it. So, much to my delight, we have a FREE weekend! They will fill up soon with soccer, fall festivals, birthdays, weddings, etc., but I am enjoying today.

While everyone else is napping, I'm playing with my new photo software. I have been looking for some editing software that did more than take out red-eye and found the Creative Memories Memory Manager was exactly what I was looking for. Plus, I'm able to export the pictures (and my blog stories) to the scrapbooking software to make books in which to store these memories. (I don't have much faith that Blogger will store all of my memories for my grandchildren to read.)

Below is my favorite photo that I've worked on. My Mom took this picture at the beach. She said that when she took it, she saw the trashcans, but would miss the moment if she waited for a better background.


This isn't perfect, but is certainly much better. I thought about covering the entire area with grass, but realize that the grass at the bottom is much bigger than that on top. I may work on it a little more, but I thought it was good for my first try.


Andrew gave me a great smile in this picture, but I wanted to see what else I could do with the picture.


I began by fixing the red-eye and removing the piece of chair on the left edge. Then, I played with the color a bit. Again, I'm no artist and certainly not ready to quit my day job, but I really like the way the bottom photo turned out. It makes it look like it could be from my childhood (when all my Mom could do was take the picture and hope for the best.)