here's a video!

Our neighbors' two granddaughters live with them half of the time, and Annie's finally decided to become friends with them. They were so adorable the evening we were all sitting outside waiting for Irene to move in. They kept asking, "Is it okay that we're playing in the rain??" and chasing each other around our yards.

The rest of the video is just of us hanging out on the floor with Mabes, what we do most days.

first day of preschool . . . and elizabethtown fair

We've been a busy family here this week! What with Brant's first day of going back to school AND this big sister here going to her first day of preschool!!

Here she is, all ready to go do some learnin'!

 I'm part of a mommy-run preschool that a bunch of friends have started for our kids this year. There's five families, and we have school once a week, rotating weeks, so we only teach once every five weeks. Annie and I are both SO excited. The units we chose and divvied up among the moms are so cool. I love this age! Most of the kids in Annie's class are 3 or about to turn 3. This year marks the first of three years of preschool for our Annie. Since she was born on the first day of the new school year, she'll be the very oldest in her grade. Anyway, her first day went well. She wasn't sad to be dropped off, probably because she's been to that friend's house many, many times. (We'll see how it goes at the others'.) And the report from her teacher was that she was very still and quiet the whole time. Hopefully she'll kick things into gear once she gets the hang of it all. But she sure wasn't quiet after I picked her up. The car ride home was filled with reports of the songs they sang and the weather they talked about and the coloring she did and the kids in her class . . .

Last night we went to the Elizabethtown Fair with Grandma and Poppy. Brant had class. Boo. :-( We met up with Nancy and Anne and Scott there, though! Yay! :) Usually our tradition is to participate in the horseshoe competition on Saturday morning, but we didn't that this year. Instead, my parents drove up and we played a rousing game of Carcassonne (our new fave!!) until the girls decided to wake up from their marathon afternoon naps. Then we headed over for some fair food, rides, and animals!

I tried to let Mabel in on the fun in these pictures, too. She was amazed at all the lights and craziness that must have been visible while lying on one's back and being rolled around the fair. She was awake most of the evening and totally happy playing with her toys.

Here they are looking at some mechanized miniature sawmill. Some people have amazing hobbies, like building something like this.

Petting zoo!!

Mabel and the sheep chowin down.

what a naughty, naughty girl

Llamas!! Also, see Anne's balloon here?

It flew up into the top of the tent. So sad.

The Joneses avoid some cow poop! :)

We couldn't keep Annie and Anne from the carnival rides any longer. After closely surveying the train ride . . .

We all decided to hop on!

 . . . twice!

And the evening ended with Poppy's traditional dunk pitch. He got SO SO close, hitting the edge of the target!

Yay for Pennsylvania fairs! We left and got home about 20 seconds before a torrential downpour. A well-timed evening, I'd say. :)


Also, Mabel has started blowing raspberries and sticking her tongue out. Here's a video of my futile attempt at trying to get her to show you . . . but Annie does a good job at the end, too! Oh, and the guy Annie's talking about that I was getting "pretty mad" at was the person driving in front of us on the way home, who was driving SO slowly, while we watched the clouds darken and the rain start drizzling. 

running in the rain

 . . . because she wasn't really singing or dancing in the rain . . . I'd say it was mostly running and splashing!

Showing me how wet her shirt was . . .

What Mabel and I were doing . . . watching from the safety of our rocking chairs. :)

Also, Brant started teaching this week! Here he is heading off to his first class and office hours. We thought it was an appropriate occasion to break out the satchel once again!

And, Annie wants me to post some more pictures of her cars and this block city. I I did think this was a particularly detailed and creative city she made. She sure does like her cars and blocks!

She told me she was especially proud because she used up every block in the box to make this one!

Hope everyone is having a great week! Since there weren't any earthquakes today to keep us busy, I went on two walks with the girls in the double stroller: one to the grocery store early this morning and another to a park up the road with Nancy and Anne! Mabel slept most of the time on both trips. Ahhh, the lulling sounds of weed whackers and motorcycles . . . I love living in a town where we can walk everywhere!

Happy Wednesday!

fun with mabel

Just like her sister did when she was a baby, our little Mabel loves to stand on her big, strong legs!

Mabel loves smiling at her daddy!

Hahaha, this picture cracks me up. Annie is doing who-knows-what, and Mabel has this expression like, "Well, what can ya' do? I've got a crazy sis."

Loves!!

Mmmm I could just nibble on those scrumptious chubby legs all day long! hehehehe

I came home from errands one evening, and I found Mabel had gotten tired of waiting and decided to feed herself. :)

Standing with papa bear!

strummin' on the old banjo

I promise I do put clothes on my children most of the time. You just have to grasp these opportunities when they come. She so rarely will perform for the camera. At any rate, here's the second in Annie's Shirtless Songs series . . .




And, here's a video showcasing Mabel's feet-grabbing and sister-tolerating skills . . .

pictures

And here are pictures from the beach off of my dad's camera!