September Fun

I thought I'd do a quick update with some of the things we've been up to this month. 

We went to a "preschool dance party" at the library and the girls have been even more into dancing together than they were before. One afternoon when neither of them were napping we pulled out the tutus to get our dance on!

Anna was doing some fancy moves. She even tried to dip Jane a few times which didn't really work out that well. 

Love these two. 

Daddy came home to get in on the fun!

We went to a Story Walk and enjoyed a walk and throwing rocks in the pond afterward. Scored a couple free books and the girls had a blast. 

We had fun making play dough one afternoon. To celebrate fall we went with pumpkin spice. It smells amazing! Anna loved adding all the ingredients and especially the spices.

Jane did try to taste it a few times but I liked not having to worry about her actually eating some. 

We had a work weekend outside getting the yard ready for planting grass and the girls enjoyed getting a little dirty. 

We were in Topeka when the eclipse started but we stopped at the service station to watch it for a little bit. We've been talking a lot about the moon over the last couple months and Anna was so excited about seeing "the red moon". 

The best picture I got of it was towards the end after we got home and got the girls to bed. Pretty amazing!

Apple Picking

Last weekend we went to Cider Hill Family Orchard to do a little apple picking. It was a beautiful day and this was something I wanted to do last year but never got around to. We packed a lunch and had a nice picnic before we went out to the orchards. The girls had so much fun!

Anna really wanted to carry her own bag and we had to convince her to let us take it when it started getting heavy.

When I ask Anna to smile she either gives me a blank stare or gives me this cheesy smile. 

Jane is following suit. 

Makes my heart happy to see these two holding hands and hugging and kissing. 

Anna has been into telling Jane what she needs to be doing. She needed her to look at this apple.

And take a bite. 

Jane would find a good apple and then carry it around with her until she found one she thought was better. 

Going for a high one!

Heavvvvy!

Anna really wanted to ride in the wagon so Kevin went ahead with Jane in the stroller and we waited for it to come around. 

She loved it and didn't want the ride to end. 

While we were waiting for Daddy to pay for the apples we picked Anna climbed into the stroller with Jane. It made for some cute pictures until Jane got annoyed with Anna being there. 

Love them!

Touch-a-Truck

The last post from August and then I'll be in the current month. Hooray! 

I took Anna last month to Touch-a-Truck. We'd heard awesome things about it and we've always had conflicts in the past so I was excited that we were able to go. Kevin wasn't really up for it so he stayed home with Jane. I was glad we didn't try and take her. There was a lot of waiting in line (it was PACKED) and I think it would have been more trouble than anything else. 

I had trouble getting Anna to smile for me but it seemed like she was having a good time. It was a little overwhelming with how many people were there but overall she enjoyed exploring the different vehicles. 

She particularly enjoyed the old stagecoach they had there. She would have stayed in it climbing around for a lot longer if we didn't have to get out because of the line. 

We ran into some good friends of ours and they had been holding a place in line for the huge combine they had and said we could join them. The kids were going up two at a time and he would have been going up on his own so we excited.  Amanda told me she was in line for over an hour with the baby and there is no way I would have done that with Anna so we were incredibly grateful. 

The kids LOVED it and enjoyed looking around the convention center for a great view of all the other trucks. They didn't want to leave!

We hit up a few more areas (including a cardboard bus the kids could color on) before leaving to grab some lunch. It was so nice having a day to spend with just Anna. 

This was from earlier in the weekend. Anna had spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa so Kevin and I had some time with just Jane. We went out to eat and while Kevin ran into work for a little bit (we were eating very close to his work) Jane and I went for a little walk. I love watching her explore everything around her!

Rocks rock!

It was a great month but I'm happy it's September. I love fall!!!!

Anna firsts

There were several "firsts" for Anna this month. My baby girl is growing up so fast. We were in town for my cousin Kelly's bridal shower (I didn't get ANY pictures at the shower) and afterward we met up out at the farm for dinner. My cousin Janell and her family have recently moved back to Kansas for a year and we were excited to see them and finally meet her four beautiful boys!

Uncle Wayne took us out to watch the buffalo being fed. Despite the frown in the picture Anna loved it and has already asked to go out and see them again. 

I love this one of the kids looking out. It was difficult to get any of them to turn around for a good picture. 

This was the best smile I could get. Such a fun evening!

We stayed in Topeka that evening and the next day we took Anna to her first movie. We were planning on going to see Inside Out but somehow I mixed up the times we ended up watching Minions. I didn't enjoy it that much (I actually dozed off for a little bit) but Anna had fun eating popcorn and eating candy with her cousin Adell. 

We finally got around to turning Anna's crib into a toddler bed. I wasn't sure how it was going to go but it went surprisingly well. She slept all night and didn't try to climb out at all. I think she was ready and I'm glad that we didn't rush it.  She has since figured out she can get out and bring toys or books into bed with her but she always comes back to bed. It's funny to see how much stuff she accumulates after naps sometimes. 

Jane also likes climbing in and the two bounce and giggle. Jane may have had a couple falls out of the bed but has since figured out how to be careful and get out safely. 

Love this little lady!

August Activities

We had to get a little creative in August to keep busy. Many of our summer activities were on hiatus and with the heat we weren't making it to the park as much.

 I had forgotten about Kidscape at the Johnson County Museum. We went once last year but Anna was a tad young at the time. She still liked it but it was when school was out so it was super busy and it was a challenge to follow her around with Jane in the carseat/stroller. We finally went back the day after school started and it was awesome!

We met up with some friends there so and it wasn't very busy at all so it was absolutely perfect. The kids spent forever driving the tractor, harvesting corn, selling milk, putting on shows, and Anna made a couple bracelets. I'm hoping we can make it there at least once a month this fall. 

Mail delivery!

On a not so hot day we decided to head out to Ernie Miller Nature Center. I've been wanting to go for forever so I was thrilled to make it happen. I had decided to go last minute one morning and texted a few friends and luckily they were able to make it as well. 

Anna checking out an owl

 While we were waiting for my friend Amanda and her boys we had some time to hang out inside the nature center with my friend Meg and her daughter Margot. The center is really cool and there are a lot of things to look at and play with.

Eventually we made it out onto the trails. It was a little slow moving with 3 two year old kids wanting to explore or head in opposite directions. We spent some time hanging out on this stage area and the all the kids had a blast. 

Anna catching a ride with Jane until Jane pushed her out.

In some ways it's getting easier to go to a lot of these fun places that KC has to offer but in other ways it's tougher since they both want to go in different directions. Looking forward to fall though. So many fun things to do in the area!

August from my phone

I had hoped to get started on the month of August before the start of the new month but at least I'm only one month behind now instead of two! I thought I would kick off the month by loading a few pictures from my phone.

My Mom and Dad had a wedding to attend in KC so Hailie and Seth were with us. Kevin had been dying to play laser tag some more so we made an evening out of it. I chased the girls around the arcade while Kevin and the older kids went a round. Then I was able to play a game with them too. 

Our teams won both times!

Jane had a great time wandering around poking her fingers into the token return. I didn't realize that is what she was doing until I saw tokens in her hand. I think she found at least 6 tokens until Hailie and Seth caught on and found the rest.

Didn't stop her from looking though!

Anna wanted to play the games soooo bad but they were all a little challenging for a tiny little thing like her. 

Now we just can't wait for the girls to be old enough so that they can play laser tag too!

We had a make your own pizza night and Anna was really into it. Jane isn't quite ready to participate yet buy enjoyed watching Anna work away. 

Pizza!

We went to a Music with Mar class and Jane enjoyed working on her yoga skills. 

Open gym at Lenexa Community Center. It is so nice having indoor places to run around at when it is so hot outside!

Both girls like to crawl under the stools in the kitchen. I thought they were pretty cute getting under one together. They did need a little help getting out though. 

A little double trouble downstairs while I was getting ready one morning. Almost every puzzle we own on the floor. It only took about 15 minutes to put them all back together. I ended up moving some of the puzzles out of reach. 

More posts to follow soon. Kevin cleaned up my computer some so it is running much faster giving me more motivation to get blogging!