Sleeping baby

Normally I rock and nurse Elsie until she falls asleep and then lay her in the bed asleep. Today she nursed and stayed awake, so I decided to put her in the bed all on her own. She didn't get upset at all, just lay there touching the wall and her blanket. She was really quiet. Mike went in and said lay down to to sleep and she did. I went in for a few minutes and sat beside her, but she was so relaxed I decided to leave. Five minutes later Mike checked in and she was asleep, I cannot believe it! She is still asleep right now. I hope she continues this pattern longer than one night :) SO proud of her.

She has been pointing at everthing these days too...and really trying to get us to look at what she is interested in. She doesn't have the words to go with it yet...so she keeps pointing and makes noises like she trying to get us to understand. Too cute! This all started last week when we went to Seattle for a brief trip and we were at the Point Defiance Zoo. We were in the goat section and she kept pointing at everything.

Ruby is loving preschool...she didn't even worry at all when we left on Wednesday. She just said goodbye to us and we were on our way. She is always in good spirits when we get there to pick her up too. I hardly know what to do with myself while she is gone, but I know it is good for both of us.

I have been trying to relax a bit with Ruby these days...she has lost her listening skills it seems. Very frustrating. I took a few steps back after a hard day and today was so much better. I am trying to not get caught up in it all and stay light hearted. Very challenging when everything takes so long and when she is being defiant.

We had a great day today and went to Mike's marching band rehearsal to visit her friend Jacquelyn. We all walked to the park together and they all three held hands the whole way back. They were really good with Elsie too, she loved being included. We stayed through the whole rehearsal, the girls loved. Ruby played with the flags with Jacquelyn, so did Elsie. Elsie mainly enjoyed having some freedom run around and I enjoyed not having to worry as she ventured away. Ruby and her friend rolled around together in the grass and just had a great time together.

We picked up the CSA today and there were all sorts of yummies in it. Since Mike was with me, I decided to go to the fruit stands and found some organic pears, apples, and melons. The girls were in heaven as they ate some tonight. Elsie's first whole apple and she felt like such a big girl.

Ruby loves to color pictures and make things for her friends and family, I told her she needed to do a nice neat job on this and she could bring it to our neighbor. It turned out pretty cool...rainbow horse!

Elsie loves to color right along side sister!

We have been driving to Medical lake to look at all the deer there the past few weeks...all the does have a fawn following along with them! They are everywhere and not scared of people, fun to see!

Elsie loves to feed herself, she is such a goof ball. All I have to do is snap some consecutive shots of her and look at all the expressions that she makes!

Being silly!

Out in the sun

We went to the Red Gate Farm today out on Lance Road, the girls enjoyed running around on the beautiful property. I saw these flowers, just thought they were so gorgeous I had to get a shot!

Ruby sat in these red chairs next to a lady she didn't know, just chatting it up with her. They both enjoyed playing around on them.

The chickens were the highlight of the day there, Elsie was fascinated by them and they both loved pulling weeds and feeding them. I especially loved the black and white speckled ones, so unique.

Beautiful sunflowers out on their property.

Later in the day, we went to see Mike's band perform for the parents and family their marching show. Really awesome this year, fun to chat with my friend Tanya and for Ruby and Elsie to play with her daughter Jaqueline.

Elsie playing peek a boo behind a tree, so cute!

Ruby and Jaqueline chatting away as we ate at the Marching Band BBQ.

After it was all over, Tanya and Jaqueline came over to visit for a bit. Tanya and I chatted over coffee as the girls ran around and played with all the toys. Elsie was so funny, she saw sister wearing some bunny ears and went in and put them on herself. She came running out with them on and we all had a good laugh. She was all smiles and excited that she got a reaction from us. She kept taking them on and off and even did some dancing for us. So cute! We love our friends!

Cousins

Ruby had fun at the park picking flowers with Ciara :)

Kylar being silly with Elsie!

Kylar and Elsie sit and watch Ciara and Ruby pick flowers together in a nearby field.

We picked up Kylar and Ciara today and spent the day with them. The girls always have a blast when they are around!

Threat of Fire

Well, there was a wildfire that started just over the hill from our house today. I was feeling okay about it until I saw my neighbors loading stuff into their van from the house and also the other neighbors doing the same thing. Smoke started to get heavier and so we had to close the windows. At this point, I decided that I would pack up all the pictures since that is really the only thing that I would want. I had about five boxes loaded in case we had to evacuate the area. As we ate dinner, it started to look more promising. The sky started to clear up and we were able to let the fresh air flow through the house again. Thank goodness for all the firefighters and their hard work, pretty scary. It was quite a bit of work to get all the pictures put away. Ruby had her little squirt bottle ready with water in case the fire came our direction, so funny!

On a more positive note, we picked up the CSA goodies today and there were all sorts of yummy vegetables and some fresh strawberries! The girls were in heaven, they gobbled them up. Elsie is quite the little berry lover. So excited to dig into all the great stuff they supplied us with this week, we even have some new types of squash to try and a few tomatoes. Loving it!

Hot Day...

I forgot my bag at a friend's house who lives on the opposite extremes of Cheney during a trip yesterday to see her new house. This morning I decided we would make the trek to their place again to get it. As we were leaving, I saw the signs to Green Bluff and decided "What the heck, we'll go!" I wanted to get the girls out berry picking and there is an organic farm up there that has just that. We headed there and they had blackberries for us to pick. Ruby got right to work picking as Elsie ran up and down each row. Once she noticed we were picking, she stopped a few times to grab at some berries. Ruby did a good job, she actually picked some that weren't fully ripe, but once I explained and showed her what to look for she did great. It was so hot, but we were able to pick about a pound of berries together. They were really yummy. Ruby's were smashed a bit from all the jumbling around, but it was really about the experience of it all and they loved it. Ruby wasn't too into eatting the berries, but Elsie gobbled them up and had juice stains all over her face from them. We brought them home and I mashed them up and cooked them into sauce to pour over vanilla icecream, everyone loved it!

Wow...it has been a long time since I posted!

First time in their bike trailer!

Kids Day at Riverfront Park with cousin Kylar.

Chugga-chugga-choo-choo with pals Macy and Uta!

Elsie going down on her own.

Crossing this rope for the first time on her own.

Saying Cheese to the camera at Music in Park at Sutton Park, love these summer events.

Jumping off the diving board on her own!

So proud with her certificate of completion!

Riding a horse at Gatto's with best bud Jaqueline!

Pictures with Kensie, Ruby was such a fishy!

Ruby loved her instructor!

This month is just flying by! The past two weeks have been all about swim lessons for Ruby! She loved them and looked forward to going everyday. Her swim instructor has known Ruby since she was Elsie's age, such a sweet girl and Ruby enjoyed every moment with her. Ruby brought her gifts many of the days, little crafts she put together and a rose from our yard on one day. On the last day of swim lessons, Kensie was gone and Ruby was a little bummed. She still went off the diving board all by herself twice! She was really proud and so was I! All the kiddos get a cute certificate for completing each level, Ruby was so excited to get hers. The instructor actually wrote a long note to her on the back which was really neat for her to hear. She was super excited for the candy that was attached to the certificate as well. It was great and I look forward to moving her on to the next level. We also visited Ruby's new preschool, I was surprised when she actually loved it and we stayed there for a whole hour. Ruby worked her way around the room to all the activities. So did Elsie! She was hesitant about the idea of it all, but once we went she was excited to be a part of it all. Most of her friends go to the same preschool which is really neat and makes her more comfortable.

I have spent the past two weeks riding my bike with the trailer attached, love it! The girls are a bit tight together, but they do great once you get going. We actually took off at 5 pm a few days ago for Fish Lake Trail and ended up going a total of 13 miles round trip. Both girls fell asleep on the ride there, so I took advantage of it and kept going all the way to the lake and to the playground. They got out and played for a bit, then we headed back and made it home by 7:30 pm. It was so neat to see the difference in the trail since February and March when we last walked there. So much more vegetation and way less water in the streams. Absolutely beautiful as always. Loved that bike ride and plan on going again tomorrow. Mike finally joined us on Sunday, we did a family bike ride to the bowling alley, played a game, and then took another path back home through EWU campus. So much fun, glad we could make it happen on his day off.

I have been busy planning a trip to Missoula and having a blast doing it! So many neat things to do there and I can't wait to go! We are going on the Hiawatha Trail which is really unique, about a 15 mile ride, to the 50000 silver dollar bar, staying at the KOA Kabins in Missoula, visiting Caras Park, hiking to the big M, going to Current's waterpark, visiting a ghost town called Garnet, going to the rivers there so I can see where my favorite movie "A River Runs Through It" was filmed, and just eatting at some fabulous places along the way. Yay! We really need this break, and it will be the first time we have gone anywhere for our anniversary weekend. Only 200 miles away, you can't beat that!

Elsie is keeping me hopping these days. So full of energy, climbing everything. She went for a few weeks where she wasn't eating much and it was driving me crazy. Now she is back to eatting, thank goodness! She spends most of her time following Ruby around and trying to do the things that she does. It is so neat to see them actually play together these days. Elsie will notice when something makes us laugh, start laughing herself and then keep doing it to get a reaction. So cute! She always is grabbing my finger and pulling me or someone else around to whatever she wants to do. She will bring you to the kitchen when she wants something to eat, bring you to a toy she wants to play with and so on. She also makes a certain noise when she wants more of something, very distinct. She now is saying "Ball". When we went to get the bike trailer, we also bought them both a ball. She held it the whole way home and said ball right away. Repeated it the whole way home and has said it ever since. She is totally fascinated by her belly button right now too, and will lift up her shirt to show you hers and touch it and then do the same to you. She is trying to say it too. She always tries to tickle Ruby and does the "Tickle, tickle, tickle" thing with her finger and says it too. We all get a kick out of it! She is also getting two more teeth in, she has four already and two more coming. Her front ones are pretty big, so cute and sure changes her look a lot. She also is saying "Cheese" when she sees a camera, I think she learned it from a play phone Ruby has that says that. She loves to share anything with Ruby, if Ruby has it she wants to try it. Also, she loves feeding herself with utensils. She is getting really good at chewing and eatting in general. She can now go down a slide all on her own, it is so funny to see. She used to grab our finger before she would go down. Now that she has it figured out, she will climb again and again and go down over and over. She even figured out how to climb up Ruby's swingset slide and go down all on her own. Looks funny with her little legs. She loves to be chased too, or think someone is chasing after her. She gets so excited. Oh my gosh...there is so much more. I just can't believe how much is going on with both girls right now! So neat to watch!