- Back to school! -

Yessssss, it's that time again: back to school! Time to grow 'dem brains! Woot! After studying the different education options in town, we decided to keep Harper enrolled at the daycare's 3-year-old "preschool" program this fall instead of pulling her from a familiar place and sending her FIVE! full! days! a! week! to the public preschool. Oh, the horror! I'm nowhere near ready to say goodbye to her full time yet...

SO, long story short: dos dias a week a la daycare is perfecto for us and our work schedules/childcare needs, and we've been working on some tracing/drawing and some shape-/color-/number-/letter-recognizing activities at home, too!  She's been rockin' and rollin' with this dry erase book, and I'm pretty proud of her work. 3 going on 7? I'd say so. :)

We snagged a 10-color pack of dry erase markers in the "clearanced school supplies" aisle at Wal-Mart last week, so now she's even more excited to dominate this book!

Sweet Scarlett has a renewed interest in learning, too...

Also! We're still loving the library:
...and outlining each other with chalk to "make families" on the driveway:

...and mixing primary colors to make secondary and tertiary colors: 

...and and and and! These kiddos are total sponges, and I love watching their little minds learn and grow and discover and blossom!  Wooooo! Keep up the good work... Momma knows you girls are going places! :-* :-*

- Oh, Baaaaaby F. #2... -

...where the heck are you??? 

We've been chatting it up for a few months now [this fetus's finger dexterity is amazing!], but I'm kinda sorta definitely ready for he/she to start sprawling out in my arms instead of stretching out my insides!

#largeandincharge #runningoutofroom  ...correction: #ranoutofroomalongtimeago  ...so #comeonoutbabyf  ...because #yourefullycookednow  ...and #wecantwaittomeetyou !!!

As evidenced by a, b, and c, baby watch is legit in FULL swing around here:

We told Harper several months ago that the baby would come shortly after we took the Christmas tree down [since we usually take it down a few days after New Year's Day]; but I somehow forgot that nesting is so real and so, therefore, the house was completely barren of all things tree/ornaments/garland/glitter on December 27. Hah. Poor princess, she's been waiting very impatiently for this kid to arrive. We've been through a couple rain/snow storms AND the January 1 Super-Blue-Blood-Moon [or whatever it was called] and still woken up emtpy handed, so I'm thinking this kid plans to stay in until he's a toddler ...OR maybe he's already toddler-sized and my pelvis is like, "Hey there CPD! Nope! Not ever gonna do it!"  But still, every time I/we leave the house Harper says, "Mommy, you go to howse-petal now so 'da doctor can lay your head on a pillow and get 'da baby out. And 'den you bring 'da baby home so I can 'nuggle he when he cries." And her most famous response when anyone else asks when the baby will be here is, "Ummmmm, firty minutes. Or Saturday or 'marrow." Thirty minutes or Saturday or tomorrow? Ok, I'll take any of the three options!!!

But the fact is, whether it's thirty minutes OR tomorrow OR Saturday [...which is today...;)], the days are dwindling and Harper will be losing her favorite perch very very soon!!! 

Hopefully Baby F. #2's reading comprehension is as well developed as his/her fingers, because Momma finally has a response to all these opinionated requests...

 

It's officially time! You're fully gestated, little friend!  "Get out!"  :)

- Happy fall, y'all! -

The baby and I spent an afternoon at my parents' house last weekend while Brian helped paint at his brother's house. The weather was soooo perfect; we played outside on a blanket and just enjoyed "fall" and all its beauty.  Since the midget wouldn't crack a smile in the family pics last week, I decided to call a redo and take a stab at it myself. ;)  Just can't get enough of this girl!

I love watching her play and discover and learn and wonder...

Oops! Just learning how to sit up by myself... Good thing Mommy had some extra hands!

Happy fall, y'all!  Stay beautiful! xoxo

- Bookworm to the MAX -

This little worm lovessss some books!  Still not sure where she gets it from; I haven't forced my nose in a book since nursing school [circa 2011], and Brian...well...let's just say he's mostly an iPhone/TV/MacBook type of guy... ;)  But sometimes the apple falls normally THEN gets kicked far far away from the tree[s], so I suppose dat be da case at our orchard.

[Almost] 4 months old, and she can't turn her head...

"She looks at those books like she can read!" ...Well, maybe she can, Daddy!  #babygenius

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world.  Love of books is the best of all." ~Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis 

Read on, Baby Bear!  The world is waiting for you!!  :-*