A few shots from last week

This week has been a little less than fabulous. Kaia is suddenly clingy and fussy... Sophia and I were both super sick with raging fevers (thankfully only for a few days and then it was DONE), I'm starting to wear down from acting as the department head for the last two months while my boss has been out on medical leave (our office staff of 2.5 is down to 1.5... with me being the 1)... let's just say the candle has been burning at both ends. And in the middle. The saving grace in my life is always the weekend!! These are our pics from last weekend. We packed in a lot of fun :)

 On Friday we met at Gooseberry Park for play and a pizza picnic, then watched Sophia's gymnastics, and then I hopped on Margie bareback for a quick 1-miler while Travis hung out with the girls... perfect way to start things off! On Saturday morning I cooked breakfast with my girlies while Travis took Bella out for about an hour. That worked out well, because the rest of Saturday was rain and more rain. We finally went shopping! Fleet farm, Sam's club, Hobby Lobby, and clothes for the girls... the first time I have been clothes shopping for the girls since Kaia was 3 days old. Thank goodness for rainy Saturdays, or we would all be naked! ;D

 On Sunday the weather cleared, and we were excited to have a visit with Grandpa Ralph and Grandma Carmen on their way home from Bismarck.

 Sophia found a bird's nest. She is so amazing with animals, and has such an eye for them. She's always picking up bugs and frogs and finding snakes and nests... she even said she was petting one of our barn swallows last week (in her not-joking voice). I asked her if it was dead :) (she said no).

 Sophia with Grassy the Grasshopper.

 The girls love time with their grandparents! Wish we could do it more often, with both sets

 Travis and Sophia were very serious about their Lego construction time.

 Later on Sunday Alicia from next door came over for riding.

 There were a few days after the rain and greening up that the horses were not interested in working!

 (We did finally catch them and went for a wonderful ride, and Sophia worked with Pepper!)

 What to do with an hour of downtime on Sunday evening? Drive two miles down the road and go for a hike in Buffalo State Park!!

 Sophia loves running along with Charlie. This is actually someones loooong private driveway that we use as a shortcut into the backside of the park.

 The moon rising

 Hitting the grassy park trails

 Into the woods!

Heading back home

This was the day before Sophia and I got really sick. I'm glad we got to enjoy our entire, beautiful weekend before getting sick... I'd rather be sick at work! :) In fact, I did spend one day home sick this week, and found myself wishing I was at work... waaaaay more peaceful than being home with the kids. When I'm feeling yucky sitting at a desk isn't so bad! :) We're all feeling healthy again, though, just in time for the weekend! Yaaaayyyy!!!! :)

Birthday party, horses, and Eleanor Tortuga Williams!

 Last Thursday we headed out to Dakota Carriage Company for Sophia's friend, Larissa's, birthday party. Loved the cowgirl theme!

 It was a really beautiful evening

 Pony rides! (In case you're wondering, Larissa's family owns a very successful restaurant chain. This wasn't your average birthday party!)

 The birthday girl, on the left :)

 Lots of play equipment for the kiddos

 Kaia was very content to just sit on her blankie and watch all the fun

 Double-saddle sisters!

 Sophia trying the mini-golf. I LOVE how she holds the club; kinda like me! Haha

 Super cute cupcakes with chocolate horses on top... yum! Sophia had a blast at this party.

 We have a horse-crazy neighbor girl who happens to be baby-sitting age so... last weekend I started teaching her to ride in exchange for her babysitting while Travis and I trail ride! Such a nice arrangement!

 Me and Alicia on Margie and Sunny. We are so lucky to have such good, beautiful horses! Alicia and I went for a 2 mile ride, and Sunny was a perfect gentleman for her. And Margie did great!

 Sophia did quite a lot of work with Pepper.

 Her big challenge? Keeping him moving when there is grass around! :)

 Such a cute little pair :)

 Sophia isn't afraid to show him who's boss!

 We went for a long family walk with the dogs and Sophia handled Pepper by herself!

 Back to the grind... I love sharing sunrises with Sophia before school every day!

 Okay, so on Tuesday one of our office volunteers showed up at my office with a turtle he had found in the road. Sophia was delighted! Sophia named her "Eleanor Tortuga Williams." We kept her for 2 days (in an outdoor dog kennel), but Eleanor seemed pretty unhappy. When we checked on her Wed morning she was laying on her back in the dog house and was just seemed droopy. We decided to bring her to Buffalo State Park near our house on Thurs evening and release her!

 Sophia and Kaia getting Eleanor ready for the big release

 I loved hiking at the park with my girls last night. I know this pic is blurry, but we startled a huge, gorgeous crane (?) on the water, saw countless deer, and a ground squirrel close up. Lots of wildlife around at dusk!

 One last cuddle with Eleanor

 Good bye, Eleanor!



A few more Kaia Milestones :)

Finally! A video of Kaia "bopping" to music! :) Kaia has a couple of musical toys that she manipulates and then dances to... one of her favorite activities!
A couple other recent Kaia Accomplishments:
1. Two days ago Kaia picked up a tiara and put it on her head. I KNOW that doesn't seem like a big deal, but it really IS when you think about all the observation and motor skills that had to come together!
2. If Kaia gets a hold of a toothbrush in the bath she'll try brushing Sophia's teeth with it.
3. Kaia loves pointing, and being told what she's pointing at.
4. Kaia put sunglasses on yesterday (upside down, of course)
5. Kaia tried really hard to pull on a pair of doll bloomers last week. Frustrating!
... I am going to try to be a good mama and post a video of her crawling SOON; before she's off and running!!!

Last day at the academy, first day of gymnastics, long weekend fun, and FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!!!

 Last week on Tuesday Sept 27 we went to Sophia's new school, Ellen Hopkins Elementary, for the Open House. Sophia loved practicing "circle time" with her new teacher, Maestra ("teacher")!

 Sophia outside of Ellen Hopkins. It's hard for me to remember that this school is JUST an elementary and not a middle or high school; it's so big!

 Travis took these pics of Sophia playing with a monarche butterfly on our front porch

 Kaia's teacher at the Academy for Children took these pics of Kaia playing on her last day of "school!" Kaia now goes to Early Explorers for one hour every day, which is where Sophia takes the bus to after school. I am SO glad that I found a place that they can both go to so that I can pick them up at the same time!

 This red thingy was consistently Kaia's favorite toy at the Academy

 We were very sad to leave the Academy, which has been the only childcare facility I have ever taken my children to! So far Early Explorers is fine, but we do miss our Academy friends.

 On Friday Sophia had her first day of gymnastics (since last fall). She's a "red star" this year, and gets to do much more interesting stuff!

 This seems to be the beginning pose for any activity...

 backwards somersault!

 Balance Beam

 On Friday evening I rode Margie for the first time since she injured her tendon 11 months ago. It has been a long (expensive!) road to recovery, and so this was a very special 1-mile ride. Margie did GREAT... she stepped out eagerly and was a little feisty and didn't seem to tire.

 I just love Margie!

 That's a lot of weight on that injured tendon! (Right foreleg). She has come such a long way!

 Sophia and I spent a little extra time in the garden this weekend. We've been neglecting it right when it's starting to offer up an abundance of treats!

 These are Sophia's Morning Glories that she picked out and planted. I was a little shocked to find them blooming!

 Our carrots are finally edible-size!

 Cantaloupes... these seem to be doing well, but I have no idea at what point they are ripe??!! They're getting big; I may have to experiment with one soon!

 Ugh... tomatoes. The plants never grew very big, so thank goodness I have like 20 of them!

 Ugh... green peppers. They're about the size of a quarter!

 This is the biggest variety from the garden yet! Corn, squash, green beans, chives, peas, carrots, and cherry and Big Boy tomatoes!

 On Sunday our friends Joe and Mandy came over with their kids and hung out while Travis and I went for our first trail ride together. Travis rode Bella and (after she freaked out at the hitching post for no reason and snapped a cedar post and snapped a lead line) she did really well! ;) I rode Sunny, who was honest, willing and mellow as ever.

 My favorite view is the landscape through a pair of horse ears!

 Travis on his cell, checking on the kids :)

 This is the path we found off of the gravel road, about 3 miles away from our house.

 Of course the path eventually ended so... we knew our house was somewhere to the southwest...

 A beautiful place to get a little bit lost :)

 I was trying to snap a pic of this lowland in the prairie, where the grass was a high as the horses! Bella and Sunny are both EXCELLENT trail horses, and went right through/over/around whatever we needed them to.

 Back at the house! Joe and Mandy's brood: Miles, Ella and Lily. You can't see Kaia behind Lily; they were all crawling around the house like Kaia!

 Joe swung by on Monday for a quick ride on Travis' bike. He's trying to convince Mandy that he needs a bike. Us poor ladies with our crazy men!

 I took Margie for one more little ride on Monday evening. Just a little bit further. She still did great!

 First day of school! I was up at 5:45 to start getting everyone ready for the day.

 Sophia's backpack and lunch sack, ready to rock!

 I woke Sophia up just after 6:30am

 She was excited!

 She picked out an outfit that her Aunt Laura gave her for her birthday :)

 At her school!

 Outside her classroom!

 Her cubby and closet

 She was so excited!

 I had to take this picture... I certainly didn't have a row of Macs in my kindergarten room! ;)

 Checking out some of the materials

 A last pic before I ducked out... it was so hard to leave her! She seemed to have a great day though, and was rattling off new Spanish vocabulary (she's in a Spanish-immersion class) and told me about her activities and highlights and we celebrated with Dairy Queen treats after school. :) I can't believe my baby Sophia is in kindergarten!!!!