Around Here

Lately...

Ellie has been hanging out in the grass cheering her brother on with his bike riding

which he wants to practice every waking moment of daylight (or semi-daylight) & we love!

He is doing awesome!

Great-Grandpa has gotten to see Will & Ellie quite a bit in the last week.  He doesn't know who I am anymore but he always seems to know Will.  Ellie confuses him but he has told me recently that he likes girls & that he once had a wife named Eleanor.  

(He has Alzheimer's.)

The weather has been amazing.  So we've been cooking out and playing outside lots!

See?

Proof!

AC is off.  Windows are down.

Glorious

Labor Day was so pleasant that I grabbed the kids & headed to the zoo briefly.

Love the zoo

Will is fascinated with cheetahs lately.

Watching the penguins

I usually find Ellie cuddled up with one of her dolls after a nap.  

She's a light sleeper though so she typically hears me if I try to take a picture & I can't capture the moment.

Today - I caught her!

Cosleeping already with her baby!  She's going to be a great Mommy

Will walked into school without me. :(

His school has a drive thru.  He likes it.

I cry in the car after he gets out & yells "Bye Mom!  Love you!"

Ellie fell asleep in the car on the way home from my Grandma's funeral.  It was late.

But she made sure she put on her "bracelet" first.  The girl loves her jewelry.

at the zoo

Blurry pic - sorry.

I taped Ellie outside the other night at sunset while we watched Will ride his bike.  It was lovely until I ran out of light to see.

Will has been practicing his letters like here on "Toy Story Day."

(See here for great theme packets - free printables!)

We had a great rain storm one afternoon.  I woke the kids up from their naps, nursed Ellie, & popped some homemade popcorn.  Then we gathered our library books and headed to our front porch to snack and read on a rainy day.  It was heavenly.

Will graphed his Toy Story characters.

Ellie has learned how to bang a wooden spoon while Mommy cooks dinner.

We've practiced sight words.  (Loving this site!)

And mastering his cool new platform table scissors 

Mimi (Great-Grammy) came over to read stories one day.

Ellie has become quite mobile with her rolling.  I once found her here:

at the library for story time - love how focused they are

very focused.

Sadly, the cool weather brought on by the hurricane has also meant low humidity and high winds... and compounded with the major drought - 

East Texas has been burning.  I've lived here most of my life and never seen anything like it.  Both cities we've lived in this year (west TX too) have seen horrific drought conditions & fires.  

It's incredibly sad - so many fires the last few days.

Here's the smoke as I drove on I20 to Dallas yesterday.

When I walked out of my house - it looked like fog & the smell was incredibly strong - gave me a headache while driving.  So many have lost their homes and farms - it's incredibly sad.  We desperately need rain.

My mom babysat my kids for awhile today so I could run some much needed errands solo.  She took Will on a little service project - they delivered water to the firemen.

My precious nursing babe.  How I love looking into these eyes while feeding her.  She still nurses 4-5 times a day.  I love it and love this sweet time with her.  How could I not with looks like this?

While she eats, she loves to play with my hair.  If she can't reach any of my hair, she plays with hers...

In Dallas the other day, we picnicked outside at La Madeline  after Ellie's appointment- one of my favorite girly restaurants.  How fun to have a girl to share it with!

Will loves playing superheroes.  He often asks me to move Ellie "out of Gotham City" when she rolls into his superhero set up.  Today, Lovie drew a "Gotham City" with a school, a grocery store, a church (who knew?!) a park, and of course, a Batcave & Joker house on her driveway.  Will had hours of fun playing Gotham City outside while Ellie watched.

and that's a little of what we've been up to.