More Fall Fun

Libby helps Dad blow out the candles!

It's been more fun for Libby and Mary as the weather continues to change.  The girls had fun helping Dad celebrate his birthday.  They especially enjoyed having cake and ice cream with their cousins and going out to breakfast with Grammie and Papa.  Dad's favorite gift was easily the Cookie Monster t-shirt that Libby picked out for him.  (Clearly, she didn't remember that she bought Dad a Cookie Monster shirt for Father's Day two years ago.  Please don't tell her!)

Mary looking rather coordinated.

Unfortunately, both girls have had to deal with ear infections and sinus infections, which has made for a few sleepless nights...for Mom and Dad, who have had to take turns sleeping on an air mattress in Libby's room.    Sadly, these ear infections are becoming old hat, so the ladies are actually pretty good at dealing with them.  Translation: they still have a good time and make a mess of things.

Libby dressed for her first day of "Swim School."

Last Saturday was supposed to be the first day of "Swim School" for Libby and Mary.  However, because of the ear infections, Mary had to stay home.  Libby and Dad had a great time kicking, splashing, blowing bubbles and jumping in the water.  As with all things, Libby loves being the center of attention.  She was easily the loudest most outgoing member of the class.

Shortly after this was taken, Mary floated away.  We haven't seen her since.

Of course, the big news is that Halloween is right around the corner.  The girls will be donning their costumes--Libby as a mermaid and Mary as a pirate--for a number of upcoming events: story time tonight, Halloween party on Friday, PTA Halloween Party and Aunt Reen's Giant Eagle Halloween Party on Saturday, and the big day on Monday.  Libby has been practicing her "trick or treat", so we'll see how all that plays out.  If she can make it past the "Scary Guy" down the street, she should do just fine...

Words, Words, Words

Libby hamming it up in her rain gear.

As Libby has become quite the communicator, Mom and Dad were laughing about her grasp of the English language.  She actually does extremely well for a two-year-old, especially with some of the difficult phonetic pronunciations.  However, she still is just a two-year-old.  Therefore, there are still some pretty funny words that Libby uses quite often.  These are the favorites:

"Jelly choops" = jellyfish
"Choops" = fish
"Orn-ging" = orange
"Famote" = remote control
"Fumpty-fumpty" = rumbly-tumbly
"Pie-der" = spider
"Swim soup" = swimsuit
"Swiperdabox" = Swiper the Fox

Running through the leaves.

While Mary hasn't quite got to the first-word stage, she is developing some of her own personality traits.  She is much more of a wrecking ball than Libby ever was.  Mary gets into everything and leaves a swath of destruction in her wake that would make even General Sherman proud.  Mary's favorite hobby, however, is putting a blanket or towel over her head and running around at full speed.  It's cute and very funny, until she barrels into a piece of furniture and cracks her skull on the hardwood floor.  At this point, if you called Mary "Wrecking Ball" or "Crash", either would be appropriate.  However, Mom prefers to call her "Destructo."  That works, too.

Pictures from a Fun Fall Week

Libby and Mary had a great time running through the pumpkin patch at Gale's Garden Center.   Seriously.  That's all they did.  They ran around and around and around.

On Thursday, Libby, Mary and Dad took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to the zoo.  Here, the ladies are checking out the "stinky camels."  The girls saw all sorts of cool animals: rhinos, reindeer, elephants, monkeys, zebras, giraffes, lions, baby black bears, polar bears, seals, and on and on.  It was definitely a fun Daddy-Daughters Day!

Saturday saw a trip to Mapleside Farms for Pumpkin fest.  Here, Mary gives Dad the stink eye for taking her picture while on a hayride through the corn fields.  Everyone had a lot of fun, although it was very crowded, very hot and very muddy!

Here, Libby does some apple picking at Mapleside.  She did a great job picking out just the right apples!

No explanation necessary...

Mom and Dad tried to take advantage of one last nice day to get some cute Halloween/Fall pictures of the girls.  Unfortunately, it's next to impossible to get both girls to look at the camera at the same time.  This picture would have been awesome had Mary cooperated.  Well, it's still pretty awesome.

The girls thoroughly enjoyed playing in the leaves.  They threw them up in the air, ran through them, made leaf angels and did all sorts of other fun stuff!