Beautiful Fall Colors

Seriously, where do we live?! Last week we had our first snow of the year. Have we even had fall yet? Actually, I think this week could count as fall. It's been beautiful. But last week. . . rain, snow and bone chilling cold. So, we did some bundling and headed outdoors. We are still paying for it though. . . the girls have colds and even Brad is coming down with something now. Is that just an old wives' tale?

OK, side note about that hat Elsie is wearing. . . I had her propped up on the couch when I was helping Addy get ready to outside and she managed to twirl the hat around so that the flower over her ear ended up over her nose. I just died laughing at the poor kid with her eyes covered and a big blue flower over her nose. If only I had had a picture of that!

We recently returned from a week in Gunnison where we experienced brilliant Colorado sunshine, beautiful fall colors, fun outings and adventures and great visits with some old friends from Colorado, Brad's parents and my parents. We packed in the fun and are still recovering from it! Below is a slide show of photos. There are a few tree pictures. . . but really, it was so beautiful!





Addy is enjoying being '2' and we are having fun doing a home school preschool curriculum a friend told me about. We're doing art projects together, learning songs and Bible stories and practicing her manners and fine and gross motor skills. It is so great to have meaningful and purposeful activities to do together. I'm sure this will be a lifesaver this winter when we're stuck inside. (http://www.abcjesuslovesme.com/ for the free online curriculum for 2 - 4 year olds)

Elsie is Addy's #1 fan and loves to play with her. She's rolling over quite proficiently now and chews on everything she can get her hands on. She's a bear to nurse because she's so easily distracted and really just wants to see everything that is going on around her. Elsie is working on sitting up on her own but her favorite thing is to 'jump' up and down while you hold her under the arms. She loves music and if she's crying, she stops immediately and gets a huge grin if someone starts singing. If there are hand motions or instruments involved, even better. Elsie loves being in her exersaucer for Bible story time using the flannel board with Addy and she jumps up and down and squeals during our songs. Since she's almost 6 months old, I think we'll start rice cereal with her this weekend. I froze a batch of cereal for her this morning so more on that to come.

Brad and I have had the opportunity to get involved in a Bible study with some friends from church and we're enjoying doing that together. We're studying 1 Corinthians and we've had some great conversations so far. We're also starting to feel a little more capable of managing life with 2 small ones and so we're working on getting back in the groove of an organized life.

We hope fall is treating your family well!