Happiness

Some things that have made me smile recently

• Wonderful fall temperatures which have allowed us to have the windows open since we got back from Colorado.  
• Sleeping snuggled under lots of covers because of those open windows
• Shorter days -- it's so nice to have it be dark when we put the girls to bed again
•  The girls sharing a cup of hot tea

• Merrill's pretend sleepover with her babies

•  Getting back out into the yard to work on the landscaping/gardening
• Merrill's favorite place to hang out in the front yard

•  Every time she goes in there, the bunnies that live there come running out

•  The girls standing next to the oak tree we planted in the front yard.  I can't wait to compare their heights every fall

 

• Seeing Millie's excitement at harvesting vegetables from our garden.  They are small, but tasty

•  Millie writing the alphabet on the chalkboard all by herself.  When I told my parents about her accomplishment, she corrected me and said she didn't write the WHOLE alphabet because she left out "o" and "n"  I still think she still did a pretty good job considering this was a project she initiated by herself.  It amazes me all the skills she is developing, even without direct instruction.  I am so excited for the day when she reads her first word all by herself

Happy Monday!

Rainy Day Fun

The girls enjoyed creating some new "fall" paintings for our hallway yesterday.  I love watching each of their artistic skills develop.  Millie's people now have necks and clothes :). 

Garden Fairy

Merrill had fun nursery hopping and shopping with my dad and me last week.  She was appropriately dressed as a little garden fairy :).

A really cool video that Christian put together after our day with him in Washington Park in Denver. This is the day that the girls and I were interviewed by the local news about child allergies. Note that I DID mention that we use the proper dosage of cough medicine for adults and children even though the news edited it to appear that I did not. Scott and I are not over-dosing on children's cough medicine ;).
Thanks for such a fun day at the park, Christian!

Scenery

Click the video for some of the beautiful scenery we saw in Colorado.  We were very lucky to have perfect weather for our trip (and to escape what was hopefully the last extreme heatwave here in St. Louis...) -- it didn't rain until our last day in town.  We've been equally lucky since we've been home, though there are no longer mountains looming out our bathroom window every morning.

Play Ball!

So, apparently my vacation posts are going to be sporadic, random and out of chronological order ....

Millie got into playing wiffle ball during our time with Ryan and Carrie.  She got good enough to make contact with the ball on a pretty regular basis and LOVED being chased around after doing so (we aren't quite sophisticated enough to run the bases yet :) ).

 not the best pictures, but I think they both show contact being made :)

I got some cute video too, but unfortunately I can't seem to load it ...

Va.ca.tion

We got back from our first "real" family vacation today (a first for both our immediate family and for the extended Ross family...).  Needless to say, we had a wonderful time in Colorado.  The minute we landed in Denver it felt as if we had been gone forever, it was that easy to leave all of the daily "stuff" behind.  Of course, the minute we landed in St. Louis today it felt as if we had never left, that's how fast reality sets in.  But we're more relaxed and ready to tackle life again.  Obviously I took a full vacation from everything, including blogging, which I may regret as I try to document the trip from memory instead of as it happened ... but it was nice to spend my evenings visiting with family and friends instead of sitting in front of the computer (when I wasn't helping overly tired and somewhat disoriented little girls fall asleep).  It is my goal, though, to go through our nearly 300 pictures (plus the pictures from my parents and siblings to see if there are any I want to steal...) and document our trip 'cause I'm not really the scrap-booking type or the journaling type and this is the only way we're going to have a way to look back on all the fun.  So, be ready for lots of pictures of mountains, little girls and dogs :) in the next few days! 

We jump right back into things tomorrow -- school for Millie, work for Scott, unpacking and grocery shopping for me, plus parent night at Millie's school.  The weekend brings Scott's first attempt at the "All Day Sports Challenge" (I'm going to let him explain that one when it's all said and done), a birthday party, perhaps some baby furniture assembly (for my sister) and maybe some baby shower preparations.  It's hard to believe we are headed into mid-September all ready -- the rest of this year is just going to fly by with all of the events big and small we have left (birthdays, weddings, babies, not to mention the "usual" holidays!).  I think I'm tired already!!  When's the next plane to Denver? ;)

Here are a *few* of my favorite pictures from the past week and a half.

Clearly I am still operating on Mountain time -- it's almost 11 o'clock!  Time for me to get to bed!!  More to come :)