fall family fun

Fall is always a busy time of year for us. We have a bunch of fall traditions that we try to squeeze in each year, and at the same time I am working to get the girls Halloween costumes ready and plan for Olivia's birthday. I look forward to the seeing the leaves start to change and the cooler weather, but most of all I look forward to seeing my girls smile as they enjoy all of our fall activities.

Last year we started the tradition of visiting an apple orchard and picking our own apples. We made the mistake of going a little late in the season last year and the pickins' were slim. This year we went early and we had a ton of delicious varieties to choose from.

The cool thing about this particular orchard is that they do not mind if you sample while you pick. That alone makes this orchard a hit with my girls. We spent lots of time searching for our perfect apples and doing lots of tasting in the process.

It was a warmer fall day so the bees were out in full force. There isn't anything a bee likes more than following the sweet smell of juicy apples, which meant they were all over Cece. I did my best to shoo them away but one eventually got her. Poor little thing cried hard but handled it like a champ. She spent the rest of the day holding out her finger and saying, "a bee bit me!".

Bee sting aside, we had a fun trip to the orchard. We left with a ton of yummy apples and more wonderful memories. Can't wait to go back again next year!

With the arrival of Fall comes the close of the zoo for the season. We made our last visit to the zoo just days before it closed. The weather was perfect and they were starting to decorate for the annual Zoo Halloween. During our last trip to the zoo each season I let the girls pick out one thing from the gift shop, another tradition we started a few years ago. No surprise that they both picked stuffed animals.

On our way home from the zoo we stopped at our favorite little pumpkin patch to pick out our little pumpkins for the season. We used to live close to this pumpkin patch which is why we would visit it each year. Even though we moved further away we continued to visit each fall.

The girls searched diligently for the perfect little pumpkins. Cece insisted on carrying hers up to the register to pay for them. Before leaving I begged the girls to pose for a cute fall, pumpkin picture. It is beyond difficult to get a decent picture of these two these days. Let me rephrase that by saying that is is difficult to get a decent picture of Cecilia these days. The goofiness just takes over!

With Fall in full swing it was time to turn the focus to Halloween. Our first official dress up event was the Fall Family Festival at the girl's school. The weather was not ideal for this event, especially when you have two kids dressed as Hula Girls. They still managed to have fun playing games, running around with friends and partially displaying their costumes in the costume parade.

Cece is experiencing these events as a student at the school for the first time, but Olivia has been doing this stuff for years. I have watched her grow up at this school and build some amazing friendships. I can't wait to see the friendships Cecilia will build during her years at the school that has given us so many great memories.

Continuing with the spirit of Halloween we took the girls to the Zoo Halloween. It is another chance to show off their costumes and of course, collect more candy! It was a little warmer on this day, but jackets were still required. The sun was shining though and the girls were having the best time!

One big difference between Cecilia and Olivia is that Cece is not afraid of mascots and people in costume. Olivia is obviously over her fear, but Cece does not shy away from a photo op with a scary looking "good witch". Zoo Halloween 2013 was a hit...can't wait until next year!

With all of the anticipation of Halloween, when the actual holiday arrived it was met with less than ideal weather. It was a day full of storms and wind. Around 6pm the rain stopped and the sky cleared, but only briefly. It lasted long enough for the girls to get a solid hour of trick or treating in, which was plenty.

Cecilia was old enough this year to grasp the concept of trick-or-treating. She was excited to run up to the neighbors houses and ask for candy. Occasionally she felt like sitting it out, but she would count on her sister to collect candy for her. The past few Halloweens have not been the best when it comes to weather. Maybe next year we will have better luck. All I know is that despite the weather the girls still managed to collect a ton of candy!

So that sums up our Fall family fun. In between all of the fun activities and traditions we had some average every day things to take care of. On the top of that list is Cecilia's therapy for her tip-toe walking. Since the day she started walking she has walked primarily on her tip-toes. As cute as this may be it could lead to long term problems for her physically. We found an amazing physical therapist that has been working with her on strengthening her legs and ankles. She has therapy once a week either in the pool or on land.

In the short time she has been in therapy her therapist has seen improvement in her muscle tone in her lower legs, but in order for the tip-toe walking to be corrected permanently a more drastic measure will need to be taken. Just this week Cece was fitted for foot orthotics. These small braces, once she receives them, should almost immediately begin to train her to walk flat-footed. It may take awhile for Cece's leg and feet abnormalities to be corrected but her therapists seem to be very hopeful. Although this is something I wish we were not having to deal with I am grateful for the fact that Cecilia is a happy, healthy little girl. And not to mention FULL of energy!

Olivia has also been her normal, busy self filling her weeks with school, dance, soccer and ukulele lessons. Yes...she takes ukulele lessons. We received a very pleasant surprise a few months back when Olivia was asked to do some modeling for Matilda Jane, a local girls clothing company. She modeled for this company when she was a baby, at a time when the company was just getting off the ground. Now that they have grown into a hugely successful clothing company it was an honor to be asked back not once, but twice in the past 2 months.

We were lucky enough to get some of the shots from the first photo shoot. Between the two shoots she modeled a ton of gorgeous clothes and she had a blast showing them off. By the time we were asked back to do a second photo shoot I think Olivia had the modeling thing down. The photographer nicknamed her "one and done" because it really only took a few shots to get the pictures they were looking for. I wish I had some photos from her second shoot because they were simply amazing! My girl has a natural beauty about her and fails to take a bad picture.

So as you can see we have been incredibly busy. Even after Halloween things kept on rolling. We just celebrated Olivia's 7th birthday which seemed to last a full week. Things are constantly busy and crazy but I wouldn't change a thing!

proud mama bird

My little girls are growing up. This became more apparent than ever when I dropped them both off for their first day of school last month. Olivia could hardly contain her excitement as she woke up for her first day of 1st grade. In fact, she had been anticipating it all summer. Cecilia on the other hand really had no idea what she was getting into. One thing was certain on that first day of school, this mama bird sure was proud of her girls as she saw them standing side-by-side in their backpacks.

Now Cecilia's first day of school was actually Olivia's 2nd day. Cecilia helped me send Olivia off on her first day, mainly by trying to avoid hugs and kisses from her sister. That's Cece for ya! The main thing at the front of my mind as I snapped photos of my big girl on her first day of 1st grade was, how did we get here so fast!

Olivia made her way into her new classroom on that first day like she had been in 1st grade for months. Starting a new grade with new teachers is much easier when you are surrounded by your besties. These girls have been together since they were babies in the toddler room. They have experienced so many wonderful things together and now they have each other while they venture into new territory.

One thing that made Olivia's first day of school even more thrilling was losing her second front tooth at lunch. The first one came out just a few days before. We didn't expect the second tooth to follow so quickly. One of Olivia's teachers was kind enough to send me this photo moments after the tooth fell out. This event really helped to make that first day extra special!

Cecilia's transition into school was a bit more challenging. After a successful introductory day in the classroom with me by her side I thought she was ready to go. As we walked her in for her first solo day she quickly changed her tone and turned on the waterworks. It took Cecilia about two weeks to adjust to going to school 3 mornings a week and being able to do it without crying. What we discovered was that she was most comfortable having her big sister walk her in each day. That way she could say good bye to me at the car and it was not me leaving her at the classroom door. After a longer than I expected transition period she is now attending school without tears and loving it!

As if starting school was not enough of a change in Cece's life we also signed her up for her first dance class. I shouldn't have been surprised to see that going into tap class without me would evoke a similar reaction to being left at school. I never experienced these difficulties with Olivia, so to see Cecilia have so much trouble jumping head first into these new life changes was challenging for me too. There is a little boy in her tap class that is also in her class at school. I thought that would make things easier...nope. For the first few weeks of class she would cry as she was scooped up by her teacher. The good news is that the hard stuff is behind us now and she is enjoying both school and "tappy" class.

My favorite thing about taking her to dance class each week is looking at my sweet girl in her cute little dance outfits. I just love the way her tree-trunk legs look in her tiny tap shoes. But more than that I look at her and realize how proud of her I am. I have recently turned her comfortable life upside down, making her try new things with new people. She has not handled these changes in her life with ease. There have been tears and fear in her eyes as I leave her in unfamiliar situations. I have to remind myself that her reactions are pretty normal. Of course my fears and concerns about her unhappiness with starting school and dance are now a thing of the past. She is enjoying her new routine and excelling at her new activities.

Prior to the kids getting into their new school routines we squeezed in some fun "end of the summer" activities. We always try to catch a TinCaps game each summer with the girls. Olivia usually receives a free ticket through the summer reading program at the library and we tag along with her. Lawn seats at the TinCaps always equal a good time!

Another big part of summer for Olivia was soccer. She has been playing consistently for over a year now and it is amazing how much she has improved. The Plex offers a great program for the kids which focuses on skill building, team work and most importantly...fun! She has made some great friends and enjoyed herself tremendously. Things wrapped up at the end of the summer with the medal ceremony. Medals are great, but creating friendships...that's priceless.

Our summer is never complete without a trip to our dear friend's lake home. Every year we spend a day at their cottage. The girls play in the sand as we sit back and relax in lounge chairs. The girls do a great job entertaining one another, which gives Mom a chance to enjoy the peacefulness of lake life. 

A highlight of being at the lake for the girls is taking a boat ride. They being out on the water and the faster the better when it comes to crusin' the lake. No matter how busy our summer gets we always manage to squeeze in our lake day...just another one of our family traditions. 

We had a jammed packed summer. It was full of fun activities with the kids. But before heading back to school we wanted to do something special with just Olivia. Months ago I bought tickets to see Bruno Mars in concert in Indianapolis. We decided to take a mini-vacation for a few days and show Olivia a good time before that first day of school. We stayed downtown and did our best to squeeze as much as we could in a few days. Our first night in town we took Olivia to the Hard Rock Cafe followed by a stroll through downtown.

The next morning we headed to the Indy Zoo. Our hotel was in the heart of downtown and everything we wanted to do was in walking distance. It was a beautiful day and the animals were so active. Olivia had never been to the Indy Zoo before so she was super excited to see animals we do not have at our zoo like bears, elephants, flamingos and rhinos.

Some of the highlights of the day included the dolphin show and getting hands-on with the sharks. For me the highlights were watching the walrus and the polar bear, but nothing was better than seeing Olivia enjoy herself. The whole purpose of our end of the summer get-a-way was to give her some care free time before diving back into school work, and I think we achieved just that.

After the zoo we popped into the butterfly gardens just next door. The butterflies were beautiful but very hard to photograph. I did manage to catch one resting on a leaf for a split second. A much more enjoyable subject to capture on camera is my stunning Olivia. She is simply beautiful inside and out. With her 7th birthday quickly approaching I could not be more proud of the little girl she has become. 

On the way back to the hotel we decided to stop and rent a family bicycle to ride up and down the Indianapolis Canal. I have walked up and down that canal a handful of times but never rented one of the bikes. It turned out to be a really fun experience and a great way to wrap up our fun afternoon.

That evening we prepared for our concert. With tickets in hand we stopped for some pre-Bruno pizza at an incredible pizza joint on the way. Olivia could hardly contain her excitement as we waited to see Bruno live!

It was quite late by the time Bruno hit the stage, but the wait was worth it. He put on an amazing show and kept us on our feet the entire time. Olivia fought sleepiness to sing and dance with me to all of our favorite songs. It had been years since I attended a concert and I found myself more excited than anyone to see a live performance. It was a late night but one we will always remember. We still talk about what fun we had that night and during our end of the summer getaway. 

Now Fall is in full swing and we are busier than ever. The girls have their activities; soccer, dance, gymnastics, etc. and we are working to squeeze in all of our favorite fall activities before the cold weather sets in. One thing is for sure...there is never a dull moment!