~ camping ~

Charlie is on his second round of antibiotics, steroids, cough medicine and now and inhaler.  I'm feeling much better, but this cold has been nasty!  We've pretty much had the plague at our place since school started!  Luckily, the worst of it has stayed away from B.  She has a little cough and a slightly runny nose, but mostly it seems like allergies for her.  This is how cute she looked on Friday, Sept 9, in her Pink Hawkeye cheerleading outfit!  Isn't she big???!!!

 

Immediately after this photo was taken we headed to Pleasant Creek State Park to get away from it all and camp for the weekend. Pleasant Creek isn't a creek, it's a lake...but it is quite pleasant!

    
One of the reasons that I like this camping area so much is because you are surrounded by natural prairie everywhere you go.  The yellows are very active this time of year.

We saw a deer the first night we were there.  Then over the next two days we had encounters with a snake and bullfrog.  B. loved them all!! 

Another great thing about this camping spot is the playground.  When B would get bored, we would take a little walk and play on the toys.  Once again, these photos remind me of how unbelievable big she has gotten!

Believe it or not, some of the noodles did get into her belly!  The smiling is partly because of the "yummy in her tummy", but mostly because Daddy is making faces!

We took our hand-me-down scooter with us.  She didn't do too bad!  We should get out that helmet, though!  Daddy helped push, but she was also able to scoot herself a long a bit.  Steering is still an issue!

All that playing did make for a tired two year old!

~ two vids and a pic ~

Today B. and I went on a short walk. Although we live in town, there is a family farm across the street that must be grandfathered in because they have a couple horses. We don't often see them out and about, but today was an exception.




Like I mentioned in my previous post, lately the things she says just cracks me up! This video is of her eating yogurt and blackberries....



When she says "huge" then asks "Where did enormous go?" she is talking about the sunflower that used to be on the deck. It was cut down recently because it had seen better days!

~ happy birthday (a week late) ~

Last Saturday our baby turned two! And boy is she two! It has been so much fun watching her grow and change over the last two years. I can't believe the leaps and bounds in language development over the last few months. The latest funny is that she is adding "honey" to everything. We first noticed it Thursday night when she was telling us she was thirsty, "More milk, Honey."!

Kids started back to school on the 18th, and we also didn't have our regular daycare provider on that day and several days following because she was out of town. We knew in advance, but the lack of a regular routine and schedule does tend to throw everything off. My mom was able to babysit her 3 of the 4 days (thanks Mom!), and Charlie stayed home the first day. Friday, the 19th my mom (thanks, again) took her to the doctor -- pink eye. But she seemed fine on her birthday. Here are a few picks from the day, more on flickr.

The loot:
I made a presonalized Elmo birthday banner with my Cricut!
B.'s first look at the presents!
Shock and awe over the whole thing.
We probably could've just purchased balloons for the kids. We had a hard time getting her to open her presents!

The Elmo cake!


Never leave home without it...

Eating like all princesses, right?
And then she licked rocks for dessert!
Sunday we recovered. Monday night she threw up all night (I'm sure it wasn't related to the rock eating). Then Charlie and I got it. We are still recovering!!