Laura's pictures

We set Laura loose in our house and yard with the camera today. The results really surprised me. They are extremely varied and interesting. I have absolutely no knowledge about real photography, but I think there are some really cool shots. She's not afraid to get really close, far away, cut off heads, etc. She ended up with 592 shots! Lots to go through, and below are my most favorite. But I couldn't just ignore all the other ones that I really liked too. So here are some links to a few albums of ones that I couldn't resist sharing too. They are a bit tedious, though, so feel free to just get the gist from the ones pictured here. None have been cropped or edited.

Here is a link to an album of just pictures of her feet. She had a habit of getting the tips of her toes in the shots looking down and I just love it, especially the ones with the bare feet.

Here is a link to an album of some close-up self portraits.

Here is a link to all my other favorites.

Love the smirk

I'm a sucker for her toes

pomegranate seeds

Look closely, Jim's peeking out at you

Look closely, you can see her reflection

poor tricycle!

Laura's sweater

Well, here's my first attempt at a sweater.

Purple Aster

A bad picture of my newest favorite flower. There are many many more blooms to open.

Mud, mud, glorious mud

Went raspberry picking today. Well, some of us picked. Others of us played in the mud:

First day of school

Laura started Preschool today. She hopped out of the car and just walked right in there like she knew exactly what she was doing. The teachers meet the kids at the car, then send them into the building to meet another teacher in the lobby. So, I just pull up, give her a hug and say "See ya!" Its really nice, especially with Adam really sleepy at that time. I guess it went pretty well during the day too. She didn't offer too much info, but later we played "school" and I got some more clues that way. And she asked if Mrs. Howard and Mrs. Nelson could be her teachers forever, so I guess they made a good first impression on her. Hope it was mutual! And she's looking forward to Thursday. I'm glad we got off to a good start.

The first day of school pics definitely left something to be desired. She wasn't exactly a willing model.

Contrast that with last year's pic:
Showing off her backpack and pig tails! And notice how cold it must have been around the same time last year.

Overalls! Again!

I love overalls on babies. But they are so gosh darn impractical. All that snapping with every diaper change. And stiff denim and buckles aren't too comfortable for naps. But too cute.

Apples Apples Apples

Last week, Laura and I turned these:

Into these:

Pressure canning is kind of scary! But I think we were successful. Our gracious neighbors said we could pick all the apples we wanted from their tree. It was so fun. It was free. And we could do it during Adam's nap via the monitor because it is just on the other side of our back fence. I'm so happy. I am going to wait a few weeks and pick more because they are supposed to get a little bit sweeter in early October.

Driving cars

Already driving the cars around. Such a male. Sometimes he makes vroom sounds too, although not in this video.

Cute big sister, cute little brother

Confusion

Jenny: We will go talk to Steve and Faye for a little while.

Laura: Who is Fayefer?

Jenny: OK, everybody up and at 'em.

Laura: Which Adam?

Spanish and preschool

Laura likes to make up "spanish" words. Her latest is "mooma". It means daddy or mommy cow. Can't wait for her to meet her preschool spanish teacher. I'm sure she's going to wonder what we are teaching her at home.

Speaking of preschool, we went to orientation today. I think Laura will really like it. Her teachers seem like a lot of fun and like they are happy to be there. It would certainly not be a place that I would be excited to spend a lot time. Eleven 3 year olds? No thank you. But I'm glad they are willing and excited. The room set up is nice with a lot of different areas to offer. They play outside first everyday. She'll have kindermusik once a week and spanish the other day. It sounds like they will have lots of reading, songs, a little science, lots of play, etc. Probably a typical preschool. I think she'll like it a lot. It will take some adjustment for her to make it the whole day (9-2), but I'm hoping she handles it well.

Adam walking

He took a step about a week ago and has since decided that's the way to go. he toddles around everywhere now. Still crawls for quick movement, but walks quite a bit too. Another tooth, too!

Love this one too

I love this picture

Mini-golf at the Science Museum

This weekend was a big one. We started off Friday night with dinner at Cossetta's (yum) and mini-golf at the Science Musuem. They have a course you can play in the evenings for $4.50. It is set up to teach you the whole idea of how water travels on land. Your ball crosses streams and rivers, falls down mountain ravines, over dams, through storm drains, etc. Very cool and definitely worth the money. I don't know how much water knowledge Laura absorbed, but she had fun dropping the ball in the holes and playing in the rivers.

Peekaboo

Bowling

The lighting is awful and its super fuzzy, but you get the idea. We went bowling the other night.

Playground

We bought the cards for our phones today, so now I could upload the pics from my phone to the computer. Here's a few from the playground the other day.

Steps

4 steps in a row today, un-aided!

State Fair

We ventured to the State Fair this morning. I knew Jim had been wanting to go, but since I had already been to the county fair and I know how crowded and big and crazy the state fair is, I wasn't too thrilled. But he was right, as usual, and we had a great time. We got there early and beat most of the crazy crowd. We saw all the animals, rode the big slide, ate tons of yummy terrible food, rode the gondola, and had an overall surprisingly pleasant time. I'm so glad we went!

On the way in

petting a baby duck

hmmm...what do I think about a Pronto Pup?

Guess she liked it!

The big slide

Adam spent most of the time in a carrier on my back. He didn't fall asleep until the last 30 min or so, but was happy the whole time. No fair food for him this year.

Funny pics of Adam