Ready, Set, Go!

Last Sunday, Olivia participated in the 13th Annual Cedar Park 1K and 5Miler Fun Run. She got up early, had her energy bar, went to the race and ran her little heart out with the other kids. She was so proud of herself as she crossed the finish line!

Ready!

Set!

Go!

Ahhh....Relax with my Orange Slice.

Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge Week

Brian took Olivia to the Balcones Canyonlands to celebrate National Wildlife Refuge week. This is the second time they have participated in this annual event and thoroughly enjoyed the activities. Olivia's favorite activity was Creatures of the Pond in which she and other participants waited out into the waters of a pond to collect animal and plant life that some UT scientists would identify. One of the professors even remembered Olivia from last year. After this, they went on a hike and also visited a newly built butterfly tent. Finally, they had a picnic lunch while watching the Snakes Alive! program where they were able to touch various reptiles. Olivia slept the whole way home. Meanwhile, Eve was still recovering from her concussion, so we hung out at home. Next year, we hope to take her too.

This year, we are participating in the YMCA's Adventure Guides which is similar to Indian Guides or Campfire USA clubs. We invited the rest of the Circle, the small group to which we belong, to come out to Balcones Canyonlands with us. It was a good turnout with 5 families attending, and it was nice for Olivia to get to share this experience with the other kids in the group.

Bat Night!

Olivia's Kindergarten class studied bats last week by reading books about bats, making bat crafts, and even decorating the school hallway like a cave. The grand finale for the week was Bat Night, where all the Kindergarteners, their families, and teachers met on Friday evening to watch the Mexican Free Tailed Bats under the McNeil Street Bridge in Round Rock take flight. Olivia's neighbor, Bryne, went with her and Brian to see the bats, and the girls had so much fun and screamed when the bats took off. Unfortunately, none of the photos with the bats came out very well, but here is a shot with the girls pretending to be bats!

It's Carnival Time!

Olivia attended her elementary school carnival on Oct. 4 and had a blast! Genevieve also went for a little while along with cousins, Elena, Jonah, and Gabby. After playing some games and jumping on the bouncers, the kids ate hotdogs and cotton candy. Then, Olivia stayed and helped me volunteer at the pony ride booth, while the little ones headed home for naptime.

Later that afternoon, Olivia and Eve's good friend Ethan had a super-fun birthday party. Guess what the theme was! A sports carnival!! Ethan's mom and dad, Tonra and Ben, host birthday parties that no kid would want to miss. They had five game stations featuring Ethan's favorite sports, had a concession stand with unshelled peanuts, cotton candy, and popcorn, had a bouncer, and even played carnival music throughout the party. Cousins Elena, Jonah, and Gabby also attended the party. We wish Ethan a very happy 4th birthday!!

Please Leave the 'Toddle' Out of 'Toddlerhood'

Our little Genevieve has had a rough week or so falling and hitting her noggin a couple of times in a row on cement. We ended up taking her to Dell Children's Hospital for a CT scan with our pediatrician's referral. Thank goodness she didn't have a fracture and only a mild concussion. We are glad her headache is gone, and she is back to being her sweet, cuddly self. She was very cautious for a day or so but has quickly gained her confidence again. Mommy and Daddy will be glad when the 'toddle' leaves our toddler!

Fall Leaves

Next week, Eve and I are going to do some projects using leaves, so we spent a little while at the Buttercup Creek park this morning gathering some from the ground. The weather hasn't cooled down enough in our area to make many leaves fall yet, but there were a few on the ground. Eve was making all kinds of connections while we were there; she was saying the words and doing the signs for "tree", "leaves", "cold", "autumn", and "wind" as we picked up leaves and acorns and put them in our bag. She hasn't slept well the past couple of nights because of her poison ivy rash, so she's pretty tired and grumpy during the day, but when we get outside, she is as happy as a lark and somehow we make it through until naptime.

Tomato Pickin' Gals

The girls are starting to bond...over picking tomatoes. Everyday after we go get Olivia from school, the girls want to head straight to the garden to see if there are any ripe tomatoes to pick. Sadly, our garden has been overtaken by weeds, but we just can't bear to mow it down because of all the tomatoes ripening each day and the fun the girls have picking the tomatoes. We only planted miniature varieties this year like baby romas, yellow pears, and cherry tomatoes, and also there are volunteers from last year. I thought this picture was funny because the girls eat them the same exact way; they stash them in their cheeks before heading back into the house to cool off.

Natural Playscapes

Like most kids, my girls love the park, but it's not the playscape they adore. It's the park surroundings. For the most part, when we go to the park, the girls hang out by the trees, rocks, and any bit of water (including stagnate puddles!) that they can find. They definitely prefer God's natural playscape to the man-made playscape of the park. Sometimes it can be tricky for me because I have to be on the lookout for snakes, fire ant mounds, slippery rocks, etc., and now that Eve is also walking around and wanting to explore (usually) in a different direction from Olivia it adds another dimension to the adventure. I'm glad they enjoy nature, though, and like to explore and make what Olivia calls, "discoveries". These pictures are from our visit to Olson-Meadows Park last weekend, and while we were there two hours, the girls were probably on the playscape all of 15 minutes. During our hike, there were several "discoveries". Olivia found three "horse apples" (I am not sure if this is the correct name for them, but it's the one I always heard growing up in Wharton.) and they did some horse apple bowling down the hills. Eve loved picking pecans still in their hulls and throwing them off the bridge into the creek. She would say "hear that?" as the pecans splashed into the water. Olivia had a grand time crossing a little stream back and forth by balancing on a log. It was a nice morning, and I was glad Brian could be with us on our adventure.

Little Bird, Little Bird, Fly Through My Window

Eve and I have started to do some theme-based play in the mornings after we drop Olivia off at school, and this week our focus is birds. (I have always loved birds and Eve's room is decorated with them. She notices them outside no matter where we are, and she loves to "Peep Peep" as well as "Whoo whoo" and "Bak bak"!) We read books about birds, such as *Pepito* and *Little Duck*. She made a bird craft project. She played in birdseed and spent much of her time putting sunflower seeds one by one into a narrow-necked bottle. Finally, we threw feathers in the air and watched them dance from the wind of the fan. It was a messy week, but it was a fun and tweet week! ;)