Play Time

Piper has her own gang of baby girls. They huddle up together and plot the things they are going to do when they all start crawling.

Fun Forest

Yesterday we went to the Fun Forest. It's a great park up in Virginia. Asher rode his bike around most of the time, but stopped occasionally to do some climbing. Piper really wanted to go down the slide, so Asher helped us down. She also asked to go to Cracker Barrel for lunch. I have a hard time saying no to her, so that's where we ate.

Leaves

We have one tree in our yard that actually sheds leaves. Last week Asher and Nate raked the few leaves and tons of pine needles. We were unaware at the time that a nor'easter would be coming our way destroying all our hard work.

Halloween

This year for Halloween our church did a carnival. Aside from the fact that it was 80 degrees and I bought the kids warm costumes it was fun. We have been here three years now, you would think I would stop buying warm costumes. Asher had his first horse ride, and he wasn't very impressed by it.
Chicken little catching a fishPiper was a flower and spent most of the night in the stroller. She wilted by the end and didn't want her picture taken.

Southern Cotton

One thing I really miss about living in Pennsylvania is the fall. We don't have leaves turning and dropping everywhere, but we do have cotton. I love seeing it bloom this time of the year.Today Asher and I took a friend to look at the cotton. Asher was more interested in throwing sticks.Piper is changing so much. She loves rolling all over the place, and spends most of her time on her belly. She is trying so hard to scoot around. She watches Asher all the time, and I'm sure she'll be trying to catch up with him soon.

Hide and Seek

Asher loves to hide in the laundry hamper. It's usually in Piper's room and every time we go in there he wants to climb in.

Every morning Asher wakes me up by screaming Mommy from his crib. From the time I take him out, until he goes to bed he never stops. The weather has been in the 70's and we try to stay outside as much as possible. We have a lot of really great neighbors that love Asher. As soon as he sees any of them he runs from me and asks them for a cookie (he know what I'll say if he asks me).
Piper had a bit of a cough today and was crankier than usual. Asher took advantage of the extra attention I was bestowing upon her by dumping garlic powder and cinnamon all over the kitchen floor.

The wrong place

Over the last few weeks I have been finding things out of place. At first I was thinking maybe it was Nate who put a matchbox car in the peanut butter jar. One morning I walked into our bathroom and I looked down in the toilet, and there were vacuum cleaner attachments sticking out. Nate hates to vacuum so I knew it couldn't be him. I am forgetting more now that I have two kids, so maybe I put them there and forgot about it. A few days later I found one of Piper's dirty diapers in a toy school bus. I knew I was getting closer to finding the culprit. Certainly, because Piper is my daughter she must be advanced. She must have changed her own diaper, but since she can't reach the trash can she must have hid it in the bus. I was puzzled a few days later when cleaning our room I noticed something jiggle in Nate's guitar. I emptied it out and found a cell phone. Now there is only one person in our house with a cell phone so I confronted him. I asked him if he was the menus who has been putting things where they don't belong. He replied OK and ran out of the room. I apologize to the other members of my family who I wrongly accused.


There will be pictures and vidoes coming soon. According to Nate I almost blew up the computer last week because there is no room left. I would put some things on our back up hard drive, but I honestly have no idea what our hard drive even looks like.

Sand dunes

This weekend we headed to the Outer Banks and went to Jockey's Ridge. It's a state park made of sand dunes. Asher LOVES it there. He did so well climbing up and down the dunes. He also really liked watching the kites and hang gliders.

There was a lot of water around the dunes from all the rain we've had the last couple of days.
My friend Natalie was with us for the weekend, so Nate rode in the back seat. Piper was very happy to have someone to look and smile at. She is such a happy baby.

the peanuts

We bought this mat for Piper, but Asher thinks all toys in the house belong to him. He likes to crawl under it with his sister, and this is a nice picture of that. Unfortunately it usually lasts for about 3 minutes before Asher decides he wants the mat to himself and tries to role his sister off of it. Overall Piper has a very different temperment than Asher. If any of you knew him back in his early days you will remember that he never stopped screaming or crying. Piper is pretty calm and content...except the last few days she keeps insisting that she needs a hula hoop. I told her we'll get her one when she learns to stand, or at least sit up.

My little shepherd

Asher decided he wants to be a shepherd when he grows up. He doesn't have any sheep right now, so he is practicing on his toys. Basically all day long he moves his toys from one spot to another. He usually starts by putting them in the dryer. He takes them out and puts them in Piper's crib (I have learned not to leave her in there alone anymore). At some point in the day they are all in the dogs cage.

Campout

We bought a fire pit over the weekend, and are having a lot of fun making smores. Asher and Nate had their first camp out on Saturday night. Neither of them got a lot of sleep, but they stayed in the tent the entire night. Piper wanted to watch a lifetime movie instead, so we stayed inside.

Pirate Party

Asher turned two last week. On Saturday we had a pirate Birthday party for him. Eleven of his friends came over and we had a bounce house, and a treasure hunt. All of the kids put on a pirate hat and went on a hunt for buried treasure Here is Asher trying to sneak another cupcake.

Trip to Pa

We had a really good trip to Pa last week. I had been wanting to catch up with what was going on in Dora the Explorer's world lately, so the 18 hours of her in the car was really nice. I love living in NC, but one of the hardest parts is we don't have good grocery stores and places to eat. When we go up to Pa I always go a little crazy with eating. Asher may not look like me, but we both share a love for doughnuts. Piper is smiling a lot now, and can roll over both ways. She has now met all of her aunts and uncles.

Jammin Out

Asher loves playing with any electronics. Ever since he threw the laptop across the room he has to be supervised with all of Nate's toys. We are heading up to PA tomorrow, so we will post again when we get back.

Piper update

So my little girl is trying very hard to catch up with her big brother. She turned 8 weeks old today and is now rolling from her stomach to back. She did it a few times today. Asher saw her do it the first time and decided she needed to be back on her stomach and rolled her right over again. I think she will be a tough little girl.

Puddle Jumper

For the last couple of weeks Asher has started saying bye-bye to everything. As he takes a bath and the water drains out he will over and over say bye-bye water. About a week ago he started say butt and points to his butt. During his diaper changes when we put a new diaper on him he now says bye-bye butt. It has been very hot this week so we are doing a lot of pool time. The floatie that Asher has on in the pictures is called a puddle jumper. He is doing pretty well with it. He likes to put his face in the water and blow bubbles. Last night Piper slept through the night for the first time...YAY...

Game Night

My brother and his friend are down for the week. They aren't staying with us, but they come over every night. We taught them how to play Catan and we have played it every night (I have won the majority of the games of course). Last weekend we bought Piper a play mat and she has been practicing tummy time.

Beach Day

Today I packed up the kids and went to the Outer Banks. My friend Katie is there for the week, so we visited her for the day. Asher isn't a big fan of being in the car for more than fifteen minutes, so I put on a Dora DVD to keep him entertained. He had fun running around on the beach. He liked to fill his bucket up with water and empty it on the dry sand. Piper spent the day laying on the towel in the shade.

Bath Time

Piper had her first real bath a few weeks ago. She seemed a bit confused by the whole deal. Asher is still really liking his baths. He has crayons for the tub, but he prefers to draw on himself instead of the tub. Nate has been working a lot lately and I usually run out of things to do with him by about six, so I end up giving him a lot of baths to keep him occupied.

Rainy Days

It is definitely the rainy season around here. Two weeks ago we had a huge storm. Nate was out at the time, and his car was flooded. He ended up with about 6 inches of water in the bottom. He came home and tried to clean it out. It was still raining and Asher was dying to go outside. Nate and Asher had a lot of fun splashing around. Piper decided to stay inside where it was dry.
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