Visiting Kahoka

We headed to Kahoka today to visit our old neighbors, the O'Bryants. It had been quite a while since our last visit, but the girls warmed right up to Ray and Mikie.

It's starting to be a tradition to get a picture of the girls on the rocking horse.

Ella was practicing taking pictures, so I helped her take these. Not bad, right?!

When Gracie was just a toddler and we lived in Kahoka we would walk down to Ray and Mikie's house a lot to visit. She loved to play in this little gardening shed area. There were many games of "Follow the Leader," "Hide and Seek," etc. that took place in this area.

Speaking of hide and seek, Gracie hid inside the manure spreader that Mikie has in their yard.

Ella hid behind this tree during hide and seek, but unfortunately she hid long enough that she decided to make a mess in her pants! Shame on you, Ella.

Oh, What a Doll

Ella was extra chipper this morning so I took a couple of pictures to capture the moment. She does not wake up well...at all! In fact she is a certified grump for the first hour of the day the majority of the time. Today was rare, so I wanted to remember it forever! Some of these smiles are so big you can even see her bubble gum.

MRMC Hospital Fair

Yesterday we headed to Moberly to the MRMC Hospital Fair. We have been the past few years and it is always fun for the girls. Ella loved this "creature" that she met.

When you entered the ER your child could pick any stuffed animal they wanted and take it into the Emergency Room to meet a doctor. The doctor then assessed your stuffed animals "ailment" and bandaged it and gave take home advice for the child. I was thankful both girls chose small stuffed animals again this year! Gracie picked a ballerina bunny and Ella chose a teeny tiny Piglet.

Here are the girls consulting with the medical staff. Ella's Piglet hurt his ear and Gracie's ballerina bunny had too much sugar in her diet and needed to watch out for diabetes. No more Lucky Charms and Trix for this bunny rabbit!

The girls were quite attentive during this process.

After lunch it was finally time for some cotton candy! Don't worry...we didn't give any to the ballerina bunny.

Ella wanted to ride the tricycle obstacle course that MODOT had set up. She really listened well as the workers told her what each road sign meant and how she should respond as the driver.

After we got home Gracie had to drag out most of her stuffed animals and we had to play doctor for a while. Each animal had an injury that needed treatment. She's one creative child to come up with some of the illnesses that she thought of.

Dr. Doolin was very kind and affectionate with the injured animals. Maybe we are looking at a future veterinarian?!

A Budding Entrepreneur

Gracie has been talking recently about ways she could make money. She wants to buy things from time to time and I'll simply say, "Do you have the money to buy it?" The answer is usually "no." Today she decided she was going to start using her artwork to make money. She sat down for a few hours and worked really hard on some pictures and then wrote prices on the back. Based on the prices I decided she thinks a whole lot of her artwork. I then had to sit down with her and talk about pricing. She plans on taking special orders and having me update this once in a while with new pieces she is selling.

"A Bright Sunshiny Day"

"A Jellyfish in the Ocean" -- SOLD!!!

"Fruits and Vegetables" (Clearly this one didn't take too long!)

"Ballerinas in Action"

Here Fishy, Fishy

Here are some pics from our fishing outing tonight. We went to Longbranch Lake and fished in the spillway and only caught 1 fish. It was still a fun evening. The girls have enjoyed fishing this summer, but they bore quickly which is evident by the number of random pictures they each took of each other with my camera. I had to delete about 70 pictures when we got home!

Ella Learning to Knead

As boring as this post might be, it was another "first" in Ella's life. She made Monkey Bread with me tonight and kneaded bread for the first time. She loved the feel of the dough and probably worked it a little too much!

Check out the technique! What a pro!

Is it time for a big girl bed?

I have been in the midst of an ongoing debate with myself. I know it's probably time to have Ella's crib converted into a daybed, but she sleeps so great in her crib that I hate to mess up a good thing! Gracie is still our bad sleeper, but Ella never wakes us up in the night. Never! I have been joking with people saying that once Ella's toes start poking out the end of the crib I'll switch her to a "big girl bed" but until then she has to stay in the crib. Well today when it was time to get Ella up from her nap I found her in an unusual position. She had turned around sideways in her crib and had her feet sticking out the rails. So now the debate has begun again... What do you think?