I'm assuming this picture is either from the late 70's or early 80's. Yup - that would be me eating an apple while apple picking with my parents. I was trying to get Rachel to pose like this on Sunday but the closest I got was this
What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon - at the apple orchard! I took a ton of pictures today (110 to be exact) so be prepared...for a few :)
Lift me up higher, Daddy!
Her first apple she picked. She was pretty excited!
Look - another one!
This is fun!
Daddy & Rachel testing the apples
MMMMM
Checking out the other side of the tree
Taking a little rest
What a sweet moment
Testing the apple to see if it's like a sea shell? ha ha
We attempted a family picture
Natalie loves to be up high
Rachel, being the good big sister and giving her little sister another apple.
Testing out the pumpkin before we bought it
Uh oh - sticky hands from the juicy apples
Waiting for the train with Daddy
Wishing she could drive the David Brown tractorCan't believe it's Friday already! Where did this week go? It's been a busy one around here.
On Monday I took Natalie for her 8 month pictures (will post them later - too lazy to hook the laptop up to the scanner right now).
Tuesday I took our Escape to the dealership body shop because we thought it had rust on it. I was so ticked - a 2008 Escape with rust? As it turns out, it's not rust BUT it appears the paint was contaminated at some point between the application of paint and clear coat. The good news is that Ford is obviously going to fix this. The bad news is they need the vehicle for a week and they don't give out loaners. I literally laughed out loud when the body shop manager told me that. As if I'm going to give up my vehicle for a week and not have something else to drive with a 2 year old and an 8 month old around. Anyway, that's a minor detail at this point. Yes, we do have Ron's truck but it's not an extended cab so the carseats won't fit in there. **update** As I was typing this, I got a call from the Body Shop manager and he finally heard from Ford Corporate Office. They want to try giving it an "environmental cleaning" first. They think that maybe this issue that we're seeing is rail brake dust from when the Escape was sitting in a rail yard (they're built in Kansas so it was a little bit of a trip to get it up here to Ontario, Canada). The manager doesn't think this is going to help but before we can go the next route (which is actually stripping it right down to the metal, re-sealing it, then painting it along with a clear coat), we need to try this cleaning method. Hey - whatever works! I hope this does the trick since I'll only be without the vehicle for one day this way. **
We didn't do a whole heck of a lot on Wednesday because Natalie is still not feeling 100%. She has a low grade fever and has her hands in her mouth constantly so I'm wondering if she's teething. Can't see anything in there yet but these things take time. I tend to not get excited about teeth around here because Rachel didn't get her first tooth until she was 13 months old.
Yesterday was a super busy day for me. I went through the girls' closets and got everything organized for the fall/winter. Felt a little sad putting away the summer clothes but I'm thinking Natalie might actually fit into a lot of those clothes again next summer. I figure once she gets more mobile (still only scooting backwards) she'll thin out and as she grows taller, that will help too so I'm not getting rid of the 18month outfits yet. We'll keep them until next summer and if they fit - fine. If not, that's fine, too.
Today we are just relaxing. Pampers are on sale at a local grocery store and I figure I should stock up since we'll be using diapers for at least another year. With Natalie being so big, I sometimes forget that she's only 8 months old :) The potty training is going to go full force in a couple of weeks - as soon as Natalie isn't sick anymore. It will be weird only having one child in diapers :)
Ok, enough of the chitter chatter...let's get on to the pictures!
Ron holding Nadia. She's so tiny! You forget when they're that small. For us it's been 2 years since we've held a baby that little. Natalie was 9lbs 13oz when she was born so we skipped the newborn stage with her :)
Rybeca & Natalie
Natalie, Rachel & Ron checking out the toys at Rybeca & Tim's
Tim & Natalie
Rachel playing with Aidan's computer
Aidan pushing Rachel on his toy
This picture makes me almost pee my pants when I see it. Tim is using my Tigger costume this year because Aidan is going out as Tigger on Halloween. I forgot we had this little costume for Natalie to wear so we got Tim & Natalie dressed up and had to take a picture :)
Rachel & Cha Cha having breakfast. Not sure why Rachel felt the need to use a shovel to eat her breakfast :)
Natalie playing with Casey & Oma
Luke, the birthday boy & Rachel. I love her comical smile!
Luke was pulling Rachel around on his new trike. She just sat there; it was so cute!
I should be packing for our weekend away but I figured I would take a couple of minutes to post some pictures of the girls.
Every morning when we hear Natalie making noise (babble mostly), Rachel RUNS upstairs and into Natalie's room to see her. She hasn't quite figured out how to climb completely up the crib yet (which I'm obviously ok with) but at least she can see Natalie and vice versa.
Natalie loves seeing her big sister first thing in the morning.
Poor Natalie - completely tuckered out after playing.
Rachel cleaned Natalie up after some crayon got on her sock. What a helpful little girl!
I realize the date/time stamp is a little hard to read but the three pictures above were taken at 2:41, 2:42 and 2:43. Rachel just couldn't decide what to do downstairs - there were too many options!
Natalie gave her approval by clapping her hands
It was a little chilly down there so we put some jackets on.
I hate how Blogger automatically turns my pictures because of the time/date stamp. Oh well.
There's even room for Rachel to ride one of her trikes. She's getting pretty good at it. She can reach the pedals and she knows what to do in that respect - it's the steering that is a bit of an issue. She has all winter to figure it out though.
Time for a cup of tea with her doll 'Dady'
Pretending to sleep in her new 'sleepover bed'. She just loves it!! I guess we'll see how much she really loves it this weekend though. We're heading to Toronto to meet our friends new baby, Nadia and then we're going to my in-laws after that and spending the night since we have my nephews 2nd birthday party on Sunday. The price of gas has come down thankfully (it was $1.39/L which is about $5.25/gallon). Now it's around the $1.28/L and I'm hoping it's even cheaper by tomorrow or Friday when I'll need to fill up. Anyway, we thought with the price of gas and the amount of time we'll be spending in the car this weekend, we would cut out some travel time and stay at the in-laws. Plus this way we'll get to have a good visit with them.
Last but certainly not least...Natalie with her beautiful smile/laugh
