Sister Love

 Allison & Heidi seem to be becoming each other's favorite person.  Allison is thrilled when they wear 'matching' clothes, especially matching pajamas!  She also seems thrilled that there is someone she can attempt to boss around....we will need to work on helping her realize we are Heidi's parents, not her.  And Heidi lights up when Allison walks in the room.  If Allison is around Heidi has to be able to see her.  I think one of her favorite things in the morning is watching me do Allison's hair.  On a recent day she picked up the comb when I was done and actually attempted to comb Allison's hair, it was awfully sweet.  Especially since Allison let her!

The Magic Tree House

 We took Allison to her first play of the 2013-14 Oregon Children's Theatre season, The Magic Tree House.  We learned some jazz history and listened to some pretty fabulous music.  The story line as a bit over Allison's head but she still enjoyed the show; we love watching how she sits so still and intently watches everything happening on the stage.

Christmas Outfit #1

 Heidi wore one of Allison's Christmas outfits from when she was a baby this weekend.  This one is pretty special because Miss Anita bought it for Allison.  Thankfully Heidi was cooperative and posed for me!

 This was my first attempt at sticking a clip in her hair and it worked pretty well - I might have to do it more often!

 And for comparison's sake here is Allison wearing the exact same outfit (including hair clip, shoes & socks!!  Oh and they are both sitting in the red chair Nana & Papa gave Allison for her first Christmas!)  Allison was 6 months old in these pictures but Heidi was 9 mo in hers....you can tell they are sisters but Heidi definitely has a fuller face!  And a dimple.

And a side-by-side!

The Last Sunny Day....

 According to the forecast today is our last day of sunshine for the next 10 days.  That is very sad news!  To make the most of it my friend from work and I picked our girls up at preschool/daycare and took them to a nearby park to play for a bit (and get pictures of Marlo).  It was definitely worth it!

Heidi was so excited when we let her ride the tire swing with the 'big' girls.  Marlo was in the baby room when Heidi started at daycare and she adores her (Marlo is a big fan of Heidi, too, all her babies at home are called 'Idee').  And Allison could get Marlo to smile so much better than anyone else (Marlo adores Allison, too, if I show up at daycare without her she will follow me around saying 'AliSON! AliSON! AliSON!).  We're glad we made the most of what appears to be our last sunny day of the fall.

Fall Photo Overload

 We have had the best fall weather we could ever ask for around here.  With the nice weather has come fabulous lighting in the early evenings.  So I've been taking way too many pictures.  I don't really have captions but you can tell we've been enjoying the weather!

 I do need to say something here.  I blame my mother for this outfit.  It may be hard to tell but there are some crazy polka-dot leggings on under the skirt!

More Leaves

The trees in our yards are finally big enough to drop lots of leaves to play in.  We've been spending our afternoons playing in the yard with the leaves.  Allison likes to make a bed in them.

 And Heidi likes to try to eat them!

Heidi - 9 Months

Our Heidi-bug turned 9 months old this week.  We had a trip to the doctor and learned she weighs just over 20 lbs and is 28.5 inches long (I can't remember percentiles!).  We had two rather significant events in the last month, her first plane ride & her first ear infection.  Here are some other tid-bits about Heidi at 9 months:

 Mobility: She crawls 'normally' now on all fours and it is hilarious to watch her go fast, she doesn't really bend her elbows so it looks like her arms are windmills.  She now regularly pulls up on furniture and anything else she can manage to.  We started Water babies this month and she is really enjoying splashing, kicking and now being dipped (the first time around this did not go over well).

 Social: Heidi's separation anxiety has kicked in this month but it hasn't been too bad (it really was only when she was recovering from her ear infection).  She is definitely a Mommy's girl still although she is getting more attached to Daddy.  And she is well entertained by Allison now.  She still loves going to daycare and playing with her teachers & 'friends' there.

 Eating & Sleeping:  Heidi is great at eating; I have completely lost track of her foods.  She even got peanuts this month (although I didn't really plan it, it was more of an afterthought) as a peanut sauce on a stir-fry.  Since she still only has two bottom teeth we are running most food through her baby food mill.  She has just dropped her third nap so she has two naps a day and then sleeps for 11-12 hours at night.  She had some issues with waking up during the night when she was suffering from an ear infection (although all we had to do was give her a pacifier, thankfully).

Heidi is such a cheerful and loving little girl who keeps life so much fun.  She definitely is more opinionated than we remember her sister being so she adds a little spice to life, too.  We're so thankful she's part of our family!

Apple Season

 I LoVe the fall!  Allison told me she does, too, while we were making applesauce today.  Actually, what she told me was 'this is my favorite time of summer' to which I translated to mean 'this is my favorite time of year.'  She hasn't quite figured out her time references yet!

Anyhow, we finally made our first batch of applesauce and this year Allison was actually helpful this year, she cut up the apples into chunks for me.  I helped her when I was done peeling and coring the apples - and that made her race faster to try to cut as many as she could before they were gone.

And before anyone thinks everything in our kitchen goes smoothly because of the nice pictures - I'll have you know rather than adding 1 cup of water I 'covered' the apples in water.  After trying to boil the water off Mark & I did a combined effort of straining the entire batch.  It worked but it was a bit touch-and-go for awhile - thankfully Allison entertained Heidi in her high chair for us!

Fall+Sun+Leaves+Girls = FUN

 We have had amazing fall weather lately.  We managed an impromptu meet-up with our friends today at a 'secret' trail with lots of leaves.  These girls had just a little bit of fun playing - and the lighting was pretty fabulous to take pictures!

Pumpkin Painting

 This month our local Little Sprouts club did pumpkin painting.  Allison loved it.  How could she not when they turned her loose with three crazy pumpkins/gourds and all the paint, glitter, sparkles and google-y eyes she could ever ask for?  Now we have to figure out what to do with three randomly painted pumpkins that she considers masterpieces....

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

 Our weekend has been a bit crazy; the poor Heidi-bug seems to be fighting a bug.  She was running a fever Saturday and Saturday night was not fun.  I spent Sunday morning cuddling a feverish sleeping baby and watching....Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.  Heidi seems to be recovering (what is it about the Dr.'s office waiting room that causes kids to perk up?) so the girls & I took advantage of some beautiful fall weather to enjoy our neighborhood.  I had some Mr. Rogers songs running through my head the whole time.  Ugh.

 Allison & I collected leaves to press and do crafts with.

 This is Allison's trying to be serious face!

 The Heidi bug was not 100% but she was doing better.  And she loved the little slide.

Yup, that is how blue the sky was.  And Allison is getting quite good at 'pumping' on the swings.  Love it!