Fall Clean-up

Since this is our first Fall here, we had no idea what it would be like when we started to clean up the yard in preparation for the snow that is sure to come. And, we have lucked out when it comes to having to rake leaves, unlike some of our neighbors who have tons of trees and have been out doing yard work every weekend now for what seems like the past 6 weeks. Since all we have in the back yard is pine trees, there was no raking that had to be done. And we only have 5 other trees that will drop leaves and they are all fairly close to one another in our front and side yards so it was pretty easy to do all the raking. When the raking was done and the piles of leaves had been made, Arabella had a blast playing in them!

Skating With Dad

Arabella has been doing good with her skating lessons even though she only lasts about 15 or 20 minutes of the 30 minute lesson. Usually she will say "All done, too hard" and we explain to her that it is hard since she is learning, but that over time it will get easier for her. She also asks for Jay to skate with her sometimes instead of me, so this week, he broke down and went and bought new hockey skates! Yesterday, he went on the ice with her and she had fun, but when she was done, she was done.





Hopefully, now that they have the rink up at our neighborhood park and once the ice is ready, we can go up and practice when we want. It still boggles my mind that a town park would take on the liability of having a skating rink that is unsupervised and open all the times on public property...must be the litigator in me!

Busy Butterfly

Arabella has been keep busy and now that the weather has turned colder, a lot of our activities are now taking place inside. She loves to do arts and crafts so we have been painting, practicing our new skill of using scissors and lots of other fun crafts. She also loves to dress up in "princess dresses"!







She has also been doing great at her Art Smart class and this week after reading a story about the farm, we made a barn and animal project, it is too cute! Each week after class, we bring home her project and she gets to hang it up on her bulletin board, she is so proud of her work.



She has been having a lot of fun at playgroup on Friday mornings as well. Yesterday, she and Giacomo (a/k/a Gigi) had a blast coloring.



One morning this week, she wouldn't eat anything for breakfast. I finally asked her if she wanted "princess pancakes" since she is all about everything princess. She helped me make the batter and I added fairy princess dust a/k/a pink sanding sugar for baking. I wouldn't normally have her eat something that sweet for breakfast, but I was desperate to get her to eat something and we really didn't add too much.



Arabella has also been getting really good at brushing her teeth. She does in every morning and every night and she even wanted to brush her teeth before she takes a nap. I guess she takes after me (and Grammie and Uncle Mike and Auntie Jonna) in the tooth brushing department, since we are all fanatics about brushing and flossing our teeth. At least she is picking up on the good habits!

Fuzzy Friend

While doing fall yard cleanup, I found a fuzzy caterpillar. As soon as I showed it to Arabella, she got all excited and wanted to hold it. When I put it in her hand, he started to walk around and she immediately said, "It tickles", it was so adorable. We made him a home in a large container based upon some research that I did online. That was about 3 weeks ago and we still have the fuzzy caterpillar and he is still alive. We keep his "home" outside by our back entry and every so often, she will check on him. This morning while I was getting ready, she was outside with Jay and she decided to bring him inside and upstairs to show me. She just picked him right up and held it so gently in her hand. It melted my heart when she was holding him and talking a mile a minute about "mine fuzzy caterpillar".

Thursday's Thoughts

Hearing: The sounds of Fall yard cleanup - leaf blowers and rakes in the yard outside (and as soon as I am done with this post, I will out there raking as well).

Tasting: Pomegranate seeds, I love this time of year when they are in season!

Seeing: The hokey rink being put up where the tennis courts used to be at the neighborhood park...I guess that is a sure sign that Winter is coming!

Smelling: Beef stew that I have made for Jay and Arabella from scratch...they will be enjoying it while I am at yoga tonight.

Feeling: That great (at least for me) pain in your muscles when you know you have had a good workout. I love that feeling!

Art & Music Classes

Arabella is enrolled in an art class, as well as, a class called Movin & Groovin. She likes going to both, but I think that her favorite is the music class. It is so cute to watch her dance around and learn all of the moves (clapping, stomping, etc) that go along with the songs. Yesterday, they got to play with xylophone and she loved it. As soon as we got home, she took hers out and played with it. She likes the art class too, but sometimes, we have to leave before it is over. I am still trying to figure out why...is she tired, bored, frustrated, is the class too long (it is 40 minutes). This week was one of those times, she just started to meltdown and she wasn't calming down and wouldn't listen so we packed up her unfinished project and brought it home to finish later. The class started out great, she enjoyed the story that we read and then seemed to like doing the craft that went along with it, so I don't know what happened. We finished it at home that evening without a problem. Even if we don't make it through the whole class, I am still proud of you Arabella and the beautiful art that you make! Keep up the good work!

Gymnastics Update

Gymnastics is going great! Yesterday, we got to bring Auntie Lori with us and we had so much fun! Arabella really enjoys it and her teacher this semester is really starting to challenge her to try new and advanced (for her age) moves. She continues to love the uneven bars and has started to take more of a liking to the beam. I am so proud of eveything that she has accomplished in her classes and for what she continues to do - Arabella is one amazing little girl and one budding gymnast!