Feels Like Fall!

The weather has been amazing the past few days: breezey, very little humidity, sunny, and hovering around 80 degrees. We've been spending a lot of time in the backyard and V&N think they want to spend the night in the playhouse. Val's made a list of everything they need and is very excited to "campout". I give it about 30 minutes!

L is getting too big too fast. She's grabbing things and passed a rattle from one hand to the other the other day. She's rolled on to her belly once but it took her about 45 minutes. She coos all the time and is so much fun.

N took a jazz dance class last week and seemed to like it. She liked it enough to go back this week. :) The other day she had 3 meltdowns, a ton of tears, and a runny nose. It only took me until late afternoon to figure out she didn't feel well and to give the poor kid some medicine! All is well now.

Natalieisms-

• Mom: Natalie, where did you get all those bug bites from? Natalie: From the bugs.

• N kept talking about a girl in her dance class named "Annabreath". Not a name I'd heard of. Later I heard the girl's name..... it's "Annabeth".

• Lately anything not pretend is "for real, live".

V is still loving horseback riding lessons. She's mastering posting with the trot. This week was her first Daisy Girl Scout meeting. She's been so excited and has taken the task of memorizing the Girl Scout Promise to heart. For the past 4 weeks she's had to tally how many minutes she's read or been read to and was very proud of her 527 minutes. She's really progressing as a reader.

As if we don't have enough going on with trying to sell the house, I volunteered to be co-leader of her Daisy troop since there was no one else doing it. Did you know it takes 6 hours of training, $10, & a background check to be a leader?! Val's dying to earn some patches. We have 10 girls, they are so cute.

Daisy Girl Scout Troop 172

The new carpet comes on Monday so the rooms will be upside down for a few days. I'm trying to collect all the markers in the house to keep it as stain free as possible with 3 kids, 2 cats, & 1 dog. We're going to list it ourselves a few days after that and possibly have an Open House next week. We're trying to stay optimistic about London, but reality is setting in.

Are they related or what?!

Changing Thames

It's been a busy time at our house. As some of you know we've been courting the possibility of going to London for Jason's final semester. We'd rent a furnished "flat" as they call them from January-April and live and experience London. Jason would have his last few classes, I'd home school the girls then we'd head back for graduation the beginning of May. After that we'd look for a permanent house near downtown Orlando.

We're really excited about the experience, but know that it is a costly venture. To make it a little easier to swallow, it would help to have our house sold before we go. Which in this slow and inventory saturated market, we need to list now for any hope of selling by January. Soooo we've been decluttering, depersonalizing, and trying to make our home look as close to a model home as possible. We've boxed up A LOT of stuff and it's understandably emotional for all of us, at least for us girls. :)

Tonight we said goodbye to the trampoline with a goodbye party, complete with loud music and snowcones. I never thought we'd own a trampoline, but we adopted this one. It looked like it was on it's last leg when we first took a look at the house in May of 2006. The previous owners were supposed to remove it, but luckily for us they didn't. The girls have REALLY enjoyed it along with lots of other visitors and as you'll see even Jason. We hope to get a new one, with a net, at our new place some day. (Jason posted it on Craigslist and someone is coming to pick it up tomorrow. It did make Val feel better to know some other kids were going to enjoy it.)



IF we get little response with the house being on the market for the Fall, we'd look at pulling the plug on London, keeping our house for sale, finishing the school year then moving back to Central Florida. So if you know anyone looking for a 4/2 with a spot where there used to be a trampoline send them our way!

Lauren slept through the night again last night and it was wonderful!! Usually I have to help her get her pacifier once or twice, but not last night. A few nights ago I didn't realize the baby monitor was turned too low and she apparently found her fingers to suck on for comfort. Here are some photos from the morning after of her trying to figure out what combination of fingers works the best. I promise we didn't stage these!

The Pointer and Middle Combo

The Middle and Ring Finger Combo

Most commonly preferred- The Thumb

Beautiful Girl- 3 months old

A Week of Firsts

These past few days have been filled with firsts for all 3 girls.

Lauren will be 3 months on Friday already and is such a good baby. She's 11 pounds and 24 inches long. L loves to be held and make all kind of noises when she has your attention. Her hair is falling out. She got all dressed up for her first Gator game and I also heard her first little giggle- she was watching her big sister Natalie jump like a fool on the very springy daybed.





Natalie had her first gymnastics class this week. She'd really been looking forward to it. This morning she had her leotard on by 8am even though the class was at 5:30pm. The instructor wasn't the best and flipped her over the bar without Natalie realizing what was going to happen. Nat didn't like it and says she's done with gymnastics- that's why we take the free trial class before signing up!
Natalieisms

• As you know Natalie has very kissable chubby cheeks. She was feeling her own face and got to her cheeks and announced, "I have pushy cheeks!"
• "Mom you have an old face and I have a new one."
• "I'm not tired, not even one drop."

Valla had her first horseback riding lesson on Wednesday. She has been asking for lessons all summer and now that things have settled down a little we found a place about 30 minutes away. She absolutely loved it. She asked a million questions and soaked up everything her instructor told her. Her horse's name was Triggette. She's going back next week and will ride Ally. She asked if she could go riding every day or at least twice a week- I think she liked it.