VERY Proud of Her "Lego Birdie"

Immaculate Heart of Mary Birthday Cake

Leia and Annie were very proud of Mamma's work on Shana's Immaculate Heart of Mary birthday cake!  Happy Birthday, dear Shana, SO glad we're friends!!!

Wearing Pink for Karin

 Every year on Karin Falkner's birthday, we celebrate her life by wearing pink.  This year, considering Karin's amazing intercession in our friendship, Shana suggested that we meet at Mary near Sacred Heart Catholic Church and say a Rosary with the girls.  So we did!  :)

 Later, the girls and I celebrated further by taking one of our famous Blue Ridge Parkway trips!

Out the sunroof & lovin' it!  :)

Playdate with Tina & Shana

 LOVE these two women!  Tina & Shana:  Annie's teachers for her preschool years, and such wonderful examples of compassion!  Today we invited them both over for coffee and breakfast in order to thank them for all that they've done (and especially to thank Tina for supporting Shana even through the hardest times). 

 As for Leia and Annie, they had a blast on THEIR end of the playdate with Tina's girls!!!

And, of course, Ollie was a favorite on this playdate, too!!!

Celebrating Minecraft with Harvest

Here is Leia's absolute best "boy who's a friend," Harvest (Shana's son).  The two became fast friends when we went to the lake at the end of the summer, and now they've bonded over something new:  Minecraft (a REALLY cool, educational, building game on the computer).  Since it was Harvest's birthday on Sept. 12th, we headed over to Shana's house to give Harvest his gift:  this cool Minecraft creeper cube that Leia made herself!  (Notice that Harvest also has a Minecraft creeper t-shirt on as well!)  With Harvest at 12 and Leia turning 10, both these kiddos are in double digits now!

Annie & Leia Read at Mass

 Today was the very first time Annie read at Mass, ... and she got to do it with her sister, Leia! :)  Today they had any kindergartener who had a sibling participate in this way, ... and it was just SO beautiful!  The girls did part of the intercessions.  (I am convinced that Annie was given her second response here because of her Great Grandma Betty's recent passing.) Here is what they read:

Annie:  That we always offer praise and thanksgiving to God for all the gifts we receive.  We pray to the Lord.  (Lord hear our prayer.)
Leia:  That the poor, the hungry, the oppressed, and the sick may trust that God always cares for them because of our helping them.  We pray to the Lord.  (Lord hear our prayer.)
Annie: That all the faithful departed may enter into the divine embrace of the Holy Trinity.  We pray to the Lord. (Lord hear our prayer.)
Leia:  God, who loves us, help us understand your great love for us and make us always ready to respond to your love.  We ask this through our risen Lord Jesus Christ, who lives with you forever. Amen.

Ride Day with Kimber and Layla

 

 Well, this may have been ride day, but THIS was my favorite thing to see, ... Annie and Layla posing with a living statue!  Haven't seen one of these since Covent Garden in London! Today Annie and Layla went around the fair with me while Brian took Leia and Kimber around (to the big kiddo rides).  Lots of fun was had by all!

 

Mountain State Fair: "Looking & Eating Day"

 As always, our first family day at the fair is always a "looking and eating" day with no rides, ... because once rides are involved, that's all my kiddos want to do! 

The absolute highlight of the day was seeing the Kenyan Acrobats perform! (See Annie's face below!!!)

 We always seem to see someone we know at the fair, ... this time we spotted Leia's friend, Madison!

The hunting and fishing pavilion is always a favorite spot to stop as well.  Here are the girls fishing.

 The petting zoo is always another favorite, ... this year the loved the baby goats, but the highlight was the brown baby llama!  (See below.)

And it wouldn't be the Mountain State Fair without "Pig Racing"!!!

... or winning a prize.  This year we really lucked out because lots of people played and Mamma or Daddy always won!

It was the biggest pumpkin that was the biggest disappointment just because of all the rain in the late summer, the talk of the town was that all of the best pumpkins rotted away.  I've never seen a winning pumpkin quite this small!

The Way Annie Does Homework

This is such a wonderful example of what a good teacher Leia Rose really is!  Because we always try to get our homework done in the car, Leia reads the directions to Annie while Annie does the work.  Mamma's job is to drive safely. : )

Sister Language

I have heard it said that sometimes twins create their own language that only they can understand.  My two girls did this over the summer in 2012!!!  If you were to overhear them these days, you would hear they talking about "mew-bits" and "curbi-sabs" and "sunion" and "cute-lets" and "grunion" and "curb" and "pasqua" ... and may combinations of these like "sunion grunion curb." They often use these words to refer to cute animals.  A "mew-bit" is absolutely a kitty, ... and a "grunion" is definitely a bird, ... and a "pasqua" is any moth or butterfly, ... and a "cute-let" is absolutely any cute animal, but the rest of them are a mystery to me.  And if I ask them what a word means, they get fairly offended that I am intruding on their sister space.  :)

Labor Day at the Lake & Newberry Tailgate