Fall Mornings...

It's fall again!  Time for falling leaves, football, family, friends, and fabulous weather!  My personal favorite time of year!!  So far this week I've gotten out the apple cinnamon scent for the plug-ins and made a sunflower arrangement of flowers for our kitchen table-- and tomorrow I plan on getting a pumpkin spice latte to keep with the fall theme!  I guess I'm kind of a fall fanatic?

Whenever the weather is beautiful we try to stay outdoors as much as possible.  This morning was gorgeous!  After a long breakfast and the girls "helping" me make our crock-pot spaghetti for dinner later this evening, we headed out for a stroll around the neighborhood with the double-stroller.  Ella is SO over the stroller these days, but walking around the neighborhood is still a little too much for her little legs to handle.  So I decided to challenge her to a animal find while we walked... she found a chipmunk (that ran out right in front of us and then came towards us... I was kind of freaking out that it might be rabid), tons of squirrels, lots of birds, a few dogs, and a kitty cat.  Not bad for a 20 minute walk and it kept her busy.  We sang songs and talked about fall and Ella pointed out all the trees that were starting to turn orange while Ava Jane called out "bu-rd" (bird) and "kit" (kitty).  I am so fortunate to be able to spend this time with them.  They are both changing so much right now and are so fun!  And since I am all about compromise-- something the American government clearly missed learning about in elementary school-- I let Bells run the last leg of the walk on the sidewalk beside the stroller.  We've actually found that it's an excellent way to work on listening skills and safety.  She runs along side the stroller and we say freeze and she totally freezes and then we say go and she starts running--she loves it.  We also practice holding hands and looking both ways when we get to where we need to cross the street.

When we got home, the girls ran around in the yard and rolled around in the grass and basically just kind of tackled each other like maybe they had watched too much GA football or something (not at our house, right?).  And we, of course, had fun with sidewalk chalk.  Ava Jane is actually finally not eating it-- that was a major success.

BEST PART of the morning, actually day, was when Ella proclaimed:
"I just really LOVE my sister.  We are lucky to be sisters because we always be havin' a friend to play with.  I love Ava Jane."  SO sweet.  Love fall and love these girls!! XO!