I decided to keep Magnolia home from preschool this year because she has a late birthday and that would mean 3 years of preschool. I also wasn't sure she'd be ready to part from me (okay, and I from her). We're doing gymnastics together and she loves it and is growing more and more independent. We're also signed up for a craft class and she'll start swimming lessons with her daddy at the end of the month. I took her to library story time and put her in the group that has story time WITHOUT a caregiver. She asked if I'd be right outside folding laundry (what I do every night when I put her to bed). I told her I'd wait for her right outside and she was okay with that. She did the whole story time without coming out for me! I was so proud of her and so happy with the trust we've built together! In other news she had her first dentist appointment and was so brave and so good. I was convinced she had decay but what I was seeing was something the dentist told me either happened when she was in utero or something hereditary...we'll never know. She's talking my ear off lately and now asks if it's "quiet time or not" or if once we get downstairs (away from nursery)she still has to be quiet. I don't think she stops talking all day! Last weekend we went to the mall. When we pulled into the parking lot she said, "The mall, let's bark..woof woof!" She must think park & bark are the same word. She makes me laugh so much! She really loves dinosaurs and is doing a lot more imaginary play. She's also getting scared a lot more and the world of monsters has appeared. She's excited about Halloween and her costume which I'm trying to finish sewing! Here she is helping pick apples off our apple tree in our backyard.
A lot of exciting things have happened in George's world! He cut 2 teeth last week! He rolled over a couple of times one morning and hasn't since. Either he's just too fat or he doesn't find it very exciting. He has started to scoot though. On his tummy he pushes his rear in the air and scoots. He doesn't get far and fusses after a few minutes of this entirely exhausting exercise. He's starting to sit up much more on his own and topples less and less. He smiles nonstop and it's such a hoot to get him laughing. I thought he loved me like none other but I think his love for Magnolia is even greater. She ALWAYS cheers him up and they've really started to bond the past two weeks. It's a beautiful thing to watch. 
We are having a lot of fun getting ready for fall, Halloween, and our birthdays, I love October!
I confessed to George my anxieties over the amount of photos I've taken and the questionable way I've backed them up. He bought a separate hard drive and backed everything up for me...phew! We also got a new pocket camera to replace to one that froze in my purse last winter. We missed that one because it was so easy to take a quick video. We realized we weren't taking videos anymore and knew we had to start again! In other technological news, I inherited George's old iPhone. I love this phone and so does Magnolia. George uploaded all kinds of apps for her and usually at the end of a meal in a restaurant it gets pulled out as the last trick in our bag and saves the day. Now I get the power of this magic trick!
George and George on School House Beach skipping rocks.
I'm finally posting a few of my favorite pictures of my family's reunion. It was such a fun, fun week. We really had a blast. Our family of 8 has grown into a family of 27! My brother had t-shirts made with our name and the number we entered the family on the back. Even George IV had one as number 26 with Margaret following him as number 27! It took place at my grandparent's cottage on a small lake in Michigan. It was a place that we all loved as children as we spent many summers there. Since my grandfather's passing last summer it only seemed fitting that we all go back. It was such a walk down memory lane for all of us. I even saw a friend that I had there so many years ago. We also went to an ice cream shop that has been in town since I was born. In fact it was the very place that my grandparents knew I arrived. They were fishing at their cabin (without a phone) and awaiting word on my arrival. The only way my parents could get word to them was by announcing my arrival in the shop window knowing they would drive by and see it! I took 200 photographs and put them in this slideshow. It's 9 minutes long and pretty boring if you're not in my family but I'm posting it for them. I'll be back soon with more pics from happenings around here. Hope you are enjoying these final days of summer!
