Melina Likes to Organize

Just one incidence of many things Melina likes to organize. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner when I stepped away and saw these shapes and car organized very nicely on the step from the kitchen into our sun room.

Countdown for Baby Begins...

Official "due date" was Oct. 2. We probably have 1-2 more weeks to go, however. We are very anxious to meet you, baby girl!!

39 weeks 40 weeks "due date"

Art

I'm getting antsy for fall weather so the girls painted fall trees this week, taken from one of my favorite blogs
In the last couple of weeks, Isabelle came down with a fever that lasted about a day, and a few days later Melina got it. I used this activity to reinforce good handwashing techniques, since I'm a little paranoid with illness and having a new baby in the house. Can't find the link to the blog I used for this activity, so basically I sprinkled cinnamon on Isabelle's wet hands to represent the germs and then she washed. Melina did it too, but the pictures aren't exactly G-rated since she didn't have any clothes on.
And, since we had the cinnamon out, we used a few more spices and did this craft:

Isabelle's Halloween Costume

Isabelle wants to be Laura Ingalls from "Little House on the Prairie" for Halloween. We had a dress made for her, and on the day it arrived, it was like Christmas--she was so excited. Here she is all dressed up. And, she went to the grocery store with me all dressed up too--I so admire her confidence! What a fantastic little girl!

Ladybug Farm

Isabelle earned this ladybug farm recently. Here she is setting it up:

Baby Girl #3 at 37 weeks 2 days

Visiting with Uncles

Uncle Mike visited us Labor Day weekend and Uncle Harvey came this weekend.

Isabelle's New Skill--Braiding!

Isabelle has wanted to know how to braid for a few months. I have shown her a few times, but each time it has seemed like she just didn't have her coordination down for it yet. Well, she got it down this week. She has been braiding her hair like crazy and is now using yarn to make all of these tiny braids. She is so proud!

Montessori Activity

Got this Montessori idea from this blog
awhile ago and decided to try it. It is a matching activity. Each balloon contains either cornstarch, rice, pinto beans, or popcorn kernels, and the idea is to match them by how they feel. A little too old yet for Melina; she just wants to play with them and put them in her mouth. And now there are 2 balloons missing. Oh well, will find them soon and will just put this project away and pull it out in a month or two.

A Gift From Jeff

At 36 weeks pregnant, I was a little anxious for Jeff to meet his brother in Las Vegas this weekend. But I did fine, and as a thank you for letting him go, Jeff presented me with a dozen red roses and some new Black Hills gold earrings! Thanks, my love!

Gift for Baby

Jeff's co-workers took him out to lunch one day this week and presented him with this gift they had made for him. It is absolutely beautiful!

Last Camping Trip of the Summer

We camped at Big Springs in Mammoth this past weekend. Arrived Friday afternoon, set up camp, and relaxed. Did a couple of geocaches and went to some of our favorite spots on Saturday. It rained constantly all Saturday night and into the day on Sunday until we left at around 3 p.m. For more pictures, please see our dropshots site.

Crafts

The girls made these cute sunglasses at a Mom's Club craft we attended recently.

My great friend, Megan, takes the girls for a couple of hours ever so often and they made these flowers out of egg cartons.

And, we did a quick craft of our own in preparation of The Assumption of Mary.

Daddy Love!!

The girls love to shower their Daddy with lots of love. Here they are before they go to bed one evening...

Sensory Exercise

I came across this blog post that had sensory exercises for children with autism--exercises that help with sensory integration, kind of like "a warm up for your fingers" is how I explained it to Isabelle (she now likes to do this activity before practicing her handwriting, something that she dreads doing). I went through the house and found all sorts of small trinkets and placed them in a container filled with beans and rice. I told both girls the object was to find the trinkets and place them in their bowl but leave the beans and rice in the original container. To my surprise, Melina follows this rule better than Isabelle does.

Another exercise the above blog post mentions, is to hide beads in silly putty and them have the child find the beads as a way to strengthen their hands (I haven't been this brave yet, as I don't know how it will work with Melina, unless I do it during her nap time).

Water/Sponge Play

While getting ready to leave for our camping trip (Isabelle was sleeping in), I kept Melina busy by letting her play with water and sponges. I used a lot of towels to clean up, but she certainly had fun!!

July Camping Trip

We headed off to Mammoth once again (our trailer is up there for the summer), and this time camped at an RV park with a big group of Jeff's co-workers. Beautiful warm weather with no reason to use bug repellent this time!

Here is Isabelle with a "trap" she created (just like Les on the Discovery Channel's "Survivorman")
Another trap created by Isabelle...
On Friday we explored the area with the Cox family. Here is Isabelle ready for her first ride in their Ranger Polaris (she loved it)
Then she got to ride in a quad on the way back down the trail
We introduced the Coxes to some geocachingThe girls at the end of a long but fun day
On Saturday, we went again with the Cox Family and this time went to Hot Creek
And then for a soak in a hot tub
Dinner on Saturday evening with everyone in the park Relaxing in camp before packing up to head home
What a blessing--Melina slept most of the way home!!
Isabelle stays occupied on long car trips with the girls' birthday present--a dual DVD player