Fall Photos - an upload from my phone

Life has been pretty hectic lately, with very little downtime. While Milayla and I were in the hospital, sleep was nearly nonexistent for both Milayla and myself and so we spent time listening to music and looking at photos in the early morning hours at the hospital (when everyone else is still sound asleep...). In the process I realized I still had all these photos on my phone from various times in the fall where I just felt like taking a snapshot. So I thought it would be fun to upload them to give everyone a little glimpse into a little bit of our downtime this fall.

Both Atticus and Milayla have really skyrocketed in their interest in music. We have borrowed a little piano from some friends of ours (that we really need to get around to returning...) and the kids have fun taking turns on that. Atticus even pulls out the hymn books and tries his hand at reading music. They have a long way to go still, but they will get there eventually, I'm sure of it.

Milayla loves doing creative things and is pretty serious about her art time. Should I be worried that she is pretty concerned about how the table is organized before she actually starts to color?

Atticus has really started taking a liking to yoga (which is kinda cool because I have been encouraging it for some time). Favorite pose? Downward dog and it's many variations. He likes to rest his head on the ground when he does the pose, and I am quite all right with that while his strength builds up.

The obsession around here with trains has also taken a giant leap forward too. When Atticus and Milayla aren't playing with the trains, they are building them out of Duplo or blocks. This particular one was Atticus' work one morning.

It would naturally follow that the kids quite enjoy trips to the shoe department in Karstadt. Atticus actually asks for his picture to be taken when he sees the engine.

We have been working to encourage Milayla to start drinking from a cup. We've tried so many different kinds of cups and we just haven't found one that seems to jive with her. She looooooves this cup, but I think it may be just a bit too large...

Speaking of Milayla, we are pretty excited to see where her love for the piano (and music in general) will lead her. She loves to sit at the piano and play around with the notes. Her hands are a little small yet, but the notes she does play tend to be quite thought out.

We've been enjoying some family games. Triominos is a big hit with the kids (they love matching the numbers) but the surprise hit around here is Scrabble. Of course, the kids can't actually come up with the words, but Milayla loves organizing the tiles and Atticus enjoys spelling the words that are played.

And I finally finished Milayla's Christmas stocking. Last year, she used our First Christmas stocking but this year she was due to transition to her own. I think the finished stocking suits her perfectly.

Atticus is a drawing fiend. I love how much thought and meaning he puts into his pictures. It's incredible. This handy little travel-magna-doodle has been a big interest to him lately as he hones his little artistic talents. (and was quite the help with the long days at the hospital!)

I've been going through the Joy School curriculum with the kids and they are loving it. We've adapted it to include more field trips and some play dates and that seems to work really well. We have not had it in a while and the kids have been asking after it. Will need to get organized asap. (I have some field trip photos from the museum that I need to get up at some point as well)

And we have enjoyed many lovely fall walks. There always seems to be something to discover. We are all pretty intrigued by an apartment building around the corner from us. It is a converted bunker. Pretty sturdy structure.

Crunchy fall leaves to walk through...

Parks to visit before the weather turned too cold...

Doesn't Milayla look so impressed? She is typically all smiles on the slide, however she wasn't too impressed with needing to sit at the bottom while I tried to take a picture.

And, of course we have had plenty visits to check out the train engine in our neighborhood. My life is full of trains...

And there has been time at the mall to try and plan Christmas presents. Which is kind of funny, because in the end we ordered just about everything online to avoid shopping at the mall. Oh well, the kids still had fun.