The Last of Fall

I so thought that I had posted these photos, but I cannot seem to find them anywhere on the blog so here I go (and hopefully for the first time). I believe this is the last of the fall photos, then perhaps I will finally get those Christmas photos up :). 

There was plenty of leaf collecting this fall on all of our many walks. The leaves here turn brilliant colors that I certainly never saw back in Calgary. It's gorgeous and I love it so much I really try to ensure the kids appreciate just how beautiful nature's pallet is. While, I don't think their appreciation is quite at that level yet, they did love collecting, sorting, comparing and crafting with all sorts of different leaves. 

This particular leaf was Atticus' pride and joy. He could not believe that leaves could get that big; just wait until he sees some more tropical leaves one day. 

In the fall, it rains here, a lot. So we've become pretty big duplo building experts (when we aren't trekking to the library or the museum to stay indoors). Both kids love building and tend to work pretty well together so it makes for happy kids and a happy momma which is always nice.

Looking back at these photos, I can definitely see how long over due Milayla was to get some bangs. Funny thing is, now that she has bangs she loves having hair clips in her hair and doesn't want to be without her new sparkly silver and white ones. Funny kid.

As a team, they set to work building the tallest tower they could. I loved the team work. Milayla stacked them until they were too tall for her to reach and then Atticus took over while she handed him the pieces. It was fun to be a part of their efforts.

They both loved posing with the finished product and were so pleased with themselves that it was bigger than both of them. They're still working on how to make it taller than me; it's pretty cute hearing Atticus try to strategize that one with Milayla.

Milayla's excitement to be at the table with all of us has certainly increased and we are super happy about that because with that, her appetite has also increased. YAY!

And don't be alarmed by that unusually large bandage on Atticus' face. It started with a scratch on his nose that he was was worried was dirt (or left over dinner; which is not all that uncommon around here...) and didn't want it on his nose so to keep him from trying to "clean" it off the bandaid went on. This configuration was the only thing we seemed to have (from a medicine cabinet exploding in band-aids) that seemed to stay on his nose. Thankfully, that didn't need to stay on too long.

And trains...oh, the trains. Christmas was good to these kids. Between new tracks and trains that we had bought them and more that Grandparents had sent out they more than doubled their train collection. Man, are they excited. And I thought they were excited before...

Pretty sure that Milayla is going to get lost in that train box one day. She gets so excited about playing with the trains, it's cute.

The best part of it all is that Milayla is really starting to understand the concept of building with trains now and instead of pulling apart all the train tracks that have been put together, she is contributing and building as well. Atticus is a pretty happy camper to have another set of hands to build because it takes quite a while to fill up our living room with their railroad (but they do it again, and again, and again...).

I feel pretty spoiled to get to take care of these two kiddos and be a stay-at-home mom. Okay, it isn't all smooth sailing, but I feel pretty darn lucky even with the little bumps in the road. They are good kids and I am blessed to be a part of helping them progress, develop and discover who they are.

And, of course, we can't forget to add a couple photos from Marlo's visit this past fall. She was doing a whirlwind visit of Europe with a friend and hopped on a train to come visit us for a day. She's awesome. The kids and I loved giving her a tour of Bremen before meeting up with Jason for a very traditional German meal of bratwurst and potatoes. We loved having her here and hope to see her again soon!

It was a pretty awesome Autumn and now we are well into trying to make the most of these chilly winter months. I don't mind the cold too much, it's all that extra time it takes to put on the layers to get outside that may be driving me a little bit coo-coo these days, but if that's the worst of it I think we are doing a-okay!