The Park

My favorite thing to do on the weekends is to take Lydia to the park down the street. I push the trike, and she rides there, then we walk wherever she wants to go. She runs. I chase her. She picks up leaves, pine cones, and sticks, and we go to the lake to look for fish. It is too cool for them now, but when it was warmer we watched them dart from the banks as we approached. I'm so happy that this park will be part of her childhood.

Fall and Halloween

I'm finally semi-caught up. Nothing like a little wine and hot tea with Austin City Limits on in the background to motivate me into posting!

I took Lydia to the pumpkin patch at Saint Peter's Episcopal Church this year. Each fall they cover their side yard with pumpkins and sell them as a fundraiser. Last year Lydia's nanny Sunny took her, and the year before Lydia was too small to leave the house! I can hardly believe this is Lydia's third fall.

Lydia loved seeing all the pumpkins. She chased them, tried to pick up the really big ones, and said "pumpkin" no telling how many times. She wouldn't sit still for a picture. She did really enjoy gathering sticks, too. Imagine that! (She loves picking up sticks).

For Halloween, Lydia wore the same little lamb costume from last year. I swear I wasn't being cheap or lazy. I asked Lydia about lots of costumes (Tinkerbell, Peppa Pig, spider, etc) but the only two she agreed to were lamb and mouse. I get lots of "No" out of this little girl lately.

The Melissa and Doug restickable stickers are some of our favorites these days. Lydia knows so many animal names because of them. Even octopus!

Lydia and Mimi

Lydia and Mommy

Help Mommy

We've been working on a shady area of our yard. We laid sod here last year and it died because there is no sun in this area. It also gets a ton of water and stay soggy due to all of the runoff coming off the large hill in the background. We put down some river rock and large rock, and I decided to do 'Sweet Caress' Mahonia between the walk and the rocks. On the day I planted the mahonias, Lydia was so pumped about helping me. Since I had my big shovel and bucket, she got out her shovel and bucket so that she could (in her words) "help mommy". 

Those are the 'Sweet Caress' Mahonias there on the right.

Then, we played and enjoyed the afternoon in the backyard.

Lydia LOVES to pick my flowers. Blooms don't last long around here. She picks them all. This is my only bed that gets "full" sun. I have herbs - rosemary, oregano, thyme, lavender, and basil - and a few perennials. That's sedum 'autumn Joy' that Lydia is picking.

First Day of School

I am only about three  months behind, but I wanted to share the photos I took on Lydia's first day of school.