September Fun {balloon festival & arboretum}

After an entire week of rain we were really excited to get out of the house and go to the Plano Balloon Festival. We grabbed some yummy chicken from Babe's and headed to the festival - We had a little picnic and then got to enjoy the balloon glow. Ashley's favorite balloon this year was the dragon (you can see him slowly rising in the background).

Dancing with her glow necklace.

Ashley has been really 'into' paint lately -- literally. This is the third body painting experience mommy has caught her doing. The first time included painting the dog - boy, was that was fun to get out....I think Biscuit may still have some purple hairs on her head. Oh and by the way - these are not washable kiddie paints...nope it's the real thing.

But - I had to take a picture this time because it truly is a part of who she is at this age. She loves to paint --- anything and EVERYTHING!

We joined the Mama Bears at the Arboretum for some fun in the pumpkin patch. Ashley and cousin Sam got to color and glue feathers for this craft.

HAPPY FALL, yall!

1st day of School

This is Ashley's second year at CLC :) and she LOVES it! We are so lucky to have such a warm and loving environment to send her to twice a week. She loves all the crafts, playing with all her friends, her sweet sweet teachers, romp, and chapel. It is precious to hear her randomly throughout the day singing the songs she learns at school. I love that she is learning so much about God at school and developing such a strong love for him. Here's a shot I took of her before heading out the door for her first day of school -- showing off her new panda backpack. She loves this thing.

and the matching lunch box -- of course!

First Lemonade Stand

Back in June we were driving through a neighboring neighborhood and three little boys were selling muffins and lemonade to raise money for a summer camp. Ashley thought it was so neat that they had a lemonade stand. She kept asking when she could have one - we told her once she was a little bit older. Well, when we decided to have a garage sale in July we thought a lemonade stand would keep Ashley entertained. So she went to the grocery store and bought the lemonade, borrowed a cooler from Gigi & Granken, helped make her sign and then sold lemonade (forced people to buy) to unsuspecting garage sale patrons. It was kind of cute -- she would fill up cups and then take them to people -- who of course couldn't resist and probably felt obligated to purchase a cup from her. She made about $20 and proudly took it to the bank. But not before purchasing a new game from Toys R Us :)

Hoe Down @ the Plano Farm

My sister-in-law, Tiffani and I took the kids one day in July to a local farm - where the kids got to learn about life on a farm and participate in some chores. It was cute and the kids had a blast!

Cousin love - they are so cute -- they were holding hands skipping down the path.

The crew posing after the wagon ride around the farm. Fun times!

Ashley giving Sam a hug.

Ashley performing one of the farm chores. Milking the cow.

and ironing.

and washing the clothes on the washboard.

beating the dust out of the farmhouse rugs.

grinding the corn to feed to the chickens. they got to feed REAL chickens...loved it!

picking apples to make an apple pie with.

It was a busy day on the farm for these three kidos! They sure did have fun though and learned a lot in the process about farm life.