Pictures of Fall in my neck of the woods..

Fall is here and winter is around the corner. Yikes! I spent some of my afternoon outside preparing and here are some pictures as fall starts to creep into my yard...

Empty flower beds....still waiting on the leaves to change color.. Lyla's tree starting to change colors..

These flowers, which I have just forgotten the name of, never bloomed until this year. So nice to see them so pretty, thanks to the yard man Duke for moving them..

Our scarecrows - or as Lyla refers to them 'crows!'

My blushing bride hydrangea - it has this pretty hue of red right now..

Here is our Halloween cat blowing in the fall wind...

How does fall look to all of you?

Dancing and Grooving!

Dance to the music!!

At some time in our day there is a dance party. There is no set time for this dance party, rather it just occurs when the urge hits us. It may be first thing in the morning, after lunch or before bed but whenever it is it sure is a lot of fun.

Here are some step by step directions on how to get the most out of your own dance parties...

1. Grab 2 buckets, put them on your wrists and get into 1st position. (For all of you non ballerinas; Lyla is demonstrating the first position with her feet.)

2. Feel the music and start to groove it. Feel the beat in your knees..

3. Sing out loud at the top of your lungs!

4. Take a walk, keep those buckets up and act like you have better places to be, but you know that you don't because...

5. Because once you check yourself out in a mirror you know you got to..

6.You got to move it, move it!!!

Hope you all take some time for a free dance today!

Cake

Yes, Lyla has it. She got it from me and it isn't going to stop. It is her love of sweets. Specifically mint and chocolate cake. Here she is enjoying her Mint Chocolate cake. When I make anything in the oven she peers in the window and you may hear her saying 'cake or cookie'. I taught her well.... Oh yeh - she does also say 'hot' too, but that is after we find out what is cook'n!

Swimming!

We all know that Lyla Water baby! This fall we enrolled her in swimming lessons at the community center and it has been a big hit. It has been an event that we can do as a family as we go at night so Daddy can come along. Which has actually turned out good as Ryan has more guts than me and I don't know if I could 'dunk' Lyla as they want us to do once a lesson.

Anyways.. Lyla has been loving the swimming lessons. She is very excited to go to the 'Pool' and she know when I show her her 'Suit' that we are going to be going swimming. We will probably continue this through the winter as she is enjoying it so much.

I swear she knows when she wakes up from her nap on swimming day that it is time to go to the pool, it seems she always asks about the pool on that day. She also knows that after swimming we routinely get a pizza and bread because when I loaded her in the car last week after swimming she promptly asked me for her 'bun' which is the bread that goes with the pizza. I don't know how she knows this stuff but she does...

Here are some pictures of our water baby!

Memories

We, as people, are a culmination of our memories. The stories we share with are friends and families are rooted in memories. The experiences that mould us are our memories. Therefore, memories are an integral part of ones life. And with that I wonder - What will I remember when I am old and gray?

Lately, I have been spending a lot of time wondering will I remember this?? Will I remember that?? I don't know why this has become a focus of mine. Is it that I realize just how small we are in the grand scheme of things. How quickly time passes and how those memories fade as time marches on.

Just yesterday I was trying to tell a once funny story to my sister about a memory of Ryan and I in which we went on a haunted tour of Kingston which ended up disastrous with our bus stuck at Fort Henry on Halloween night. That once funny story was foggy to recall and events have dropped out of my memory making me sad that I couldn't remember the details. Thus making me wonder yet again - what will I remember when I am nearing the end of my life.

I hope that I will always remember the night in which Ryan first kissed me. The night that Ryan proposed and the day of our wedding. These are memories that are still quite vivid in my mind. But there are every day events that fade so quickly that I want to remember too...

Then I think about Lyla. There is so much that I don't want to forget. Will I remember how she yells my name even when I am standing right bedside her. Her signature 'Ma-Ma!' I don't think I could ever forget that. Will I remember how she how she reads her storybooks to me? How she wants to do somersaults? How she loves to dance? How Ryan and her cheer for football together? How she dances to music? How she giggles and screams as she plays? How she loves to be outside? And how she cries when we come inside? How she loves her teddy? And how she loves her Mama and her Daddy and gives us kisses and hugs now? These are all things I wonder if they will to become foggy... I sure hope not.

My answer is to start blogging again more, to help me preserve my memories. So, when I am 90 and my memories are foggy my granddaughter can bring me her computer and show me my stories so I can remember my memories...

Lyla's Fall Must Haves

When ever we go outside there are 3 things that Lyla needs to enjoy this fall weather. These include her coat, which she asks for as she hugs her stomach. Her pumpkin hat, which I was going to return because I figured there was no way that she would keep this on, let alone ask for it all the time. And the third item in her new shoes. I bought her a pair of new running shoes a week ago which she will bring to me and ask to put them on even when we aren't going outside. Yesterday I had her ready to go to Gymboree Music class in her SeeKai Run shoes and she would not leave until we changed shoes.
Anyways, here is Lyla in her outfit. And there may soon be 4 must have items as the coat has matching mittens which she put on yesterday and thought they were a huge hit. The coat I got off line at CocoBons in the summer and it is super cute.
Yesterday at music class Lyla went in in her coat and hat. I took both off and she promptly asked for both of them to be put back on. So she wore her coat and hat for a bit of the class. As a wise woman once told me, you have to choose your battle and this was not a battle to fight as she would have been heart broken and she just wanted to show her teacher and classmates her coat and her hat.

Here is Lyla playing outside yesterday... showing off her attire..

Loving those mitts.

The Neigh- Neigh's at Nana and Papa's

When Lyla and I went home, Nana and Papa have neigh-neigh's right beside their house. This was super exiting for Lyla as I mentioned she loves animals and neigh-neigh's are one of her favorite. We were lucky enough to enjoy these horses and Lyla could even touch them which was a nice treat because at the zoo there are two fences between the horses and us, so we can't touch them.
Here are some pictures of Lyla and her neigh-neighs...

Thanks Nana and Papa for having us stay with you! We can't wait until we come again in a month!!