We're Still Here

Sorry it has been so long. About 2 days after my last post, Alyssa decided she wanted to take some pictures and ended up dropping our camera face down while it was open... this dented the front and pushed in the lens, which equals a broken camera. It would cost almost as much to fix as it would to purchase a new camera-just what we were looking to do right now! We still have our old camera, which has since become Ashley's so we at least have something we can use; however, the quality difference is huge so we have not been taking as many pictures lately.
The end of summer has been good-we have actually spent more time outside and by the pool in the last 2 weeks than we had most of the summer months! Ashley is gearing up for preschool (which starts Tuesday morning)! She can't believe it is the "fall" already (that has been her answer for the past 6 months when asked if she is going to be going to school) so the fact that it is tomorrow has her very excited! Alyssa has been teething something fierce lately (3 molars are trying to work their way into her mouth); however, Alyssa has the toughest gums of any kid I have ever met so this process is a VERY long, drawn out event! The drool and the snot is tolerable, it is the clinging and whinning and "I can't leave mom's hip" that is the hardest- she is going to be a completely different kid when these teeth FINALLY do break to the surface (I just hope that is SOON!!)
We have also had some major work in our yard done over the past several weeks. We had a new patio poured off the basement and then from that work we had to do some landscaping! We had a tree that died over the winter that was first taken down-I now have a very wide open view out my kitchen windown-and the girls swingset/sandbox area was redone to make the sandbox bigger and the swingset area a little smaller and then quite a bit of grass seed and patch work to fix where the concrete trucks had driven through our yard!! The girls have already enjoyed quite a bit of time in the sandbox and we are excited to use the new patio. This winter it is on to gutting and remodeling the basement!

Goodbye dead tree!

Watching a movie together-they can get along once in a while!

Making Chocolate Chip Cookies-Alyssa was more interested in eating than baking!