2 Years, 11 Months, and 2 Weeks

Ruby & Charlotte are 2 years, 11 months, and 2 weeks old today. We had another fun filled weekend, with attending their pre-preschool orientation and going to the Illinois Railway Museum for A Day Out with Thomas. Enjoy the photos!

Looking out at the river next to their preschool:

Exploring their classroom:


Ruby with their teacher, Ms. Mariann:

Charlotte with their teacher, Ms. Mariann:

The best set of facial expressions I could get while standing next to Thomas the Train:

Ruby & me during the train ride:

Charlotte & Bob during the train ride:

It seems that Uncle Trevor may be right about the geologist careers, as they were more excited about seeing all the rocks & sticks on the track next to us than being on a train ride:

We then took them over to a large field in between some of the tracks to let them run about:

Ruby was fascinated with all the dandelions she found:

Charlotte found joy in picking up clumps of dried-out cut grass and throwing them:

Trying to step on their shadows as we left the event:

Stopping at a fire hydrant to splash a bit:

At home, they played guitar with Grandpa Jay:

2 Years, 11 Months, and 1 Week

Ruby & Charlotte are 2 years, 11 months, and 1 week old today. We had a visit from Grandma Doreen, Grandpa Bob, and Uncle Connor last week. Enjoy the many, many photos!

At the zoo with Grandma Doreen, Uncle Connor, & Grandpa Bob:

On the carousel with Grandma Doreen:

Peering over a wall to see an animal:

Uncle Connor pulled them in the wagon:

We went to a water park called Otter Cove, and they were a bit timid in the pool when we got there:

Charlotte figured out how to make hand & foot prints with water, then watched them disappear:

They splashed Grandma Doreen:

I then decided to take them out into the 2ft deep part of the toddler pool (yes, I am aware that the majority of my skin had not seen the sun in roughly 9 years, and am now paying for it with a terrible sunburn):


And they realized that they love "swimming":


Last Saturday, after our original plans were thwarted (but will be done next weekend), we decided on a spontaneous trip to Wild West Town instead:


Jumping in puddles was the most exciting part of our visit there:

We watched a Charlie Chaplin movie in the silent theater:

Ruby had fun at the Kids Korral playground:

In the end, they made small hills out of the pebbles & dirt:

Ruby's wall building is becoming more intricate:

Charlotte loves these wooden horses from their castle play set:

On a walk, playing in the rock patch (Uncle Trevor thinks that they will be geologists):

Ruby shows off her dandelion:

Next to pumpkin and corn fields at the neighboring farm:

Getting haircuts before pre-preschool starts:

They both chose to sit on Clifford, the Big Red Dog.
After Ruby's trim (not much of a change, only an inch was cut off):

After Charlotte's haircut, a much more apparent change:

Side view of her new stacked bob haircut:

35 Months Old!

Ruby at 35 months old:

Charlotte at 35 months old:

2 Years and 11 Months

Charlotte & Ruby are 2 years and 11 months old today. Their vocabulary continues to increase and astonish at times (in a good way). "Please", "thank you", "I'm very sorry", and "excuse me" are used many times a day and usually without coaching. Somehow, we've done something right and raised 2 polite children so far. They do enjoy making a game out of pretend sneezing and then exclaiming "Bless you! Excuse me!" to themselves. Enjoy the photos!

Running about outside our home:

Running ahead on a walk:

We took them to story time at the Barnes & Noble that I work at, and Charlotte sat quietly in awe next to some other children:

Ruby decided she wanted no part of story time once we arrived, and went to play with the trains instead while Grandpa Jay stayed with her:

After the stories were read, all of the kids got to draw pictures for as long as they wanted (Charlotte lasted the longest, and Ruby still wanted nothing to do with it):

While we were there, another child pressed a button on one of the sound books which made Ruby ask, "What was that noise?" and I replied that some of the books here make sounds. As we do our best to avoid battery powered toys at home, they were both in awe and stood there pressing buttons for quite some time:

We had snack at the Barnes & Noble Cafe, where they shared a giant rainbow sprinkle sugar cookie:

Ruby is becoming quite skilled at building walls with various windows all by herself:

They sat on their tricycles again and found that they could pedal by themselves yesterday: