I'm no spring chicken

That's right I'm 30.  I wanted to share what my Bradley made for me. He'll probably be embarrassed and ask why in the world I would post it on the blog but my birthday, my present, I'll do what I want with it. :)

Oh yeah and he's going to be turning half of the big hall closet into a pantry for me. Love my handy man!

The natural number following 6 and preceding 8

That's right, seven. We've hit the seven month mark.

 I like to do Yoga.

 I can army crawl like nobody's business.

I'm still mostly bald.

 I'm a happy little soul.

 I'm toothless.

 I'm pretty good at sitting on my own.

All in all I'm pretty darn cute!

Copy Cat

I am not a creative person, however I'm really good at taking other people's ideas and attempting to do them.
So, after I saw this tutorial. I just knew I had to try it. I asked a friend who IS a seamstress to come spend the day with me while I sewed. (I wanted her around so I could ask all my dumb little sewing questions as I was working.) Not only did she bring her knowledge but also her serger. I. am. in. love. I now NEED a serger!  I decided to make these for my nieces, who live in a HOT climate year round.

I took these pieces: 

 And made them into this:

 It turned out to be a rather easy sewing project. (Time consuming but easy. )

The skirts were an afterthought but came together quiet nicely with the scraps I had lying around.

 Ruffles are totally in season right now. 

Here are the little fashionistas.

Don't worry I have more plagiarized projects on my to do list. And when they get "doed" I'll post some pictures.

Don't make me run...

...I'm full of chocolate.

Our Labor Day weekend included  Hershey Chocolate World:

The Tour:

 

Don't Wyatt's eyes say it all...CHOCOLATE!

 The workers:

 

  The chocolate:

"Swimming" at the hotel

 We actually did go in the pool but it was so cold that we needed a warm bath to take off the chill!

Indian Echo Caverns

 There was actually a man that lived in these for 19 years.

 What a great group shot! Two with eyes closed,  three sorta smiles,  two not smiles, a passed out baby, and some of us cheesy it. 

Scranton...what...the Electric City:
For those of you that are fans of "The Office". We couldn't resist driving through Scranton when we passed it.  It's bigger than I realized.

Hello Lackawanna County

 We couldn't drive on some of the roads we wanted too because there was some big Italian Fest going on.

Part of downtown Scranton

Harmony, Pennsylvania:
One other small detour was present day Oakland, PA,  formally Harmony, PA for a Church History site. (For those of you who may be unfamiliar with our beliefs click here or feel free to ask me any questions you may have.)

While we were stopped here I saw a car with 1M Idaho plates drive pass, twice. I tried to see who it was but I didn't get a good enough look.  Always makes me excited to "see" fellow Idahoans.

I love these blue and gold signs. They have them all over in New York to mark historical sites. (There's even some around the corner from our house.)

Sayonara Summer

Camille started preschool yesterday.

Now, that might not seem like a big deal but she'll spend as much time at preschool as I did when I went to Kindergarten. We were fortunate that she got accepted in the a free program at the YMCA. She'll go five days a week, 2.5 hours a day, all school year long.  I was not a fan of this set up at first. In my brain preschool should be a few times a week. Of course, we could paid to have her in a preschool that is only three days a week but have you seen the price of preschool tuition? (Yikes) Our school district has ALL day Kindergarten. I, now, feel that this will be a very good set up to get us all prepared for Kindergarten next year.  She loved the first day, came home knowing the names of 2 new friends, a picture she drew of me, and ready to go back again. I was surprisingly unemotional about the whole event. I think that fact that I stressed, cried, pondered, and seconded guessed myself for weeks BEFORE she ever got accepted helped. There was a point (several, actually) that I told Brad we weren't going to let her go if she got in. So, the first day drop off went smoothly, one excited little girl and one content mama. Now, if I can just continue to get 3 little girls out the door every morning and not be late that will  be a miracle!

 

I'm the happy green person, not the red mad person.

 

Of course, Nattie couldn't be left out of the first day of school photo.

Being the idiot that I am I've decided to sign Natalie up for story time and activities at the library. (As long as we're already going to be out and about, right?)

I don't want Natalie to get forgotten or lost in all the "big sister goes to school, little sister is a baby who needs a lot of attention" phase. Of course, if you know my Natalie I don't think it would be possible to "forget" her:

1.If she wants your attention, she'll get it.

2. She's SO stinkin' cute, she's hard to ignore.

3. She doesn't have, shall we say, a quiet personality.

4. She's learning how to bat those eyelashes of hers!

Here's to a new school year.

Vermont

Last but not least, Vermont. I LOVE Vermont. I'm glad that it is close enough that we can take little day trips there if we wish. 

Quechee Gorge*

Vermont Country Store

A covered bridge (This one is actually in New Hampshire. One or more of the covered bridges that we saw on this trip were wiped out by Irene...sad.)

 

There you have it. A tour of New England Wilding style. 

*Since this trip Vermont has suffered the wrath of Irene and some of the places we went have been severely damaged. 

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is home to New England's tallest mountain Mount Washington. Mount Washington is said to be the home of the world's worst weather. The day we went up the weather was BEAUTIFUL. 59 degrees 13 mph winds with gusts up to 25 mph. The drive and the view are spectacular. Brad and I have been up many a mountain and Mount Washington was definitely impressive. 

We're headed to the top!

Can you tell which direction the wind blows?

 It was a gorgeous day!

 Part of the Appalachian trail comes through here.

 You can ride a cog-wheel train to the top. (We didn't)

 Clouds starting to roll in (Can you see Ernie?)

 That's right we made it to the summit :)

 People use to come and stay at the Tip-Top house...I can't even imagine.

 We were all impressed with the view!

 

 My mother would have closed her eyes the whole drive down. It was curvy, steep and has the potential to be frightening.

We also stopped and did a little hike at Sabbath Falls

Fun, easy,  and SHORT. (Probably doesn't actually qualify as a hike but we can pretend.)