school.

first day of school (ecfe) for kj! who do you think is more excited-- nanna (teacher!) or girl (brand new student)??

zoo.

more fun with tuesday trek friends! this time at our local zoo... one of the few active animals of the day was this amazingly large brown bear. brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? i see children looking at me! yikes! ;) (see mama jl's account of our afternoon here: http://www.heybuddyman.com/2011/09/goin-to-zoo-zoo-zoo.html)

tunnel.

one of kj's favorite games of late: making a tunnel. (no tent, mama, tunnel!)

pr.

when we talk of nanna & poppa in their absence, we often mention that they live in pine river. now that we have two cars, mommy & kj can do things like sneak off mid-week and visit nanna & poppa in their pine river pumpkin patch! we often discover a surprise or two along the way as well... i mean, who knows when you might find a new playground or a first tractor ride just around the corner! it was nice to be back in pine river again, nanna & poppa-- thanks for spoiling us!

jammies.

"i'm ready for bed, dad!" (isn't this what every little girl would choose for jammies when left to her own preference??)

yard party.

the yard in action! it's great for our play & for parties, too...

yard after.

phase one completed (by july 16! but photos from sept):

yard during.

as we started the work (early june):

yard before.

this summer saw phase one of our yard renovation. it's still a work in progress of course, but we love coming home to our new yard (and fence!) everyday. here's a few before & after photos so you can see the transformation of 2011.
before (pre-sale):

minnows.

the leftover minnows from daddy's birthday fishing trip provided hours of entertainment this afternoon, and now kj can boast minnow-catching abilities... could be handy to have this little girl around on future fishing trips!

fresh.

the makings of our garden-fresh pizza-on-the-grill tonight... we are loving this harvest season!

declaration.

well, i didn't know if kj's declaration of monday, aug 29th would stick or not, but here we are on day 5 of potty training and still going! the demand in her own words "mommy, diaper off, undies on!" and since we actually had an opportunity to be home & focused on such a request for a few days, i followed her lead, & sure-enough, we now have a potty-training girl in our lives! gooooo, kj!!