~Pulling Behind~

Aylah:  Mom, can you put a leash on my puppy so I can pull him on my bike.

Me:  No Aylah, if you drag him, it will tear him up because the ground is rough.

Aylah:  Okay

A few minutes later, I look outside and Aylah has come up with this plan all by herself so she could pull her puppy.  I couldn't believe she came up with this idea and even got the string tied on enough to stay.  The puppy was inside the ice chest. 

~A Night in China~

Our dear friends, the L family, are back in the states from China.  They taught English at a university there for 3 years.   

  It was an amazing time and I wish you could have all been there!

A table full of things from China.  The only thing I could read was a Coca-Cola wrapper.

Aylah is paying very close attention to the directions on how to hold your chopsticks correctly.

Aylah is trying to get a serving a rice with her chopsticks.

Having a good time watching everyone try using their chopsticks.  Grace is a little upset, because all she cares about is food and it's not coming to her fast enough.

My sweet friends Annette and Alberta.

The Marion family working hard at using chopsticks.

Chinese treats

The L ladies singing Jesus Loves Me in Chinese.

Mr. L reading from the Chinese bible with Mrs. L translating in English.

The L family doing a skit on what it was like to be "white superstars" in China.  They are waving, hello hi!

Mike is getting ready to pray for the L family!

~A for Apple, or Aylah~

~Wagon Ride~

I love going on a wagon ride around the neighborhood!  So fun!  

Aylah likes to pull Grace much more than she likes to ride. 

I love how Grace is holding her baby's hand, so sweet!

~Kitchen Fun~

Aylah and Grace love to play in the kitchen together.  Aylah cooks us up something yummy and Grace pulls everything off the kitchen onto the floor.  She's pretty intrigued by it all. 

Grace will either throw things on the floor or hand it to her sister, like she is in this pic.

~This says it all~

There is nothing more that Grace loves than being outside.  This picture captures it all!

Grace loves to play ball.   She'll catch it and roll it back and she's super duper proud of herself!

~Pumpkin Carving Ballerina Style~

Carving pumpkins!

Aylah was so proud of her ballerina pumpkin!  They did a great job, I was totally impressed.  We read books about pumpkins and their life cycle while we carved the pumpkins.  It was great to see all the seeds that pumpkins grow from, but Aylah would not touch them.  She thought they were yucky!

~Playing~

Meme and Papa got this fun little toy for Aylah when she turned 1.  

We pulled it out for Grace and her favorite part was swinging the ball.

~Tap Dancing to Veggie Tales~

This was taken in August before Aylah's tap dancing classes began.  There was nothing I could think of that was better than Veggie Tales to get a little warmed up.

Please excuse the messy room.  We were in the process of getting the room ready for school.

~Ballet and Tap~

Grace eating paper to entertain herself while her sister dances.

Aylah is absolutely loving her dance class!

~Aylah and Scarecrow~

We decorated our home for fall and Aylah absolutely loved every minute of it.  She took the scarecrow outside and was very persistent on having her picture taken with him. 

~Swinging~

There is nothing more that Graces loves than being outside.  

Add a little bit of swinging to it, and she's completely happy.

~Funny Bunny~

This video was taken in May of this year.  Aunt Carrie sent Aylah this bunny when she was born and it has been one of her favorite toys since we opened the box.  She still plays with it today.  It played a major role in helping Aylah learn to crawl.  If you want to see that adorable little video, you can click here.

~The Burning Bush~

Our burning bush didn't turn red last year, so I was very excited to see it "burn" this year.  But, more excited to see these two beauties sit in front of it!

~Football Night~

We took Grace to her first football game.  The game was horrible, but we had a great time together and eating lots of food from the concession.  Aylah was really intrigued by the cheerleaders and the band.  Grace like EVERYTHING, as long as she is outside, she is super content!

Grace is 10 months old

~Vacation Day 8~

Our last day at the beach!  It was a little sad, because we had such a wonderful time.  Our family from Tennessee came up to Elkhart for the week, so we called  to see if they all wanted to come up and visit us for the afternoon.  Of course, who would turn down a trip to the beach, so they all came up and we had a great time.

Sweet Lillian ~16 months (I think)

Precious Gabriella (almost 1)

Kari, Lillian and Ryan

Gabriella and Lillian trying to build their first sand castle.

Aunt Lori playing with Aylah.

Ryan and Tina taking a break from the sun.

Grandma and Grammy loving on Grace.

Aunt Lori and Uncle Dave taking a long walk on the beach.

The sun is setting.  The view from the top of the hill by our cabin.

Aylah running down the hill.  This is so totally right up Aylah's alley!

The sun setting and shining red on Aylah's face.

What a wonderful vacation!