Open Gym

Cora decided she really wanted to take cousin Caitlin to Gymstars, to "practice" gymnastics today. Emi even got to join in the fun (with supervision…) Needlesstosay, the girls napped VERY well after these two hours :) 

 Getting some air on trampoline

 Balance beam three

 Teaching Caitlin how to do a cartwheel

 Straddle jumping on another trampoline

Emi "aka Georgie" 

The foam pit was the favorite, of course...

A very Madea weekend

We got visitors for the long weekend --- Nana and Duke and Auntie Allie and Cousin Caitlin (and Molly the dog). This is super exciting as Allie and Caitlin never met Louisa and haven't seen Cora and Emi in almost 2 years…. lots has changed since then! They are currently living in Hawaii and are visiting the mainland for a few weeks. We are looking forward to a weekend packed with fun and catching up :) 

With their new dolls from Duke and Nana 

Emi's fav is Cinderella, Caitlin's Ariel and Cora's Jasmine 

Dressed up as princesses in their new nightgowns, as well...

 Playing in the "drum room" -- when not playing drums or piano, the other dances, it was pretty cute!

 Caitlin reading Cora some good-night Dr. Seuss stories

Back in the (front) yard

Almost the entire weekend was spent in the front yard getting ready for the winter. There are still oodles of leaves hanging on, which will make for many more long weekends in the yard. It's nice to have a little helper (and sisters who take long naps!) and the cooler weather makes it almost enjoyable to spend so much time out there :)

 Feeding the fish

Gathering down sticks

A "for real" violin!

Cora finally got her own violin and she's so excited. It's super cute (a 1/8 size) and she's handling it with a lot of respect. Since she'll likely outgrow this one quickly, we opted to rent rather than purchase. 

 Tutoring mom and dad on the parts of the violin

 Practicing her strokes

with Ms. Nancy, her violin teacher

Curly Emi?

Check out how curly her hair was after today's nap… It's pretty humid here :)

Trick or Treat!

Emi's Scarecrow

Emi had "homework," to create a scarecrow for school… it was supposed to be a "family project," but she really preferred to do it herself. Her stubborn sense of independence is both cute and annoying!

 First she colored the shoes

Then she glued on ribbons to make clothes

(Cora and mom cut the ribbon strips, so I guess it was kind-of a family project…)

I'm not sure where the finished product picture is, but she (scarecrow) was pretty cute, complete with a glittery hat. The amount of glitter around the house reminded me why I don't encourage it EVER!!!