What Will They Come Up With Next?

We're running behind again on our posting, so 2 weeks of activity fill this post...

 

We were able to finish up our fence project last weekend.  Ezri was quite happy to be Daddy's helper, handing him tools and screws as he attached the hinges for the final gate.

 Now that the fence is complete, it has taken Alora about 4 minutes to figure out how to get the latch to work and can get herself in and out without a problem now.  So much for that!  Still, it is nice to have the yard fully fenced for the girls to play.  They both stay in the fence, for the most part, and are able to run and play with balls and other toys without my worrying about the road so much.

I have had so many days of moments where my back was turned that chaos took place in the past weeks.  From children escaping the house to breaking things, sneaking food and writing on one another...  One day, while I was cleaning up from lunch, I heard too much quiet and found the girls in the living room... covered in dry erase marker, compliments of our little artist, Ezri.

 Alora has learned how to operate the back door latch and can easily let herself out.  One night, as I was tucking Ezri in, Alora was roaming the house and Alex was outside working.  When I stopped hearing her, I went looking and found Daddy carrying her back from the garage, in her sleep sack (zip up blanket).  She had let herself out, navigated the steps and walked to the garage in her blanket.  Now it's a daily occurrence for her to sneak out when I'm not looking.

Alora has also discovered new ways to sneak food.  Her latest move is to push a step into the kitchen, pull out a drawer and climb onto it to reach the back of the counter, where she can then reach the fruit.  Yesterday, when it was too quiet, I found she had eaten most of one apple and big chunks of two more, all in the span of 2 minutes!  This child loves to eat!  And to make a mess :)

 The leaves have begun to fall in our yard, and this has brought new excitement for the girls.  They have really enjoyed raking, playing and jumping in the leaves.

 And swinging too, of course!

 We've made some more nature discoveries with Ezri over the past weeks as well, including a large slug on the sidewalk last weekend and a very large stick bug one afternoon.  She will sit and watch and examine these things for quite some time, very interested in learning how they move and what they are doing.

 As the mornings get colder, we are aware our days of warmth are soon coming to an end.  I have been especially aware of this as I work as the crossing guard.  Mornings are very cold, but I have had some wonderful opportunity to see God's glory displayed in sunrises. 

I have been very mindful of how blessed we are lately.  While things are not always easy, life throws plenty of trials and worries our way, we have so much more than we deserve and have an awesome Heavenly Father who is taking care of us in ways we are often surprised by.  

Fair Fun

Fall is quickly coming upon us.  Now that school has begun, and I've been working as a crossing guard for nearly two weeks, we've seen the weather changing to be more fall like lately.  Along with weather changes, we've been able to participate in some fall activities, like watching Hopkins Football last Friday night with friends and neighbors. 

 

We have spent quite a bit of time at the Allegan County Fair this past week.  Sunday, we went with Uncles Andy and Jay for the afternoon.  We were able to watch my cousin Liz show her turkeys, walk through the barns to see all of the animals, sample some fair food and take in the atmosphere.  The girls especially loved playing on and in the tractors.

 Monday morning, the girls and I headed back to the fair with Great Grandma to watch my cousin Liz show her steer.  More animals to see and fair food to sample, we also got to spend some time with family as much of my family is at the fair for the week.  The girls and I were able so spend some time with my cousin Emily and Sofia, who is a friend to the girls, walking the fair and sharing some laughs together.

Thursday afternoon, the girls and I headed back to the fair with Grandma and Aubrey to finally go on some rides Ezri had been hoping to get on all week.  Daddy was unable to join us due to a meeting, and we sure missed having him with us as this is something we usually do together.  It wasn't quite the same without Daddy there :(  Ezri and Aubrey were able to go on quite a few rides, not so many for Alora, and the girls had such fun.  The carousel was a big hit, as always...

 As was the rocket ride, where Alora was able to see Aubrey and Ezri as she rode.  She was all smiles as the ride went up and down, round and round

 As was Ezri!

 Some opportunity to "drive"...

 And then we were able to watch a special Elephant show.  It was pretty amazing to see them maneuver, play instruments and do different tasks.  Alora especially enjoyed the music, dancing her little heart out as the elephants performed.

 Ezri was amazed to see one of the elephants carry a trainer around the ring in her mouth (as was Mommy!)  It was a pretty neat show to watch!

 We ended the evening by watching the parade and getting more candy than we know what to do with :)

We end the week excited to share some wonderful news...

Baby Westrate #3 will be joining us in March of 2014!  Ezri is very excited (Alora is oblivious) about being big sister.  Ezri insists that this baby will also be a girl, and when presented with the idea that Jesus could bless us with a boy, she denies it, claiming it will definitely be a girl :)  Time will tell as we will again wait until the baby is born to find out.  Regardless, we are all excited!

Labor Day Weekend Fun

Labor Day weekend was full of activity for us!  We went to Detroit with Andy and Jay to spend some time with Aunt Becky and do some exploring.

 

After arriving late Thursday night, after 10pm, we crashed.  Friday morning, we toured the Ford Rouge factory together and then spent some time exploring some places at the Henry Ford Museum that we had missed the last time.  The girls were drawn to a little play house fairly quickly... and were soon joined by the guys :)

Ezri and Alora spent some time "driving" a combine...

And then, while Andy convinced Alora to sleep, Ezri, Daddy and Jay got creative.

 There were cars to check out

And the huge Allegheny train that Ezri was super excited to go see again.  She was all about the trains, wanting to see and ride any train she saw.  We were sure to continually reinforce the fact that Thomas would not be there this time, and she finally understood, but was just as thrilled to see the other trains.

 Saturday, we found ourselves at Greenfield Village with the guys and Aunt Becky.  The weather was perfect and we were comfortable all day.  Ezri got to pet a horse and chattered about it for quite some time after.  I sometimes find her playing with our rocking horse here, talking to other people (imaginary) about the horse, how to touch it, etc.  So cute!

 We found many places we had missed he first trip...

 And Ezri found a little friend that followed us from one of the farms all the way to the train roundhouse.  Ezri had such fun playing with that little kitten!

 Of course, we had to see the big trains there too!

 We were able to ride in a Model T - the guys in one car, the girls in another - around a part of the village.  The girls thought it was pretty cool.

 The guys too :)

 And then, Alora crashed with the help of Andy.  She slept through much of the train ride we went on around the village.

 Ezri, however, was wide awake and so excited!  We sat right at the front of the first car, so we were able to see the engine driver and the other men working inside the train, shoveling coal, etc.  So fun :)

 We finished our day by riding on the carousel.  After being disappointed about not getting to ride on the cat, Ezri found a dog and was soon happy, as was Alora on her chicken.

 We all got a chance to ride :)

 And Ezri was soon hamming it up, next to Jay...

 Alora was all smiles and thrilled through the whole ride!  She was so mad when we had to take her off the chicken to leave.

 As we left the village, Ezri insisted on stopping to watch the train as it stopped to unload passengers.

 Sunday morning, we all went to the Detroit Zoo.  ,While we waited for Aunt Becky and her friend to arrive, we checked out the butterflies and the birds.  Both girls seemed to enjoy this.

 Even the guys found a way to entertain themselves...

 

 As we headed off to explore the rest of the zoo, Ezri had her map out so she could see where we were going.  She is very into having maps, often at home using some map in the car to direct us.

 We found the reptile house...

 Where both girls were engaged with the animals.  Ezri was very excited, chattering away about the turtles and snakes to anyone who would listen.

 Alora was also entertained by watching a turtle at the edge of the glass.

 The highlight of our trip to the zoo was the arctic exhibit.  We were able to see the Polar Bear before we got to the water.

 And once under the water, in the tunnel, we were soon able to see the same bear swimming over us!

 It was pretty amazing to watch!  We also saw plenty of seals swimming around...

 Such a fun place, it was hard to drag the girls away because there was always some activity going on in that water.

 But, we soon needed to head for home, so we got the kids going however we could.  For Ezri, this meant some time riding high on Uncle Andy's shoulders :)

The ride home was pretty tired...  Both girls got a stuffed animal from the zoo, a giraffe for Ezri and an Zebra for Alora.  They were pretty excited and  Ezri was soon cuddled up with her giraffe, fast asleep.

 Back at home, we had a week of trying to recover from all of the activity.  Both girls napped almost every day!  This Mommy picked up a job as a crossing guard for Hopkins before and after school for a short time.  A couple of days the girls came with me and Ezri thought it was pretty fun.

We had a chance to bake some bread together - a big deal for the girls, a big mess for the kitchen, but lots of fun all around.  Alora is wanting to help just as much as Ezri now, so I had to get a little creative about the process, but we all enjoyed ourselves.

 With very comfortable weather as fall heads our way, we spent a lot of time outside (as usual).  I caught the girls playing so sweet together one afternoon, talking about the flowers and walking along the rocks together.  Love those kids!